The Marathon

"My dogs are barkin'!"

As most of you know, this past Saturday was the ING Europe Marathon - Luxembourg. I ran the full marathon and Agnes ran the ½ marathon. After having trained fairly religiously (save for the few trips that I took) on very hilly terrain, I was feeling very strong and ready to go. In fact, I was feeling almost cocky about the race…my training went extremely well and I thought I would break 3:40 with no problem.

The race was unique for a couple of reasons. Most notably because 1) this was the first official marathon ever held in Luxembourg, and b) the race started at 6.00pm. This second point was especially unique because normally for a marathon, you’d wake up early on a Sunday morning and be out and running before you knew what you were doing. This time, we woke up and just kind of muddled around the house all day, planning out future trips, cleaning up a little, finishing up some blogs, all the while being anxious with anticipation for the starting gun.

We were instructed to arrive early to avoid traffic around the race area. So, we picked up my buddy, Robert McEwan and headed to the course around 3.30pm. The course began and ended at La Coque sports arena. We had a special parking area at and a lounge section in the sports arena for being members of EY’s group, so we just hung out for a bit in there, noting that after the race, there would be a huge buffet and open bar just for us…..brilliant! “Rock through this race and then it’s party time,” were my thoughts.

The race started just outside the arena and finished with the participants running into the center of the stadium. Cheering people were sitting in the stands, the lights were focused on the runners and an announcer called your name as you crossed the finish line. I could just envision myself crossing with the time of 3.30.00 above my head….there was no doubt in my mind.

The three of us (myself, Agnes and McEwan) started together. After about 3 miles, Ag fell back. (Ag's thoughts, "You boys knock yourselves out...I am slowing up...") Robert and I were feeling great and we continued to push it. We were hitting between 7.30 and 8.00 per mile pace consistently and things were going very well. The race was structured so that the runners of the ½ and whole marathon ran together till the 11 mile marker, and then split off with the ½ marathoners heading toward their finish and the full marathoners continuing on through different sections of the city. The first half of the course was though all areas of the city and the surrounding villages/towns and was quite nice. People lined the streets, the route was beautiful, and I really felt comfortable about the entire thing.

Robert and I split at the 11 mile mark and on I went. I crossed the halfway point at around 1.43.00, well below a 3.40.00 pace. All systems were go. There were roughly 5,000 runners participating in some way or another in the race, and I would have to say that only 1/3 of these people ran the full marathon. Needless to say, when you got to the split off point there was really no one else around…it was just you and the road. Even the spectators really thinned out.

Around 18 miles, while maintaining a good pace, I could tell that I would soon be in trouble. It had started to rain a little bit. I could really feel the distance in my legs, I was starting to feel sick (and therefore didn’t want to drink any water or sports drink) and my neck and traps were starting to ache a bit from holding my head up. At km 32 (with only 10km - 6.2 miles - to go), I hit that "wall" that people talk about when you train for marathons. More appropriately, I slammed into it.

Now, this is something some people experience, some do not. I’ve run two marathons and have never even sniffed it. Maybe that, along with how good I felt leading up to the race, is why I was so cocky about how I would do. Well, I obviously pissed off the running gods something fierce. Maybe it was because I wasn't wearing spandex (shorts and shirts!) like 85% of the rest of the male population at the starting line (I swear, I think I even saw some spectators wearing biker's shorts!). I don't know...I just don't know.....

The “wall” is basically a feeling that takes over your body mentally and physically. The best way to describe it is that I felt like I had just done about 90 squats and was trying to sprint (I was barely moving). There’s nothing you can say to yourself to make you keep going fast. Every step was a mental and physical challenge. I was wondering when (not if) my hamstrings and calf muscles were going to rip away from the bones. I stopped to walk, only to realize that it hurt worse than running. My body sort of went into shock mode. I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t eat (oranges and bananas were at each water station), I couldn’t run any more, but I couldn’t walk either. I sat down on a guard rail at around 36km and noticed that my legs were shaking uncontrollably. The weird thing about this was that not once did the thought of quitting the race ever occur to me, although several times I said to myself “You’ve got no business running right now.” It’s like your brain completely tosses that option out the window and it doesn’t even exist. I was completely calm, but reserved to the fact that I had a long way to go and I was just gonna have to do it…that feeling of “You got yourself into this, now you get yourself out.” The big question in my mind was “How in the hell am I going to make it 6 more miles? How long will it take to crawl that far?”

So, to summarize, while the first 20 miles took me about 2.40.00, the last six miles took me about 1.20.00. My finishing time was at 4.00.45.

At the end, I was one tired puppy. It was kind of like that first time you get way too drunk. “I’m never drinking again” turned into “I’m never running another marathon.” But just like the high schooler that swears off drinking forever, I’m sure I’ll do another one here in the next couple of years (probably once we get home from Lux).

Needless to say, we didn’t attend the post-race party. I showered up at La Coque and then me and Agnes hit the road. I was still completely drained when we got home, but I had my appetite back and so I ate a little bit. Then I was wired and couldn’t fall asleep until around 3.30am! Ugh…..

Other things going on:

Agnes has been keeping herself very busy. She is working a bit for her old employer in Chicago, but she really wanted to find something in the city as well to learn her way around, discover the culture, etc. So, she placed a very general ad in one of the local English speaking newspapers and has found a few leads (Agnes will take it from here).

The best lead yet was from this young lady, Scotti, who is from Montana and married a Lux guy. Scotti emailed me and was very interested in meeting and talking about the opportunities she had. One of the jobs would be a substitute aerobics teacher for days she was unavailable. So, she wanted me to come to her aerobics class to see what it was all about. I figured why not?

I arrive at the gym and meet her. She is fantastic…very nice, friendly, etc. I had asked her over email what sort of class she teaches and she said to just come and see...okay, it's strip-tease aerobics! I about died!! I almost laughed in front of her when she said what we were going to be doing but figured well, lets give it a shot.

There were probably 7 people in the class and it was all older women who really, I think, just want to try and dance. I did not sweat but definitely moved my hips! It was actually more like just a jazzercise class. Honestly I thought I was in a Richard Simmons' class....sweating to pop rock! Anyway, I was very entertained by the whole thing and thought everyone else would be too!! (I know some of you have heard about this so sorry for the repeat!)

The outcome of this….I don't think I will be teaching strip-tease aerobics but we are thinking about using me to teach a light weight lifting (toning) class or tae bo class. I have taken so many classes I think I could do it, plus get a free gym membership! The best part, I made a friend.

We just got back from Barcelona this weekend…..We will blog about it next week. Au revoir! (Goodbye)