Mission Complete
Another milestone in life completed.
On the 25th of November, I completed my 1st Marathon.
The time wasn't spectacular, but the feat was phenomenal.
After my 5th anniversary with my lovely wife, I returned home and jumped on the scale and I weighed in at a whopping 241!!
Needless to say, that was my "you've gone too damn far number".
I think that we all have a "you've gone too damn far number" and some of us do something about and some of us ignore it.
Well, I certainly couldn't ignore it. I mean, how could I? Last year my doctor diagnosed me with high blood pressure. So I certainly had to make some changes in my life.
Since entering into the general population pool and jumping out of the special population (elite athlete) pool, I've had to make some adjustments, which are really hard. One being, I CANNOT eat like I used to when I was competing. Its not that I was eating like a pig, its just that I was working out like a madman. And when you workout like that, you can pretty much eat what you want. Now I have to be very careful what I consume and at what time I consume it.
So with all this in mind I was talking to one of my mentors and a good friend of the family, Winston M.A. Williams and he suggested that I start training for a triathlon. Well, that's the last thing that I wanted; another sport which was going to run up some more debt (I had enough of that with Judo and a thousand dollar bike, a two hundred dollar wetsuit, shoes, biking shoes, etc.,. just was more of a deterrent than it was appealing).
So, Winston recommended that I start training for a marathon. He's been able to put the smackdown on his blood pressure by doing marathons, half marathons
and triathlons. So, I told him, I'm in.
=================
Winston Williams
=================
Winston Williams is probably one of the most intelligent men that I know. He took me under his wing when I was in college as an engineering student. He graduated out of Civil Engineering and was a graduate student during the time when I was in school. He has helped me in so many ways during my formative years and now as an adult. Even to this day, he provides me with advice that is solid, well-packaged, and sometimes bitter-tasting (when I need it).
He's a SOLID individual a good friend and someone whom I love and respect.
With that being said, I immediately elevated him to Coach Williams when it came to my training.
As a strength and conditioning coach, I was floored with the information that he knew when it came to conditioning on the aerobic side, I usually deal so much with anaerobic conditioning that I didn't really pay much attention to the aerobic side and what it had to offer. Needless to say, my tune has changed more than a little bit. Also the "twos and fews" that you just don't know about in each sport are very important and that is what Winston had to clue me in
on. There's only one time where he really pissed me off!!!
Here's what happened. He forgot to tell me that I need to use some called Bodyglide when I got into my long running phase, so the first time that I did 10.5 miles, I came home, hopped into the shower and got under the water and the water hit my scrotum and I %#$$%^^&&E (expletive) HOLLERED!!!!!!!!!!
I sack looked like a red Christmas tree bulb. I had rubbed the skin right off!!!
I was $#$%^$%##$ hurting for at least a week. I called Winson immediately, to tell him about my nuts. I said, "Bro!! What the f____? Why didn't you tell me
about the chaffing?"
His reply was, "My bad dog. I didn't even think about that."
Now we laugh about it, then it wasn't funny. But I can tell you this, I put BODYGLIDE all over my sack before this run and when I took a shower, I had scrapes and cuts in other places (because you skin rubs off when you're running that long), but praise the Lord, my nutsack was just fine!!!
During my training I went down to Atlanta to meet with Coach Williams and we discussed running, training, pacing, etc.,. and also watched the UFC together. He's the one that turned me on to the best training tool that I own yet, The Garmin 305. I was able to email him my times after each run and discuss how I need to proceed in terms of my increases within my mileage (that's the secret stuff) ;-)
===================
The Hiccup In The
Training Program
===================
After several weeks of training, I began to feel a pain in my leg that subsided a couple of days after running at first and then it began to hurt at the beginning of the run and then subside during the run and I just chalked it up as the cost of doing business and kinda getting into a groove and getting warmed up. I figured that's why it went away when I started running. My knee which I had my LCL replacement surgery was acting up to so I had to make some
adjustments and run 2 times a week and do a long workout on the stairmaster 1 time a week.
I found out that I aggravated some of the muscles in the adductor group (groin and company). I realized that it was getting progressively worse to the point where I had to perform stairmaster workouts 2 times a week and only run once.
Winston recommended that I run a half-marathon, which was a GREAT idea, so that I could go through all of the pre-race preperation from checking in, packing my bags, getting ready, going through my pre-race nutritional strategies and race nutritional strategies. It was great practice. I really found out how I need to run the race and how not to get a caught up in the hype and as Coach Williams said, "How To Check My Ego At The Door when I leave the house".
