I am a marathoner.

Somewhere around 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Tracey and I completed the Rochester Marathon. We'd been running for almost five and a half hours. Our legs were stiff, our feet were sore, our bodies and minds were exhausted, but our spirits—and our heads—were as high as could be. Here's the story of our race.

The day began when we woke up at 5:30. We put all our running gear on, and Tracey's dad drove us to Frontier Field, where we picked up our timing chips. It was a very chilly morning, low 40s. After picking up our chips, we took a shuttle bus back to the starting line and bounced around to try to keep warm. It was fun to see the street fill with runners, and before we knew it, the national anthem was being sung. Not long after, the starting gun went off. We excitedly jogged out onto the course. I was struck by the sound of hundreds of feet pattering against the pavement.

We struggled to keep our pace slow. All the advice we had gotten, whether in books or from friends who had run marathons, included a warning not to go out too fast. We reminded each other not to speed up a couple times a mile for at least the first ten miles or so. I think this allowed us to finish fairly strong.

The miles just fell away one after the other for the first couple of hours. We couldn't believe how quickly we were getting from one mile marker to the next. It helped that there were lots of spectators for the first third of the race, including a few friends we didn't expect to see. I admit I had been a bit cynical about the idea that spectators help all that much, but I stand corrected. It definitely keeps you going when you hear people cheering you on.

The canal trail is really long. It runs from roughly mile 9 until mile 22. That's a long time to spend running along a canal, but the scenery was quite nice, and we had run along most of that route during our training, so it was familiar to us. If it had been a really hot day, this part of the race would have been pretty rough, because there's not too much shade.

But the weather was not a factor. Well, actually, it was a factor: it was perfect, never hot enough to make us sweat too hard, and this in turn kept our spirits high.

By the time we turned off the canal trail into Genesee Valley Park, I was starting to feel stiff, but I could taste the finish only four miles away. And soon enough, we turned out of the park and crossed the Ford Street Bridge into the downtown area. By this time, we were starting to drag a little bit. But not too badly—I think we were reaping the benefit of starting out slower than was comfortable. Amazingly, my knee never bothered me, not for one second. I did have some new pain in my right ankle and foot, but I ran through it and after a mile or so it went away.

When we made the final turn toward the finish, we both got a little choked up. It was hitting us that the sixteen weeks of hard work was about to be over. The pounding our knees had taken, the Saturdays we had given up, the constant preoccupation and fatigue that overtake your life when you prepare for something like this...it was all about to come to its fruition. When we looked up and saw our family and friends there cheering us across the line, it overwhelmed us both. And then we had crossed the finish line and we were hugging Abel and Tracey's parents and each other. And it was over. Incredible.

It struck me a day or two later that running a marathon is both a tremendous feat of self-reliance and impossible to do on your own. In my case, I owe Tracey my gratitude first and foremost. Without her running next to me, I would never have done those long Saturday runs. I tried this once before and failed. She made it possible to finish the training this time. Our friends Brian and Becca, who finished about a half hour faster than we did, were our running partners during the week and our childcare traders on Saturdays. We watched their kids while they ran, and they watched Abel while we ran. I'm not sure how we could have pulled off the long runs without them. Tracey's sister Lora and our brother-in-law Rich were a big help on the longest days, when Brian and Becca were on vacation. Our neighbors and friends Jason and Lisa took care of Abel for us on short notice more than once, including Lisa coming over to sit when we made our crazy decision to set out on an 18-mile run at 9:15 p.m. Tracey's mom and dad were a huge help too, especially on race day. Our experienced runner friends were a big help, especially my sister Beth, who is an awesome distance runner and had lots of great tips and encouragement. And we will not forget all our friends who came out to the course to cheer us on—sometimes moving from one place to the next and waiting for us to pass. We're so grateful for all the great support we had throughout this whole experience. We have fantastic friends and a great family.

And now I can say it: I am a marathoner. Not many people can say, "I ran a marathon." I can say it. I ran a marathon. Not a fast one, but then, that wasn't ever the point! 26.2 miles is a long-ass way to run, even at 13 minutes per mile. And I did it.

