| Info Sheet Part 1 | Info Sheet Part 2 | Final Letter | Course Map | Parking Permit |
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Weather update: Hm...Mixed bag of news depending on who you talk to. Originally, it was going to be crazy hot/humid and thunderstorms. I don't like running in rain so I wasn't happy about that. Now, it's just gonna be crazy hot/humid. I can handle that. High 90's is no big deal for me...
Where do I start? The kids on Thursday came to work with me. They took a Pokemon walk and then I walked them over to NJ Transit. They were going to visit their cousin for a few days. Elizabeth and I were regular ol' Empty Nesters. What that meant was that Saturday was a more relaxed day as there was no YMCA or Tennis to drive to. Since, I was running that night, I didn't even need to run in the morning. I went to sleep the night before at 10pm. Whoa! I know... I know... And I woke up at 7am! That is a whopping 9 hours of sleep or more than 2 days worth. Gotta stock up...
Elizabeth walked the dog his long and short walk. I stayed in Air Conditioning, hydrating.
I literally spent the day lounging around off my feet, hydrating and going to the bathroom. Gotta clear that hurdle if you know what I mean.
Had a nice relaxed lunch with Elizabeth and then my mom visited. After that, things started getting real. Still going to the bathroom (yay) but now had to think about what to wear and the plan.
The race was slated to start at 5 and check in was for 3:45. Since we live so close by, we decided to leave at 3:30. Jamey offered a ride but Elizabeth decided to come with so I only needed a ride after the race. That wasn't that urgent as I could have run home from there for an additional 7 mile bonus plus there were so many friends there that if I really needed a ride it wouldn't be so much of an issue.
I was worried about parking tho.
Elizabeth decided that she will run a loop or 2 as well and since parks are great for Pokemon hunting, she will carry her iPad with her. What?!? And in true Elizabeth fashion she decided to wear long blank sweatpants and a dark blue shirt.
The conversation went something like this:
ME: I thought you don't want to stick out?
HER: I'm gonna stick out because I don't have a bib.
ME: No...You're going to stick out because of the way you are dressed...
Then I remembered... There's no point. OK...
We actually found parking quite easily. I was very surprised. She elected to stay in the car till the very end with the ac. I went out because I needed to check in, I wanted to socialize and of course, I wasn't going to go down the hill and then back up the hill before the race.
I checked in and Richie (the RD) called me over. Rememeber when I saw you, we ran into each other as I was picking up the rental the day before the Ironman, and I told you there were some significant rises and you said said that it was very hilly? Yes, I remember. Well, you were right. Cool - I'm right that the course was going to be extremly difficult even without the heat/humidity.
I actually brought a hand held bottle with me and my local friends were shocked to see something attached to my appendage.
After checking in, I went to say hello and who was there...? Let's see.
Local crew:
Friends:
As I said, lots of friends and hugs and high fives. Later there will be more friends but that's for later.
It's almost time. I need or rather I guess I should pee. The historical society building is locked. There are plenty of trees but that would be in front of everyone. There's a restroom along the way. I guess I will wait. Richie gives his speech. We learn that the fort lost power and only recently got it back. Oh boy... Nick Palazzo, RD for the greenbelt 50K, gives a speech. "IF I SEE ANYONE PEEING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD etc...". OK... Settle down.
Gail, I'm really slow and undertrained, takes off and she's in the front pack. I'm not. I don't care to be in the front. We still have 5 hours and 59 minutes and 35 seconds in this heat. No thank you.
They had melons, watermellons, water/gatorade, coke/pepsi, cookies, pretzels, trail mix and other stuff. They also had sponges and a bucket filled with ice and water to dip in.
My plan was to stop every time and eat 3 or 4 pieces of watermellon. It hydrates you, has sugar in it to make you happy, has vitamin C and I had just learned some chemical to quell pain. Awesome. Also, I was gonna grab a cup of pepsi. Next, I would dip my sponge (brought my own) in the ice water and put it under my hat. I also brought my handheld tho that water was lukewarm already. I actually carried it for 1 loop before I gave up.
The first loop went by ok. No real issue. Talked to Jamey. At one point, we saw Jim and he almost caught up to us until we hit a hill and he disappeared. Eventually, saw him again and actually stopped so he can be with us. His strategy, at this point (I don't remember how many loops in), was to walk the hills. Run the rest but walk the hills. As soon as we hit the next hill, we departed.
I don't remember what loop it was but jamey and I got seperated. I usually stick with him as I worry about him getting lost and what not but I knew even he couldn't get lost so I wasn't worried. I knew he would be ok. He had his camelback and well, let's face it... Every 1.3 miles you have food.