The practice run went phenomenal. In my first half-marathon, I ran a 2:09. Two hours and 9 minutes. That's not to bad for a big guy, not bad at all. I ran the whole thing at a sub 10 minute per mile pace, BUT ---- I really hurt myself in the process.
I didn't listen!!
Coach Williams said for this to be a practice run, the competitive side of me wanted to do the whole thing at sub-10 pace. I accomplished it, but at the price of a huge injury. My adductor muscle group was shot!
I couldn't walk for a couple of days, nor could I run.
I didn't do anything except for lift and shoot a new exercise video, which hurt like hell to shoot, but you'd never know it. It's called The Total Body Workout which will be here in 2008, it going to be PHENOMENAL!! I shot it all in one day, its over 3 hours of material (the video shoot took ALL DAY!!)
I was able to do the stairmaster 2 times, the week before the Marathon on the 25th and I walked 5 miles 3 days out.
=================
Not Optimal, But
Doable
=================
I was told by several people don't do this marathon and just do the one in Miami next year.
Coach Williams told me to heal up and train for the next one.
I said, "Nope."
And I'll tell you why. My injury, from what I read and researched, would have been chronic. And that's something that I'm not willing to deal with. Pain at one time in my life used to be welcomed with open arms. Now, I run from it like its the plagued. So I just had to buck up and run the 26.2 with my longest run being 13.1 three weeks prior.
I know it sounds crazy, but I want all those reading this to know that completing a marathon has more to do with your mental disposition than your physical one. Don't get me wrong, you DO have to train, but you BETTER train your mind and take it to a place that its never been. Some people need the long mileage for that. Fortunately as an Olympian and former elite athlete, I have a closet full of experiences in my mind which I can reflect on to provide me with such
remebrances of discomfort and agony.
So, the 25th of November is here and the week before I was in Tallahassee trying to get some research done for my dissertation, I hadn't slept a whole lot, I had a late coaching call the night before along with one of my clients and a physician and I had to get up at 3:30am because my hotel was about 40 minutes from the starting line and check-in, so here we go........
=============
At The Race Site
=============
The race site is full of people, full of people doing a half-marathon. There are some full marathoners but more half marathoners. The full marathon number bib is like a badge of honor. People provide you with so much respect when they see you. They say, "Good luck", "go get 'em", and other dumb nonsensical
phrases like that.
At the start of the race, I was nervous like a hooker in church, but I remember what Coach Winston told me, "GO SLOW!" I had a conversation with another dude who had run plenty of marathons himself and he had some advice for me. He said, "Go Slow, the people in front of you will die, and you'll catch them in the end". I took that advice to heart. As soon a Coach Williams told me to go slow a couple of days ago, I changed around my music selection in my Ipod to
all slow jams, gospel and R&B. I started out super slow. And sure enough I caught a boat load of people in the end. But here's my race in review:
Before I do that I want to say thank you to my wife, Traci, who drove from work to meet me at the finish line. I was so happy when I saw her that I damn near cried, but my body was too hurt to expend the energy in that direction.
Thanks to my cousin Mark Beckford, who drove me down to Cocoa Beach and who's driving me back. My legs aren't really working to well now, so I'm so thankful.
Thanks to my cousins Victor and Florence who watched our son Rufus while I was competing.
Much thanks to Coach Winston Williams for helping get through the line. I called him at mile 18 and he said, "See It Through!!"
Thanks to my parents and those who sent supportive emails... Here's the recap...
Mile 1
No problem, people are laughing, chilling, talking and I'm in the zone. I'm resolve and committed to stay out here until I finish. I realize that I'm going to be pounding this pavement for upwards of 5 to 6 hours and its going to get tight. I feel great. I'm doing a 3:1 pace. Which is 3 minute run, 1 minute walk.
Mile 2
No problem, feeling fine, feeling good
Mile 3
I said to myself, this is going to be no problem, I told them this was easy. All I gotta do is stay with this pace and I'm going to be straight.
Mile 4
I'm straight chilling and loving life. I was looking at all the homes on the beach and watching the people zoom by. The half marathoners were having a good
time.
Mile 5
People are starting to peel off to the side of the road and stretch. Some have some aches and pains. They are looked at as casualties of the war with the pavement. The exodus moves on.