The recovery has been better than most people suggested it would be. For a couple days, my right foot bothered me quite a lot. But other than that, it has just been stiffness in the legs and a bit of a limp when descending stairs. I'm writing this before bed on Wednesday night, and most of the pain is gone now. That said, if we had been running for time, I'm sure our bodies would have been wrecked even more.

Now for some photos, which our friend Scott Cranfill took with his phone:

Here's us just before we crossed the finish line. We were both pretty misty-eyed at this point.



And here we are with our training partners and our #1 fan, Abel!



This will be my last post here, but I'll leave the content up as a reminder for myself and an encouragement to other first-time marathoners. Keep your eyes on my old blog, POSTUS FREQUENTUS, for interesting content from me. Thanks for reading!

Week 16: The Last Week

The training is over. We ran 2 three-mile runs this week and added a three-mile walk. And tomorrow, we run the marathon.

I don't know what else to say, except that in 24 hours, Tracey and I will be marathoners.

If you'd like to come out and see the event or cheer us on, the course map can be seen here. We're figuring on roughly 12-minute miles, if you're inclined to try and see us running.

Look for a final Running 26 post sometime next week!

Big Catch-up Post

Okay, here goes. When last we left our intrepid marathoners, they were preparing for their first 18-miler—week 12, day 3.

Week 12, Day 3:

Our first 18-mile run went really well! We dropped Abel at Aunt Lora's house and ran down to Shoen Place, where we picked up the canal. We ran the canal back to Genesee Valley Park, and ran up to Elmwood Ave. Then we ran over to East Ave., and we took that back to our starting point. It was a long, incredible run. Very little pain, and we finished pretty strong, very proud of ourselves. Then I went to the GRADA Ultimate playoffs and played in my team's second game of the day. But only a few points at half-speed. Fun times.

Week 13, 5-8-5-18:

Strangely, I have a lot more knee pain on the shorter runs than on the longer ones. The five and eight mile runs were much more painful than the 18 we did. Anyway, funny story about that 18. It was Friday night at about 8:30, and we were packing up our bottles and gels and things, preparing for the next day. I had been dreading the Saturday run all day Friday, because the forecast was for high 90s and humidity. As we were filling our bottles, Tracey said, "You know, if we could find someone to sit with Abel, we could go tonight." An idea so crazy it just might work, so we did it.

Turns out it was awfully hot and humid even at that hour of the night, and we were pretty miserable for the first few miles. Then we started to see heat lightning...then we heard some thunder...and suddenly, we were running through a good old-fashioned summer downpour. No complaints from us, though, because it cooled us right off and energized us. It stopped after about 20 minutes, but for the rest of the night, we could just smack a hanging tree branch to cool off under a shower of rainwater. All told, it was more difficult than the previous week's 18-miler, but boy, were we glad the next day when we could just sit inside in front of a maxed-out air conditioner instead of running for 3-4 hours.

Week 14, 5-8-5-9:

Ah, the taper begins! It's a pretty awesome feeling to be able to say, "Hey, we 'only' have to run 9 miles today!" Still having some knee pain. Well, I say knee, but it's really the muscle just above and inside the knee. Our physical therapist friend (a marathon veteran) has suggested I stretch more. Okay, if I have to...

Update on total mileage: 329. (I turned one of the eight-mile runs into a four-mile run because my schedule was really tight that day, and I was hurting pretty bad to boot.)

Two more weeks until the race! This week is a glorious 3-5-3-8, and next week is 3-3-3-26.2! We're almost there! Now's the time I start begging anyone reading to come see us on race day, September 16. And even better, if anyone wants to jump on the course to run a few miles with us toward the end, I'm sure we could use the boost!

Still running

In case anyone's wondering, I'm still running. I'll post a catch-up post soon. Our training peaked the last two weeks, and that kept us pretty busy.

