Run Chad Run Training Update

Anyone who runs more than one of these is nuts.
-- George Young after the 1968 Olympic Trials Marathon

Before I tell my long marathon story I should begin by saying that if you are thinking of running a marathon don't let this discourage you. It was a bad day for everyone I talked to and no one finished ahead of their expectations.

I arrived in Honolulu Friday afternoon, which was also the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Events in the harbor were visible from the plane but I was on the wrong side so all I saw was the Pacific Ocean.

I checked into the hotel and walked to the expo to pick up my registration stuff. For being the fifth-largest marathon in the world they sure had a puny expo which was squeezed into the pool area. You had to wander through the sunbathers to get out. There were only a few booths at the expo, though it's sort of understandable considering the distance exhibitors have to travel. The Chicago and LA marathons use entire convention center halls.

By Friday evening the rest of my group flew in and we went to dinner, then to the local gay bar, which was packed with military boys and AIDS Marathon runners. The bar was located on the second floor of a hotel across from the zoo and there hotel rooms conveniently located right next to the bar. Tyler's friend Mario was in one of those rooms, though he claimed it was pure coincidence. He forgot to put his name on his singlet before he left so he was spelling his name by sewing on beads that he took from necklaces he bought. (This is important because it comes up later.)

Saturday morning was spent eating breakfast and following Mark and Lee to the expo since they hadn't gone yet and I had nothing better to do. The three of us wanted to take a half-day bus tour of Oahu but it wasn't running that day and we signed up for the Waikiki Trolley Tour for the afternoon. Lee changed his mind about taking the tour so he could rest and it turns out he had the right idea. It ended up being mainly a shopping tour aimed at the Japanese tourists. It also hit some of the historic sites but unfortunately that was after stopping at most of the shopping centers, including three stops at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. There was even a stop at Ross Dress for Less. Mark and I got off at the state capitol so we could take pictures and cut over to the next trolley stop. It's an open-air building with the house and senate chambers on the ground level and the offices on the upper levels. We were able to walk through it with no security of any kind. Next to the capitol is Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US. We didn't take the tour because we wanted to catch the next trolley back to the hotel. It turns out that the next trolley was the one we had just gotten off of so we didn't save any time. We finally got back to the hotel but only after the bus driver started singing about how the Polynesian people love everyone. My ears weren't quite bleeding but they were coming close.

Now here are some statistics about the marathon:
Total entrants: 23,513
Total starters: 19,499
Total finishers: 19,236
US entrants: 13,540
Japan entrants: 9,159
California entrants: 4,314
Finishers came from 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

There were 2500 AIDS Marathoners, 1400 from Los Angeles and 1100 from San Francisco. I haven't heard an official amount as to how much was raised, but the rumor was that it was over $8 million for AIDS Project LA and the SF AIDS Foundation. There were also many runners in the marathon from Team in Training benefiting the Leukemia Foundation and Joints in Motion benefiting arthritis causes. I overheard one spectator say "We have the best health care system in the world and it's a shame people have to run marathons to raise money for people who can't afford it."

Since we had to be up at 2:00 Sunday morning Mark and I were in bed by 7:30. We got up bright and early and met our group in the open-air hotel lobby at 2:30 where it was raining. (I hadn't noticed that it was open-air until then.) Once we were all together we walked the half-mile to pick up the shuttle bus to the starting line. At the starting line there were intermittent sprinkles but it didn't feel bad since the temperature was in the 70s. At 4:00 in the morning. That should have been a bad sign right there...

Men, today we die a little
-- Emil Zapotek, at the 1952 Olympic Marathon starting line

My group was myself, Mark, Ann, Lee, and Tyler. Our plan was a 12:00 pace and a 4:1 run walk ratio. I figured we would finish in about 5:30. Our friend Carol, who had dropped her training pace back several weeks ago, walked the course and we didn't see her until about mile 3. The starting gun was preceded by a fireworks display at 5:00 and finally we were off!

