We Get an Idea
It all began several years back. Joe had posted about running a short run of 2 miles or so. I in had begun training for a small triathlon with another friend and in a bit of friendly competition posted that I had run a slightly longer distance. After a little give and take, he proposed that we run the Seattle Half Marathon together. The problem lay in the fact that that event took place on Thanksgiving weekend. My counter proposal was that I would run a half marathon on my trail in Sylacauga at the same time as his in Seattle. All went very well in my training. I ran back to back 10 mile trail runs while in North Carolina followed by a 13 mile trail run on the Sylaward. But during that 13 mile run, something began to hurt in my right outer knee area which I learned was something called the Ileotibial Band Fiction Syndrome. That ended my running for 6 months. I wouldn't get back to it for 2 years. Meanwhile Joe continued to run. He completed 2 marathons and at least 1 other half marathon. For some reason I can't even remember. I started back running in Fall of 2011. I let Joe know that I was running again and it must have been around Christmas time he made this suggestion. It was something which I had wanted to attempt, it was something we had wanted to do together, and the importance of the Marines to my Father's life intrigued me, so I agreed.
Mercedes Half Marathon
There are many plans to get a person ready to run a marathon. Most of them only include the distances and dates for a regular plan of increasing mileage over a period of 3 month. I knew there would be logistical considerations. What would it be like to run in a crowd. What do you have to do to get ready. It seemed reasonable to me that proper preparation included running some events. The first one on my calendar with sufficient training time was the Mercedes Half Marathon. I signed up somewhat late for the event so I paid more than I could have. My training with trail running was sufficient I thought so I made my preparations. Of course winters in Alabama are generally mild. January and February of 2012 weren't an exception. But with the alarming regularity typical of my plans, the weather took a turn. The morning of the marathon a cold front had moved through and starting temperatures were around 19 degrees. It was 3 miles before I could feel my fingers despite the warm cycling jacket, fleece hat, neck gator, and gloves. Cold! At each water station, the spilled water froze to a hard sheet. Runners gingerly tiptoed through them. But all the trail running had done the trick. I finished the half marathon in 2:30. I felt I was on my way.
New River Half Marathon
My training seemed easy. I had no problem increasing both distance and speed. I read as many descriptions of the route as I could find. They all talked about the steep grades in certain portions. Since I'd been doing most of my training runs in the National Forest, I didn't worry too much about it. Traveling that far for just a short run seemed a waste so we planned on going up as far as Galax so we could ride the New River Trail. Bev and I did a short ride the day we arrived, then went to our little inexpensive hotel for the night. We didn't stop in the room but went out for our dinner. We arrived back tired and ready for bed and brought in our things and started preparing for the night. That's when we discovered some little flat brown bugs. Bed bugs. Our first ever. I grabbed everything and put it in the car. Then we went to the office and brought the owner back to see it. After a refund, we went to the other hotel there. A much more expensive place. I brought all our clothes into the bathroom and put them in the tub. I took everything apart and shook it out over the white tub. I found nothing, but it was difficult to sleep that night. Any little itch got me out of bed and into a light to search for crawlers.
It took forever to arrive in Boone. Road construction made traffic impossible. Boone is a college town and I expected there to be good eating places. But finding a good spot was difficult. We ended up eating at a little restaurant across from our hotel. The diner next to the hotel wouldn't wait on us. After dinner we drove over to the start of the run. My GPS took us the most difficult way possible. The next morning, I was able to follow the traffic headed there and found a much more direct route. We were under the threat of thunderstorms and heavy rain. It had been raining that morning and the field we parked in was very wet and soft. We lined up and started and I found someone running my pace and locked on. A very fit Asian woman was doing a run/walk technique. Her run would put her ahead then her walk would permit me to catch up. I also ran along with a gentleman about my own age. I surprised myself with how well I managed the climbs but I began to run a little low on gas as I came down the last 3 mile stretch. I caught up with a young woman who was walking. As I caught her, I encouraged her to begin running again and we finished together. From there to the finish line, we ran in a light rain. There were lots of people and I did learn a little about organizing a run.
From there, Bev and I drove over to Todd where we rented kayaks and paddled the New River. By that night, I was pretty tired and ready for bed. After a big dinner at the steak house, we turned in.
The run that wasn't
I continued to increase my mileage but I hadn't thought about how warm the summer would become. It became increasingly hard to do the long runs. It would be very hot and I'd perspire heavily. Even with my Camelbak, I'd lose 3 pounds on a long run. As the time for the Macon Make it by Midnight run got closer, I knew I hadn't done the miles I needed to be ready. Especially since I'd be running the the late evening in temperatures ranging from the upper 90's to 80's late that night. Since David has asked to go camping, we opted to take him on a campout. Our choices came down to Gulf Shores or Lawrenceburg, Tn. We went for Tennessee and that proved to be my undoing.
Illness
At the Park in Tennessee, we had to deal with heavy rains that were coming across the state. When we left on that trip, I doubted they could be right about the rainfall amounts. Unfortunately, they were spot on. Granny Johnson had been declining in health and we got the call that she was fading. I packed us up and we headed for Cullman. I didn't know I'd picked up some ticks in the process of packing up. With all the goings on, 2 of them managed to stay attached more than a day. I was back in Cullman for the funeral on Sunday, but Sunday night I began to have flu symptoms. Those symptoms progressed despite starting antibiotics, and over the next couple of weeks, I became very, very sick. I was coping with chills and achey symptoms coupled with crushing fatigue. It continued to worsen. I saw my regular Doctor and even saw an infectious disease specialist. (Even though getting the appointments took a long time) Final verdict, I picked up something from the ticks but they don't know what. Very unlikely I'd be able to do the marathon. And given enough time, I will probably overcome it.
