Three Races, 27 Days The Conclusion

Weight on Indianapolis 2010 Race Day: 258 lbs.

The twenty days leading up to the 2010 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon did not go as I had planned. And it was completely my fault.

I had just run a PR (personal record) time at the Columbus marathon and was ecstatic. I had run significantly faster than Chicago seven days prior. I only signed up for Indianapolis because of my poor time in Chicago and wanted to make sure I had an extra shot at a PR that year. At the finish in Columbus I told myself I had 20 days to train hard for Indianapolis and maybe set another PR.

I spent the rest of the day and the night after the race in Columbus with my friend Shaun. We celebrated my PR and were out the entire day and night. After I finished the race I went to Shaun's and showered and we went down the street to a local bar and grill to watch the Cleveland Browns game and eat lunch. The Park Street Tavern is located at Park Street and High Street in downtown Columbus. About a fifth of the marathon is run on High street. You run miles 11-16 heading North on High Street and then later in the race you run South on High for maybe three quarters of a mile right before turning onto Nationwide Blvd. for the finish.

Park Street Tavern sat right in the middle of that three quarter mile Southbound strip of the course. When you passed the Park Street Tavern you had lees than a half mile to the finish. As we sat, ate, drank, and watched the game runners were still coming down high towards the finish. For the next several hours runners would pass by almost done with their race. I have to admit sitting there seeing all of the runners that finished behind me kind of felt good. I wasn't out there to race or compete against the other runners, I was only out there to push and compete against myself, but it made me a little more proud of my PR as I sat there and ate.

The day after the race I drove back to Toledo, I had class that afternoon. It was Monday and I felt a little sore so I  decided I wouldn't run again until Wednesday. I did a light run on Wednesday and Thursday and felt pretty good. At college the weekend pretty much starts on Thursday  night. Most of the colleges in Ohio are semesters as opposed to quarters so a lot of classes are only two days a week. The two days usually fall on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesday and Thursdays. That means it is very common for students to have no classes on Fridays.

I was one of those students. I managed to go nine semesters at school with not a single Friday class. My weekend always started on a Thursday night. Local businesses know that Thursday night is a big night out at college and usually offer food and drink deals. I decided that since I had just run a PR there would be no harm in going out Thursday night. I stayed in Friday night and ran Saturday morning, but was out again Saturday night. Over the next two weeks I fell back into my old ways a little bit. I ate very unhealthy food and went out multiple nights during the week. I still ran, but probably not as much as I should have.

On Friday, November, 6, 2010 I left for Indianapolis weighing five pounds more than I had at the race in Columbus. The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon is run a Saturday which I love. Saturday marathons are not too common because it is easier for a city to shut down roads on a Sunday Morning because most businesses are closed. I love Saturday races because you can go out in the city that night. For Sunday races I might go out to eat in a city the night before, but the race is constantly on my mind and I am not fully relaxed enough to really enjoy it. The Saturday races allow me to go out that night after the race is finished and not worry about what I eat or how late I stay up.

The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon should not be confused with the Indianapolis Marathon as they are two different races, but to tell you the truth I do find it confusing. The Indianapolis Marathon is not run in the city of Indianapolis, but in a Northeastern suburb of the city name Lawrence. The Monumental Marathon runs straight through downtown Indianapolis and through quite a few suburbs. The course in Lawrence is much more condensed staying mostly in the city of Lawrence and using a lot of roads in both directions for running in and out and back fashion. To me it would make sense to name the Lawrence race differently and give the Monumental Marathon the official title of Indianapolis Marathon.

The Monumental Marathon is a great course. It is called the Monumental marathon because it takes you past many of Indianapolis' monuments and landmarks. These include the Indiana State Capitol, Arts Garden, Lucas Oil Stadium, Circle Center Mall, Warehouse District, Eli Lilly campus, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Monument Circle, Federal buildings/monuments, Cultural Trail, Mass Ave District, Pennsylvania Avenue through Fall Creek Place, Meridian Street, Washington Boulevard through Meridian-Kessler, Butler University, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Broad Ripple, State Fairgrounds and Fall Creek Parkway among others. 

