This may be for some too much information. But I am known for my extensively long and informational posts when I travel abroad, so naturally I’m gonna write a lot about running 26.2 miles! My final chip times can be found at the bottom.

The Expo:

the Zoracle Bib

The day before the marathon, there was an Expo at the Palmer Events center which was actually really cool. I’m gonna try to go to that next year even if I’m not running. It’s like the E3 of running: all kinds of new running technology, NASA was there, vendors, and random booths. I picked up some shot blocks, made by CLIFF, which Jen had suggested I get. SOOoooo glad she told me about them, they were uber helpful. Also got some “running socks” which seemed a little thin to me, but were supposed to help you run better and had breathing holes in them and stuff. I wore them the day of the marathon and I think that was a mistake. Next time, I’m going with super padded wool socks, like my hiking socks. I picked up my bib and free backpack and hurried to my other errands that day. I’d been working on the northern house and showing it to prospective tenants all week. Well, I was out of town and had my Dad helping me out and Roxy showing the house. But still Sat had so much to do on it… still so much to do on it, ugh.

That night, I tried to get some good sleep, woke up at 5:15am when my alarm went off for the second time. Got up and took a shower to cleanse my body of friction before the big grind. I had a Runner strap which went across my chest to hold all my junk like cliff bars, shot blocks, mp3 player, phone, and map. I’d picked it up at ACL last year. It’s a little big, but worked well for me. I put on speedo biker shorts to reduce friction upon my thighs, running shorts, and a cotton t shirt. I was set.

Parked downtown and made it to the mass of people on Congress around 6:35am. The race wasn’t due to start till 7am. Jen had told me to hydrate as much as possible the day before and morning of so I had been and I needed to pee like crazy. There were rows of porto potties, but the lines for them were dozens of people long. So I quickly ducked into an alley and went behind a dumpster, almost running into a guy coming out of the alley doing the same thing. The worst part of the first few miles turned out to be finding a place to pee. I found someone to help me pin my bib on and then moved towards the front cause my pace group was like 5 blocks from the start. Besides, I wanted to see the fire works.

Suddenly, everyone started to move forward, then the siren rang and sparks shot up into the air from both sides of the starting line. After that, more then 14,000 people began running down the streets of Austin. It was an amazing sight. Especially when you got up to a hill and looked back at the sea of people coming up behind you or on the way down, saw a similar ocean moving in front of you.

The first few miles were kind of a tour of the places I’d been in Austin: all the South Congress shops, then across Ben White freeway which I drive all the time, then up 1st past Sugar Mama’s delicious cupcakes, then onto Lake Austin Blvd past Red Bud road, Hula Hut, and Oyster Landing where we go wakeboarding a lot. Along the way, I had to pee pretty frequently and there was always a line at the porto potties. I was concerned about my time, so I’d duck into gas stations, bushes, behind trees or dumpsters. There was one long line of trees where a bunch of guys were all going at once, it was pretty funny. Even saw a girl squat in a ditch to go. Everywhere else there were people cheering and holding signs. It was funny cause they would hop in the car and move down the track so over the course of the run, you saw the same people 3 or 4 times just as happy as the first time. People would see someone they knew and start screaming. Plus, since it’s Austin, there were live bands playing most of the sections of the marathon. The first half of it is very hilly and I’m glad it’s the FIRST half cause I don’t think I could’ve made it on the last half. I was actually doing pretty good, but by mile 7 the cheers of the crowd start to wear off and climbing the hill from Oyster Landing, I switched to my mp3 player. From then on, I kept to my schedule I’d learned to run to: 3 songs run, one song you can walk, but have to start running again before it ends. This would make me run for more then a mile at a time straight and at this point, I would only walk long enough to get some water or eat a shot block, then start running again. I kept this up easily to the half way point. Then the half marathoners split off from the full marathoners and head back towards downtown. I saw a couple hug and then run and kiss as the girl went half and the guy went full. It was cute. I had seen the red bibs of the half marathoners from the start and the girl who helped pin me was a half marathoner. Watching them, I was so happy that I had chosen to do the full first because I knew doing the half I would’ve finished thinking I could’ve done the whole thing and why go through all that pain if you don’t go all the way?!

