Lets get done with this as soon as possible so that I can get it out of the system
Going into the race I was really happy with my preparations. I had put in work required to run my first full marathon. I had diligently followed the plan and did all the key sessions as required. I had also rested well in the week leading to the race. We (Me, Ramesh and Bharathi) arrived at DC on Friday late night. On Saturday we met up with the other Asha folks staying in the same hotel and we all went to the expo for the bib pick up. Rest of the Saturday was spent between resting at the hotel, watching ironman world championship on nbc, watching weather conditions and meeting an old college friend for dinner.
On Friday prediction was there might be high winds and heavy rain on race day late morning/early afternoon. But by Sunday morning predictions had changed and Sandy was only going show up late Sunday night or early Monday morning. There was really too much uncertainty around the timing. Irrespective of its timing I think I wasn't really too worried. It wasn't like I haven't run in rain or wind before. On Sunday while catching the race shuttle to the start location it was drizzling slightly. Nothing too scary. My plan was to wear my wind breaker as the second layer during the whole race. I had never run in that wind breaker before and since I have a very high sweat rate trying a new second layer in the race was bit scary for me. Usually, I don't like doing anything new in the race. By the race start time (7:55) we had the most awesome weather we could ask for the race. Cloudy, bit cold and no rain in sight. Seeing that I removed my second layer before going to the start line.
Going into the race my plan was simple. Follow the 4 hour pacer as long as possible and then if everything goes well then up the pace in the last 7-8 miles. This did seem pretty doable on a good day. So I lined up behind the 4 hour pacer. As soon as the horn went off, 30,000 runners all started with the single goal of conquering 26.2 miles. Honestly, I had never seen so many people running at the same time. It was packed but still there was enough room to run.
First 5-6 miles
As soon as the horn went off my single goal was to keep an eye on 4 hour pacer all the time. As soon as we approached the first water stop (at around 2.25 miles) I had my first accident. I was running to the extreme right and the water stop was to the extreme left. Crossing over was a very risky affair with runners every where. The problem is you cannot abruptly stop or cut in as people are running (at high speed) behind you and you might end up colliding with them. Some how I managed to get to the other side by cutting in (pretty scary stuff) and once I was done as I was trying to go to the center I got tripped by the runner in front of me. I went down on my knees. Both my knees scratched against the road and started bleeding. I gathered myself and check if I could run. Luckly I was OK. I did have slight pain but nothing too alarming. By this time the 4 hour pacer had pulled up. I didn't wanted to loose him this early so I started the chase again. Luckly by mile 3 or 4 I caught with him. After mile 4, the same accident happened all over again. The guy behind me tripped me. Here I was again on my knees on the road. This was really getting scary for me. Luckly, I survived that fall too. At the next water stop I quickly regrouped myself, cleaned my knees and checked if I could run. There was certainly some discomfort with some bleeding from both the knees but then the pain was bearable so I decided to get back at my chase of 4 hour pacer.
Middle miles (6-17)
In all this early mile madness I had completely lost sight of 4 hour pacer. So for this middle miles my goal was simply to up my effort a bit per mile and try to bridge the gap. By mile 12 I was able to bridge the gap and I was running behind the 4 hour pacer. I had read the pace timing sheet that he provided and it said we would cross mile 13 in 1:59 and indeed we did cross it in 1:59. I was really feeling well at that point. There was some pain in the knees (because of the bruises) and slight pain in my quads which was unusual but still nothing alarming. Everything went smooth in those miles. I was keeping good pace and watching my footings very carefully. I was certain third fall would end my race :)
Torture miles (17-26.2)
This is where everything went south. At mile 17 water stop as soon as I started running again I got a striking pain in my left quad. Initially I thought it might be just one of those odd cramp which would go away and I did not take it seriously (big mistake) and I continued pushing myself through the pain. Since the weather was cold it was even more important to stretch the quad. I did not. I saw my pace dropped for mile 18. By mile 19, my left quad was completely locked out. Moment I tried to run I would feel a striking pain as if someone had stabbed it. I kept trying but nothing was happening. I tried stretching it but i guess it was too late by then. By mile 19 I knew that my day was complete and I had accepted the fate that it was going to be a walkathon for the remaining miles. Every time I saw someone running past me I would try to hang on with them but eventual pain on quad was too much to bear. By mile 20 even my right quad started acting up. At mile 22 water stop I asked the volunteers to point me to the medical tent as a last chance effort if they can provide me some magic pills to revive my quads and I could run the remaining miles. They told me lot of people had similar issue and gave me two glass of warm chicken stew to up sodium intake. But that also did not help much. At that moment I really thought of quitting and staying in the medical tent but then I knew that would hurt me lot more when I wake up next day. I decided to stop worrying about time/pace etc and just soak in the environment and walk the remaining miles. At mile 25 I met up with Sudarshan (south bay runner) and he also had a horrible experience and was cramping from mile 16. We stayed together for sometime with some slow running but then I had to ask him to go ahead as I was barely able to walk straight without pain. Eventually, I crossed the finish line in 4:53. The highlight of the day was getting the salute and then a medal from the marine. That moment was worth all the hurt. During the expo they had a bus with the slogan "Earned never given". I definitely had to earn that medal.