When I arrived at my cousin Mike's apartment that Friday I unpacked my stuff and we took off to check in at the expo. We got our packets and tested our timing chips. We returned to Mike's after the expo and he whipped us up some chicken Parmesan with pasta. We ate and talked about the race. Most of the discussion was around what we were going to wear for the race. The weather was chilly. Neither of us had ever run a marathon where the starting temperature was much less than 40 degrees. The forecast showed the temperature during the duration of the race would be anywhere from 28 to 31 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The only experience I had running in really cold weather was during wrestling season in junior high and high school in the snowy Cleveland winters. During those runs I was mainly trying to shed water weight to make weight for a wrestling match or tournament. I would layer the clothing on for those runs. I would start with a short sleeve cotton shirt followed by a long sleeve cotton shirt and then ont top of that I would put a rubber sweat suit top and/or a garbage bag with arm and neck holes cut out. Over top of that would usually be another long sleeve shirt followed by a sweatshirt. The bottom half of me would be under armour tights and sweat pants. I also wore a winter hat and gloves. You can get rid of an awful lot of water weight in short distance of running when you are wearing that kind of clothing.

Running served a different purpose now so I needed to figure out a proper outfit for the marathon. I didn't own any long sleeve shirts made out of moisture wicking material so my choices were pretty limited. I ended up going with compression short sleeve shirt (which I always wear as a bottom layer to prevent chaffing), a long sleeve cotton shirt, and a short sleeve moisture wicking shirt over that. For my bottom half I went with my normal compression shorts underneath mesh shorts. I did not wear a hat or gloves. I had longer hair and that provided all the warmth I needed on my head and my hands rarely got cold while I was running.

The next morning we got up early and Mike's girlfirend drove us downtown to the start. It was around 28 degrees when we walked outside. The wind was blowing making it feel even colder. We made our way to the starting line chute and jumped in with the rest of the runners. It didn't seem that cold in the chute because of all the runners crammed into a relatively small area. The collective body heat kept us warm until the race started. As usual the PA announcer counted down from 10 and we shuffled toward the starting line.

I was excited about running through the city of Indianapolis. I had never been there before and looked forward to seeing all of the monuments and landmarks. I was a little nervous about the race however because I knew I had put on about five pounds since Columbus and probably didn't run as much as I should have between the two races. The first half of the race went pretty smoothly. Around mile three we passed by Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play football. There were colts cheerleaders in front of the stadium cheering the runners on. Right after that we passed by the Soldiers and Sailors monument, probably my favorite monument of the race. It sits right in the middle of giant traffic circle in downtown Indianapolis. You pass by it near the beginning of the race and then have a great view of it for the last few miles of the race as you run toward it and the finish. 

The course weaves through a lot of neighborhoods and is pretty quiet for the most part. Passing by all of the houses I expected to see more spectators. Most of the main runs that you run on are still open throughout the race. One lane is normally coned off for the runners while the other two or three lanes are still open to traffic. The city puts up signs everywhere along the course warning drivers the race will be going on during certain hours and to expect delays. The traffic in the open lanes was bumper to bumper for a lot of the way. Drivers and passengers would roll down their windows and honk and cheer for the runners. I really like that some of them did that because if it was me stuck in traffic because of a bunch of runners I wouldn't be too happy.

As I passed the halfway point I was already feeling a little sluggish. The extra few pounds and lack of long runs since Columbus was beginning to take its toll. I knew the last half of the race would be tough. The cold weather hadn't seemed to bother me at all. I was happy about that. Around the 18 mile mark I had to start walking intermittently. My legs were feeling pretty heavy. During one of my jogging stints I came up on very tall man that was walking the race. The guy was really moving for a walker. He didn't look silly like most power walkers do, he just had a long wide stride. It took me a while before I caught up to him. There was an aid station as I came up next to him and we both grabbed paper cups of water. He said hi and asked how I was feeling. I told him that I was pretty exhausted even though it was my third marathon in 27 days. He said sometimes you just have an off day but you will make it. After we finished our water I started jogging again and left him to his power walking.

By mile 23 I was dragging pretty bad. The cold weather that wasn't bugging me earlier began to affect me. I had frost on my sleeves from sweat that had frozen. I was walking a lot by then and I was freezing. I could not wait to be done. Close to the 25 mile mark the tall walking man passed me. I was not too happy about that. I cold not believe a walker was beating me in the race. I tried to jog and keep up with him but my legs were dead. I had to walk. I never saw the man again. I eventually finished the race after five hours and seven minutes and I was freezing. I grabbed some food at the finish and looked for my cousin Mike. I found him waiting for me, he had finished over an hour earlier than me. We walked to his girlfriend's car and jumped in. I was glad to be done.

Despite the poor race time I had a great time going out in Indianapolis with Mike and his friends. I was also proud of the fact that I had finished three marathons in 27 days. Each of them a different climate. Hot, perfect, and cold. It was that year I learned that my body could handle running multiple long distance races in a relatively short time period. I enjoyed it too. I figured if I spent five or six months building my body up for a marathon, why waste it on one race in the fall? I looked forward to the next race I would run.