Unfortunatly, things didn't go that well for Jamey. He needs to drink. He needs to drink a lot. He also needs to replenish the salt he is losing by the buckets. He brought his camelback but it wasn't working. For whatever reason, water wasn't coming out. Effectivly he was carrying a heavy pack and wasn't getting any reward for it. I told him to ditch it and take my handheld. He ditched it but did NOT take my handheld. I think the camelback was the beginning of the end. He wasn't getting enough liquids and when that happens his body shuts down. What I mean is, as he gets dehydrated, his body won't let him drink. It's contradictory but I have seen it with him. So he is thirsty as hell and he can't drink which dehydrates him even further. Oh boy.
Andrew told Mike that he is planning on a 4 hour marathon. Luckily, his mom explained the facts of real to him. You don't do your first marathon ever under 4 hours in a hard course in horrible temps. Well, some people do. Most people don't!
My running and hydration strategy was working for me and I was having the time of my life. I would run to someone and talk to them. Eventually they would either drop me or I would drop them. I mean this works for me. I talked to so many people. I did lap Jim twice I think and eventually saw him packed and leaving. He originaly told me a few weeks before that he thinks 30 miles is a nice number. What?!? He apparently changed that today and decide on a more reasonable 18 miles. He did that, said goodbye and left. Cool.
I lapped Jamey a few times and then picked him up again and ran with him. At one point, we were coming up the finish line and he told me to go on ahead. He needed to rest. OK... It was dark and I got to the aid station and I hear a voice saying "Elik, is that you?". Raina and the kids. Cool. Unfortunatly, Jamey was just then busy throwing up. Raina, in her nurse uniform, took charge and told the kids that they will all be pacing him. Cool. I knew he was in good hands and I left. I ran with Mike for a little while too.
I enjoy talking with Mike. Dude is way too much like me and yet sometimes one of us is actually worse than the other. Oh boy.
I ran with so many people that day. Both old friends and new friends.
Erin Petrella was awesome to talk to. First time ever she really talked to me aside from "you ok?" and "we turn here". Did a few laps with her. She's going for her PHD... Smart girl...
New friends:
At one point, on the side near the water, when we ran the water was on our right if it means something to someone, I saw a racoon ahead of me. Oi... Actually it was a group of them trying to cross the road. There were 2 adults and 3 or 4 kids. Cool to see yet not cool at all. They tried to cross the road but got scared of all the runners and ran back. I was not happy about this. People were stopping to take pictures and video. They did eventually cross and I still was not happy about this.
It did get dark and I didn't bring a headlamp. Richie suggested it but said it wasn't mandatory. He set up some small lights and one big flood light. Unfortunatly the big floodlight as awesome as it was, did make the next 25 yard past it very dark up that hill and unfortunatly Richie ran out of small lights for that section. Oh well.
The last 30 minutes I was running with Mike. He wasn't happy that Andrew stopped at 14 miles. I told him to chill. He was getting worried about finishing a marathon himself so we stayed on course. I haven't seen Jamey since Raina picked him up and wasn't sure what was going on. He is either doing real well and constantly opposite us on the course or lieing in a ditch somewhere...
Ashley looked awesome and ran with me a lap while her dad was behind us. She finished her 18 and looked good. Hammad later told me that he didn't want to leave her and run more but I don't know about that. She looked good. Her friend was pacing her on her bike while playing Pokemon and they enjoyed talking to each other.
Mike and I finished 1 more loop and 1 more loop and we were on our last loop as time was dwindling. We heard 2 minutes being called and I took off. I didn't want a partial lap. As is, I finished it and got more than that.
Big note: Richie had a premature airhorn blow. It was 35 seconds early and it pissed many people.
Jamey came along and sat down looking bad. I wasn't sure what was going on with him. Pizza was served. Richie already said this wasn't going to count for grand prix points and would be treated as a fun run and EVERYONE would get a finisher's prize instead of just those who ran a Marathon or longer. Cool. That's besides the PJ pants we got.
Everyone was upbeat. All congratulating each other. I got many "pleasure running and talking with you and all that energy you brought". Again, this played to my strengths so it was pretty cool. I still don't like damn loops tho.
The Freds bugged out and I was tasked with getting their trophies. I also got Jamey's.
Julia freaked me out a bit and I can't say I was too happy with her. Fine - I was annoyed with her. She didn't look good. She kinda looked spacey. Her friend came to pick her up and was at the parking lot. She asked how to get there. I told her but I could see she wasn't getting it. I told her to wait 1 minute, I'll get Jamey up and up and we will escort her. I mean it was 11:30 pm and she didn't look like she was all there. She agreed. I went and got Jamey all ready and then... I can't find her. Im going around yelling her name everywhere. I called her phone. Nothing! What the hell do I do now? Assume she left? Stay there until I'm blue in the face? Either choice would be wrong... We decided to leave. As we were leaving she called. Someone else escorted her. D'oh... I was worried about her and meanwhile... Whatever. As long as she was/is safe, I guess that's ok. Still...
