Sunburst RR

Welp, marathon no.2 is in the bag. This ass-whippin' came courtesy of the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend, Indiana. The original idea was that I would drive over Friday night, run in the morning and be back in Columbus before anyone could tell the difference. I'm glad Erica was able to sneak out early and come along. I might still be out there on the course if she hadn't.

So after a lunch of Skyline Chili with some New Yorkers that were in town for a wedding, we made our way to South Bend, 240 miles away. It took us a little over four hours as there's really no easy way to get there. We made it to the bed & breakfast, unpacked and hit the town for dinner. It was kind of late, so I didn't want to overindulge as the start was very early. We had a fairly light meal and then back to the house for sleep. Everyone staying was racing, which was cool, but by the time we got back from dinner, everyone was in bed. I was nervous to say the least... well, worried... which gets me to the pre-race thoughts and things I might do differently in the future.

I knew this was going to be a stretch. I hadn't planned on a spring marathon and thus didn't have much of a mileage base to fall back on... which led me to push it (too hard?) in the last month. I felt great after my 20-miler but was absolutely exhausted after the 18 rehearsal miles the following week... which I then followed up with a seven-mile tempo run inside two weeks of the race. My lower left leg was very tight had me more worried than anything else, so I went into the local running store for compression socks and walked out with a massage appointment for the Thursday before the race... which helped but really deserved more attention from the onset. So, onto the race.

I was up at 3:50am for the 6am start. Got dressed, brushed my teeth and headed downstairs for my PB&J. There was a guy from Michigan in the dining room and we talked for some time. He was shooting for a 2:50 at 40, had completed several Ironmen and was just your average badass. The start was five blocks at the College Football Hall of Fame... which was on Michigan Street (WTF?). I picked up my packet, and tried to relax. I decided to go with the adiZero Bostons rather than the better cushioned Glides. The national anthem came courtesy of a local high school senior and his trumpet solo. That combined with the sunrise definitely brought out the goosebumps.

So, without much fanfare, the gun went off... and so did we. I wanted to run comfortably without jeopardizing a possible BQ. Within a mile, I chatted up a guy from Indy. His name was Russell and he drove a truck. This was his first marathon and he was hoping for a 3:30, but wanted to go out at a 3:00 pace and pick up the pieces in the end. This guy was a one man kamakaze and he accepted his fate. He decided to hang with me and I was more than happy to run with him as he had a Garmin 405 and could keep me on pace better than my little $6 stopwatch. We ended up talking a lot and the first miles went pretty quickly. We were a little quick in the beginning as a lot of our quarter-mile splits were 1:45. We eventually settled in. Lots of turns though. Left leg kind of going numb... good. I tried to remain as comfortable as possible, but I could just tell that this really wasn't going to be my day. I still wanted to give it a noble effort and see what could be done. We hit 13.1 at 1:35:30. Just run the second half one second faster and I'm off to Boston, right? Russell was going to take a breather and so I decided to step it up a hair.

This part of the course ran right along the river. It got pretty lonely. I passed two groups of two, a joggler and settled in behind a lone runner right before mile 16. It was starting to get really tough at this point and the turns, turnarounds and ups & downs weren't helping matters. There was a point on the bike path where you had to run up to a guy, stop, turn around and go back the other way. And just when you thought you'd be heading back to the crossing, there would be another offshoot to yet another turnaround. But I made it to mile 19 still within sight of a BQ... and then onto mile 20... one more mile! Mile 20-21 would be my last one on pace. I was starting to cramp pretty badly at this point. I joined up with a group that was in the same boat as me. We decided that we'd walk the water stops and "run" in between. I was happy to have them. It helped considerably. Shortly after mile 23, I saw Erica on top of a rise with her bike. I wanted her to throw me over the handlebars and take me home. Instead, she did the next best thing. Because of the sparse course, she rode her bike alongside me and told stories. She got me through some really tough miles. It honestly felt like 23-26 was half the race. I wasn't really keeping track at this point. I just wanted to finish. My legs were cramping like crazy. There was a point where I was about a quarter-mile from the finish and my right hamstring clenched up and I thought I'd have to crawl in. But I made it to the tunnel, onto the field and across the tape in 3:27:21. On the upside, the spread at the end was unreal. Popsicles, fresh fruit, cold drinks and massages. I could've camped out the rest of the night.

So it was back to the B&B for a shower and then it was off to Columbus. I did see Russell at the end. 3:57:xx. He wasn't a very happy camper. The Ironman from the B&B barely finished under 3:00. Everyone at the B&B had a great deal of newfound respect for Sunburst. In retrospect, I really had no business expecting a BQ at this race. I ran a tough course ill-prepared and it showed, but it was definitely worth the experience. I loved the "local" feel of the race. Talking with Russell deflected a possible obsession over pace in the first half. The group of us at the end shuffling along and cursing the gods was comical, and best of all, I got to run with Erica which was a lot of fun. In the future, I'll heed the advice of past reviews. There was a lot of concrete on the course and I probably should've gone with the Glides to help with the pounding. My quads have never hurt so bad as they do now. I need at least 50-55 mpw if I expect to finish strong. And in some weird way, I'm glad that I got my ass handed to me. I feel like I'll be better off in the long run because of it. Not sure what's next. I'm hoping Columbus works into the schedule. If not, I'll come up with something. For now, I'm taking this week off and concentrating on the 5-20K's over the summer.