Day 161

Epic day. That's just a good way to sum today up. While I have 100-milers in my resume, I have been really out of distance running shape for nearly a year now. Still, the body never forgets what it's been trained and today, I put that to the test. I actually have another blog which I've idled since I deployed. On it, I always wrote race reports after my marathons and ultra-marathons. Well, today is going to serve as just that...race report time! After all, I finished my 26th marathon today.

Air Force Marathon - Deployed Locations - RACE REPORT

Early to rise at 1:45am today. I think I got about 5 hours of sleep which was fine. I downed the last of the Starbucks DoubleShots that Dorothy sent me to get myself mentally charged, got ready, shot some e-mails out, then was out the door at 2:30am in search for a shuttle to get me to the start. The shuttles have a central starting point so I jogged in that direction, about 3/4 mile away. Good for me, I got there just before departure and made it to the meeting tent on the other side of the base by 3:30am as required. Red shirts filled the tent (the race tech tee) and I found a patch of rubber floor matting and camped out for the next 45 minutes through several pre-race briefs and chatting with a few new Army friends I've met over here. By the way, I never, ever wear the race t-shirt before I do the race. Just one of my pet peeves.

The race was scheduled for 4:30am which was 8pm back in Dayton, OH where it was the night before the official Air Force Marathon. As the time approached, I experienced a rarity in racing, we started early! 4:17am and we were off. It was awfully nice out...cool, crisp, clear skies. My goal? Finish. I hadn't run more than 13 miles in a very long time so my body was in no condition to travel 26.2 miles but muscle memory, it's a real thing so I was counting on that and the mental fortitude I gained through those 100-milers. (speaking of which, I am passing Mile 79 if my deployment were a 100-miler!) One surprise we all heard during the pre-race brief was that they were closing the course at 5 hours which is unheard of back in the States. Here, though, with the over-population and logistics of coordinating a marathon in a war zone, I understood the reasoning. Still, though, there are many folks who won't meet that time. Perhaps that's why we started early? To give an extra 15 minutes ahead of the 9:30am cutoff? Regardless, while I have run a marathon in 3hrs, 21 min and more recently in the 3:45 to 4:15 range, today was about survival and I KNEW I'd be up against the wall with that time limit.

About a mile into the race, I turned on some Kenny Chesney tunes and then realized the shadows being cast all around me. Hmmm...I looked upward and there he was...Mr. Moon! He was in a position that I thought that this could be my first marathon run completely from start to finish with him. I was pretty sure I'd beat moonset. GREAT! In my mind, I was thinking about Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow who were at my town's Friday night football game at that moment and wondering if we were looking at the same moon at the same time. It was a good feeling.

So, the course: if you recall from my many posts about running the perimeter of 8 miles, this course did 6.55 miles of it then turned around and back-tracked. That made a half marathon of 13.1 miles. Do it twice for the marathon and 26.2 miles. Exciting, eh? Uh...no. But running outside the barbed wire just wasn't an option. :-) It was dark for the first several miles but here, the sun always rises earlier than I'm used to so it didn't last too long. The photo you see here was on the perimeter road around the base which was the sight for most of the day. Hindu Kush mountains in the distance, tall concrete T-Walls on the right, up-armored vehicle approaching, barbed wire and Afghanistan to the left, and the sun is about the illuminate the day.

As I passed each mile, I was pleasantly surprised. All I knew was a water stop every few miles with water. In reality, they had a stop right at each mile point and had Gatorade and cold, sliced oranges. They stayed cool all day long, too. Oranges, which most people don't realize, have more potassium than bananas which help prevent cramping and those very painful charlie horse's that I have gotten many times after races. By eating orange slices all day, I can keep potassium levels up and help my recovery and minimize the chance of cramping later...which totally worked, by the way. As I approached the first turn-around point at 6.55 miles, I felt pretty good and was running a very comfortable pace. I hit that mark in 1hr, 1 minute, moving at just under 9min, 30sec miles. Comfy. I kept up the same pace...almost...and headed on back to the half-marathon point. During this time, the base was getting very busy, the sun was high in the sky, and traffic was getting crazy. The worst part about that were the Indian men driving the big shuttle buses. They couldn't care less about us and at one point, I ran up to the side of one, hammered the glass door with my first and yelled for him to "Slow down!!!" He did. :-) As I got to the halfway point and most around me were finished for the day, I logged that section in 1hr, 5min so I did slow down a bit.