I carried all of Jamey's stuff as he was trudging down the hill. Again, he didn't look good. I really didn't think he could drive and I offered to drive. Luckily, I brought my license. He readily agreed. I also suggested that I drive him home and take his car with me home and bring it in the morning or even better, that I would drive him home and then run from there home. He wasn't having any of that. Finally we agreed that I would drive to my house and then we would talk again. I got home and he said he was fine. I told him that "as soon as he gets home, he has to text me and that if I don't get a text from him in 20 minutes, that I will call Raina on the phone. Something he and I would both regret.". He agreed.
As I checked my email, I noticed that I got an email from the timers telling me my distance. Cool. I then get 2 texts. One was from Mike all upset that the website had the wrong distance and the other was that Jamey got home. I told Jamey to recover well and NOT to check the website tonight. It said he didn't do a Marathon. I then continued with my texting with Mike. I told him that Richie blew the horn early and that we will straighten it out and not to say anything to Maria. Maria apparently also did NOT do a marathon. Meanwhile, his daughter had diarahhe and Maria was vomitting. This was at the diner they went to. Oh boy. Gonna come back to this mess in a minute but I want to jump back to Jamey for a minute.
Rememebr that last 30 minute "doing well or ditch" thing? Well, he knew he had to do 3 loops and that he had 30 minutes and he felt terrible. Still, to his credit, he put his head down and pushed as hard as he could. He did it. Unfortunatly the website didn't reflect it.
Mike, against wise advice (mine) told Maria and she was upset.
I showered and went to sleep. Actually, I couldn't fall asleep. Second time ever that it happened to me. Stayed up the whole night watching a movie, after I gave up. To make things worse, instead of running at 7am, I figured I would sleep more, I told Heidi 8am. Oh well. Left the house, picked her up and we ran 6.02 miles.
Well, before I left the house (Sunday am), I realized the problem with the website. The results we saw, were as of 10pm while the race was still going on. They haven't updated it. That's all. Later they updated it and the results were "better" but didn't include the partial loops. You see, when the horn blows, you look at the nearest tenth of a mile sign that you passed and you reported it to the timer at the finish.
After I got home, Elizabeth and I went to NJ to pick up the kids. I took a 20 min nap in the car. We got back and I went to Krav Maga. Went to sleep at 10pm and woke up monday at 4am like usual to run and then swim.
Well, Monday morning, they posted the site again with the real numbers and I quickly shot Mike an email with the news that Maria did in fact do a Marathon. He immediatly replied with "I LOVE YOU!". That's when I found out that he did in fact tell Maria the bad news. Now at least she would be happy.
At this point, I do want to mention some results. Everyone did well so I won't mention all but the local crew and some others deserve special recognition.
| Name | Miles | |
|---|---|---|
| April Lemieux | 34.28 | First female overall |
| Kathryn Stoker | 32.15 | Second female overall - tough tough chick |
| Jamey Kohn | 27.09 | Suffered like hell but gutted it out |
| Maria Fred | 27.09 | I love the Freds. My WiseGuy Bruddah |
| Maria Fred | 26.94 | I love the Freds |
| Gail Marino | 26.88 | Stomach issues for 2 hours and suffered in heat |
| Julia Khvasechko | 24.51 | Suprising but I guess she was just not feeling it |
| Christina Odendahl | 23.79 | 12 year old bad ass. Wasn't feeling it yet still always had a smile |
| Bill Odendahl | 23.79 | Awesome father for sticking to his daughter the whole way. They either ran or walked, holding hands the entire way. Go super Dad! |
| Stalina Gibson | 22.04 | Stress fracture anyone? |
| Ashley Qamar | 21.99 | Totally rocked the 18 miles she wanted to do |
| Hammad Qamar | 21.99 | Longest distance he did in a long while |
| Jim Balsan | 18.06 | Longest distance he did in a long while. Had a plan and stuck to it. Smart! |
| Andrew Fred | 14.19 | Not a Marathon but his long distance running debut |
Finally figured out how April and I know each other. I checked her out and Facebook and it hit me. She sometimes swims on Wednesday mornings when I guard and we have talked! Apparently she is training her for her first 100 miler, Tesla Hertz which was my first, and I am convinced that she is my sister from another mother. So similar.
Ashley: Hammad told me that after the race, the poor girl couldn't walk to the car. He offered to carry her but instead brought the car as close as possible since she said no. Still, she rocked it.
Don't know what else I had in mind to say. It was a tough course and very tough conditions and I truly hate loops but in reality, I think this suits me and my personality the best.