a couple days before the race i spoke with an acquaintence who had signed up for the rock and roll marathon hoping to qualify for boston. He would need to run under 3:21:00 to qualify, a 7:39 min/mile pace or better would do.
I agreed to pace him through at least the first 1/2 in 1:35:00, after which i'd go as far as i could and wish him well when i blew up.sunday morning i woke up early, and headed down to balboa park and the start line. i parked on the other side of the park so i wouldn't have to deal with street closures plus then i could get a little warm up in before the run. i grabbed all my things and started jogging to the start. when i got the the start i realized i'd left my timing chip in my truck, almost 1 mile across the park. mmm, no chip no time? how important is the time for me?
i decided to go back and get the chip in order to officially document my first sub 4 hour marathon. a brisk jog back to my car, pick up the chip, and jog back to the start line, i'm good and warm now, all i have to do is wait for the race to start. about 10 minutes before the start i thought it would be a good idea to visit the bathroom 1 last time before the start, then i saw the lines and decided i could wait a couple hours.i met up with mark a couple minutes before the start. and that familiar pre-race feeling started to creep up on me, it's been so long since i raced i almost forgot how much i enjoy this stuff.
the gun went off and we started at a pretty brisk pace. 7:09 through the first mile, 7:24 pace for mile 2 and then a good downhill on the course brought us through mile 3 right around 7:15. i ran into some people from the shop i new, so chatted with them a bit, then switched the focus back to pacing mark. i let him know we were pacing a bit fast, on pace for a 3:10:00 marathon we settled in a bit and got comfortable. nothing too exciting for the next couple miles, we pulled back slightly on the pace, but were still running around a 3:10:00 pace through most of the first 12 miles. at mile 7.5 i decided the bathroom was a necessity, i told mark i was going to drop off and i'd be back in a mile or 2, i stopped and took a pee break.
i was back up with mark around mile 8.5, still ahead of his 3:20:00 pace and looking fresh.right around mile 12, mark's parents and sisters were shouting encouragement, it helped give him a little boost. somewhere around here the sun broke through the cloud cover and things began to heat up. just past mile 17 a couple of mark's supporters ran with him for a bit. this is were things started to get tougher and the pace suffered a bit. around mile 18.5 another of mark's friends joined the run, he would stay with us until just before the finish. at this point mark definitely began showing early signs of blowing up, his heart rate was climbing but his pace was staying pretty steady, we pulled back a bit more to try and help him settle into a more comfortable pace, but his pace was already beginning to look like it would be close to pull out a 3:20:00 finish.
we came through mile 21 at 2:38:29, on 7:33 min/mile pace. after mile 21 things got more gloomy, the heat was getting to mark, so we doused his hat in water and tried to cool him down through the aid stations. we walked for a bit to let mark get some gel and liquid in and settle his stomach a bit then resumed the running. mile 23 and mark was getting dizzy, we adjusted the pace again. he was experiencing tunnel vision and had become pretty dizzy, it was obvious he was pushing hard and digging deep to do what he came to do. he hit the 24 mile mark at 3:06:00, dropping his pace below what he needed to get in under 3:20:00. We had 2.2 miles to make up almost 3 minutes.
It was time for mark to dig real deep and see how the cards were to fall. we went a bit aggressively, hoping it would snap mark out of his funk and get his legs going again. marks friend went ahead to get some accelerade and water at the next aid station. i stayd with mark and we walked a bit to let him settle in before we made our last go for his 3:20:00. he got some liquid in and doused in water to cool him down.we came through mile 25 just over 3:17:00, 3:20:00 wasn't happening today, it was a bit hard to swallow, after such a strong start and huge display of heart, mark blew up severely.
he pushd himself harder than i've seen anybody push, and dug down deep, but it wasn't happening sunday. with about 3/4 of a mile to go, he dug even deeper and pulled together a solid effort to jog the remainder of the race, crossing the line in 3:27:44, nearly 5 minutes better than his previous best.he was a bit dissappointed he fell short of his 3:20:00 aspirations, but he was happy with the personal best he set, and from what i saw he laid every bit of what he had out on the line on sunday and dug deep down inside to find everythign he could find. it just wasn't in teh cards for sunday.
congratulations mark, i'm going to remember that effort for a long time, and am sure i'll use it as a source of encouragement to help me through some difficult times.you can see mark crossing the finish line on the far left of the screen at 3:27:54 on the race clock, he has a red shirt, white hat, and black shorts.
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