3. How I Ran My First Marathon

The sub 33 10K at the end of April was well under my goal, and a friend who was a national class race walker called to remind me that the marathon equivalent would be 2:32 or 2:33, which would be a very competitive time for Denver. That was exciting to hear, but also a little unnerving.

With finals and the marathon coming up I didn’t go out and party or stay out late the following weekend, probably the first time all semester. However, my housemates decided it would be a good idea to have a tequila party, and ended up doing tequila slimes, where they smeared limes and globs of avocado on their forehead before each shot. I ended up being nanny and made sure the house stayed on its foundation.

Somewhere along the way, was it an article or something someone said, I decided to go caffeine free. Went almost cold turkey, maybe with a two or three day transition. I had heard a million times by then, you don’t change things up immediately before a big race, but at the time it seemed like a reasonable idea. So I went through that final week of taper, which is always a maddening endeavor, feeling off.

On the eve of the race, I was nervous and so dragged my friend out for a beer. I think I had the better part of a pitcher, maybe three or four beers. This was rare for me to have drinks the night before a race, but not without precedent. The night before my best college cross country race, I was visiting back home and went out for beers and dancing the night before and had stayed out until 1 AM. Rolled into the race with barely a warm up and placed top 10 overall out of 80 runners, and was 2nd runner on our team that day.

But for a marathon? Wouldn’t recommend it.

Buzzed or not. I barely slept that night.

On race morning I did have a couple cups of caffeinated tea. Plus a bit of a hangover. My mom was living in the suburbs so we drove over with her and a couple friends.

Nearly 2,000 runners lined up on Larimer Street in downtown Denver, and I took a spot on the front row with a race plan as simple as my training. Run about 6:00 pace and see how it goes, bottom line goal was to break 2:40. High end goal was low 2:30s and make the podium.

The course would head east from downtown, circuit City Park and return for a loop in the city canyons through half way, and then turn to the south and pass through Washington and Cheesman Parks, before returning to downtown.

I settled into what seemed like a reasonable pace but was surprised to be so far behind that I already wrote off a podium finish. Came through the mile in 5:40 and I heard someone say we were in about 40th place! Way too fast.

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I immediately slowed down to 6s, the lead group pulled away, and a couple dozen other runners went on by and also ran away.

The beer wasn’t sitting well with my stomach either. I was thinking this was not going to be my day. Came through 5 miles in about 30 minutes and I couldn’t stop burping every mile or so, and it was worse after an aid station. Back then we had no gels nor energy drinks, we had water and ‘Gook’ (Gookinade, an electrolyte drink). But I dutifully watched my pace and took two drinks at each aid station.

I had to pee.
No fucking way was I going to stop at a porta potty.

I kept going, and heading back to the city noticed that I was picking of a fair number of runners. We sped down the 16th Street Mall, which was line with hundreds of spectators. I soaked it up, and like a high jumper or long jumper in a stadium threw my hand up and mugged around a bit so they would cheer louder. It worked and I felt energized. An hour in, the fuzziness in my head was going away.

We looped through the downtown blocks and ran by the start line and more crowds at 13.1, which I hit in 1:18 and change. Just a few ticks under 6:00 pace, and I was in the top 30.

Heading south on Lawrence Street at 15 miles I noticed my quads were getting tight in a way that has become all too familiar in a marathon, but this was the first time I had felt that sensation. However, I did not have to go pee anymore. The 6:00 miles kept rolling by.

Into Washington Park at 18-20 miles, those quads got more tight. I had to stop, lie down on the grass and stretch them out. Ten or 15 minutes later, while exiting the park area, I had to do it again and for the first time since the second or third mile I was wondering if I would be able to finish. However, I got up both times and moved right back onto pace, energized because I was catching passing the faster starting runners. I came through 20 miles in just under 2 hours. Every minute or two, I’d catch a runner. Go by and work on the next.

Despite the sore quads and growing fatigue I also noticed that my splits were getting faster, with some into the 5:50s. The last three miles were grinding but ecstatic because I knew I would finish and finish strongly. The gaps ahead became longer and I ran that part almost all alone, somewhere in the top 20. It did not matter.

Approaching downtown for the final time, the temperature had climbed into the mid-60s, warm but I was not uncomfortable. I dropped a 5:40 for the 26th mile and strode through the finishing throng, with a couple fist pumps and a big smile.

2:35:49 – 14th place (and my only negative split in a marathon)

No coach. No training program other than what I had figured out on my own. Short build-up with moderate mileage. Having way too much fun on the weekends. Making a couple fundamental errors in the final days. And did I mention the altitude? I could look to running 5 or more minutes faster at sea level, at the same effort.

I had broken out, and had come a long ways from the 16 minute 5K, 27 minute 8K runner I had been in college. I looked forward to even better days ahead.