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Published: November 15th 2007
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Ants on a Bridge
Now thats a lot of people especially considering it was that packed on the lower level too. I survived, barely that is. That marathon was definately the most difficult physical thing I have ever done in my life. At this point I am over coming my last pain in my torn achilles tendon. I want this puppy to heal so I can start running again and training for my next one. Running that race was like finding a drug Ive been looking for ever since I played my last game for Ohio State. Now I know I kind of called the Thong thing off, but as I was packing my suit case on friday I saw it and through it in with no real intentions of wearing it. I mean how embarrassing would wearing that thing be, I just couldnt bare it. Yeah Right.. So the story goes were at the mall after I picked up my race packets and meeting up with my buddys GF in the mall and in Marshall Fields I saw this pair of skin colored spandex and I said to myslef how perfect would those be to wear those under the suit. Then it would be just like wearing shorts and I do what I initially said I would. So I did it.
Looking Good
No matter how much I run I cant seem to get rid of those hockey legs You see I have this new criteria in life when I make decisions to do things a little out of the norm. I ask myself when I am 60 thinking back on my youth will I regret this or wish I did it. And you all no what my answer was. I have to admit as I was running the first mile in sweat pants and was finally getting to hot to keep them on I was a little unsure of going the next 3 hrs in a thong, but wearing that thong is probably what ended up getting me through that race. As soon as I got across the first bridge there were people everwhere and thats when the cheers began and didnt end for until the end of the race. I put my name on the front of my shirt and people were cheering me on no stop. It was unreal. At times there were like 100 people all chanting for me at the same time. It really kept the adreniline going and had a way of giving you that extra energy you needed everytime I was dragging. It was pretty funny when some people would initially see
the name on my shirt and start saying GO RE... and then they saw it and broke out laughing. I also kept hearing people always say Happy Birthday as I went by. it took me a while to realize that I wrote Happy Birthday Mom on the back of my short. So back to the race. I got up at about 530 in the morning after setting every alarm and phone in the apt. I had a dream a couple nights before that I missed the start so was wanted to make darn sure I was on time. I took the ferry over to Stanton Island to meet the other 40000 participants as we all waited a couple hours for the start. The whole thing was organized perfectly and had no problem finding my starting area and getting all set up. I got some good tips from some veteran runners before the race and was getting really pumped to begin. After the gun went off it took about 5 min for us to get to the start. And there I was running, running, and running. Its was really tight quarters running the first 5 miles and then things got spaced
out a little bit. I started the race attempting to run 8 min miles and was on a great pace for about 22.5 miles. Actually around mile 20 I was thinking that I wasnt going to hit the Wall that everyone described and I was above that or something. Well for once in my life I couldnt of been more wrong. All the sudden my thigh just locked up and I could only bend them about 1/3 of the normal range, and on top of that they hurt like something that hurts really bad. The last 5 miles went through central park so there were tons of people and great scenery, but none of it mattered. I was struggling. It comes down to a mental game at that point and you just have to get over it. At one point the 3:30 pace team passed me for the first time in the race. That would of been my goal time. I thought for like 3 seconds that I could keep up with them, but it wasn't happening. That last 3 and a half miles was twice and hard and seemed like longer than the first 22.5. I ended up finishing
the race in about 3 hours and 38 min, which put me at around 5500 out of 40000 people which is ok I guess. I was happy with it. The only problem is that Im trying to figure out what would of happened if I would have been able to keep my training all summer and not got injured. Guess I wont know until next year. We saw a add for the Iceland marathon next august and thats I place I always wanted to go so I think Ill run that one next year. Im going for a 3 hour 15 min or better. I can do it if I punish myself enough next summer. After the race I missed meeting up with my friends and hobbled back to his apt which ended up taking a couple hours. All I had on was my race gear and a space blanket. I got some strange stares for sure and no one was cheering my name that time. So it all worked out great. Finished the marathon, wore my outfit, chalked up another great experience and made a lot of people smile. What more could I ask for. Nothing.......
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