Sunday morning, things were not looking good. Conventional wisdom is
that you want a good sleep the two nights before a race. Friday
night/Saturday morning I woke up early and often. Saturday itself was
very busy (that is another post), and I did not get to bed until 11:00
and I woke up at 4:00 with cramps. I was tired and did not feel good.
But, I had been training for this for months, and spent $45 to run a
long ways, so I was going to give it a try.

Conventional wisdom
also tells you to hydrate by drinking a lot. I drank a glass of water
and a 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade for breakfast, along with two
English muffins with raspberry jelly for the carbs. Mer, ever
supportive of her insane husband, was up early for the privilege of
getting to see me for about a total of 1 minute during the actual race
– in this case, the start, once in the middle, and at the end. I
married me a good ‘un.

Anyway, after I went to the bathroom
(again), we climbed into the car and started off north. I got all of a
half hour away before I had to stop at a gas station to use the
bathroom again. Then, we made it another 15 minutes before I stopped at
school to use the bathroom. Again. We finally made it to our
destination around 7:30 a.m. for the 8:00 start time. By 8:00, I really
had to go to the bathroom. Again. So started my first ever
half-marathon at the Cuyahoga Valley Towpath Half-Marathon.

Here
is my “before” picture standing in front of the Boston Mills ski slope.
For those of you not from NE Ohio, there is one major valley, known as
“The Valley.” Everyone around here will know what you are talking
about. The few ski slopes in the area ski down into the Valley. As far
as I could see, Boston Mills makes my hometown ski slope, Spruce
Mountain, look huge. But I digress.

Despite the sleep and
bathroom issues, the day itself was shaping up to be a wonderful day
for running. The sun was out (if not yet really over the horizon), and
the starting temperature was somewhere in the low 50s. This is the
first year the Towpath Marathon had offered a half-marathon, so there
were about twice as many people at the starting line as had been in
previous years – probably close to 900. I somehow was near the front
(probably from my wandering up to the starting line early to stretch).
The organizers had a man sing the National Anthem just before the race
started. There is something special about hearing “The Star Spangled
Banner” in the early morning light with a bunch of anxious runners who
all cheer when they hear the song. Neat.

Anyway, the race
started, and I started running. As an additional bonus to my morning, I
had forgotten my watch, so I had no idea how fast I was running. I just
started running at a pace I thought was comfortable. To my great
surprise, I started passing a lot of people. To be fair, the
marathoners were in the group, so they had a long ways to go yet. But,
still, I was surprised. I have not been a “passer” in many a year, and
I was worried that I was going out too fast. Without my watch, I had no
way to know, but I felt good, so I just kept running. Well, I mostly
felt good. (***ATTENTION – perhaps too much personal
information ahead!***) I really really needed a tree so I
could relieve myself, but the first two miles of the race were on a
road, so there was no good opportunity. Even after we got into the
park, things were looking dim on the bathroom front. The few
porta-potties on the course had lines, and I have no great aversion to
using the woods (I did grow up in Maine, after all).

Imagine my
surprise when I rediscovered that the Towpath (as in an old towpath)
had a river on one side, and the old canal on the other. I did not
relish the idea of getting my feet wet to go to the bathroom, plus I
did not want to go in a body of water. Plus, I am shy, and I prefer a
private area for these things. If I seem to be spending much time on
this issue, I am. It was a very important issue to me! I did not find a
nice field until around the four-mile mark. I tore my legs up on
pricker bushes, but boy, was it worth it. I felt so much better!

I
also felt good. I still had no idea how fast I was going, but I felt
strong and I was still passing people. I was worried about burning out,
but for the time being, I went with it. I also discovered that for much
of the race, I was with serious runners who were focused. While most of
the runners would respond to a “Nice job!” or “Good morning!”, that was
it. There was very little banter or conversation. This is odd to me,
since I have often hooked up with another runner in long races just by
chatting. Odd.

Anyway, the trail was stunningly beautiful. The
sunlight was slanting through the trees (keeping us in shade!), the
leaves were pretty and falling and smelling wonderful. My body felt
great, and I experienced some rare moments of true beauty.

As the
myriad fans of Musings know, I am a Christian. My faith is largely
intellectual – Christianity makes sense to me, logically and
intellectually. I occasionally “feel” God, but not often. I am 1) male,
2) from Maine, and 3) a Riordan, so I do not express emotion very well,
so sometimes I struggle to have an emotional link to God. Sunday, God
gave me one of those rare times. I was surrounded by natural beauty and
I was rejoicing in the gift of my body – I felt strong and “the nature”
around me was so beautiful. I felt a peace and love that connected me
back to God. What a great feeling. Those moments are rare, but are so
worth the training.

The trail also has some pretty cool man-made
stuff going on too. Since the trail is in the Valley, we got to run
under one of the bridges spanning the Valley. I don’t often get to see
a 150-foot bridge from the underside, but it is pretty darn cool. There
are also some remains of the old canal still in existence too. I’ll
have to bring Sonotmu there sometime – he likes bridges, and OrangeJoJo
will like the trail too (Orange leaves! Everywhere!).

I got to
the 6.7-mile turn-around spot (a painted dot on the trail) and I turned
around. I was still feeling great. I felt a little wind in my face, and
that worried me – maybe I had been feeling good because of a tailwind,
and now I was going to have to run 6 miles into that wind. But after a
minute or so, I never noticed the wind again.

Soon after the turn around, a man I passed announced “only 45 minutes
left to go” and I thought he was nuts. We still had 6 or so miles to go
– that is almost an hour by my normal pace. Still, I took this as a
good sign – maybe I was going fast, and I still felt good.

I got
to see Mer at a trail head around mile 9. I love that she supports me.
It gives me something to look forward to, and for all her waiting and
patience, she gets a nasty, sweaty kiss for her troubles.

After
the morale boost from Mer at the trail head, I only had about 4 miles
to go. Mile 9-10 was the first time I started to feel tired, but I was
still passing people. Finally, at mile 10 (3 miles to go), I started to
get really tired, but I also managed to strike up a conversation with
another runner. He had run a half-marathon before, and he was running
about my pace. I told him my goal was to break two hours, and he said
that was not going to be a problem – we were going much faster than
that.

At that point, we started pushing each other – I did not
want to leave him by my walking, so although I was tired, I kept up the
strong pace. A shared burden really is easier (especially when some
competition is involved!). I was taking things one mile at a time, and
I was determined that my will could be exerted to keep my tired legs
pumping along. I was very happy when we got to mile 12 – only one more
mile to go. There was a group of three of us by that time running
together. We pushed each other until we could hear the finish line.
Brian (the runner I had hooked up with at mile 10) gave us some
encouragement and took off. I got to the finish area (the Boston Mills
General Store) and passed the 13 mile mark. You would think that .1
mile would not be much – only about 530 feet. How hard could that be?
Darn hard! I gutted it in as hard as I could. I was thrilled – I had
shattered my goal, and I had “left it all on the course” – I had run
hard and was beat. I was thrilled. What a great day!

For
those who like numbers, here they are. I am very proud of this race. I
had a goal of breaking 2 hours with a secret goal of 1:45 (I always
have a secret pie-in-the-sky goal). I broke both! 🙂

 

 

 

2006 Towpath Half-Marathon (13.1 miles), Sunday October 8:

1:40:28 finish time, 7:40/mile pace

Finished 9th out of 37 in my class (35-39, male) and finished 47th out of 399 overall.

What a great race. Thanks to Mer for her uncomplaining support and thanks to God for some very special moments.