From: raterink@pasadena.jsc.nasa.gov (keith raterink 283-4133)
Subject: My First Marathon (Sorta Long)
Keywords: Fun, Pain, Accomplishment
Organization: MDSSC
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 23:16:00 GMT

   Hello all. I finished my first marathon this past Saturday and I want to 
document the experience so I can recall the details after the memories fade.

  I thought I would share this with rec.running.................


     THE EVENT:
             The Texas SunMart Endurance Trail Run
             Saturday, Dec 19, 1992
             A 50 mile endurance run and a Marathon (26.2 mi) were offered.

     THE COURSE:
             The course was a 12.5 mile loop through the woods in the Huntsville
          state park in Huntsville Texas. The 50 milers ran 4 loops, and the
          marathoners ran two loops plus a 1.2 mile add-on. The course was mostly
          'single-track' trail/path, with some mud, roots, fallen trees, and
          other obstacles that one would expect on a trail. The footing was
          generally good if you watched where you were going and took care. There
          were a few people limping along on twisted ankles, but not a lot. About
          4 miles (?) were on a dirt road that runs through the woods. There were
          some short hills, with some sort of steep, the kind you expect to get
          on a trail through the woods. But, they were definitely hills for us
          flatlanders!

             There were NO mile-marks, so the only 'splits' you could get were at
          1.2 miles, 13.7 miles, and your finishing time. There were 5 aid 
          stations on the course and one at the start/finish/end-of-loop. They
          were spread out somewhat unevenly, some 10 minutes apart, some 40. They
          were VERY well-stocked, with water, coke, gatorade, aspirin/tylenol,
          vaseline, pretzels, cookies, M&Ms, chips, bananas, oranges, and
          port-a-potties.

     THE WEATHER:
            About 60 deg F, very overcast, occasional slight drizzle, no wind.

     MY TRAINING:
            I've been averaging ~25-35 miles/week and have only included a long
          ( >8 miles ) run in the last two months. My long runs have been
          (roughly):

                     Week 1:    10 mi
                     Week 2:    10 mi
                     Week 3:    14 mi
                     Week 4:    10 mi
                     Week 5:    15 mi
                     Week 6:    12 mi
                     Week 7:    18 mi

              On the 18 miler, I felt pretty lousy by about 16 miles, but still
          ended up averaging about 7:35/mile pace. I figured good aid stations
          and the competition would get me through to about 22 miles and I could
          walk/shuffle in from there. The 2 weeks before the event, my training
          followed the typical pre-marathon schedule (NOT):

                Tue:    Track   6x800m @ 2:40
                Wed:    Rest
                Thu:    18 mi
                Fri:    Rest
                Sat:    Ride 30 miles, run 2 easy
                Sun:    Race 5 miles, 30:24     OK, I _tried_ to race 8^)
                Mon:    Rest
                Tue:    Track   Ladder 1600-1200-800-600-400 @ ~5:20/mile pace
                Wed:    Rest
                Thu:    5 mi easy
                Fri:    Rest
                Sat:    26.2 mi

            Also, throw in lots of christmas parties with plenty of food and beer!
         It's pretty obvious I've been training for 5 or 10 Ks, not marathons,
         but I wanted to get one under my belt and I knew that the chances of
         staying in good shape over the holidays were pretty slim.

            So, I stepped up to the starting line feeling pitifuly undertrained,
         completely inexperienced, and still able to talk myself into thinking I
         could run under 3:30:00.

     THE RUN:
            I started with my friend, Katy. She's run 5 or six marathons before,
         and I tried to listen to her advice. We had decided to run the first 
         loop together, and then go our seperate ways, based on how we felt. We
         went out at about 8 min/mi pace, although it was hard to tell with no
         marks. About 50 minutes into it, we both said we felt like we had been
         running 2 hours, instead of just one; it was going to be a tough day.
         A girl we know, Laurie, caught us and soon left us behind.

           As we were approaching the turnaround (13.7 mi), I paid attention
         to how far ahead Laurie was. We made the turn at about 1:55:00, and then
         stopped for clean shoes/socks, and a dry shirt. That felt great. I knew
         that a 3:30:00 was out of the picture now, but I felt OK. I wished Katy
         good luck, and picked up the pace.

           Laurie had about 6-8 minutes on me and I convinced myself to run 'hard'
         till I caught her. I think I was probably running about 7:00 min/mi, and
         I caught her about 40 minutes into the 2nd lap. I then set a goal to run
         'hard' till the 3 hour mark, figuring I could coast in from there. Well,
         I could feel myself slowing down, and my hamstrings were getting very
         sore. I discovered that I don't use my quads very much when I run, so
         I really concentrated on leaning forward and using my quads and my arms
         more, especially when going uphill.

           At about 3 hours, I was starting to lose focus and wishing I were 
         finished. I only looked at my watch when I caught and passed people, 
         but the time was still going by very slowly. The stretch between the 
         2nd-to-last and the last aid stations was pretty long on the first lap
         and bacame VERY long on the second. I finally reached it, but there was
         still 2.3 miles to go (a very long 2.3 miles as I remembered from the
         first lap). A girl went blasting by me shouting something about ONLY
         2.3 miles to go. Until then, NOBODY had passed me during the 2nd lap!
         The time was about 3:25:00, so I figured I could still pull out a 3:45
         or so.

           As I left the aid station, I started losing it pretty bad. The last
         two miles were no fun. I walked a few of the uphills, ran a little,
         shuffled, felt sorry for myself, and wanted to be finished. About 8
         people caught and passed me during this stretch. That hurt! Amazingly,
         I was still catching and passing other people who were slowing. I finally
         finished, very happy, in 3:49:27.

     FOOD & DRINK:
            I drank water at every water stop. I also had lots of coke and gator-
          ade. I ate mostly pretzels, 2 or 3 at every station, with a few M&Ms
          thrown in cuz they looked good. I experienced no cramping or stomach
          problems.

     RECOVERY:
           All in all, I feel pretty good today (Monday). My left hamstring is
         still very sore, but that is about it. The way my knees felt at mile 22,
         I didn't know if I would be able to walk for a week! I think the pitcher
         of margaritas last night really helped.

     SUMMARY?:
          I don't think I deserved to run as well as I did, but I'm not going to
        argue. I think I should have hurt more, but.....

          I feel I got lucky: when I hit the wall, it wasn't until ~23 miles, and
        even then it wasn't really bad. I don't feel like I've hurt bad enough
        to say I did a marathon. When I was running 'hard' from miles 14-20, I
        fully expected to pay for it at mile 21 or 22. I didn't.

          From talking to people at the race, I think I could have run a 'regular'
        marathon about 20 minutes faster. Throw in some real training, and who
        knows?? 

        I'm already setting goals for next year: Can you say: 3:15:00??

        Sorry this was so long, I hope at least some of you enjoyed it. I'll try
        to post some official results later, if I can find the paper.

                        H app Y H oliday S,

                            Keith E. Raterink
                            raterink@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov
                            TRY-a-TRI

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