So today is my recovery day from the Ocean Drive marathon, and although i’m kind of sore today, i’m not as bad as I had been from other races, maybe its that there weren’t many hills or maybe i’m just in better shape than I think I am. Thanks to everyone who supported me either by commenting, emailing or tweeting this past weekend as I did the final prep for the race. It really helps to know that other runners are out there lending their support, it certainly is appreciated.
Its funny but the post-race comments so far from my mini-post yesterday seem about the same from everyone, that the wind was unpredictable and a big factor in the race. I’m anxious to see the results because I want to see what the overall and average finish times were ..
Anyway, here is my post-race summary of the Ocean Drive marathon yesterday ..
To start off, my stomach had been acting up since around Tuesday or so, I woke up each morning with indigestion which then turned into an upset stomach, then it would pass. Later on in the day, it would come back again and my stomach even got real tight on Thursday afternoon and I didn’t know what was going on. Of course I was freaking out because I didn’t know if something was really, really wrong, or if it was a temporary thing, but with the marathon just a few days away, it put me into a real panic (something I didn’t need at this point).
So despite the intermittent stomach issues, the whole family headed down to the Cape May/Wildwood area on Friday morning to enjoy some vacation time prior to the race. There is really something unique about being in a resort town in the off-season, that kind of peacefulness that you don’t get in the summertime just makes it so comforting .. we were able to walk the boardwalk, swim (indoors), walk the beach and even had pizza at Sam’s Pizza Palace on Friday night and then stopped to play video games in the boardwalk arcade on the way back to the hotel. Pretty cool stuff… I ate pretty clean all day Friday (foods easy on the stomach) and figured eating pizza on Friday night wouldn’t kill me for the race since my stomach was feeling pretty good at this point.
On Saturday, it seemed like my stomach bug had gone away since I had no recurrence of indigestion or upset stomach. Although we continued to ‘vacation’, I took it kind of easy knowing I was less than 24 hours away from the race, and even easier for most of the day knowing my stomach could flair up at anytime. I hit the pasta party buffet on Saturday night and stuffed myself with spaghetti and meatballs .. they also had this awesome rigatoni in a cheese sauce of some kind, which was REAL heavy (not to mention filling), so much so that I actually had to stop myself from eating it because I knew it probably wasn’t the best thing to eat before the race.
Then it was early to bed on Saturday and I actually got a decent nights sleecp despite the fact I was in a hotel, but ended up waking up with a little bit of an unsettled stomach on Sunday morning. This race is odd in that the start time is 9am, which is actually late for me to run .. i’m used of being up and out the door by like 7am, so I was up by 6:30am to catch the shuttle which left my hotel at 7:30am. I was surprised that it actually showed up before 7:30am (we were on the road at 7:25am) and they were NOT school buses, they were charter buses. A few years back I remember taking COLD school buses with no heat to the start, so this was a welcome change. It was nice getting an early bus because I was able to get a place to sit inside at the Congress Hall hotel in Cape May where the race started… I had a LONG time to wait, so I hung out for about 45 minutes until heading out to the port-a-potty line .. I was thankful that my stomach had calmed down somewhat and I didn’t have that sick feeling (for now at least).
I then had to decide what the final outfit would be for the day .. I had on shorts, with 2 wicking shirts on, then a throw-away sweatshirt on top of that. It was quite warm for that at the start (note the sun was out, very mild winds) .. so I got rid of the sweatshirt, put on my skull cap and gloves and headed for the start…
Miles 1-10:
The first few miles were really uneventful until we came up to around mile 3 and the first area of open-area running as we left Cape May… and the first feel of that wind. It was forecast to be coming from the ESE, but at certain times it was almost swirling, just really unpredictable. It felt like it was coming from the north for a good few miles, but I guess I really didn’t know.
As we actually got on to Ocean Drive and headed east to the Wildwoods, the sun was replaced by clouds and we were running directly into the wind. With nothing but swamps around us, there was nothing to stop the wind (I equate it to running through the farmers fields where I am).
I kept a pretty decent pace for the first 10 miles, averaging a 9:05/mile, which was right on target (although I think mile 2 and 3 were marked wrong, because there is NO way I ran a 5:18 mile). I ran by my family at mile 10 but took time to stop to hug and kiss my daughter (my #1 fan) as I passed through .. its always motivating to have those moments, it really did help. I took a moment after passing them to take my first gel since in my training, it was about an hour and half in when I would fuel up.. it went down pretty good (surprisingly).
Miles 11-18:
Since the 10-miler race had ended now, the field of people running was cut back significantly and was just marathoners now.. I recall the drop off of people from the last time I ran it. It does get lonely out there at this point. I kept with it though, but slowly worked to slow my pace to be more at the pace I expected at around a 9:20/mile. I did this purposely because I knew at this point I was ahead of the goal finish time and didn’t want to wear myself out too early (save it for later if anything).
The wind didn’t seem to stop as we passed into Stone Harbor via the Hereford Inlet .. again through open marshes and over another bridge through open ocean. Once we got into Stone Harbor, this was actually one of the more difficult parts of the course. This was basically a straightaway for the next 6 miles.. it kind of hit me knowing that I was passing by 120th street and we had to get all the way to 7th street to cross over into Sea Isle City. One would think that running straight for 6 miles is easy, but its really a challenge to the mind in my opinion, kind of like running on a treadmill is, just going the same direction for mile after mile after mile with nothing too exciting to look at.
