The Iguana
Footballguy
Iggy's non-marathon Monumental Marathon Race Report
Pre-Race - slept ok. Actually woke up at 2 am thinking it was go time. Saw it wasn't fell back to sleep and then woke up every hour thereafter until it was actually time to get up. Pretty much had to take poop #1 as soon as I got up. Then got dressed, ate a banana and a cliff bar with some water, triple checked that I have everything together, packed up and went out the door. Stopped at the gas station and got a large, mostly un-sweet ice tea and drove downtown while I ate a 2nd bar and banana.
I was parked in the parking garage at about 6:15 am. Garage is attached to the JW Marriott by a skybridge and since I had plenty of time, and a warm place to hide out, I went over there where I proceeded to destroy one of the common area bathrooms. Nice and warm, no lines to wait in, good place to be. Hung around the 2nd floor lounge, sent some messages here, finished off my tea, etc until meeting @gruecd, @SteelCurtain and their companions in the lobby about 7:30ish where we proceeded to walk over to the start area.
It's chilly to start but not bad. As SC mentioned, we were there a little extra early but not too bad. Hung out, stretched some, chatted with a couple of fellow runners and then was greeted with a pleasant surprise - Troy, the guy that paced my HM a month or so ago was actually pacing the 3:40 group today. He was originally planning to race it but had some issue and decided to pace this instead. He's really good at the pacing thing, IMO, so it was nice to have a known commodity there.
I'm in Wave 2 so there's a few minute wait. Also the 3:40 pacers are back in the corral a bit, which kind of proved to suck a little. We crossed the starting line at about 8:05 or so and we are off!
Since I don't have my run, this may end up being the shortest report I've ever done on the longest run I ever didn't do... but we will see. There's some natural breakpoints from the timing mats and some significant events that happened, so that's how it will have to go...
At the start of the race, I have on my compression short, running shorts, sleeveless shirt, long sleeve tech shirt, and a pair of gloves.I also am wearing my running belt with plenty of gummies and the 2 water bottles filled with water a pair of Nuun tablets.
So, here we go!
There really is nothing to exciting to report here, I was just out for a stroll with my friends, feeling good, avoiding the crowds at the drink stations since I have my own with me. Probably about 4 or 5 miles in I started taking a cup of water periodically and pouring it into my bottle.
The only other thing to report here is that as we neared the timing mat, I could tell that my right sock had slipped just a little and I was starting to get a blister. Annoyed me as I had zero issues with that on longer runs but I am a #BMF and I wasn't going to affect my day - and I didn't. I do have a healthy blister on that foot that actually tore but it never really bothered me in the race at all.
Up through about 16 miles, my HR was still in the 150s and all was feeling great. I'm eating chews, having a drink now and then all is good. And then...
So, we cross the 30K timing mat as we pass the Indianapolis Museum of Art and I'm still cruising along with the pace group. Even with the HR issues, I'm still feeling pretty confident in finishing with the group.
The one bad part is that I pretty much stopped eating or drinking around here. Probably should have forced myself to choke down a cube or 2. Probably also should have grabbed a banana at the station a while back but "nothing new on race day". But overall I still was good. Just passed mile 23, you turn back onto Meridian Street and start to head south into downtown. This is a nice long, wide open section that you can see the Monument that basically represents the finish. It's 3 miles to the finish and a 2 mile straight stretch.
As I crossed the bridge, which had a mountain of a tiny little hill, I looked at my watch - it said 3:14 and a few seconds. 30 minutes to run 3 miles exactly and #beatgrue. I knew I wasn't going to be picking up the pace, I was starting to hurt some but I knew that as long as my body didn't fall apart, I could muscle through 3 miles. I felt it in my bones. So, I went over that hill and toward the heart of downtown Indy...
But... things actually weren't bad. I kind of favored the left leg a little, took a little shorter strides and kept running. I still had more than plenty of time to get this done. Let's go, you BMF, a little cramp isn't going to stop you!
As I'm heading toward the final turn there's a yell of "Let's go Iggy"... not Albert as is on my bib. I had been looking down at the ground, just concentrating on one step at a time, willing my legs to hold together for just a little bit longer. When I heard "Iggy" and looked up to see Grue and his buddy standing there and Grue with a huge grin willing me on, I was overcome with more emotion than you can imagine and I wasn't stopping.
Unfortunately as I'm turning the corner and passing the 26 mile marker, my watch says 3:44. I know I'm not covering .2 in under a minute, but I'm going to do it as fast as I can. And I dig as deep as I can. As I'm nearing the finish line, I feel both legs wanting to cramp, but I refuse to let them. I had to be taking the fastest baby steps anyone ever did see but I did see a guy in the middle snapping photos and I made an effort to try to look as dignified as I could as I approached the finish.