Training
Since I couldn't get a refund on the plane tickets, I elected to do the training and run. I had only a little more than 2 months to the run when I finally felt well enough to do some training. I could only manage that by resting all I could and doing a minimum of anything else. I was very slow and often it took all the discipline I could muster to push myself the miles. That final 20 mile run before the event was very, very hard. But I did the training runs. All of them.
Marine Corps Marathon
In the week leading up to the event, the threat of the perfect storm became more and more likely. But the day of the run, we were spared the worst of it with low 50's for the high and only gusty winds. Getting to the start meant a 5:15 wake up call. This was the second day in a row to get up at 5am. The previous day I had to go on 4 hours sleep after working till midnight, then getting up to make the flight in Birmingham. It had been a week of extra work because my co-worker was out, on doctor's advice. I went in early every day that week. Once we arrived Saturday, we agreed to meet at a pasta restaurant that was only a few blocks away. I got back to the hotel early and turned in to rest as much as I could.
Despite reading every account of the event I could, I had somehow missed the part about the really long walk from the Pentagon rail station down to the race start. Joe came from his accomodation and it took a while for the two of us to link up. That mean't even more walking. After a couple of coordinating phone messages, we met at the cue for the 5:00 to 5:30 run. We visited and talked about our preparation. The national anthem was sung. Then a flyover. Then came the first cannon blast for the wheelchair competitors. Then at 7:55 came our start. It took 20 minutes before we crossed the start line. Joe started quickly, and I began slowly as is my custom to allow my body to warm. By 8 miles in, I could tell it wasn't a high energy day for me. The ligament that had given me some pain in the past few weeks began to hurt by the 10 mile mark. I pushed on and had a pretty good half marathon time going. Around the 8 mile mark I passed a Marine band playing the Marine Hymn. That was inspiring. And near the 9 mile mark I passed a bagpipe band playing Scotland the Brave. That's one of my favorites. Next came the loop along Haynes Point. It was flat, coolish, and breezy. The Marines were passing out GU samples there. I grabbed one and downed it. It turned out to be Capuccino. It was so strong I almost became sick. With my foot hurting, I put my head down and tried to run smoothly but often folks who were using a run/walk technique would pass, then suddenly form a rank forcing me to have to swing wide to pass them or slow to find my way thru. Folks were always veering or changing direction or stopping so you always were having to sidestep or slow down for them.
I really expected to enjoy running the mall but I only remember the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capital building. I was working on beating the bridge but I had remembered the time incorrectly so I actually had even more time left than I thought. The bridge to beat came at the 20 mile mark. Then the bridge that we crossed seemed to go on forever. I missed some mile markers along this section and didn't know how far I'd gone till I saw the 23 mile mark. My legs were getting tired and heavy. I wondered if I would be able to finish but at the same time knew that I wouldn't quit no matter what. Each mile from here on out seemed very, very long. Once I passed the 25 mile marker, there were even more people on the road sides cheering for us. At this point I was passing folks by the dozens. Some of them were in pretty bad shape, limping along. Then I could see the 26 mile mark. From here on in there were so many young Marines along the road shouting out encouragement. I had read how hard the last 0.2 mile up the hill to the finish was. I ran up that hill while most walked. The finish was filled with Marines lining both sides of the road. I shook hands or high fived every one I could reach. Then I crossed over the official finish line. I had done it. Whatever else happens I can now say I finished a marathon! Up ahead we were urged into guides where they were waiting to award our finisher's medal. The Marine at the head of the line hung the coveted medal around my neck then snapped to a sharp salute. It was awesome.
From the finish we were instructed to keep on walking. My legs seemed to have forgotten how to walk. My foot was hurting and my legs were so heavy but I continued walking toward the family meet up area. Little by little my legs loosened up and I made it over to the UPS pick up area where I picked up my belongings and then the extra few tenths of a mile to where Bev waited. Joe was there smiling and we hugged. After a few minutes of sharing our adventure, Joe told us he had to get going. With the hurricane approaching, he had to get out to the airport quickly. Bev and I started toward the Metro to head back to the hotel. The line for the Metro was several blocks long. We looked for a shuttle to ride and found the line for it was just as long. So there was no option but to make the walk back past the finish line and on the the Arlington Metro station. That added over a mile and a half to the day. From Arlington station we made it as far as Pentagon station where I suddenly felt ill and exited the train. Low blood sugar I guess. After a little rest, we made it to Crystal City station and made the quarter mile walk back to our hotel. 26.2 miles became over 30 with all the walking.
Along the way many folks had posted signs which helped take your mind off the suffering. One of my favorites was the one that said "Worst Parade Ever". Another informed us that we had run longer than Kim Kardashian had been married. Some encouraged us to beat the bridge but others said beat the hurricane. One guy held a sign which must have been meant for his significant other. It said "No Saturday Runs means Friday night is Sex night".
Some of the runners were dressed colorfully and others even wore costumes. One lady was dressed as a Storm trooper from Star Wars. We weren't the droids she was looking for. Another couple was dressed as Dunkin donut and coffee. Some soldiers ran in full gear including pack. Respect! I saw one solider running on an artificial limb who had lost an arm as well. And many, many wore cards or shirts with notes about grandfathers or dads or brothers whom they were running in remembrance of just like I ran in remembrance of my Dad.
A good friend asked me if this was worth it. All the training. The sacrifice of time to put in the training. I have to say, if it was only for myself I'd say no. But I've always meant this running to be an encouragement to my Cousin and Friend, Joe Castleberry. Seeing how it has given him a new facet to his already accomplished career has been very gratifying. For that reason, I'd say it was worth it.