Week 9, Day 4 (The Wall)

Distance: 16 miles

Total for the week: 27 miles

Overall total so far: 193 miles

Notes: By far the worst run ever and the most grueling physical experience of my life. Quite simply, Tracey and I both ran out of fuel at about mile thirteen. Literally, we had no more carbohydrates to burn. This is called "hitting the wall" or "crashing," and I'd heard it was a pretty nasty experience. Well, it was. My legs simply could not run any longer. And yet I had to keep going, through the heat of the day, because I needed to relieve our friends who were watching Abel—they had a wedding to get to.

So I walked a while, and then jogged for a minute until the burn overtook me again, and then I walked. At one point I sat on the grass next to a tree and just didn't move for a while. Finally I arrived and basically collapsed on their lawn for a while. When I got home, I sunk onto the couch and shivered under a blanket in my running clothes with a stomachache. It took a few hours to feel any better. Eventually we went for ice cream at Friendly's, and then I started to feel kinda normal again.

This was the first time during the program where I had any whisper of "Maybe I can't do this after all." Writing about it a few days later, I can see all the stuff that went wrong and the ways to correct it, and I am optimistic again. But that was awful. We have two more cracks at sixteen, then two weeks of eighteen before the training tapers for a few weeks to build strength before the marathon.

Walk breaks?

An experienced marathoner at Tracey's office suggested she take a look at a technique developed by Jeff Galloway. She looked into it and found Galloway's website, which includes a reproduction of an October 2000 Runner's World article about taking walk breaks during long training runs and the actual race. Here's his rationale:

It may sound counterintuitive to stop and walk in the middle of a race, but I've spoken to scores of runners who set PRs in the marathon by doing just that. Walk breaks work by reducing the intensity of your run. This conserves resources during the first half of a race, so you'll be able to speed up at the end. You'll allow your muscles to recover while continuing to make progress.

That actually makes sense to me. He goes on to suggest that there is a psychological benefit to the walk breaks as well, since taking regularly scheduled breaks gives you something to look forward throughout the race. And I've never been under the illusion that I'd run nonstop during the marathon; it just never occurred to me to use walking intentionally and strategically. I think we're going to try this on our Saturday runs and see how it goes.

Anyone ever tried this technique? Post a comment.

Week 1 Recap

I'm sitting up in bed late Sunday night with slightly achy calves, reflecting on the first of sixteen training weeks leading up to the marathon. As I take deep breaths and glance occasionally at Tracey asleep next to me (she's running at 6:00 tomorrow morning), I realize two things: I am glad for the good this is already doing my body, and I am very excited that I'm not training alone.

I didn't get into this for the health benefit. There was never any plan to lose 15 pounds or tighten up my belly. Nonetheless, I am becoming fairly excited that I will soon be in the best shape of my life. My leg muscles and abdominal core are already feeling a little stronger and tighter. I already notice that simple things like flights of stairs don't wind me at all. The simple act of taking a deep breath feels stronger somehow. Even though my rationale for running a marathon is about achievement and not fitness, I must admit that I am pleased by these added benefits.

And I'm glad for the friends who are doing this with me. When I sheepishly admitted during our January goal-setting staff meeting that I was contemplating training for a marathon again, I anticipated doing it on my own. Instead, I have three other people who are pursuing the same goal, including the closest friend I have ever had, Tracey. Like almost anything worth doing, this challenge is better met in community.

The upcoming week is the same during the weekday runs, and the Saturday run increases by a mile: 3-4-3-6. My summer sports league is starting on Tuesday, too, so I will lose some of the benefit of my midweek rest day. I tell myself I'm going to take it easy on the field of play, but anyone who knows me and my competitiveness will get a chuckle out of that idea.

Also coming this week: my quick thoughts on the Champion C9 running shorts.

Week 1, Day 3

Distance: 3 miles

Total for the week: 10 miles

Total overall: 10 miles

Notes: Brian and I decided to push the pace, and we ran this short 3 miler at a 9 minute per mile pace. Which is not breaking any records, but it was half a minute faster than my current fastest pace. I don't really care about pace, but it felt good to really air it out a bit. Forgot to bring my Nike+ transmitter, so the record of this run is lost in the ether. Oh well.