The first mile took us around the Honolulu harbor and into an old section of town. By then I was already sweating even though we were on a slower-than-normal pace. We got some more rain, which felt real good, and we made it back into Waikiki in mile 5. 2000 AIDS Marathon alumni Elaine Ikeda happened to be in Honolulu on business and was out cheering in Waikiki. Ann and I started to count all of the ABC Stores we passed but gave up. (ABC Stores are like convenience stores with tourist stuff and they are everywhere. There were three in our hotel alone!)

There was a webcam on the course and I heard one person on her cell phone saying "Go online! We're almost at the webcam!"

We started going around the flank of Diamond Head at mile 7 and it wasn't nearly as bad as we were expecting. The Griffith Park hill was much worse, though it was shorter in distance. It was around mile 8 that we first saw the sun. This is where it started getting tough. We were OK with the rain and humidity as long as the temperature was in the low 70s but as it got hotter the run got tougher. This is also about the time we saw the eventual wheelchair, male, and female winners come back at us on the other side of the road. We mere amateurs cheered them as they passed.

At a bathroom break at mile 9 Tyler ran ahead. He had been lagging behind and he said we would probably catch up with him, which we didn't do until about mile 14. The scenery through miles 9 and 10 was beautiful between the ocean in one direction and the tropical valleys in the other. At mile 11 we got onto Kalanianaole Highway. (The most confusing part of Honolulu is that seemingly all street names start with the letter K and have varying combinations of vowels, Ns, and Ls in them.) This 4-mile stretch was a two-way part of the marathon where people coming back were separated from us by traffic cones. It was a flat course but it was hard mentally since we saw these people in great shape while we were starting to feel worn down. At mile 15 Tyler and Lee decided to stick behind and go at their own pace. I gave them my watch so Mark, Ann, and I relied on Mark's watch. The course separated from the two-way section and we took a deceptive 2-mile loop back to Kalanianaole Highway going the other direction.

Along the course we saw some very interesting people, most of them Japanese. One man was dressed in a muumuu. A couple was dressed as what we called "The King and Queen of the Marathon." And running together in a sign of fast-food unity were Ronald McDonald and Col. Sanders (who I passed for good in the last half mile). Finally there were two American military boys dragging a wheeled ice chest behind them. Inside was a case of beer. They stopped every two miles for a beer and cigarette(!). At least they stayed hydrated...

"Why couldn't Phidippides have died here?"
-- Frank Shorter at mile 16 of one of his first marathons

By around mile 20 I was starting to feel like I might not make it, at least not at the current pace. The humidity and the heat were starting to get to me. It was obvious that with our time we were going to be lucky to break 6 hours, but I was more concerned with finishing. We extended a couple of walk breaks but that still didn't help. My Nip Guards fell off somewhere around there so I was having to hold my singlet out in front of myself. (Nipple chafing is very painful and not funny, so stop laughing!) I took off the white shirt I was wearing under my singlet to reduce the amount of rubbing. But that exposed my shoulders which had no sunscreen on them. I ended up with a mild sunburn on my shoulders.

At mile 22 we stopped for a bathroom break and I went to the first aid tent for some Vaseline to help with the chafing. When it came time to run again I could not get going. I told Mark and Ann to go on without me and they did. So I was on my own and completely discouraged. I decided to walk that mile and then try running again at mile 23 but I tried eating a Power Bar and my jaw and neck muscles started to cramp. Once that went away I did run for a couple of minutes (I think--Lee had my watch) but decided I needed more of a break. Before ascending the Diamond Head hill again I took a picture but the camera batteries started to die and for some reason it started rewinding the film. I had spare batteries on me but I didn't want any double exposures so the last picture I have is from mile 24. And to top off my bad luck I broke my sunglasses and lost my lip balm.

There was an AIDS Marathon cheering squad at mile 24 including Linda Francisco, my program rep from last year. I was in such a fragile emotional state after having walked the last 2 miles I made sure she didn't see me. She would have wanted to give me a big hug and that would have made things worse for me so I just kept going. (I still love you, Linda!)

I decided that I would run Diamond Head because I told everyone in my fundraising letters that I was running it twice. I got some encouragement from some of the few spectators out there and ran up that half-mile. It felt good and apparently the view of the Pacific was nice but I didn't notice because I didn't really care. I tried latching onto an AIDS Marathon duo with a watch but I was walking faster than they were "running." Then I saw Mario (who I recognized by the fabulous job of sewing the beads on his singlet) around the "2K to go" sign (2 km=1.24 miles) and I started running with him. At the "1K to go" sign I left him behind and went on my own. I ran most of that last kilometer and crossed the finish line with an official time of 6:37:32.

