Life: ½ Marathon – check

“I always loved running…it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.”
– Jesse Owens

Well I did it, a half marathon, 13.1 miles, over 20 kilometers. And I feel great. And I’ll do it again, and soon enough I’ll push for a full one. I do have to say that I couldn’t have done it without a long list of wonderful people in my life, my sister Eve for getting me into running in the first place and keeping me going year after year, my old running partner and best friend Dave in Helena, my great friend and housemate Lance in Missoula, fellow trouble makers in Bristol Soorjya and SJ, and most recently my love Kelly, with whom I look forward to running with across the planet.

TRAINING

I only really got the idea for this about three weeks ago listening to fellow Tibetan Buddhist Brandon describe his journeys in the amazing Pengelly Double Dip (over 12 miles up, over, and across mountains!). So I talked a bit with fellow runners, my sister, Kelly, and checked out the before mentioned book, Mind, Body, and Sport. Due to some knee trouble stemming from a HUGE plantars wart on my left foot (probably over 20mm thick, throwing off how my feet hit the ground and ultimately how my whole left side moved), I have barely run at all in the last couple years.

So with just three weeks and a prior average of 1 or 2 miles of running per week I began (all of the online guides to training for a half marathon gave much longer training schedules. Here’s one for 12 weeks, and one for 9 weeks). The first thing I did was run six miles [9.6 k] trying to utilize the Ayurvedic technique from Mind, Body, and Sport. That technique is basically to maintain a meditative mind by breathing only through the nose; practically impossible at first (like sucking through two tiny straws it seems), but easier with practice. In that six miles I had to alternate periods of nose breathing with mouth, but I made it, and it had been a very long time (probably since high school) since I had run six whole miles, so it gave me great confidence. A few days later I ran four miles [6.4 k] with more nose breathing. Then I got busy spending every free moment with Kelly so I didn’t run for a week or so (a good bit of walking and hiking though). Finally, just this last Wednesday I dedicated myself to a ten mile [16 k] run just to make sure I had it in me to run the half marathon. The 10-mile was an evening run, starting with the temperature in the 80s F [28-32 C] and dropping only a few degrees after sunset. I figured that if I could do that one I could put in the extra 3.1 miles [5 k] on race day. It worked, I breathed through my nose the whole way, and I felt calm and focused the whole way.

FINAL PREPARATIONS

Yesterday was carb and healthy food day: toast and eggs for breakfast, carrot and spinach snack, vegetarian cacciatore as a late lunch, and finally whole grain pasta with tomato sauce cooked with walnuts and salmon (high in omega 3’s, both are listed as key ‘anti-inflammatory’ foods to be eaten the day before a race). This morning I got up at 4:30, had toast with more salmon and tomato spread with Neufchatel cheese and then a protein shake (and a half cup of coffee). Then more water (lots of water yesterday too).

AT THE RACE

I actually think I got a little too hydrated (more on that later), but all of those warnings about dehydration got me pretty motivated to just drink at every possible minute. I used the port-a-john at the start about 40 minutes before race time, but needed to go again right as the race was to begin… looooong line, no way. So the first bit of the race was hampered by that a bit, but not much. Two miles in I reached another station, short line, in and out, another gulp of water (maybe not so wise). So then again, about two miles later, I’ve got to go to the restroom again – eek. What was worse is that around three miles my right foot began to fall asleep. This wasn’t too alarming, it had happened on all three of my practice runs at about this point, and each time I had just walked about 1/8 mile and was fine. Foolishly, I tried to run through it, hoping that just slowing down a bit would wake it back up. No luck, after about a mile of running very slow and still feeling a dead stump at the end of my ankle, I decided to walk. I had also begun to notice that I was favoring my right foot a bit and straining my left heel and calf as a result. Walking turned out to be very wise, as within just a few minutes feeling was coming back, strain in my left side diminished immediately, and I was ready to run again.

Fortunately, just then I reached another aid station, around 4.5 miles in, got a shot of HEET (I think that’s what it was called – like Gatorade), and headed to the port-a-john. Bad news, this time there was a line, five or six people, going slowly. After what felt like five to ten minutes I finally got my turn and was on my way. Relief! This time I knew the excess water was out of my system, feeling lighter, tighter, and ready to run.

The next three miles were just great. In fact, I began to lose track of distance until one of the volunteers called out “8 miles, doing great!” I had settled into a very meditative rhythm, following the walking meditation mantra from Thich Nhat Hanh (the first of each set on the inhale, the second on the exhale):

In, Out
Deep, Slow
Calm, Ease
Smile, Release
Present moment, Wonderful moment.

When I realized I had flown by the halfway point without even noticing it, I was hit by a burst of new enthusiasm: just four miles to go (somehow I got it in my head for a while that the race was 12.1 miles, not 13.1)! The next 2.5 miles were again very meditative. I was on a strong pace, passing people fairly consistently, swearing off water at aid stations in favor of HEET. At the Southgate Mall aid station, where they had music and lots of volunteers, I got a gel pack (a sugary carbohydrate replacement goo) and a water (suggested to prevent stomach cramping around the goo). There was a tiny bit of stomach unhappiness around the goo (belching and then some mini-cramps) but that all subsided soon enough and I was off again at good speed, and again into meditation.

Finally, in the last quarter mile, I decided to switch to mouth breathing for the energy boost. It was good, and I was able to put on a kick that got me past several more runners in the last couple hundred yards. Final time? I’m not sure just yet; somewhere around 2hrs 15minutes though. I’ll update when the official results are released. (UPDATE: My time was 2:20:05, not bad, and plenty of room for improvement – it put me in 401st place out of 618 runners)

POST RUN

Lots of walking, eating, and drinking. Soon, a bath in Epson salts and then more walking, eating, and drinking. By my estimates, the race probably sucked up about 1300 calories all by itself, and I’m sure the body is still in high-consumption mode, so a huge key that I keep reading/hearing about is replenishing vital nutrients (carbs, protein, and minerals) as fast as your road-weary stomach will allow. I started with some watermelon, water, and fig bars at the race site, and then came home to mango juice, a banana, trail mix, raspberry yogurt, a can of V8, and a quarter of a protein shake – all very slowly but surely. It’s my hope that with all of this I’ll be in fine shape to run again tomorrow, or at least painlessly hike my favorite mountain for more photos. I’ll let you know how it goes.

More online guidance:

Marathonrookie.com: An awesome sight that begins with the psychology of running, urging you to really ask why you’re running, digging deep for sources of motivation that will carry you though the race. Great quote, “Let your mind lead the way, not your body.”

Nutrition Guide: Lists good foods for the day before, early breakfast, and pre-race. I brought out some cantaloupe for a last-hour pre-race snack but saw that nobody else there was eating anything and tossed it. I imagine with the 1/2 marathon you can cut down a bit on the carb-loading needed for the full marathon. The marathonrookie site above has a great article on why carbs are so important, aptly titled, “the wall.”