I Shamrocked this race!

Virginia Beach, Shamrock Marathon, March 21, 2010

That is what the finisher's shirt says on it. "I Shamrocked this race". Gladly this is a term that no one understands, so, when I say that I shamrocked this race, you will have to believe me without question, or doubt or suspicion.
Road races are for good causes. This particular race ended up donating $500,000 to the American Cancer Society; a killer nationwide community based voluntary agency dedicated to cancer research, education and beating it down so it's not the evil killer that it is. This is very close to me; my mother has had cancer 4 times. Mom's cancer makes her a person of interest to the bright folks at Dana Farber Institute where they study people like mom who fly under a radar that has been aggressively chasing her down since she was 38 years old. I am 38 years old. So, I've decided to run away, more than a metaphor, from all things cancerous. We shall see if I've bettered my chances or if the cancer gene is indeed stuck to my double helix; the cancer gene is best compared to an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), I only mean to suggest that there is a finite amount of time till it rears its head and the body becomes the battle ground. I've willed other things away and I shall will this, too.
One would think the marathon is the premier event! Not the case here, or, at least the number of participants, as compared with the other events that weekend, did not reflect it as the premier event. Less than 2700 were in the 38th running of the Shamrock marathon. The other races, in VA Beach that weekend, had more than 10,000 participants. No worries.
There were 177 women running in my division which is women's 35-39 years. There were 1043 women in total. I placed 29th in my division and I placed 224th out of the women.
My age-graded result was 56.2% which is an interesting calculation gauging how the runner fits into gender/age; it's the runner's overall performance grade for the race. Whatever. Could be useful information someday, it's there if I ever give a crap.
Races are usually sponsored by beer. Yeungling, for this race. This was my first time drinking the lager; it is very tasty with excellent, rich amber color, round finish, resembling an ale in many ways but, when super chilled has epic notes of a light malt on the front & a bright hoppy punch to the back but it's quick like a stable lager. I drank 7 Yeunglings after my race. Yes. Beer is to the road race what butter is to lobster. Sorry dear New England friends!

75 degrees, clear skies, bright sun.

D Tag attached, check! Two GU's, check! Laces double tied, check! Calm?, Check! Elijah has two GU's for the split, check!

At the second split, the most important one and exactly on time, this was at 13.1 miles. 1:51, exactly an 8:38 pace. I wrote the times on my legs so I could be reminded. But, anyway, I got there perfectly. oh, I saw a NH girl at mile 7. I ran next to her for a bit as we talked about Reach The Beach (her shirt), a relay similar to Hood To Coast. It's possible that I will be joining a team for this race and I told the girl about that. She said some things (I was passing her and she was real nice) and then I was gone. Never saw her again.


I smelled no aftershave. Thank you marathoners! They must have read that blog AHEM! about synthetic pheromones and their negative affects on neighboring runners.
Running on the shoulder was a new technique of mine. Finding comfort and participating in an extended warranty for my R achilles, the treadmill has become a new vice of mine. I love the road, but the pounding is covered by credit and when it's time to pay up, you get bent over coughing up double. So, the shoulder. You could find me there. And, for miles I passed people there. FEeling the sand give a bit was just what I needed.

There were about 2 minutes that passed before my section of folks hit the start and clicked on the d tag. The openness at that moment called for a lengthy stride, followed by another one similar, a shortened one more closely resembling me and then we're off, i hit my pace, sat back and focused and listened to the music.
You know you're running a marathon when: there are empty GU vessels ALL OVER the road for 26 miles, when there are people laying in the grass of the final 10 kilometers. And, you know it when your body turns off all pain receptors, locks down, closes up and gets to work with a determination not yet accessed. And, you know it when there is a definitive point where there is no more energy, just a will that emerges ex nihilo.

I ran out of energy, but listen, it's not all that bad. I have a ton of endurance (okay there may be a difference and I'll explore that and report back-diff. between energy and endurance). At the final split, with 10 kilometers to go, i saw the clock 3:01:27. I remember squinting at the clock through the sun, shiny spikes of light darting from my squint through damp eyelashes, making an effort to accurately register the time in my head, this took effort, actually. I quickly ran some foggy calculations. Let's see...at 4:30 in the morning, I jump on the treadmill and run 4 miles in about 33 minutes. If I run 7 miles, I'm done in an about in hour. Boston was out of reach! I trained enough in the chilly New England winter. running 3 twenty milers during the 5 weeks leading up to race day and was keeping an average of about 40-50 miles a week.
For the folks on the the side of the road with the EMT's, perhaps their training was inadequate. I don't know. When I said I ran out of energy, this just means that my cruising pace of 8:38 for the final 10k lapsed into a 9 and some change. I was OK about. Reconciled it. REalized, for real, that marathon miles are exponential (tested using scientific theory, exponential as quantifiable property) and that a 10 k right then, is not a 10 k in it's simplest understanding, or how I was used to them feeling.
Glycogen Debt (observable phenomena- the second part of scientific theory:):
I love using money or financial reference as the metric for most things. It speaks to my kids. Their main currency is surprisingly not the TV or the PS2, it's the rattling contents of the piggy bank. And, I've a fine for most bad behaviors. So, to avoid being totally cruel, they can earn it back, too.
Anyway, I've been doing lots of research of glycogen. Let me just say this and then I will blog about the stuff because I think it's way cool. My muscles started to pretty much use themselves as energy toward the end of the race. This glycogen, the energy in the muscles that, once depleted, causes the muscles to break down. Now that I have very little fat on my body, I can see how key carbo replacement is. There was a time when carbohydrates were the enemy. Now I cannot build my muscle and stay energised at the workout, without significant portions. Craziness. I will do some more studying about this and get back to you.
Legs froze after I crossed the finish. I got the d tag over the finish and walked. Calves very tight. Ankles stiff. Bananas, pretzels, cookie, water, 3 waters, 6 bananas, 2 cookies, gatorade, finisher's shirt, finisher's medal, finisher's ball cap. Glycogen at an all new low. More later on that and perhaps some tips on avoiding it.
I'll need to figure something out. I'm running a 50k race Memorial Day weekend in Maine. That's 31 miles, and I have no business sapping the glycogen out at the 20 mile mark.
Finished my first marathon: 4:08
Keep Running!
(still waiting for photographs from mother in law, stay tooned)