Orlando Extreme Marathon - RunMarathon

After exiting the portapotty, I ran up to the front of the group and let the director know I was with the full marathon. He said…”ummm…go.” So I started running. The last group of marathoners was still in sight so I ran hard to catch up with them. The first group of people I came upon were four Marathon Maniacs. I knew a couple of them from previous races. A girl with brown hair, I think her name was Corinne, and a guy I’ve seen numerous times, “50 States Harry”. He’s awesome. I waved and greeted the group as I ran by. I still felt naked because I had no equipment with me. The trail was mostly dirt with some sand. It was soft with grass at some points, and mostly unmarked but followed some ruts where vehicles had driven. As I reached Mile 1, I saw the timer. It said 00:09:23 so I knew I wasn’t too far off my pace even though I started late. I continued to run hard. I decided at that point to put the problem of my car being in a ditch out of my mind and worry about it later. The trails became more and more grassy but still followed a road-like path. There were small mile markers on the trail but I didn’t see one every mile. At Mile 4, I’d felt like I’d been out there for a longer time that I really had and that’s when I realized I hadn’t really taken in any calories other than the energy drink I downed while walking to the packet pickup area. I started to feel dizzy. Was I bonking at Mile 4??? Soon after that there was an aid station. I ran thru it, but grabbed two gels, a cup of Gatorade which I drank immediately, and a cup of water to wash the gels down with. I ate one gel upon finishing the Gatorade and chased it with the cup of water. About 5 minutes later I took the other gel. Another mile and a half down the trail, at the turnaround point, there was another aid station. I took another gel and another cup of water. My energy was returning. I saw Jess out on the course and we whooped and laughed and gave each other some encouragement. I ran back to aid station where I finished Lap 1 and started Lap 2 with much more energy.

Upon starting Lap 2, I took another gel, and chased it with water. I hit the Mile 9 marker at 1:15:30. I was still in good shape. I felt great and was glad I had the idea of using lots of gel to bring my energy back. On this lap I saw Jess again and we had a quick word about calling a tow truck when she got done with her half marathon. At that point, I thought to myself…it’s insured…if it falls in the ditch, then so be it. It’s just a car. I kept going and feeling good. I took a gel and water at the next three aid stations. After this, I started drinking Gatorade because the gels were adding up and starting to upset my stomach. Lap 2 was pretty uneventful for the most part. I made sure I cheered the other Maniacs as I passed them by. So far I was the fastest Maniac in the race.

Lap 3 got a little more difficult. I started taking gels again. Jess was done with her race so I had no one to look forward to running with. At mile 16, the timer said 2:27:51 so I was still in good shape, but my legs were feeling a bit tired. I still hadn’t stopped to walk yet. Another Maniac (Rick Korecki, Maniac #106) caught up with me and ran with me for a bit. We chatted about running trails and how the Disney Marathon is hell on a runner’s feet and knees. He told me it was really awesome seeing more Maniacs in Florida. After about 5 minutes he picked up the pace and left me behind. At about Mile 20 I started slowing down because my legs felt a bit stiff. No ITB pain, no quad pain, but my hip flexor started to flare up a bit. I started feeling like I was shuffling. But I kept going. I’m sure my splits went into the 11s here, but I had no timer. I took two more gels at the next aid station. Those would be the last two I’d be able to stomach. After eating those two gels, my belly started yelling at me. So I laid off of them. But they did their job and at Mile 23 I started picking up the pace again. I ran past Mile 24 where I met up with a girl who looked like she was having a hard time. She asked if she could pace with me, which of course was fine, so we ran together and chatted a while. This was the end of the third full lap and the start of the fourth, which was an abbreviated version of the first three. At about 24.5 we both stopped to walk. I had almost made it a full marathon without walking, but I really needed to breathe for a few minutes. My stomach was killing me. I felt like I had loads of energy but my legs were stiff and my stomach was upset. We walked to just past the timer at approximately 24.75 miles which said 3:54:27. During the race, there was a guy that I’d been doing the pass you/pass me thing with and during our walk, he passed me. He was not running fast at all and I knew I could catch him. So, I told her at that point that I wanted to catch that guy and I took off. Just past Mile 25, I caught him and put a good distance between us. I ran hard for that last mile and saw that I had at least a minute or two lead on him just in that last half mile. I must have been flying, or he really slowed down even more after I passed him. I ran past Mile 26, and saw that I had really caught up with Rick, who had at least a 5 minute lead on me at one point. I’d made up all but about 40 seconds of that in the last few miles of the race. This was the most significant late-in-the-race push I’ve ever accomplished. I sprinted to the finish line, crossing in 4:06:55, four seconds better than my 2006 Gasparilla Marathon time, which was a road race. My goal here was to run a trail marathon in the same time I ran the Disney Marathon (a road race of course, ran it in 4:20) two weeks before. I really blew it away. It turns out the guy that I caught up with at Mile 25 was in my age group and by beating him I secured a second place AG finish. He came in more than three minutes behind me.


Remember my nutrition BEFORE the race...but really, I think my strategy for getting my energy back will work well as a regular race strategy and might help me break 4 hours again.

After it was over, my legs really felt sore. I tried to stretch a bit but they were really tight. So I had some water and Gatorade, met up with Jess, who cheered me in at the finish, and sat down a bit. I asked her if I still had a car and she told me that one of the guys with a big truck pulled everyone out. So I went over and shook his hand, thanked him, and had a little laugh at my expense. After a little bit of resting and a quick chat with Rick, I was anxious to leave and get home. So we gathered our stuff, I changed my shirt, and we headed on out in my muddy dirty car.


Lack of pre-race nutrition due to car-in-the-ditch stress.


This isn't the best race management company, but they're certainly not the worst. I was less dissatisfied with this race than I was with the Wild Man Tri last year. I did think the race fees were way expensive ($70) for the quality of the race, but they did have unlimited supplies of gels, and you don't always see that in small-name races. I'd do this one again, only because it was an enjoyable course and a beautiful day.