Also, it was my first run wearing my new Champion running shorts, which I will write a bit more about after I try them again. And that brings me to another point: I will be writing more than just these boring training run recaps in the future.

A day off today, and then five miles tomorrow—probably my first real test. I'm trying to arrange it so I can run it with Tracey, which will make it a lot easier!

The training program

Well, my official training program begins on Monday. I just spent a few minutes putting all my training runs into iCal, and I discovered some interesting realities about my future over the next 16 weeks.

I will run:

5 miles on my anniversary...

9 miles on my birthday...

12 miles on the day I perform a wedding for a couple in our church...

16 miles on the Saturday of our church camping trip...

18 miles on the day of the GRADA Ultimate playoffs...

and so on.

Pretty crazy, huh? It is sinking in that this achievement is not merely about being able to run 26 miles in one race. It's also about being dedicated enough to the goal that I give up a lot of personal freedom for the sixteen weeks preceding the race. This will be good for me; perseverance and the surrender of autonomy are two areas of my character that probably need a bit of work. This program will sand off the rough corners, to say the least.

Here's a quick glance at the entire program (click to enlarge):



Now that's what I call a challenge.

What this is all about

I am not a runner. Let's get that straight from the beginning. I am a musician. I am a pastor. I'm a husband and a dad. I am even a good athlete, or so I would like to suppose. I am a lot of things. But I am not a runner. In fact, for most of my life, I have loathed running.

I used to taunt my sister, an All-American distance runner, that she had chosen as a sport an activity that normal athletes use as a warm-up, something to keep them in shape so they could play an actual sport.

Resolving to run a 26.2-mile road race, then, would seem like a rather stupid thing for me to do. I am aware of this, often acutely so.

I'm not really certain I can give you a satisfactory answer to the salient question, "Why the hell would you want to do that?" My only answer is, "Because I want to be able to say that I did." And I suppose if that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, or if that doesn't make sense to you, there is no amount of additional explanation that would help much.

Here are some more details about my crazy quest.

The Rochester Marathon takes place on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 8:00 a.m. It begins and ends within walking distance of my house—but I imagine I'll have a friend drive me there and back. There is a link in the sidebar.

I'm running the race with my lovely wife. The date of the race will be about two weeks after our eighth anniversary, and we'll both be 30 years old when we cross the finish line. Two other friends will be running with us: another of the pastors from Artisan Church, and his wife.

I am using The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer as my guide. There are plenty of other training guides out there, even for non-runners, but I chose this one because of its intriguing history and its emphasis on psychological as well as physical preparation. It is a 16-week training program whose only prerequisite is the ability to jog for 30 minutes without stopping. There is a link in the sidebar to Amazon.com's product page for the book.

My shoes are Asics GT-2120s. Although I like them, I can't claim any particular passion for them other than that they felt better than the only other pair of 14B shoes the store had in stock. Interestingly, my sister was very excited when I told her what I had bought, because she used the same series of shoe when she was running competitively.

During my training, I will use the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit (even though headphones are not recommended by the authors of The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer). It's not that I really need to listen to music while I run; it's more that I find the Nike+ system to be incredibly motivating because it tracks your distances and times, gives you real-time information as you run, and helps you manage goals and challenges set by yourself or other runners. I "modded" my shoes by using a simple shoe wallet with a velcro strap that goes under the laces. It works fine for my purposes.

I hope this blog will be another source of motivation for me as I train. Putting it out there for all my family and friends to follow—and for anyone else on the planet to follow, for that matter—means that if I fall short, everyone will know. And writing intentionally about my training will be the best way for me to process what I'm going through. It is my intention to record both brief notes on each of my training runs and longer entries about how things are going and what I'm learning about myself.

Feel free to leave comments or just read along. (There's a link to the site feed after this post.) And if you're in the area on September 16, I sure would love to see you somewhere on the course. Wish me luck. I have to get running now.