At this point, the course leveled out and it was easier to run but it was getting hotter. I was so used to drinking a little each mile so as not to over do it. In the beginning of m training, if I drank too much water after each mile, I would start to get tired, or stomach cramps. So I kept it to a sip a mile basically. But going this far, apparently the rules change. I started drinking a couple cups of water at each water stop, but I think it was too late. Between miles 16 and 18 was where I started to feel it the most. There was a good mile and a half where there was no water stop. It was all through residential neighborhoods so there were no bathrooms either. It was a really bad mile and a half, I was thirsty AND had to pee. By the time I go to mile 18, I was parched. I drank 2 cups and water and 2 cups of powerade (so happy to see the powerade). My running regiment was now down to run 2 songs, walk one. From here on out, it was all about pain management, which I’m pretty good at. Even though my feet hurt like hell, just keep em moving and think about the songs. It was really hard to start running again after each water stop cause my legs were getting stiff.

Around mile 20, I met up with Roger who was waiting to support. We did a little impromptu interview on what I was going through. I’ll let the vid tell it.
[Interview vid coming soon, check again next week]

As you can see, I was in pretty good spirits. I felt alright despite the pain and Roger gave me a banana which tasted fantastic. By this point however, I was already dehydrated, I just didn’t know it yet. Roger would later tell me he wondered why I was sweating more and that I was kind of pale. He left to meet up with me further down the way. After this, it started to hit me. I got really light headed and felt nauseious. I couldn’t tell if I had to throw up or diarrhea but I knew neither would be fun. I got to another water stop and went pee, drank as much as I could and started walking. 2 blocks before the 22 mile marker, I couldn’t go on. I saw a police man sitting on a truck on the side lines, I staggered over to him and said, “I’m getting really light headed.” I leaned against the truck until another man brought a chair for me to sit in. That’s when the cop noticed that I wasn’t sweating. I rubbed my forehead and arms and found them completely dry. Later one, I would rub my face and the salt was so thick it was like sand, like I had just been to the beach. It’s a really strange phenomenon. There were no water reserves left in my body to continue to sweat, which is weird cause I’d been peeing all morning. The cop gave me a bottle of water and I drank it in small amounts. I couldn’t drink it all at once, cause I felt like I was gonna throw up. I knew I didn’t want that to happen, cause that deplete any more water I had in my system and I would definitely be going to the ER. I was only 4.2 miles away, I had to continue. But first I wanted to be sure I was okay, cause at that point, I couldn’t even stand up without getting dizzy. So the cop (wish I got his name) called an EMS and he came up on a motorcycle like 10 minutes later. He took my vitals and did a glucose blood level by pricking my finger. 118/78 and a HR of 122. Glucose was normal. He offered to have the ambulance come by and give me a 12 lead EKG. That sounded like a good idea since I was having some chest pains. I couldn’t place if it was my stomach or lungs or heart, so might as well cover everything. Another ten minutes and the ambulance was there. By this point, I’d finished the bottle of water and was really needing to pee again. The EMS guy was saying how they were overrun with people at the finisher’s tent. Apparently the day had been hotter then expected and lots of people were collapsing after the finish. They put the electrodes on my and did a 12 lead, which they let me keep , and everything was basically normal. No flutter, no extreme st elevation, all good. So I decided I would continue and just walk the rest of the way. First I had to stand… okay that worked out, now gotta pee… a guy pointed me to a wall where I could go, felt sooo good. I signed their declination of admittance form and thanked everyone. Then I started walking.

I learned a lot about my body on this trek. I need to hydrate more then most people and perhaps take some creatine before something like this so my body retains water better. I also learned that my breathing is very good! The entire time, I never really started panting, maybe a little over mile 17-20, but other then that, it was a nice even respiratory rate. I am very proud of that.

At this point, it was around 12:30p; half hour more would be six hours. I should’ve finished at 5 hours 45 min which I was on schedule for at mile 21, but because of this 30 min rest, I wasn’t gonna make that. Now I just had to finish before 2p which is under 7 hours, qualifying for the Boston Marathon (yeah right) and more importantly, getting a medal! I figured I could walk it in that time. On the way, I met up with Roger and Matt again. They walked a little ways with me and recorded some video, then Matt went to get his car and Roger kept walking. My parents were actually gonna meet me at mile marker 22 and we were just 2 blocks from each other when I sat down next to the cop. I thought bout texting them and letting them know as I had been doing the entire race; even updated my facebook and twitter a long the way, but I didn’t want them to worry. Furthermore, there are times when I need taking care of and there are times when I need to just be alone, collect my reserves and get back in gear, this was one of those times. Unfortunately, this caused them to think I’d past already and they started walking towards the finish line, all the way there and then walked back to meet me again. My bad. I felt kinda bad about that, but I was happy to see them when I did. Walking with people was good, cause they were not impaired and walked at a much faster pace then I would’ve.

