My First Marathon (part 1)

Woke up at 3:30 AM. I think I got 4.5 hours of sleep, but I feel ok. I didn’t want to drink coffee. I was awake. I had spent an hour before going to bed laying out what I will wear- the shorts, the GK Hero’s Run jersey, the long-sleeved shirt under it, the fuelbelt with 2 flasks (1 water, 1 gatorade), 3 “gu”s (1 lemon, 2 strawberry-banana). I had pinned my race bib (#511) perfectly on the GK jersey. I decided the night before that I would wear my old Asics shoes. The new ones didn’t feel right, and I didn’t want to bet on it. My instincts told me I might get a blown Achilles or knee after 20 miles. I knew I would have foot problems with the old shoes, but these were problems I knew about. Better the “known” problems, I guess.

My wife drove me to the race start area. Already, some of the GK volunteers were there. We decided to set up the GK tents near the starting line, but far enough that we wouldn’t be thrown out by race organizers. We found the perfect spot next to a port-a-potty. That was a good sign☺

We stretched a little bit, then Robin said a group prayer. Then the GK team started going to the start area. We had to walk past the 6 min mile pace sign, past the 7, 8, 9, 10 min mile pace signs. We knew we were 12 min-milers! Needless to say, we were at the back of the pack. It was very exciting at the start. My heart rate monitor read 89 bpm, so it was ok. But all the cheerers and runners made the air electric. I was nervous, but really alive. We stayed on the right side, so the GK volunteers can take pictures of us. There were 9 of us who made it to the starting line: Jeff, Anthony, Eddie, and I were doing the full, and Walter, Tony, Mike, Gil, and Efren were doing the half.

Then off we went! Jeff kept time and pace- we were doing 5 min walk, 1 min run. I felt smooth, comfortable. I felt like the shoes were feeling good- remember, this was my first run on a surface other than the trail or treadmill. We were passing a lot of people during the first mile, so I was a little worried we were going too fast. All the books say don’t go too fast at the start. But it felt easy, so we just kept it up.

Miles 1-5

Before long, we passed the first mile marker- that was one mile? But we just started! Time was 11 min- so we were doing a whole minute faster than we planned. But it was downhill, so maybe that was fine. In my mind, we can go a little faster downhill, then conserve energy uphill. By this time, there were lots of sweatshirts on the sidewalks- people had generally overdressed, and were now too warm. I wondered if strangers just pick up the free shirts…I had on a long sleeved cotton shirt (from a WEF conference in 95), and then my GK run jersey on top of it, and shorts. I planned to take off the cotton shirt then just wear the running jersey the rest of the way. I was hoping to hand off the longsleeved shirt to a GK cheerer on Mile 4, I sure didn’t want to lose this shirt.

I think the biggest things going on in my head were: that we were passing a lot of people (so maybe we wouldn’t be last ☺), and that we were running in the middle of the street! It felt weird being in the middle of Hillsborough, with no cars. The runners were generally very upbeat, very happy. There were some loud spectators shouting encouragement. It was surreal to see them in thick coats, carrying mugs of hot coffee, while we were in shorts. It was probably 48-50 deg F. I felt like an athlete, as sweat started to build up. I had taken off my longsleeved shirt by Mile 3, as I didn’t want to overheat. At Mile 2, we passed by the first water station. Lots of volunteers, with the white “Ask me, I’m a volunteer” shirt. I decided to try the Ultima sport drink (maybe a mistake?- see later). I shouldn’t have been surprised at the litter of paper cups on the road, but I still was. My impulse was to look for a trash can ☺. The issue of looking for a port-a-potty with a short line was also becoming more important. We usually are very hydrated at the start, and need to go early during our training runs. But most of the booths I saw had a line of 5-7 people, and I didn’t want to waste time waiting. So I just decided not to drink too much, and keep on the lookout for an open port-a-potty. Mile 3.5, we passed by NC State’s Bell Tower, and there were a few kids with their hands out, high-fiving the runners. I made a special effort to high-five all kids along the way. But mostly, we were weaving in and out of runners, as we passed them when we ran, and tried to stay out of the way when we walked.

Around Mile 5 on Hillsborough and Glenwood, we saw some of the faster runners making the loop back, maybe 2 miles ahead of us. I suppose since we spotted them 4 minutes at the start, they were ahead by half a mile, but still, these guys are going fast. Maybe they’re all half-marathoners ☺.

There were several groups also doing the Galloway method. They were easy to tell apart- someone would usually look at his/her watch and say “that’s it- walk break”. People were still cheerful, talking to each other. Raleigh spectators were out, cheering, and even the police were giving encouragement as they pointed runners to the right direction. I was thinking- this is a nicely organized race- streets were closed, and police were on hand to give directions. There was this big, muscular guy in a yellow sweatshirt with half a dozen medals around his neck, shouting encouragement to the runners. “You can do it! Pain is nothing! You can be like me, get all these medals!” We saw him again around Mile 7, and a runner shouted, “Where did you get those medals?” and he shot back “I got them from the dollar store for a quarter each!” I’m still not sure who the guy was- he looked too big to be a serious runner, more like Bo Jackson than a Prefontain.

Running through downtown Raleigh was also surreal. For the first time, I started observing the buildings on Fayetteville Street, and noted how quaint some of them are. Raleigh has some nice small buildings with character, and the Capitol dome was looming ahead on a picturesque street on a cold morning. This is what it feels like to run a marathon- a few hundred people moving together, owning the streets. But, now I had to think about finding a port-a-potty…