Mile 6
The fast runners have already hit the turnaround point and you can see them coming back. You start wishing that you were where they are. At this point of the race the bottom of my feet start hurting. I think its because my pace is so slow that my feet are just striking the ground more. It feels weird and I begin to mentally extrapolate and future how I'm going to feel, but I can't because this is about half of the longest distance that I ran.
Mile 7
I get to the turn around point and I'm still running at 13:00 minute per mile pace, but I step it up a little to change the view. The bodies in the back look a little bit different than those in the front :-) I've found a person who's running the same pace as I am and we run together for about 10 minutes
Mile 8
My water bottle is getting low, but not really low. I'm thinking that I need to start filling it up, but I don't do it at this water station, I wait until the next one. The front of my knees are hurting a little bit, but everything is cool. I'm really happy with the musical selection on my Ipod.
Mile 9
My water bottle is empty. Just in case you didn't know, I run with a CamelPak on. Coach Williams suggested it and its a great investment. I do seem to drink more than others and the rest stops just aren't enough. I'm getting a little uneasy because I can feel myself getting thirsty. You don't want to ever have that feeling when you're running a marathon. It was 72 degrees in the morning and about 85 during the height of the day and humid. It was hot.
Mile 10
Thank God!! Water! I fill up my water bottle with water and gatorade, eat a couple of energy bars, strap the CamelPak back on and keep gettin' it. I'm feeling great, but I'm slightly worried because I'm getting a little bit tired and I'm not even halfway yet.
Mile 11
The pace of the race speeds up because the half-marathoners are almost done. They are cheering and screaming and clapping. I remember how happy I was when I finished my half-marathon and I felt happy for them, but I had to slightly speed up and get away from them because they were messing up my "mental". I needed to be in a place where others could understand where I was in the race. I needed to be around the people who knew that their breathing and their footsteps were going to be their external heartbeats that were going to provide the rhythm for them to finish. I need to be around people who were cool, calm, collected and willing to walk into the fiery furnace of these last 15 miles.
Mile 12
I'm thinking to myself. I feel good. A lot better than when I finished my half-marathon a couple of weeks ago, Maybe this won't be to bad. Wow!
Mile 13
The half marathoners peel off to the left for the finish, the marathoners peel off to the right. I'm stoked, I'm excited. I high five one of the volunteers and switch Ipods to change my music selection. I'm jamming to Kanye West, Fifty Cent, P. Diddy, R. Kelly and host of others. I'm feeling great. But, I'm all by myself. THERE'S NOBODY around. NOBODY!! I looked behind me and saw nobody. I said to myself, "Hmmmmm, this must be what its like."
Mile 14
Uncharted Territory.
Everything after this point is new. When I hit mile 14 I began to get nervous but I was feeling okay. I knew I was going to finish (at this point). I saw one lady in front of my that I ran down. She had her husband following her on a bike which was so nice, loving, and cute. It was very supportive and was an excellent display of love and support. My CamelPak is getting low again and I'm thinking, "I don't have the energy to fill this up again." My pace after mile 13 has kicked up to 4:1. Four minutes running and 1 minute walking.
Mile 15
PEOPLE!!! Not only do I see people, but I see people running towards me who are headed for the finish line. These people are giving me hope. They are moving at a pretty fast clip. I look behind me and see the sign that say mile 23. I think, "Hmmmm, I'm almost done."
Something had fallen from the tree into the back of the heel of my shoe, so I decided to use my right foot and step on the heel of my left foot to get the thing out. When I went to slide my left heel up, I felt like somebody hit me with a tazer in my left hamstring. "ZAP!! Get down, get down on the floor right now!"
That's what I thought I heard, but nobody said anything, that was my hamstring talking to me. Now I'm wondering how in the heck am I going to get this little thing out of my shoe. I said, forget it and just kept running because there was now way to get it out without getting Tazered again.
Mile 16
I'm still looking for this dude that came out of the bushes and hit me in the legs with a baseball bat. I didn't see him, but I swear to you he's there. At mile 16 that mofo came out there and beat my @$$!! I was having a hard time standing up. And now I'm thinking to myself, "I'm in trouble and I got 10 more miles to go.
Mile 17
I'm seriously thinking my life over and going over, in my mind, who I did wrong and why? I'm asking for forgiveness and wondering why that man came out the bushes and hit me like that. I didn't do nothing to him. Then I'm thinking, "Why is this thing in my shoe?" And I'm getting so frustrated that I could cry. The pain is getting a little past intense and is ramping up significantly.
Mile 18
Shoot me. Just shoot me now. I called Winston and said, I can't stop running anymore. If I stop running, I won't be able to run anymore. I knew this because at one rest stop, I stopped for a second and my legs almost gave out. So I kept running.
