Preliminary Race Report - NODM
I've been procrastinating too long. Guess I better start putting this down. Sorry for keeping everyone in suspense. Here is the preliminary report from the "North Olympic Debacle Marathon".
Bad.
Really bad.
Another "crash and burn".
That's 2 for 4 now.
But I did finish.
Is this not the most dejected "finish-face" you've ever seen?
Short story -- warm temperatures at the beginning, very high humidity, a couple of too-fast early miles -- disaster ensued. Serious dehydration again (happened in San Diego last year under similar conditions). I blame global warming. I'm sure Al will back me up on that one.
Now, I actually did meet one of my objectives. There was no cramping. Of course that may have been by virtue of the fact that I spent a lot of time walking in the second half. There was dehydration, but I was taking electrolyte supplements which presumably helped prevent the cramping. They didn't help the vomiting.
On the positive side, the scenery was very pretty. And in the last mile I amused myself by guessing the odds that I would actually vomit on the finish line itself (I didn't).
OK. My worst marathon. 5:39
More later -- I'm flying back to Boston tonight.
C-Ya
Bad.
Really bad.
Another "crash and burn".
That's 2 for 4 now.
But I did finish.
Is this not the most dejected "finish-face" you've ever seen?
Short story -- warm temperatures at the beginning, very high humidity, a couple of too-fast early miles -- disaster ensued. Serious dehydration again (happened in San Diego last year under similar conditions). I blame global warming. I'm sure Al will back me up on that one.
Now, I actually did meet one of my objectives. There was no cramping. Of course that may have been by virtue of the fact that I spent a lot of time walking in the second half. There was dehydration, but I was taking electrolyte supplements which presumably helped prevent the cramping. They didn't help the vomiting.
On the positive side, the scenery was very pretty. And in the last mile I amused myself by guessing the odds that I would actually vomit on the finish line itself (I didn't).
OK. My worst marathon. 5:39
More later -- I'm flying back to Boston tonight.
C-Ya
posted by Kurt in Boston at 7:04 PM
9 Comments:
hmmm...this is so unexpected. your training went so well...I will have to hear more to understand...but don't worry, I KNOW you your goal marathon in you!!! I know it!! You will get there!! Promise!!! (and I'm glad you finished! that says a lot)
It was fun to meet you, Kurt. I'm sorry you had a bad race. It was humid out there! I had to pull Sharon through the last few miles but we did a lot of walking too. Hang in there....I know you'll do better next time!
You finished like a trooper Kurt! Anyone can run a measley 3.5 hours, it takes real grit to run for 5.5!
It was great to see you again. You looked great at dinner... never would have imagined the day you had just been through. Now recover and take care of yourself. You'll hit that goal... maybe in Austin? But then if you commit to that, I'd have to commit, so there's no rush! :)
You know of just about everyone out there, I can empathize and sympathize on the strongest level. I experimented with endurolytes during training and found they sucked too much moisture out of me. I suspect that, combined with the high humidity and temps, really did a number on you.
You get major props from me and everyone else for sticking it out, knowing by then your mind and not just your body were turning on you and knowing the clock was not being kind. That, to me, is the hardest part when things go south.
My solution, for the time being, is to avoid summer marathons. At least until this global warming thing is under control.
sorry your marathon didn't go as planned Kurt. Perhaps you should use your gained fitness and find a close marathon to do in the next month. Maybe with the pressure off you would be able to close in on your stretch goal!
Ooh how awesome it would have been to meet you..
Hey, you hung in there and finished! That's counts big time. I experience the same thing when I run longer races in Arizona too.
Wish you a great recovery and glad you got to enjoy the PNW.
Sorry the day didn't go as planned. I've been following your training and everything seemed to be going so well. You are incredibly disciplined. There will be other races and things to learn from this one. But then you know that far better than I.
sorry about a bad race, it is always dissapointing but you have no control over the conditions. Finishing is half the battle though! I will be happy to write a letter to congress for you about the global warming affecting all of our training! (99 degrees here last weekend)
I did the Half Marathon in Port Angeles the weekend before last and here is what I wrote for half2run.com -- "I might not do the full marathon at this event as it was getting warm for those over 4 hours."
I'm completely with you on this event. I kept thinking about how I was glad that I didn't do the full. Plus in your second half (our only half), the terrain wasn't insurmountable, but it changed quite a bit. The gravel toward the end in the next to last mile wasn't fun at all.
However, I liked the event overall.
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