Hi friends,
Guess what, i did my second marathon - the Graz City Herbsmarathon on 22.10.95.
short version: Wheather was perfect, 5C at the start, 10C at the finish, cloudy but with a bit of sun perking through now and then. The course was predominantly flat without any tight corners. Improved my PR by 25 minutes to 3:58:27. Strange shallow feeling when I finished exactly on schedule with no blisters, no problems, no cramps.
long version: Finishing the Boston marathon this spring as a bandit runner in 4:21:59 was an emotional event like few others I have had in my life. I had run quite a bit for a year before that but had no idea what to expect in a race over this distance. I had only once attempted half that distance in one chunk and when i found myself standing at the starting line in Hopkinton i could not believe that i actually was getting myself into this. My only goal was to finish and i very much doubted that i could do it. Without experience I started out too fast, running based on physical preparation for the first 15K and from then on just ran with my heart. I walked here and but when i finished i was exhilerated. I had accomplished something that i never thought i could do, in a way that i was soooo proud of. The emotional value of this moment was on a par with that when i was married to the woman of my dreams a few years earlier, and way above everything else.
After this race, i was eternally hooked, I started accumulating running related information from books, journals, and the Dead Runners Society (DRS). Especially the latter provided me with a unlimited supply of information about training right, judging my abilitites, planning race day, and setting a feasable pace (not to mention a unending stream of bad jokes). Many thanks to all who have helped me. I officially registered well in advance for the marathon in the city that i now live in, I had my trainings schedule set up many months before and just plugged along (many thanks Benji for the wonderful set of instructions). I did some major carbo-loading the few days before the race and felt well prepared for the start. I knew that I could go sub 4 hours based on a PR of 49 minutes set during training and I calculated a feasable pace at 5:40 per Km.
I met Leo and proceeded with him to the start. On DRS I had been inspired by tales of people running in costumes and i had decided to run dressed as the Grazer Uhrturm, the clock tower a characteristic building of Graz (see my signature below) - "The Mark O'Leary" had commented on a striking similarity with a - gasp - fire hydrant. I padded a t-shirt with foam to resemble the overall shape, ironed on the clock face and roof and was ready to go. The starting gun went off and i realized very quickly that doing stuff like that does not come cheap and within 3K i decided that it hindered me so much that i endangered the entire plan if i would go on in my costume. I dropped it, pinned the number to my normal running shirt, and finally succeeded in settling into a decent rhythm.
I followed DRS suggestions by just moving at a comfortable pace for the first 10K and I found that many people passed me. A bulk of around 100 runners edged ahead at a pace that was slightly faster than comfortable and i let them go. Leo must have felt pretty good and went on with them. Over the next 10K i kept on pace with even splits of 5:40/K and began to pass about 5 times as many runners as passed me. I hit half marathon distance at 1:57 (2 minutes ahead of schedule) and felt adequate. I could see the large group of runners about 1 K in front and there was another group about the same distance back. After the first half everybody had found the pace that they could sustain and the distance to the group ahead stayed the same mile after mile. I only passed those runners that dropped out of the pack ahead, who curled up to die. I felt like a machine, did not think much about anything, did not have to fight any big difficulties, walked at all the watering holes drinking isostar and grabbed a banana here and there, compared my splits with the schedule once a while and consistently stayed those two minutes ahead. I did not interact much with people on the side of the road because there weren't many, did not talk much to other runners, because they were too far in front or back - I just plugged along.
I could start to feel my legs getting tired with 12K to go but not badly so. With 10K to go i decided to dig into my reserves and see what i had left there. I felt i picked up my pace considerably and passed some folks who were walking. When i looked at my splits for the next two K i was really disappointed to find that with all that effort i had only gone at 5:35 a K (a measely 5 seconds faster!) and i felt that my juice was being drained at an alarming rate. Dropping back to my normal pace i then went on without ever considering that i would not finish. Once a while i thought that it might be more pleasant to stop and walk, but i was never close to doing that. The last few K became a hard piece of work but i remained on schedule and passed the finish at 3:58:27. Leo had gone through exactly two minutes ahead of me.
I was proud that i finished exactly the way I had planned but i was surprised how shallow this feeling was. I guess i would have been seriously dissapointed if i would not have finished within 4 hours because i knew that it was in me. I passed the finish line, and thought "yeah", and that was it. "So where am i gonna get my bag with clothing from?" and "How am i gonna get back to my place?" were the next thoughts that came across my mind. None of that "tears running down my face" and "hugging everybody in sight" stuff. It felt very mechanical the way i had carefully prepared for something for a long time and then just gone out and getting it done. I am not complaining, i am glad that i did it, i am happy that i had the discipline to accomplish it, and it is probably not that often that one improves on a PR by about 10% - its just that it does not mean the same to me as the first marathon in Boston when i was struggling against all odds. Am I weird or have other people gone through the same experience - that is something that i dont read about in books.
I am gonna sign off for a long and good nights sleep, stay well
lobsterman