Mile 19
Still running (and moaning). I'm asking myself, "Where in the hell is the turnaround. When am I going to turnaround and comeback.
Mile 20
Still running (and moaning and grimacing). I've hit the turnaround and then I started congratulating myself. I said, you've run 20, you can walk the next 6 and be cool. And I agree.
Mile 21
I quit. I just started walking. And I had in my mind that I was going to walk the rest of the way. I was hurting SEVERELY. And please do not underestimate the word SEVERELY here. I mean SEVERELY. I was done. I couldn't understand why people do something so dumb and then I saw this man who walked past me with a 50 States Marathon shirt on. It said that he did a marthon in 50 states. So I asked him if he had. He said, "Yep, as a matter of fact I've done 243 of them." That was EXACTLY what I didn't need to hear. And then this ole lady walked past me and she said, "You'll finish. The key is..... Run when you can and walk when you must!"
Mile 22
I'm back on my horse! I'm running when I can and walking when I must. I can actually feel every muscle in my legs hurting. My hips are hurting. My hamstring is trying to knot up and I gotta run and walk with a lil' gimp so I can keep it somewhat straight so it doesn't lock up on me. I'm running when I can, walking when I must and I'm passing the people that passed me, again.
Mile 23
Now I'm trying to cut deals with God. Who knows why I'm doing this, but I am. I'm saying, "Okay Lord, here's the deal. If you can just hit the fast forward button that we all know that you have up there and get me to mile 26, I'll be so appreciative. As a matter of fact. I won't EVER do this again. I promise."
Then the policeman sees how bad I'm laboring and asks "Are you alright?" I reply, "Man, I okay, but my legs are thrashed. This marathon right now feels like a bad pair of shoes that I need to get out of." He laughed, but was relieved that I was okay. I looked bad, but my breathing was okay. My shoulders, back and legs were thrashed!!
Mile 25
I start running 1:1. I'm running for a minute and walking for a minute and telling myself that its almost over. I'm passing more people and I see the 25 mile marker sign and I start to get excited. I can feel the blisters on my feet and every bone and muscle in my feet aching. My hamstring is cramping while running and walking but I refuse to cry out. I moaned when I was by myself, but I will not do it now, not in front of the people I'm passing, I just run. I've stopped running 1:1 and now I'm just running and walking a little and then running again. I keep it going.
Mile 26
I couldn't believe that I was almost done.
My body was hurting and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to do this again. I could see the finish line. I was running and dragging my leg across the line. I could feel my groin hurting. It was the same leg in which my hamstring was cramping. I was running like a lame dog with a bad hitch in my giddy- up, but I was running none-the-less. I made it through the finish line and ran right to my wife :-)
===================
After the Marathon
===================
PAIN
I took a shower and when the water hit me, I hollered. I didn't realized how much skin rubbed off my body
===================
NIGHT AFTER THE
MARATHON
===================
PAIN
===================
MORNING AFTER THE
MARATHON
===================
EXCRUCIATING PAIN
Am I glad that I did it? Yep?
Will I do it again?
Well, I'm signed up already for the ING Marathon in Miami. Who Knows? Right now I think no!
===========
Closing
===========
All jokes aside, the experience was great. I wouldn't trade it in for nothing. As a Strength and Conditioning professional I learned a great deal. I was able to dive and delve in an area which was, for all intents and purposes, uncharted territory. I also was able to understand why long distance training IS necessary. I really has less to do with what the training does for you and more to do with what you're during while you're training. The mental clarity and acuity
that's developed from being on the road or on a machine by yourself for 45 minutes to 90 minutes is golden.
I remember the day when I no longer wanted to train for judo. I was doing a long run and I just stopped. I stopped and started walking back to the house. I remember telling Jimmy Pedro about. Jimmy's a 4-Time Olympian, Two Time Olympic Medalist and a World champion and he said, "Yep, I've been there, I've been there too." I really appreciated the experience.
I feel like I've entered into a special club or fraternity. And I guess I have. I finished the race in 5 hours and 46 minutes.
Like I said before. Thanks for your support and please feel free to pick up my FREE Bodyweight DVD at http://www.thebodyweightworkout.com/
On the 25th of November, I completed my 1st Marathon.
The time wasn't spectacular, but the feat was phenomenal.
After my 5th anniversary with my lovely wife, I returned home and jumped on the scale and I weighed in at a whopping 241!!
