Columbus Marathon
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Columbus Marathon - RunMarathon
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Comments: I was running this marathon with my older brother. He asked me to run it with him 6 months ago. I pointed him in the right direction for a training plan and off he went. To be honest, I never thought he would stick to the plan, and I thought life would get in the way, and he would opt out of the race. I had no plans on doing this race this year. I had already completed one marathon (Pittsburgh) and a HIM, so I was happy and ready for the season to be done. Once he did his 20 mile run, I figured he was "all in" and I went ahead and signed up. I'm very glad he stuck with the training plan! My brother will likely never read this. He has never even heard of this website. I wanted to run this with him and see him succeed for many reasons. My brother is recently divorced and is now a single father of 2 kids. He has been through a lot over the past 8 + years. He has always put everyone else first and never focused on his happiness. I was happy that he decided to train for this, but even more excited when I realized he completed the training and was ready to go. It meant a lot to do this with my big brother - someone i've always looked up to. As we were in the corral waiting on the race to start, I looked around at the many people that surrounded us. I saw one girl by the fence talking to who appeared to be her dad. Just before the gun went off, I saw her crying and I wondered what her story was. I'm sure there were a lot of people there with a "story." It's amazing what motivates us to train for months at a time for an event that will last a few hours, but cause us days of physical discomfort and pain.....very interesting. The gun went off and we were doing the shuffle until things broke free. As soon as we started I had to go to the bathroom......really bad. I hit the porta-john at the first aid station. Apparently, lots of people had the same idea, so I had to wait for a few minutes to get in. Joe waited for me. Once we got started again, the miles seemed to tick away. Before I knew it, we were passing the half mark. Both Joe and I were feeling great. I remember telling Joe that this is where our race started. Shortly after the half, slight pain began setting in on my feet, but I pressed on. I saw Brue at mile 15. I knew he would be there, so I was looking forward to giving him a shout-out. As i ran by him, he was running along with me snapping photos. Right after we past Brue, Joe informed me that he had to go to the bathroom really bad, and said he might be in there for a few minutes. I knew what he meant and I began scoping for a porta-john. We finally found one at about mile 16ish. I kept moving while Joe was in the John. I knew that if I stopped running it would be tough to start again, so I did loops around the porta-johns until Joe came out. While he was in there, the 4:30 pace group has passed us. He eventually came out and we got back to it. Our goal was to finish in under 4:30. By mile 18 I asked Joe how he was feeling. He said h was hurting pretty bad. When asked where he was hurting, he responded, "everywhere." I couldn't help but laugh. I was starting to hurt pretty bad myself. I think the slow pace is what really hurt me the most. At one point, Joe told me to go ahead and leave him if I felt good. He said numerous times that he didn't want to hold me back. I refused to leave him. I wanted to make sure he finished because I knew what this would do for him and how it would make him feel. Our pace continued to slow. At about mile 20, Joe's pace slowed even more, but he refused to stop running. I would look over to check on him and he would be 10 or so feet behind me. I would slow down to wait for him and try to keep him motivated. I tried to prepare him for the various stages of pain he would experience and the infamous "wall." At the beginning of the race, I told Joe that we would mentally break the run down to 2 10 mile runs and a 10k. I reminded him of what we had already accomplished and that we were on the home stretch. Between miles 22 and 23, Joe fell further and further back. I tried to wait for him, but at this point, I was hurting really bad and needed to keep going. If my pace slowed any more, I was going to be walking. I knew how it would feel to start running again, so I kept going. I knew I would finish before Joe, but I felt he was at a point in the race where he would finish no matter what. I knew he would make it. I went ahead and kept a comfortable pace and cruised towards the finish. The last 2 miles were really long. My feet were hurting beyond belief. I eventually got to the 1/2 mile to go flag and began to get really excited. I was a little bummed that we wouldn't cross the finish line together, but was excited that it was almost over and I just focused on getting it done and being there to greet my brother. I made the turn on to Nationwide and was so happy to see the finish! Went through the finish with my hands raised. I was afraid to stop when I went through. I had ran the entire time (minus my bathroom stops). I did stop and it felt really good to be done. I saw my wife, my mom, and my niece and nephew. They asked where Joe was and I told them he would be crossing very soon. 12 minutes later, I heard Joe's name called and he crossed the finish line with a huge smile on his face and his fists in the air.I was waiting for him in the finish chute. I was so happy that he had completed his goal. I know it meant so much to him. We hugged it out for a few seconds, got our picture taken and got some refreshments. What would you do differently?: Even though I missed my goal 8 minutes, I wouldn't do anything differently. I was still 10 minutes faster than my Pittsburgh marathon time. Post race
Warm down: Haha, nothing.....I had my wife drive us back to my car because neither one of us could stomach the thought of walking back to it. From a nutritional standpoint, I took 2 gels and a pack of shot blocks during the entire race. I didn't drink anything until the 3rd aid station. I mixed it up and took in an equal amount of water and gatorade throughout the race. Everything seemed spot on. I got home and took a shower. The hot water felt amazing! Then I did exactly what you should do after running a marathon..... rehydrated with Amstel Light.......Ahhhhhhhhh Event comments: Volunteers were awesome. Aid stations were great, too. However, I was expecting to see some grapes and orange slices on the course, especially at the 20 mile + aid stations. Last updated: 2010-10-03 12:00 AM
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2010-10-18 11:41 PM |
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2010-10-19 6:34 AM in reply to: #3159486 |
2010-10-19 8:17 AM in reply to: #3159486 |
2010-10-19 9:04 AM in reply to: #3159486 |
2010-10-19 1:43 PM in reply to: #3159486 |
2010-10-19 4:15 PM in reply to: #3159486 |
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United States
Columbus Marathon
60isF / 0C
Sunny
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Got up, showered, and had a protein shake. My brother Joe got to my house at about 6:15 and we drive downtown together.
walked about 1/2 mile to the start, did some light stretching, went to the bathroom and got in our corral (3).