OK, so I'm definitely starting to feel it a bit. This is basically the furthest I've run in many, many months. I knew the future was going to be a bit painful and mentally testing but I was all good with that. Bring it! I could feel my pace slowing, too. Truth be told? The thought of fighting the foreign drivers for another 13.1 miles, the dump trucks, port-a-john-pumping-trucks which stink horribly, and impatient vehicles everywhere was not appealing. Still, I just put my head down, and clicked off the miles. As I got into the upper teens, I was definitely slowing more than normal and knew walking breaks weren't far off. Sure enough, I was around Mile 18 or so, but still running, too. I remember well my thoughts: "Geez...I haven't felt these emotions in quite a while." Yes, it's all about forward, relentless motion and getting the job done which I was certainly going to do. It was pretty lonely out there, too, as the field was very spread out and not too many marathoners out there. Still, you could always see one or two either ahead of you or behind.

I made the final turn-around just a hair before 20 miles and continued that forever-long trek back to the finish. I have no idea what my split time was at the turn but I knew I had to keep it moving as I was not going to be far from that monster in the room..the 5hr point. "Forward, relentless motion...practice what I have preached to others for years...get the job done." The last 6.55 miles were not pretty. Both thighs were screaming, my 450 mile Brooks shoes were trashed and lacked any cushioning, and that clock...ugh...just ticking away. Back on March 25, 2007, I ran the Inaugural ING Georgia Marathon in Atlanta. Before that, I was fat and out of shape. That was my comeback marathon as I was getting back in shape and pursuing a commission in the Navy. It was a train-wreck of a marathon. It was sponsored by Coca-Cola which is based in Atlanta and they ran out of PowerAde at Mile 6! Coke owns PowerAde! Plus, the heat and humidity were high and the pollen count through the roof which destroyed me. It was my slowest ever at 4hrs, 51min and I nearly passed out less than a mile from the finish. The worst part? I was alone. I flew down there by myself and had no shoulders to cry on!! Anyway, 3:21 was my best back on November 18, 2000 at Richmond and Atlanta was my worst back in March 2007. Today certainly stood a good chance at being my new worst! No worries, though...undertrained and just wanted to finish!

Passing each water stop, the oranges weren't quite as cold but the Air Force members were still smiling and ever-helpful. I made sure to thank them all for toughing it out. With so few runners left on the course, the boredom was heavy, I'm sure. There was one guy who stood in the same exact spot all day long. He was about 1.5 miles from the start/finish. The last time by, I stopped and shook his hand and thanked him for being out there all day and the support. That's heart, folks! No one was forcing him to do that. I turned the final corner on to the main drag here at the base for a final mile to the finish. There were just a few folks around me at this point but mostly, the street was just crowded with vehicles and people crowding the sidewalk as it was just another workday. Finish line in sight, I crossed it with my arms stretched out far...marathon #26 done! A volunteer with a stopwatch was kind enough to inform me of my time: 4hrs, 53min, 22sec. Yep, I bested my worst! HA! Too funny and not too many people would be happy with that or smile! Not me...I was perfectly happy with it. I accomplished my goal, didn't I? Yep! Immediately thereafter, a senior enlisted Air Force guy put the medal over my head...just like would happen at any marathon Stateside. It was great.

I caught the shuttle immediately back to my room because 1) I needed a shower, 2) I was starving, 3) I had to go to work! Dangit, who goes to work after running a marathon?!? I guess that would be me, eh? By this point, though, stairs were interesting to climb and go down and I was doing the "post-marathon-shuffle" perfectly. Luckily, a good friend sent me some Hammer Recoverite so I took that to give my trashed legs what they needed. I also snapped my traditional photo of my shoes, medal, and bib. Using a Sharpie to write the marathon # is also tradition before each race. Afterwards, I showered, caught another shuttle, and headed on in. Once in, the #1 question was of course, "what was your time?" I hate that question from folks who never run more than 3 miles because they have no comprehension of the marathon and what the time means. To many, they'll think how S L O W that was. I'd rather just say I finished the marathon and have the medal to prove it! I had plenty of work waiting for me and did just that until about 5pm when I called it a day. Once back, I grabbed some dinner, Skyped with Marjie, and before I knew it, I was asleep and didn't realize that until 1:30am! I think I slept for like 5 hours or so. I was in no state of mind to write my race report earlier so I'm doing it now...it's just past 3am here and I'm going back to sleep in a few. It's Sunday, after all, so no rush to go to work today.

So am I happy about the day? You betcha! Very happy. Even better, my youngest brother ran his first 50K today (31.2 miles). He did it at one of my favorite all-time races, too. Together, we racked up 57.4 miles! Not bad for the day, eh?! He even wore my Navy PT shirt since I wasn't there. Great job, Jim! Recover well and soak it all in! With that, another week is closed out on the calendar and the end of September is just around the corner. Oh yea, my relief is hopping on a plane today. Yes, he is jumping on his own Yellow Brick Road. The destination? My desk! It's waiting for him!

Goodnight, everyone.