Where to start? This was my 6th marathon this past Sunday in Eugene and each ‘thon has been like a fortune cookie, you simply have no idea what you are going to get. In fact I cringed each time someone asked me what time I was shooting for….ummm…well…anything in the 2:40′s would be great was my canned response. If I have learned anything from my previous experience it is that you MUST respect the marathon. Get too cocky and you are likely to suffer a huge serving of Humble Pie, not to mention acute suffering over the final miles.
Back in 05 in Chicago I had an out-of-body experience in mile 26. My body was so depleted of energy that my vision was akin to what you would see on a TV with bad reception using rabbit ears. Fuzzy and a picture that is bouncing around. My wife, Denise, ran alongside me with about a quarter mile to go, yelling encouragement. When we were united in the finishers area I asked her “where were you”? She thought I couldn’t have been serious…but I was.
Why the marathon you might ask? What could possibly be the allure many people inquire? Well, for runners there is no high that equals taking on and conquering a marathon. It is both a physical and spiritual challenge. In a nutshell once you have tackled the marathon you will never be able to get any where near as excited about your local Turkey Trot. Simple as that…
Back to the Eugene Marathon. The alarm sounds at 5am and wow I was actually asleep. You mean I slept most of the night before a marathon? Really? Not before Boston or Chicago, rather just rolling back and forth all night. This is a great sign. Outside, steady dose of rain with temps in the high 40′s. Pretty decent for running, bit of a bummer for spectating. Oh well, can’t have everything.
After a quick breakfast and thorough gearing up I am ready to hit the road. Off to meet the Bavarian Bullet, Thomas Kreuzpeintner, at Skinners Park (you need spellcheck for that last name?). Once there we jog over to the start, about a mile and a half I would gather. Unfortunately I feel like crap during this warmup but maybe that has something to do with the bag of clothes that I am carrying in my left hand and the full 16 oz water bottle that is in my right? I shake it off because you can never predict your day by how your warmup feels. BTW, the Bavarian Bullet goes on to finish 7th overall in the half with a time of 1:16:07.
Near the start I see my Hacker brothers in full force, Orin (Shoe) Schumacher, K.C. (King of Smack) Taylor, Gordon (Cappy) Cully, Bavarian Bullet, Tod (Hazel) Harris, Josh (Diesel) Masterson, Larry (Big Lar) Coxe and our long lost brother Mac (the knife) Mcarthur. Dudes are pumped for this one! And one thing you need to know is that you can’t be a Hacker without a Hacker nickname…obviously. What is a Hacker you might ask? Well, it’s a workingman’s band of guys and gals that have a passion for training, racing and beating Red Lizards (this is out of the upmost respect of course). We don’t have any fancy singlets, in fact we can’t even agree on a group logo, most of us are over the hill, but we love nothing more then to run and heckle each other in the process.
BOOM, gun goes off. Game Day baby!! First mile in 6:20 after negotiating a rise near Fairmont and a bunch of folks blasting off the gun from the full and half that are running together. Next mile in 6:06, better but includes nice downhill section coming down 24th and my heart rate is already inching up into Mid to High 160′s. The plan is simple, keep the HR in the mid 160′s through the halfway point and then let it ride up to 170 late in the race. This is what the Dog can do…so keep it simple STUPID.
The first couple miles I’m running with Shoe and around the two mile mark Mike Tyler joins the pack. I spot them both a couple seconds at 5k but soon they start easing away from me. This is where I start the conversation with myself (more about that later). Mile 5 is 6:19 uphill to Martin, not bad, but while my HR is looking OK, my body is sending signals that this is work. Not a good sign this early in a thon. I am not running easily but rather negotiating the pace. Mile 6 downhill in 6:10…thanks, needed that. Mile 7-10 are all between 6:15 and 6:20 pace…right where I thought my average for the race would be. I hit 10 miles in 1:02:44 (6:16 avg). Whatever, way to early to read much into this.