I crossed the line, pushed the stop button on my watch and looked down to see 3:46:02. So freaking close to #beatgrue, but not quite enough to pull it off. I have never been so happy and so sad at the same time in my life.
After crossing the line and walking a few steps, my legs felt like they were going to seize up. I had to stop and try to stretch a bit. A very nice older man that was volunteering got me one of the Mylar blanket things and a bottle a water and asked if I needed medical attention. I said nope, downed the water, stretched a bit and hobbled my way through the finish area seeing grue again, who very heartily congratulated me. I collected a chocolate milk and a banana and downed them, made my way over to pick up my "indy ultrathon" shirt and bonus medal for running the half a month ago and not running the full on Saturday.
Grue offered up his shower, I grabbed my clothes from my car, hobbled over to the JW and had the greatest shower ever had. And then my world came crashing to a halt as I got out, put on my pants and then while putting on my watch tried to pull up the run to realize I never clicked the save button. Not sure if I accidentally hit the discard button when trying not to fall over or if it just "goes away" if you don't save fast enough.
So, semi-official results for the run I didn't do:
3:45:58! #beatgrue_failure... missed it by :thatmuch:
AG: 156 out of 392
Men: 1188 out of 2848
Overall: 1675 out of 4957
On the one hand, I am happy. I finished, I felt I had the right plan, the right pace, and the ability to do it. The wind hurt some on the back. And then I think nutrition got me just enough to make me miss out on #beatgrue. I felt I did a pretty good job taking in calories but I needed to more liberally use the Nuun electrolyte tablets and/or eat a banana or some gatorade or something. So freaking close! But still very happy to have done it and to feel like I did it "pretty good".
Not 100% satisfied but I can't cry over spilled milk or what "could have been". Right now I'm trying to think of all the positives and not on that one little thing I missed out on - per Athlinks.com, I missed his time by 17 lousy, miserable, stinking seconds. But I really wanted under 3:45 so I'm really crying over 59 seconds, but who's counting?
Pre-Race - slept ok. Actually woke up at 2 am thinking it was go time. Saw it wasn't fell back to sleep and then woke up every hour thereafter until it was actually time to get up. Pretty much had to take poop #1 as soon as I got up. Then got dressed, ate a banana and a cliff bar with some water, triple checked that I have everything together, packed up and went out the door. Stopped at the gas station and got a large, mostly un-sweet ice tea and drove downtown while I ate a 2nd bar and banana.
I was parked in the parking garage at about 6:15 am. Garage is attached to the JW Marriott by a skybridge and since I had plenty of time, and a warm place to hide out, I went over there where I proceeded to destroy one of the common area bathrooms. Nice and warm, no lines to wait in, good place to be. Hung around the 2nd floor lounge, sent some messages here, finished off my tea, etc until meeting @gruecd, @SteelCurtain and their companions in the lobby about 7:30ish where we proceeded to walk over to the start area.
It's chilly to start but not bad. As SC mentioned, we were there a little extra early but not too bad. Hung out, stretched some, chatted with a couple of fellow runners and then was greeted with a pleasant surprise - Troy, the guy that paced my HM a month or so ago was actually pacing the 3:40 group today. He was originally planning to race it but had some issue and decided to pace this instead. He's really good at the pacing thing, IMO, so it was nice to have a known commodity there.
I'm in Wave 2 so there's a few minute wait. Also the 3:40 pacers are back in the corral a bit, which kind of proved to suck a little. We crossed the starting line at about 8:05 or so and we are off!
Since I don't have my run, this may end up being the shortest report I've ever done on the longest run I ever didn't do... but we will see. There's some natural breakpoints from the timing mats and some significant events that happened, so that's how it will have to go...
At the start of the race, I have on my compression short, running shorts, sleeveless shirt, long sleeve tech shirt, and a pair of gloves.I also am wearing my running belt with plenty of gummies and the 2 water bottles filled with water a pair of Nuun tablets.
So, here we go!
- Start to 10K - 52:29 (8:28 pace, allegedly, but really was right around 8:23)
There really is nothing to exciting to report here, I was just out for a stroll with my friends, feeling good, avoiding the crowds at the drink stations since I have my own with me. Probably about 4 or 5 miles in I started taking a cup of water periodically and pouring it into my bottle.