In the hind sight I was disappointed. I had a good plan in place, I had trained for the day. I was really shocked and confused that how quickly things changed for me. There at mile 15-16 I was thinking of uping my pace and then mile 18-19 I was reduce to walking. I have never faced cramping issues in the training. I followed the same nutrition that I followed in all my long training runs. So I am still really confused what could have lead to that issue. May be I was over ambitious in my pace and ran too fast too early to have such a blow up towards the end or may be it was cumulative fatigue collected over the last few months with biking and running. I don't know. What I do know is that I am definitely looking forward to training harder and have a crack at 26.2 for one more time early next year. As far as this year is concerned this was the last race for me. So for now I just plan to take rest for 2-3 weeks to recover properly before getting back to biking/running/swimming (lessons)
Garmin file
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/238783071
Going into the race I was really happy with my preparations. I had put in work required to run my first full marathon. I had diligently followed the plan and did all the key sessions as required. I had also rested well in the week leading to the race. We (Me, Ramesh and Bharathi) arrived at DC on Friday late night. On Saturday we met up with the other Asha folks staying in the same hotel and we all went to the expo for the bib pick up. Rest of the Saturday was spent between resting at the hotel, watching ironman world championship on nbc, watching weather conditions and meeting an old college friend for dinner.
On Friday prediction was there might be high winds and heavy rain on race day late morning/early afternoon. But by Sunday morning predictions had changed and Sandy was only going show up late Sunday night or early Monday morning. There was really too much uncertainty around the timing. Irrespective of its timing I think I wasn't really too worried. It wasn't like I haven't run in rain or wind before. On Sunday while catching the race shuttle to the start location it was drizzling slightly. Nothing too scary. My plan was to wear my wind breaker as the second layer during the whole race. I had never run in that wind breaker before and since I have a very high sweat rate trying a new second layer in the race was bit scary for me. Usually, I don't like doing anything new in the race. By the race start time (7:55) we had the most awesome weather we could ask for the race. Cloudy, bit cold and no rain in sight. Seeing that I removed my second layer before going to the start line.
Going into the race my plan was simple. Follow the 4 hour pacer as long as possible and then if everything goes well then up the pace in the last 7-8 miles. This did seem pretty doable on a good day. So I lined up behind the 4 hour pacer. As soon as the horn went off, 30,000 runners all started with the single goal of conquering 26.2 miles. Honestly, I had never seen so many people running at the same time. It was packed but still there was enough room to run.
First 5-6 miles
As soon as the horn went off my single goal was to keep an eye on 4 hour pacer all the time. As soon as we approached the first water stop (at around 2.25 miles) I had my first accident. I was running to the extreme right and the water stop was to the extreme left. Crossing over was a very risky affair with runners every where. The problem is you cannot abruptly stop or cut in as people are running (at high speed) behind you and you might end up colliding with them. Some how I managed to get to the other side by cutting in (pretty scary stuff) and once I was done as I was trying to go to the center I got tripped by the runner in front of me. I went down on my knees. Both my knees scratched against the road and started bleeding. I gathered myself and check if I could run. Luckly I was OK. I did have slight pain but nothing too alarming. By this time the 4 hour pacer had pulled up. I didn't wanted to loose him this early so I started the chase again. Luckly by mile 3 or 4 I caught with him. After mile 4, the same accident happened all over again. The guy behind me tripped me. Here I was again on my knees on the road. This was really getting scary for me. Luckly, I survived that fall too. At the next water stop I quickly regrouped myself, cleaned my knees and checked if I could run. There was certainly some discomfort with some bleeding from both the knees but then the pain was bearable so I decided to get back at my chase of 4 hour pacer.
Middle miles (6-17)
In all this early mile madness I had completely lost sight of 4 hour pacer. So for this middle miles my goal was simply to up my effort a bit per mile and try to bridge the gap. By mile 12 I was able to bridge the gap and I was running behind the 4 hour pacer. I had read the pace timing sheet that he provided and it said we would cross mile 13 in 1:59 and indeed we did cross it in 1:59. I was really feeling well at that point. There was some pain in the knees (because of the bruises) and slight pain in my quads which was unusual but still nothing alarming. Everything went smooth in those miles. I was keeping good pace and watching my footings very carefully. I was certain third fall would end my race :)
Torture miles (17-26.2)
This is where everything went south. At mile 17 water stop as soon as I started running again I got a striking pain in my left quad. Initially I thought it might be just one of those odd cramp which would go away and I did not take it seriously (big mistake) and I continued pushing myself through the pain. Since the weather was cold it was even more important to stretch the quad. I did not. I saw my pace dropped for mile 18. By mile 19, my left quad was completely locked out. Moment I tried to run I would feel a striking pain as if someone had stabbed it. I kept trying but nothing was happening. I tried stretching it but i guess it was too late by then. By mile 19 I knew that my day was complete and I had accepted the fate that it was going to be a walkathon for the remaining miles. Every time I saw someone running past me I would try to hang on with them but eventual pain on quad was too much to bear. By mile 20 even my right quad started acting up. At mile 22 water stop I asked the volunteers to point me to the medical tent as a last chance effort if they can provide me some magic pills to revive my quads and I could run the remaining miles. They told me lot of people had similar issue and gave me two glass of warm chicken stew to up sodium intake. But that also did not help much. At that moment I really thought of quitting and staying in the medical tent but then I knew that would hurt me lot more when I wake up next day. I decided to stop worrying about time/pace etc and just soak in the environment and walk the remaining miles. At mile 25 I met up with Sudarshan (south bay runner) and he also had a horrible experience and was cramping from mile 16. We stayed together for sometime with some slow running but then I had to ask him to go ahead as I was barely able to walk straight without pain. Eventually, I crossed the finish line in 4:53. The highlight of the day was getting the salute and then a medal from the marine. That moment was worth all the hurt. During the expo they had a bus with the slogan "Earned never given". I definitely had to earn that medal.
Garmin file
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/238783071
Great job Kunal. No doubt you are disappointed. But, there will be many more for you.
ReplyDeleteAll those knee scrapes must have thrown you off your running rhythm. You did great, despite all the hurdles. Congratulations on your first marathon!!!!!
Aparna