I decided at around mile 18 to take my second gel since I was starting to feel depleted. Up until this point, I was taking water at every stop (at least one cup, some i took two at) and this was the point that my stomach decided to starting playing games and take a turn on me.
Mile 19-22:
As we headed for the end of the Avalon section of the run (prior to crossing into Sea Isle City), I felt myself start to work real hard to keep down any fluids I was trying to take in. My stomach was kind of unsettled almost to the point of throwing up, and i’m not sure if it was related to the gel I took or not .. I then started to limit the amount of water I was taking in. So instead of drinking all of it, I was just putting water in my mouth and spitting it out to keep my mouth wet .. and taking a small sip if I could.
I passed a couple at this area of the race that were running with their daughter in a stroller. I’m always fascinated by those that can do that .. I have enough trouble with running the race WITHOUT a stroller and the added stress, but I said to myself, at least they don’t need a babysitter when they run..
So with every mile that passed at this point, I was slowly getting even colder from the wind (i was soaked through all my layers and chilled to the bone) but was also starting to fight with dehydration. It didn’t help that it started to rain slightly for about 10 minutes, just to keep us on our toes.. the rain, the wind, the cold feeling, my stomach and dehydration were all ganging up on me as I headed to Townsends Inlet for the final three miles of the race ..
Mile 23-Finish:
I was at what I consider the turning point of the race for me .. despite the struggles in the last few miles with my stomach (and the weather), i still managed to keep a decent pace consistent with my finish time (approx 9:30/mile). I passed mile marker 23 just as I approached Townsends Inlet, which is a double-whammy, an uphill bridge (at mile 23) and open ocean on both sides .. it was cold as cold could be, you can see the caps of the waves below when i had to stop and walk to the top, just couldn’t make it in this condition. Thankfully I got myself moving on the downhill as we entered Sea Isle City..
At this point, my pace started to fall off, my worst miles were the last 3 miles where I lost almost 6 minutes off my goal pace .. I felt myself starting to really feel out of gas at around mile 24 when I attempted to take another gel, and my stomach decided that it just wasn’t happening, and I just about lost it. Thankfully there was a water stop just ahead and I was able to sip down a bit of water, and wash my mouth out to get rid of the gel taste so i wouldn’t throw up. I felt bad for the lady who handed me the water though, she r was so nice in asking me if I wanted some Gatorade as well as the wateand I said “no, i’ll just throw it anyway” .. she gave me a strange look and I realized it wasn’t a nice response, she was only trying to help … its unfortunate that i can’t apologize to her.
It was at this point that we hit the last turn on to the promenade in Sea Isle City and I can see the banner for the finish line in the distance. At this point I was totally dehydrated, totally out of gas from dehydration and lack of fuel, wet, cold, tired .. it sucked, but I kept on going because I was not going to make excuses at this point. The wind coming off the ocean didn’t help anything because it caused us to have to run through sand that was blowing up on to the promenade .. you couldn’t even LOOK at the beach without getting sand in your eyes, it was an amazing site.
I kept looking ahead for that finish banner, and it just seemed like it wasn’t getting any closer. If you’ve ever seen the Monty Python “Holy Grail” movie, its like the scene where the group keeps seeing the army coming towards them, but they never seem to get any closer, then suddenly they appear, thats what this was like .. suddenly after looking and looking, I was at the finish line, relieved that I was done, I made it, in under my goal time despite the struggles I had .. I was thrilled.
Overall I can’t say it was a bad race, I think I ran a smart race for most of the time, realizing my pace and adjusting accordingly. I worked hard to keep fueled and hydrated, but the late stomach issues kind of creeped up on me, thankfully it happened later in the race and believe it or not, it actually stayed with me for the rest of the day on Sunday. I didn’t eat anything until almost 2 hours after the race .. and I could barely keep fluids down (had to sip slowly). My first real meal was about 7pm last night, and it wasn’t even much .. but I am feeling better now.
So for a not so fast marathon runner, I was happy with my time and with the race overall. I managed to conquer the Ocean Drive marathon a second time .. this time I beat the course, and it didn’t beat me like a few years back. My finish time in 2007 was a 4:25, so I knocked off 16 minutes from that time, which is a lot in my opinion, and I have no regrets. If I didn’t have the stomach problems, I probably could’ve run a 4:03 (which is where I was at when my pace started falling off).. but hey, i’m still happy with the effort
I did meet a lot of great people along the way, some from Oklahoma and others from Michigan, and several other states and local regions .. we shared stories of training the brutal winter we just came out of for this race, and patted each other on the back for getting through it all to make it here for this race.
So its time now to recover for a week and plan for the Flying Pig marathon in just 5 short weeks .. I always consider the first marathon of the season to be the ‘eye-opener’, which helps me to better focus on running the next one. Sometimes you forget the struggles of pushing past that 20-22 mile training run, but its fresh in my head now, so it will help motivate me to do better.
My goal in the next 5 weeks is to get some crosstraining in, along with eating MUCH better .. I got on the scale today and it was scary, its time to cut out the crap and get serious and EAT like a marathon runner (and stop the excuses that i’m running a ton of miles). I have to start pushing myself too .. I know I can run better if I focus harder on my training and eating right ..
Well, on to rest ….