That being said, it still took me more then an hour to go the 4.5 miles. Time was running short and the 7 hour marker was upon me. My mom tried to get me to run a little and I said I just couldn’t do it. She told me later that she realized I wasn’t being a pansy, I really couldn’t. She saw my pale face and decided not to tell me how bad I looked; good call. My dad gave me some powerade spiked with a magnesium tablet, not telling me the tablet was still in the drink and I almost choked on it, but it was funny.

Once again I had to pee royally and that was all that was in my brain, trying to get to that next porto pottie; oh and there’s a new horrible pain now: the crotch rash. The biker shorts had subdued it for most of the race, but after sitting down, then getting up again, somehow it had gotten really bad and painful. It wasn’t a pleasant four mile. Finally, the capital was getting closer, then I was rounding it and at the 26 mile marker. I gathered the strength to run the last 0.2 miles to the bottom of the Capitol. I think at some point, Momma or someone tried to tell me they had to go off to the side cause they didn’t have bibs, but I was so focused I don’t even know if I remember that. As I came down the track, I saw the timer above the finish line tick past 7 hours. I knew I had a few minutes to spare cause it took me that long to get across the start line after the race was started and I was ready to argue that point. But I was thrilled to find I didn’t have to, there was a whole crowd of people waiting with medals, one of them for me. I posed joyfully for the camera as I crossed the finish line and entered joy.

Suddenly, I got a medal, then a t shirt. I still wasn’t sweating, but I was getting light headed and nauseous again. Then I looked to the side and there was Amy and Matt and Roger and my parents congratulating me. Hehe, it was a great feeling. I was so surprised to see Amy, cause I didn’t even know she was coming out! They had to walk around a large fenced area, so I walked on and grabbed some free bagels, chips and water and powerade. I was hungry, but I couldn’t eat much. I found Amy and we sat on the wall of Congress Ave and talked for a bit until my parents showed up. Roger and Matt had gone to get their cars and would see me later.

We went out to Pita Pit to eat, but I couldn’t even take a bite. Just nibbled on a cliff bar and took my last shot block. My crotch rash was really hurting now and I didn’t feel like walking to my car, so my Dad was nice enough to go get his and meet us on the corner. I said bye to Amy and my Mom and I walked over. When Daddy, showed up, I directed him to my car and he drove that while Momma drove me. We met up at my house and I staggered up the steps and into my room. I turned on the garden tub cold and disrobed and put a bathing suit on. From then on, m parents pretty much took care of me. I felt very much like an invalid. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do but sit and soak in that cold cold water, trying to keep the inflammation down. I was drinking bits of water which eventually turned into whole bottles of that and powerade and pedialyte. My dad went a coupel times to get me stuff from the store. I tried to eat bits of stuff including my pita pit wrap, an oven baked pizza, and a sonic burger (Jen said I needed protein). When I felt like I was okay on my own, my parents left and congratulated me again. I got back in the tub and started to watch a movie on my laptop. I realized that I couldn’t watch tv when I started to get dizzy after a half hour or so. I hobbled around most of the night, got a little work done on the computer, then slept for ten hours.

Whew, that was a tough day. But I made it through. And even though after the race, I said I’d never do it again, the feeling is starting to nag at me. I know what I did wrong, and I can totally correct it in the future. I could be talked into it again I think, but I don’t know if I’d ever do it on my own. I scheduled my work week quite poorly after the marathon, for I was on a plane and in Phoenix working the next day. It was the same hospital I’d been to the week before and the nurses knew I was running a marathon so they were quite understanding when I showed up in crutches (picked some up at a medical arts store once I arrived in Phoenix). Oh, and I had to have a sky cap wheel me to baggage claim on his luggage rack cause I just couldn’t walk anymore. I was loading up on aspirin and natokinase to keep my blood thin. Wouldn’t want to throw a clot after such a great day. Anyway, at the hospital, I hobbled from pod to pod in the unit until one of the techs gave me a wheelchair and I reluctantly took it and wheeled myself all over the unit. It was actually kind of fun. They set me up with some buckets to soak my feet in later, some advil, and many laughs at me in the wheelchair. Later that night, I soaked my feet in ice water (only for 10 seconds at a time cause that’s all I could take) and then wrapped them with ice packs while I slept. Tuesday, I was still on crutches most some of the day. Wednesday, I’d left the crutches in the car and seemed to be doing alright. I was at least walking up right with minimal pain so all’s well. The amazing thing is that my legs didn’t really hurt nor did my knees, it was all in my feet, they were very very painful.

Alright, that’s it. The long and short of the Austin Marathon 2010. I thought we’d have flying cars by now, who knew I’d be instead running 26.2 miles?!

Notice the extreme desparity between 20 mile time and final marathon time. Took 2.5 hours to go the last 6.2 miles!

[more video coming soon, check back next week]