Steamtown Marathon - RunMarathon

Well here is the deal, if though I am embarassed to say, I did not finished. I decided to blog it on BT because I thought it was a good learning experince for me and could help someone else to not make the same mistake I did.

So here is my story:
Three weeks before the race I was on one of my long runs and I somehow injuried my knee. That night I did all the right things, like put ice on it, and take advil. Two days after I did the long run, I went out with a group of friends on our regular tueday run. During the run I discovered that I was still having pain (not extreme) and decided that I needed to take some time off. So over the next two weeks I only did three slow runs and nothing over 6 miles. I thought this would be a good tamper, but also I was scared because I thought I might not have trained enough to take that much time off. I did do some swimming during tampering and after the two weeks my knee did feel better.

So fast foward to race day.............
I got there a good hour before the race and did some light stretching and met some new people from all over the U.S. Every single person gave me the same advice: DONT GO OUT TO FAST. So before the race I decided that I would not go faster than a 8 min mile pace.

So it is 8 am and a cannon goes off starting the race. The first mile I felt really good and my time was 8:08. I thought to myself, "Wow, that is not a bad time, I can pick up the pace a little". So the next, few miles which were primary down hill I increased my pace every mile. By the time I hit the 8 mile mark I felt good, and did not have any knee problems. At the 10 mile mark I was a little under a 8 min mile pace with a 1 hour 17 mins time. At that time I decided to slow the pace down and try and leave some energy. During the first 13 miles I only grabbed 2 waters/gateraides (another bad idea).

Mile 13 hits and I really not paying attention, and I trip on a manhole cover (It had to be with my left leg that I injuried). At first I felt a little twinge in my knee but then a shotting pain down the leg. I decide that I should stop for a min and try and see if I could walk it off. After about a mile of walking the knee problem got worse and the ball of my feet were killing me!!!! I attempted to try and run numerous times but the pain was so bad I could barely stand it. I decided that I would walk until the next view point and just have my Fiance Nadine take me home. Well, I thought that the view point was at mile 16 but could not remember. So, I continued to walk/jog/run mile after mile. I found out after the race that Nadine thought she missed me and went to the finish line. So here I was at mile 18 wondering where the hell my fiance is, and I decided that I would try and finish the race. So I started to do a light jog. I figured I could at least run every other mile. So mile 18 went by ok, with a 10 min/mile pace. I walk about half of mile 19 and ran mile 19.5 to mile 20. At mile 20 there was a gradual incline, so I decided I should walk it to be safe. When I started walking the hill, I started to cramp up in my calves and thighs. The calves were so tight I could barely walk. I stopped and tried to stretch but the lack of fluids had taken it tool. My muscles in my arms started to cramp up and I knew that was not good. I got to the water stop before mile 21 and decided to stop. The cramping muscle were so bad I could barely stand. I took the bus back to the finish line and I was severely dissapointed.

So on the bus back, there were 4 other people who did not finish the race. All of them were saying how "this is my last marathon, I am ever doing one again". Then some one asked me if I would run one again. My response "hell yeah".



1. Eat before the race- even if it is some thing small

2. Go out slower and dont look for a specific time just try and finish

3. Train more- I dont believe I had enough core training in before the race.

4. Hydra more during the race- This isn't a 5K and I need to rehydrate otherwise I will cramp up.

5. watch out for pot holes...haha

Tried to stretch.


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It was a great race... I just did not prepare. I would recommend it to anyone for a marathon.