Holualoa Tucson Marathon - RunMarathon

This was a different race for me today. I’m not going to dwell on medical issues I had leading up to today, about knee problems or even the chest cold that took me out two weeks ago. Those things where in the past today was about running and trying to beat my last "run" at this distance of 7hr 29min.

Going into today I felt if I followed the Jeff Galloway’s run/walk plan I'd have a chance of not only beating that time but coming in at <6hours. To stack the deck in my favor even more my buddy Commodore and my brother Dan both volunteered to forgo their own running pace and needs to run alongside me the whole 26.2 miles. These two guys where great and I’m telling everyone there is no better feeling than knowing that you have friends and family that didn’t even blink or hesitate when asked to push me through 26.2 miles of desert. Without these two I know I would not have finished today’s run.

My day started off in a daze, I don’t think I actually fully woke up until I found myself standing in line for the port-a-potty in 41’F at 7 in the morning. This was not the largest event I ever been in and in fact it comes real close to being the smallest at only 1,017 runners and with that small of a pack a very far BOP (back of the packer) like my self found that after only 2 minutes into the day I was already nearly dead last.

I started off right away into a 2 min run 1 min walk routine with Commodore and Dan trying to adjust to such an odd concept of starting out walking from the get go but they settled right in and started taking turns setting the pace so all I had to do was fall in behind them and maintain the stride (easier said the done). For a all downhill course the 1st few miles seemed to have a lot of up. Nothing Earth shattering but enough to get my heart rate climbing and take a little off my pace. 6 hours of this pace seemed very doable at this early stage but I was still cautious about pushing too hard this early.

As we approached the 10k mark our pace averaged to just above 13min/mile that is note worthy for 3 reasons. First it’s the fastest I’ve ever ran 6.1 miles in a event. Second it is faster than the planned pace for the day but not too much faster and finally my brother calculated that we need to pick the pace up in order to meet the overall time goal.
Pick the pace up we did, I slipped in right behind him in a running position I’ve only seen on TV. I could not help but to smile, I was actually running along drafting off of someone. If you’re a runner or even an average runner this may seem like no big deal but for me it was huge. The pace only dropped into the 11’s a few times mostly it was in the low 12’s or course with 1 minute of fast walking in between but this took a big toll on me over the next 4.5 miles.

By the time we hit mile 11 my knees where starting to buckle every time I transitioned from run to walk. My left knee, which has been hurting for several weeks, now escalated from a dull ache to pain with every step. Apparently, I looked as bad as I felt because although they didn’t tell me until later that night Commodore and Dan thought I was done and told each other to keep a closer eye on me. They both quickly adjusted to this new challenge of not finishing within some time goal but lets just finish this thing. Commodore made the command decision to switch off the 2/1 min run plan in move into a small victories routine. “We are running to that sign. Now! Move!”, “Great job, walk to that bush”, repeat.
Over the past few miles I started shedding clothes (because of the cold start I had several layers of gear on that now Dan and Commodore where wearing tied around their waist) and despite this “lightening of the load” Dan noticed that I had a bigger problem. I wasn’t sweating any more. He started almost forcing me to drink or take in some sort of nutrition every time we slowed down.

The loop between miles and 11 and 13.7 were painful and hilly but we only lost about 12 minutes overall. Somehow I managed to push thru that portion and dug deep to pick up the pace and pushed hard. Looking back, miles 14 to 20 seemed the most enjoyable. There where some long run segments and some long walk segments but overall we had a great pace going and the landmark on the mountain range in which we theorized was where the finish line was got closer with each step forward.

As I mentioned I was firmly seated in the back of the pack in fact some folks had dropped out by this point and I even managed to pass two ladies back at mile 12 (in a daze). I only mention this because by this time all the other runners have pasted the aide stations and their volunteers have long gone and only little oasis in the desert remain. They had left the aide stations up with water, some other kind of drink and various supplies. I never had to stop once because either Dan or Commodore would run up in advance and replenish the supplies so I could keep moving forward.

For five miles we didn’t see another sole except the folks in the ambulance that followed us for a mile or so. I’m still not sure what that was about but I refused to look at them for fear they may have taken that as a sign that I was done. As we rounded a corner at mile 19 we saw two spectators in the distance, the only two we’ve seen since mile 4 in fact (besides volunteers). Dan ran up ahead to show the spectators some love; he’s that kind of guy. I fell in behind Commodore for yet another run segment and as I got closer I realized that the two spectators were Tony (AzTriClub member) and his fiancée Misty hanging out in lawn chairs with some gold Gatorade patiently waiting for us to come trotting past. It was one great feeling to see a familiar face so far from home and so long into the day.

The day was coming to a close but we still had 6 miles to go. Each mile seemed longer than the last and each step seemed to hurt a little more but I was not going to quit, that’s not in me.

My time goal was 6 hours and at that time I still had a little more than 2 miles to go a the cones have long since been picked up but we where going to finish.

When we finally crossed the finish line all the spectators have long since gone most the volunteers have gone or where busy packing things away except for a couple of folks who stopped what they where doing to record our times and cheer us across where the finish line used to be set up.

This event is going to go down in my books as one of my most memorable events. Not because how well I did, even though I beat my time for this distance by over 41 minutes, but because of the unique experience of running such and event along side 2 great guys that laughed, joked and cheered all day long. These events are normally an exercise in solitude today we where a team getting the slowest link past one more milestone.


By the way, I almost forgot to mention that my brother Dan started the day by stating he doesn’t know 500 jokes so instead he was going to tell 1 joke 500 times. Starting from 1 minute into the day we hear in a loud cheerful voice: “ So, did you hear what one lesbian frog said to the other lesbian frog?” He had a different punch line every time it was told, not sure if he got to 500 but I’d bet he was close.


This was a mildstone for me but once again weight has a major role in my performace.

I made a few "rookie" mistakes most of which I knew better than to make but as time drug on during the day my brain went on vaction.
1. Nutrition was an issue from the start, I didn’t eat well enough in the morning and not soon enough within the day. Including drinking enough. This one thing is probably the most damaging because was your deficient you never really catch back up to normal.
2. I wore my favorite running shirt which I have run many hours in, however this day started at 41’F which had an effect on my nipples as one might expect which resulted in some seriously bloody spots on my favorite shirt (AzTriClub running shirt) by mile 8, ouch!
3. Missed a few spots with the sports glide an as a result , received a few seriously sore spots that is most noticeable to me when I’m sitting.
4. Thought I cut my toe nails back far enough but the blackness of my left big toe nail tells me otherwise.
5. Didn’t apply sun screen, even Tucson is the Arizona desert and I have the sunburn to prove it.

I sat right down next to the finish and waited for the truck to hual me off to the closes beer. Boy did that taste good.


ME


Small venue but the people I had contact with truly seemed helpful and interested in making sure all the runners had the best time they could have. A few of the folks went out of their way to help others, not sure if these folks where the race dirctors or simply great volunteers, either way they made the day beeter.