- 10K to 13.1 - 1:49:44 (8:23 pace)
The only other thing to report here is that as we neared the timing mat, I could tell that my right sock had slipped just a little and I was starting to get a blister. Annoyed me as I had zero issues with that on longer runs but I am a #BMF and I wasn't going to affect my day - and I didn't. I do have a healthy blister on that foot that actually tore but it never really bothered me in the race at all.
- 13.1 to ~16 miles
Up through about 16 miles, my HR was still in the 150s and all was feeling great. I'm eating chews, having a drink now and then all is good. And then...
- ~16 miles to 30K - 2:36:00 (8:24 pace)
So, we cross the 30K timing mat as we pass the Indianapolis Museum of Art and I'm still cruising along with the pace group. Even with the HR issues, I'm still feeling pretty confident in finishing with the group.
- 30K to 21 miles
- 21 miles to 23.2ish
The one bad part is that I pretty much stopped eating or drinking around here. Probably should have forced myself to choke down a cube or 2. Probably also should have grabbed a banana at the station a while back but "nothing new on race day". But overall I still was good. Just passed mile 23, you turn back onto Meridian Street and start to head south into downtown. This is a nice long, wide open section that you can see the Monument that basically represents the finish. It's 3 miles to the finish and a 2 mile straight stretch.
As I crossed the bridge, which had a mountain of a tiny little hill, I looked at my watch - it said 3:14 and a few seconds. 30 minutes to run 3 miles exactly and #beatgrue. I knew I wasn't going to be picking up the pace, I was starting to hurt some but I knew that as long as my body didn't fall apart, I could muscle through 3 miles. I felt it in my bones. So, I went over that hill and toward the heart of downtown Indy...
- 23.2 to 24 miles
But... things actually weren't bad. I kind of favored the left leg a little, took a little shorter strides and kept running. I still had more than plenty of time to get this done. Let's go, you BMF, a little cramp isn't going to stop you!
- 24 to 25 miles
- 25 to 26.2 miles
As I'm heading toward the final turn there's a yell of "Let's go Iggy"... not Albert as is on my bib. I had been looking down at the ground, just concentrating on one step at a time, willing my legs to hold together for just a little bit longer. When I heard "Iggy" and looked up to see Grue and his buddy standing there and Grue with a huge grin willing me on, I was overcome with more emotion than you can imagine and I wasn't stopping.
Unfortunately as I'm turning the corner and passing the 26 mile marker, my watch says 3:44. I know I'm not covering .2 in under a minute, but I'm going to do it as fast as I can. And I dig as deep as I can. As I'm nearing the finish line, I feel both legs wanting to cramp, but I refuse to let them. I had to be taking the fastest baby steps anyone ever did see but I did see a guy in the middle snapping photos and I made an effort to try to look as dignified as I could as I approached the finish.
I crossed the line, pushed the stop button on my watch and looked down to see 3:46:02. So freaking close to #beatgrue, but not quite enough to pull it off. I have never been so happy and so sad at the same time in my life.
After crossing the line and walking a few steps, my legs felt like they were going to seize up. I had to stop and try to stretch a bit. A very nice older man that was volunteering got me one of the Mylar blanket things and a bottle a water and asked if I needed medical attention. I said nope, downed the water, stretched a bit and hobbled my way through the finish area seeing grue again, who very heartily congratulated me. I collected a chocolate milk and a banana and downed them, made my way over to pick up my "indy ultrathon" shirt and bonus medal for running the half a month ago and not running the full on Saturday.
Grue offered up his shower, I grabbed my clothes from my car, hobbled over to the JW and had the greatest shower ever had. And then my world came crashing to a halt as I got out, put on my pants and then while putting on my watch tried to pull up the run to realize I never clicked the save button. Not sure if I accidentally hit the discard button when trying not to fall over or if it just "goes away" if you don't save fast enough.
So, semi-official results for the run I didn't do:
3:45:58! #beatgrue_failure... missed it by :thatmuch:
AG: 156 out of 392
Men: 1188 out of 2848
Overall: 1675 out of 4957
On the one hand, I am happy. I finished, I felt I had the right plan, the right pace, and the ability to do it. The wind hurt some on the back. And then I think nutrition got me just enough to make me miss out on #beatgrue. I felt I did a pretty good job taking in calories but I needed to more liberally use the Nuun electrolyte tablets and/or eat a banana or some gatorade or something. So freaking close! But still very happy to have done it and to feel like I did it "pretty good".
Not 100% satisfied but I can't cry over spilled milk or what "could have been". Right now I'm trying to think of all the positives and not on that one little thing I missed out on - per Athlinks.com, I missed his time by 17 lousy, miserable, stinking seconds. But I really wanted under 3:45 so I'm really crying over 59 seconds, but who's counting?
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