Needless to say, that was my "you've gone too damn far number".
I think that we all have a "you've gone too damn far number" and some of us do something about and some of us ignore it.
Well, I certainly couldn't ignore it. I mean, how could I? Last year my doctor diagnosed me with high blood pressure. So I certainly had to make some changes in my life.
Since entering into the general population pool and jumping out of the special population (elite athlete) pool, I've had to make some adjustments, which are really hard. One being, I CANNOT eat like I used to when I was competing. Its not that I was eating like a pig, its just that I was working out like a madman. And when you workout like that, you can pretty much eat what you want. Now I have to be very careful what I consume and at what time I consume it.
So with all this in mind I was talking to one of my mentors and a good friend of the family, Winston M.A. Williams and he suggested that I start training for a triathlon. Well, that's the last thing that I wanted; another sport which was going to run up some more debt (I had enough of that with Judo and a thousand dollar bike, a two hundred dollar wetsuit, shoes, biking shoes, etc.,. just was more of a deterrent than it was appealing).
So, Winston recommended that I start training for a marathon. He's been able to put the smackdown on his blood pressure by doing marathons, half marathons
and triathlons. So, I told him, I'm in.
=================
Winston Williams
=================
Winston Williams is probably one of the most intelligent men that I know. He took me under his wing when I was in college as an engineering student. He graduated out of Civil Engineering and was a graduate student during the time when I was in school. He has helped me in so many ways during my formative years and now as an adult. Even to this day, he provides me with advice that is solid, well-packaged, and sometimes bitter-tasting (when I need it).
He's a SOLID individual a good friend and someone whom I love and respect.
With that being said, I immediately elevated him to Coach Williams when it came to my training.
As a strength and conditioning coach, I was floored with the information that he knew when it came to conditioning on the aerobic side, I usually deal so much with anaerobic conditioning that I didn't really pay much attention to the aerobic side and what it had to offer. Needless to say, my tune has changed more than a little bit. Also the "twos and fews" that you just don't know about in each sport are very important and that is what Winston had to clue me in
on. There's only one time where he really pissed me off!!!
Here's what happened. He forgot to tell me that I need to use some called Bodyglide when I got into my long running phase, so the first time that I did 10.5 miles, I came home, hopped into the shower and got under the water and the water hit my scrotum and I %#$$%^^&&E (expletive) HOLLERED!!!!!!!!!!
I sack looked like a red Christmas tree bulb. I had rubbed the skin right off!!!
I was $#$%^$%##$ hurting for at least a week. I called Winson immediately, to tell him about my nuts. I said, "Bro!! What the f____? Why didn't you tell me
about the chaffing?"
His reply was, "My bad dog. I didn't even think about that."
Now we laugh about it, then it wasn't funny. But I can tell you this, I put BODYGLIDE all over my sack before this run and when I took a shower, I had scrapes and cuts in other places (because you skin rubs off when you're running that long), but praise the Lord, my nutsack was just fine!!!
During my training I went down to Atlanta to meet with Coach Williams and we discussed running, training, pacing, etc.,. and also watched the UFC together. He's the one that turned me on to the best training tool that I own yet, The Garmin 305. I was able to email him my times after each run and discuss how I need to proceed in terms of my increases within my mileage (that's the secret stuff) ;-)
===================
The Hiccup In The
Training Program
===================
After several weeks of training, I began to feel a pain in my leg that subsided a couple of days after running at first and then it began to hurt at the beginning of the run and then subside during the run and I just chalked it up as the cost of doing business and kinda getting into a groove and getting warmed up. I figured that's why it went away when I started running. My knee which I had my LCL replacement surgery was acting up to so I had to make some
adjustments and run 2 times a week and do a long workout on the stairmaster 1 time a week.
I found out that I aggravated some of the muscles in the adductor group (groin and company). I realized that it was getting progressively worse to the point where I had to perform stairmaster workouts 2 times a week and only run once.
Winston recommended that I run a half-marathon, which was a GREAT idea, so that I could go through all of the pre-race preperation from checking in, packing my bags, getting ready, going through my pre-race nutritional strategies and race nutritional strategies. It was great practice. I really found out how I need to run the race and how not to get a caught up in the hype and as Coach Williams said, "How To Check My Ego At The Door when I leave the house".
The practice run went phenomenal. In my first half-marathon, I ran a 2:09. Two hours and 9 minutes. That's not to bad for a big guy, not bad at all. I ran the whole thing at a sub 10 minute per mile pace, BUT ---- I really hurt myself in the process.