"To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind."
-- Jerome Drayton

As I walked to the hospitality tent Rich, who was my pace group leader at the start of the program last year, congratulated me and I sort of brushed him off since I was very upset about having to walk 3 miles. I found Mark and Ann, who finished in 6:18, and we limped off to the hotel. (Tyler and Lee finished in 7:14 and Carol, who was in tears her knee was so painful towards the end, finished in 8:47.)

I was still in a bad mood when I ran into Rich again and I apologized and he explained that this was his fifth marathon and by far the hardest. He said that he wasn't happy with his Chicago performance last year but he put it behind him and moved on.

I spent the afternoon showering, sleeping, and trying to eat without getting sick. Meanwhile superhumans Mark and Ann were having mai tais at the pool. I got a cheese sandwich at Subway and started feeling a little better. At about 6:00 we went to the post-marathon party and then to Denny's for dessert.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and then some last-minute shopping before we piled on the shuttle busses to the airport. We got to the airport exactly 2 hours before flight time but becasue of all the security I got to the gate just as the coach passengers were boarding. I sat next to a lesbian couple, one of whom ran and the other helped organize the post party. There was also a survivor of the USS Arizona who got a big round of applause when the purser introduced him. My friends at United forgot the vegetarian meals for me and someone else in my row so I ate a little dinner salad while the other person went on a mini hunger strike in protest. Shaun picked me up at the airport and we're both happy that I'm home. And so are two little kitties.

"You can't climb up to the second floor without a ladder... When you set your aim to high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it."
-- Emil Zapotek

Two days on I'm still disappointed in my performance. I've been reflecting on my training and even decisions we made about our pace and ratio for the marathon trying to figure out how it could have been different. I think that had we gone out slower for the first 8 to 10 miles we would have been better off. I also think that if I had gotten in more cardio work it would have helped with my endurance. These are things I will have to work on in preparation for the LA Marathon in March, for which I'm already registered. I'm also taking a little comfort in that everyone had a bad race and that I should stick to marathons in dry climates.

Physically my legs are sore, mainly in my quads and calves. This makes standing and stair climbing interesting. It was fun to watch everyone alight the plane at LAX after having run a marathon the day before and then sit in a little seat for 5 hours. I made sure to walk up and down the aisle a few times to keep loose.

"Marathoning is just another form of insanity"
-- 1952 Boston Marathon winner John J. Kelley

It's probably a little early to make a grand "where do I go from here?" statement. Like I said, I am registered for LA and I'll do some informal training for it. I would like to go back to Chicago in October.

Rumor has it that the AIDS Marathon will be in Honolulu next year but I had already decided not to do it again. I know I said that last year but I mean it this time. The fundraising was a huge challenge this year and Shaun and I need our social lives back on Friday nights. I would also like to think that I'm past a novice training program (though I'm probably wrong.) And I don't want to do Honolulu again. I don't think there will be as many alumni willing to do Honolulu again and the word of mouth advertising from alumni won't be as good as it was after Chicago. For those people thinking of doing it next year, remember that it's a great cause but make sure you are prepared both mentally and physically before going.

I have all of my pictures developed, though many of them from early marathon morning didn't turn out. Those will be on my web site soon and I'll send out an announcement. I'm getting pictures from other people and will have them up some time next week.

To sum things up, thank you to everyone for your support not only financially but with the occasional "good job" email. It meant a lot to me that many of you were living vicariously through me, looking forward to my weekly dispatches. I know all of you and it's not like any of us are going to disappear. So keep in touch and thanks again.

And here's one last quote, all of which came from "The Quotable Runner" by Mark Will-Weber, a book that Shaun gave me for my birthday.

"Have a dream, make a plan, go for it. You'll get there, I promise"
-- Zoe Koplowitz, a runner with multiple sclerosis who took 24 hours to finish the 1993 New York Marathon on crutches.