Back to marathon strategy for a quick second. In my only experience with a marathon where I didn’t have an encounter with the dreaded WALL, my PR, I never felt like I was racing until sometime after halfway. Instead, I felt the first half of the race was similar to a brisk training run. Not today, I was working already around mile 6. I chatted for a bit with a young Red Lizard and I was able to shake out of him that he was running the half, not the full. Then we approached a crossroad just before 11 miles where the halfs went left while the fulls went right. To my surprise a young runner in front of me sporting a big tat on his calf turned right. I had surmised based on some erratic running that he was only going 13. Anyway, I can still see Tyler a bit in front of me but Shoe is starting to move out of the picture (he ends up going 2:42:40).
Here is where I continue talking to myself, “run your own race Ken”, “stick to the plan”. A few miles later I get another message that reads something like this “Houston, I think we have a problem”. Miles 12 and 13 are 6:22 and then 6:25. Uh oh, am I slowing down already? Am I headed towards 6:30+ miles now? I hit the half in 1:22:44, right on target, but I am not feeling it, this is more work then it should be. Mile 14 I rally back a bit for 6:21 and pass a couple of runners. Miles 15 & 16 might have made my race as I squeeze out 6:14 and 6:16 and pass a couple more runners while keeping the young guy with the tat within striking distance. Mile 17 is 6:25 and I get passed by a tall guy in white. At least I have a little company now. Mile 18 is 6:18…keeping it together, get me to 20 miles pretty please! 19 and 20 are both low 6:20′s.
I hit twenty miles in 2:06:13, now I need a 40 min final 10k to run 2:46 I tell myself. 39 minutes gets me 2:45. I get some company from a guy in red while the tall guy and young guy are still within striking distance. We cross the Owasso bridge and now we are on the west side of the river. I’m smelling the barn but look down at my watch and realize I still have 34-35 minutes of running left. Damn, this is going to be a BITCH….
21 and 22 are in 6:30 and 6:25. Two problems, we are now running up river while I’m also running low on fuel. I realize here that a 39 min last 10k will not be in the cards, however, if I can keep pace I can still manage 40 min. 23 miles is 6:30 and I am keeping pace with the two guys in front of me while hoping there will soon be some carcasses that went out way too fast. 24 and 25 I respond back a bit with two 6:27′s and pass the tall guy. Finally I make it to EWEB and now I can really smell the barn. Pic at 24.5 miles (http://www.endorphiends.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=10356). Notice Taylor, Wolfe and Baker in the background.
From behind me I can hear some commotion as ultra runners Lewis Taylor and Scott Wolfe are gaining chunks of ground on me and they both pass me before the 40k mat. This envigorates me a bit as I see Taylor charging hard (about 5:45 pace I would gather). I take inventory and likewise start my charge for the finish. I’m gaining a bit on the young tat guy while looking at my watch to get an idea of my overall elapsed time. No time to do calculations I tell myself as I’m now in the last mile of the race and finishing the last stretch of the lonely bike path.
We go right under the railroad trussel and now we are mixing it up with the half marathon finishers. Here I try to calculate the distance that is still left and I start to feel a twinge in my groin area…it’s about to blow…cramps that is. Another young guy in a blue singlet comes from behind while the tat guy is starting to feel some serious pain…and letting out gasps now. But I see him shaking his head back and forth and battling through it..impressive I think to myself. Now we pass over Franklin and can feel the finish. There are bunches of half marathon runners sprawled across the street and we can see spectators lining the streets. If you are going to drop the hammer, now is the time. I pick up the pace leading up to the right turn on 15th and now it is just mayhem. A mix of loudness, runners and the realization that I am going to finish this marathon without hitting the WALL and in a personal best time. I hear folks (including my family) yelling my name. Suddenly feeling energized I go hard for the last two hundred meters and raise my arms across the finish line. I go one for two against the 20-something year olds. I get the guy with the tat while the guy in the blue singlet beats me by one second to the line. Last mile in 6:16. My chip time, 2:46:16, a new PR by over two minutes. BAM!! Who said running wasn’t fun??
Finish Video: http://runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=11860
Notables:
Shoe 2:42:40, Mike Tyler 2:44:46, Lewis Taylor 2:45:34, Tyler Baker (blue singlet) 2:46:11, Jason Wesolowski (tat) 2:46:17, King of Smack 3:00:22, Big Lar 3:42.