I didn't listen!!
Coach Williams said for this to be a practice run, the competitive side of me wanted to do the whole thing at sub-10 pace. I accomplished it, but at the price of a huge injury. My adductor muscle group was shot!
I couldn't walk for a couple of days, nor could I run.
I didn't do anything except for lift and shoot a new exercise video, which hurt like hell to shoot, but you'd never know it. It's called The Total Body Workout which will be here in 2008, it going to be PHENOMENAL!! I shot it all in one day, its over 3 hours of material (the video shoot took ALL DAY!!)
I was able to do the stairmaster 2 times, the week before the Marathon on the 25th and I walked 5 miles 3 days out.
=================
Not Optimal, But
Doable
=================
I was told by several people don't do this marathon and just do the one in Miami next year.
Coach Williams told me to heal up and train for the next one.
I said, "Nope."
And I'll tell you why. My injury, from what I read and researched, would have been chronic. And that's something that I'm not willing to deal with. Pain at one time in my life used to be welcomed with open arms. Now, I run from it like its the plagued. So I just had to buck up and run the 26.2 with my longest run being 13.1 three weeks prior.
I know it sounds crazy, but I want all those reading this to know that completing a marathon has more to do with your mental disposition than your physical one. Don't get me wrong, you DO have to train, but you BETTER train your mind and take it to a place that its never been. Some people need the long mileage for that. Fortunately as an Olympian and former elite athlete, I have a closet full of experiences in my mind which I can reflect on to provide me with such
remebrances of discomfort and agony.
So, the 25th of November is here and the week before I was in Tallahassee trying to get some research done for my dissertation, I hadn't slept a whole lot, I had a late coaching call the night before along with one of my clients and a physician and I had to get up at 3:30am because my hotel was about 40 minutes from the starting line and check-in, so here we go........
=============
At The Race Site
=============
The race site is full of people, full of people doing a half-marathon. There are some full marathoners but more half marathoners. The full marathon number bib is like a badge of honor. People provide you with so much respect when they see you. They say, "Good luck", "go get 'em", and other dumb nonsensical
phrases like that.
At the start of the race, I was nervous like a hooker in church, but I remember what Coach Winston told me, "GO SLOW!" I had a conversation with another dude who had run plenty of marathons himself and he had some advice for me. He said, "Go Slow, the people in front of you will die, and you'll catch them in the end". I took that advice to heart. As soon a Coach Williams told me to go slow a couple of days ago, I changed around my music selection in my Ipod to
all slow jams, gospel and R&B. I started out super slow. And sure enough I caught a boat load of people in the end. But here's my race in review:
Before I do that I want to say thank you to my wife, Traci, who drove from work to meet me at the finish line. I was so happy when I saw her that I damn near cried, but my body was too hurt to expend the energy in that direction.
Thanks to my cousin Mark Beckford, who drove me down to Cocoa Beach and who's driving me back. My legs aren't really working to well now, so I'm so thankful.
Thanks to my cousins Victor and Florence who watched our son Rufus while I was competing.
Much thanks to Coach Winston Williams for helping get through the line. I called him at mile 18 and he said, "See It Through!!"
Thanks to my parents and those who sent supportive emails... Here's the recap...
Mile 1
No problem, people are laughing, chilling, talking and I'm in the zone. I'm resolve and committed to stay out here until I finish. I realize that I'm going to be pounding this pavement for upwards of 5 to 6 hours and its going to get tight. I feel great. I'm doing a 3:1 pace. Which is 3 minute run, 1 minute walk.
Mile 2
No problem, feeling fine, feeling good
Mile 3
I said to myself, this is going to be no problem, I told them this was easy. All I gotta do is stay with this pace and I'm going to be straight.
Mile 4
I'm straight chilling and loving life. I was looking at all the homes on the beach and watching the people zoom by. The half marathoners were having a good
time.
Mile 5
People are starting to peel off to the side of the road and stretch. Some have some aches and pains. They are looked at as casualties of the war with the pavement. The exodus moves on.
Mile 6
The fast runners have already hit the turnaround point and you can see them coming back. You start wishing that you were where they are. At this point of the race the bottom of my feet start hurting. I think its because my pace is so slow that my feet are just striking the ground more. It feels weird and I begin to mentally extrapolate and future how I'm going to feel, but I can't because this is about half of the longest distance that I ran.
Mile 7
I get to the turn around point and I'm still running at 13:00 minute per mile pace, but I step it up a little to change the view. The bodies in the back look a little bit different than those in the front :-) I've found a person who's running the same pace as I am and we run together for about 10 minutes
Mile 8
My water bottle is getting low, but not really low. I'm thinking that I need to start filling it up, but I don't do it at this water station, I wait until the next one. The front of my knees are hurting a little bit, but everything is cool. I'm really happy with the musical selection on my Ipod.
Mile 9
My water bottle is empty. Just in case you didn't know, I run with a CamelPak on. Coach Williams suggested it and its a great investment. I do seem to drink more than others and the rest stops just aren't enough. I'm getting a little uneasy because I can feel myself getting thirsty. You don't want to ever have that feeling when you're running a marathon. It was 72 degrees in the morning and about 85 during the height of the day and humid. It was hot.
Mile 10
Thank God!! Water! I fill up my water bottle with water and gatorade, eat a couple of energy bars, strap the CamelPak back on and keep gettin' it. I'm feeling great, but I'm slightly worried because I'm getting a little bit tired and I'm not even halfway yet.
Mile 11
The pace of the race speeds up because the half-marathoners are almost done. They are cheering and screaming and clapping. I remember how happy I was when I finished my half-marathon and I felt happy for them, but I had to slightly speed up and get away from them because they were messing up my "mental". I needed to be in a place where others could understand where I was in the race. I needed to be around the people who knew that their breathing and their footsteps were going to be their external heartbeats that were going to provide the rhythm for them to finish. I need to be around people who were cool, calm, collected and willing to walk into the fiery furnace of these last 15 miles.
Mile 12
I'm thinking to myself. I feel good. A lot better than when I finished my half-marathon a couple of weeks ago, Maybe this won't be to bad. Wow!
Mile 13
The half marathoners peel off to the left for the finish, the marathoners peel off to the right. I'm stoked, I'm excited. I high five one of the volunteers and switch Ipods to change my music selection. I'm jamming to Kanye West, Fifty Cent, P. Diddy, R. Kelly and host of others. I'm feeling great. But, I'm all by myself. THERE'S NOBODY around. NOBODY!! I looked behind me and saw nobody. I said to myself, "Hmmmmm, this must be what its like."
Mile 14
Uncharted Territory.
Everything after this point is new. When I hit mile 14 I began to get nervous but I was feeling okay. I knew I was going to finish (at this point). I saw one lady in front of my that I ran down. She had her husband following her on a bike which was so nice, loving, and cute. It was very supportive and was an excellent display of love and support. My CamelPak is getting low again and I'm thinking, "I don't have the energy to fill this up again." My pace after mile 13 has kicked up to 4:1. Four minutes running and 1 minute walking.
Mile 15
PEOPLE!!! Not only do I see people, but I see people running towards me who are headed for the finish line. These people are giving me hope. They are moving at a pretty fast clip. I look behind me and see the sign that say mile 23. I think, "Hmmmm, I'm almost done."
Something had fallen from the tree into the back of the heel of my shoe, so I decided to use my right foot and step on the heel of my left foot to get the thing out. When I went to slide my left heel up, I felt like somebody hit me with a tazer in my left hamstring. "ZAP!! Get down, get down on the floor right now!"
That's what I thought I heard, but nobody said anything, that was my hamstring talking to me. Now I'm wondering how in the heck am I going to get this little thing out of my shoe. I said, forget it and just kept running because there was now way to get it out without getting Tazered again.
Mile 16
I'm still looking for this dude that came out of the bushes and hit me in the legs with a baseball bat. I didn't see him, but I swear to you he's there. At mile 16 that mofo came out there and beat my @$$!! I was having a hard time standing up. And now I'm thinking to myself, "I'm in trouble and I got 10 more miles to go.
Mile 17
I'm seriously thinking my life over and going over, in my mind, who I did wrong and why? I'm asking for forgiveness and wondering why that man came out the bushes and hit me like that. I didn't do nothing to him. Then I'm thinking, "Why is this thing in my shoe?" And I'm getting so frustrated that I could cry. The pain is getting a little past intense and is ramping up significantly.
Mile 18
Shoot me. Just shoot me now. I called Winston and said, I can't stop running anymore. If I stop running, I won't be able to run anymore. I knew this because at one rest stop, I stopped for a second and my legs almost gave out. So I kept running.
Mile 19
Still running (and moaning). I'm asking myself, "Where in the hell is the turnaround. When am I going to turnaround and comeback.
Mile 20
Still running (and moaning and grimacing). I've hit the turnaround and then I started congratulating myself. I said, you've run 20, you can walk the next 6 and be cool. And I agree.
Mile 21
I quit. I just started walking. And I had in my mind that I was going to walk the rest of the way. I was hurting SEVERELY. And please do not underestimate the word SEVERELY here. I mean SEVERELY. I was done. I couldn't understand why people do something so dumb and then I saw this man who walked past me with a 50 States Marathon shirt on. It said that he did a marthon in 50 states. So I asked him if he had. He said, "Yep, as a matter of fact I've done 243 of them." That was EXACTLY what I didn't need to hear. And then this ole lady walked past me and she said, "You'll finish. The key is..... Run when you can and walk when you must!"
Mile 22
I'm back on my horse! I'm running when I can and walking when I must. I can actually feel every muscle in my legs hurting. My hips are hurting. My hamstring is trying to knot up and I gotta run and walk with a lil' gimp so I can keep it somewhat straight so it doesn't lock up on me. I'm running when I can, walking when I must and I'm passing the people that passed me, again.
Mile 23
Now I'm trying to cut deals with God. Who knows why I'm doing this, but I am. I'm saying, "Okay Lord, here's the deal. If you can just hit the fast forward button that we all know that you have up there and get me to mile 26, I'll be so appreciative. As a matter of fact. I won't EVER do this again. I promise."
Then the policeman sees how bad I'm laboring and asks "Are you alright?" I reply, "Man, I okay, but my legs are thrashed. This marathon right now feels like a bad pair of shoes that I need to get out of." He laughed, but was relieved that I was okay. I looked bad, but my breathing was okay. My shoulders, back and legs were thrashed!!
Mile 25
I start running 1:1. I'm running for a minute and walking for a minute and telling myself that its almost over. I'm passing more people and I see the 25 mile marker sign and I start to get excited. I can feel the blisters on my feet and every bone and muscle in my feet aching. My hamstring is cramping while running and walking but I refuse to cry out. I moaned when I was by myself, but I will not do it now, not in front of the people I'm passing, I just run. I've stopped running 1:1 and now I'm just running and walking a little and then running again. I keep it going.
Mile 26
I couldn't believe that I was almost done.
My body was hurting and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to do this again. I could see the finish line. I was running and dragging my leg across the line. I could feel my groin hurting. It was the same leg in which my hamstring was cramping. I was running like a lame dog with a bad hitch in my giddy- up, but I was running none-the-less. I made it through the finish line and ran right to my wife :-)
===================
After the Marathon
===================
PAIN
I took a shower and when the water hit me, I hollered. I didn't realized how much skin rubbed off my body
===================
NIGHT AFTER THE
MARATHON
===================
PAIN
===================
MORNING AFTER THE
MARATHON
===================
EXCRUCIATING PAIN
Am I glad that I did it? Yep?
Will I do it again?
Well, I'm signed up already for the ING Marathon in Miami. Who Knows? Right now I think no!
===========
Closing
===========
All jokes aside, the experience was great. I wouldn't trade it in for nothing. As a Strength and Conditioning professional I learned a great deal. I was able to dive and delve in an area which was, for all intents and purposes, uncharted territory. I also was able to understand why long distance training IS necessary. I really has less to do with what the training does for you and more to do with what you're during while you're training. The mental clarity and acuity
that's developed from being on the road or on a machine by yourself for 45 minutes to 90 minutes is golden.
I remember the day when I no longer wanted to train for judo. I was doing a long run and I just stopped. I stopped and started walking back to the house. I remember telling Jimmy Pedro about. Jimmy's a 4-Time Olympian, Two Time Olympic Medalist and a World champion and he said, "Yep, I've been there, I've been there too." I really appreciated the experience.
I feel like I've entered into a special club or fraternity. And I guess I have. I finished the race in 5 hours and 46 minutes.
Like I said before. Thanks for your support and please feel free to pick up my FREE Bodyweight DVD at http://www.thebodyweightworkout.com/
posted by Rhadi Ferguson at
7:19 AM
1 Comments:
Congrats Rhadi on your conquering a "new" quest!!
I've done a 1/2 marathon with NO training/preparation (mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually) 2yrs ago and reading your experience brought back the pain, fun, tears (that wanted to come out),shaving and all other emotions that we can produce!!
I have put that in my "I've done it" list, good on you brother!! If i was to do it again, I would "prepare" myself this time rather then just turning up :-)
By
Spida Hunter, At
9:28 PM
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