Marine Corps 1992

It's the most common question every runner hears. They hear it from co-workers,
relatives,strangers and even some fellow runners. If they don't successfully
answer it, they usually get the second question after which the conversation
drifts to something else.

For eight years now, I been answering the first question "Have you run a
marathon?" with a noncommittal "Not yet" and the second "Why not" with an
even less committal "Someday".

Well, someday finally came on October 25,1992 in Arlington Virginia at the
Marine Corps Marathon. Like many other watershed events in one's life it
was a day I'll never forget. With events happening so quickly, and emotions
running the gamut it becomes exhausting to try to recap all that happened.
I won't even try. It would be nice to run a marathon with a tape recorder
and get all one's thoughts,but I'll leave that for someone else.

Instead I will answer some simple questions that a runner hears from those same
people after completing their first marathon.

* How did you do?

There isn't much I can say about my performance. The time 3:58:01 says more
than words can describe. I was 1:45 at the halfway point-feeling good-hopeful
that even if slowed from 8 minute to 9 minute miles-I could finish around 3:40.

Reality quickly reared its ugly head at 15 miles as violent cramps simultane-
ously shot through both calf muscles. My plans abruptly and indelibly were
altered. Mile splits no longer mattered,only survival.

* Did you hit the wall?

Head-on.
Everything bad I had heard about the marathon transpired in the final two
hours. The last six miles were like a war zone. I talked to another runner
who was in just as much agony and we tried to help each other get through
the last five brutal miles.

Between 22 and 25 miles there appear to be more people walking than running
and many of the runners were going so slow that they should have walked.

Even at the very end,I found it difficult to do much more than stumble.

* How were the conditions?

I may get an argument on this one.
It was windy-the winning time was the slowest ever but I hardly noticed. The
temperature was fine,the crowds were great,the course was beautiful and
rarely boring,the water and aid stations plentiful.

* Why,after 8 years did you finally run one?

This is paradoxical. I decided this was the only way to salvage what was
otherwise a lost year to injuries. I tried a 13 week crash course that worked
well for about 5 weeks until injuries stymied any attempts at further
progress. Because I had already registered,I left myself no alternative,
except completing the training-no matter how fragmented it was.

And if I finished,I would have a personal best-one that I would hope to easily
improve upon in the future.

* Were you happy with your time?

Yes and no.

If I had run this in 1991,I would have predicted a 3:10 and been upset when
I didn't come close to that. I started training for this with a goal
between 3:30 and 3:40. That time continued to regress until my final goal
was just finishing,hoping to not get picked up by the straggler bus.
Seriously,I thought anything under 4 hours would be nice.

I am brutally honest about my conditioning. People who don't know me well
consider me overly pessimistic-guilty of talking myself into a bad race.
Having run the worst half marathon of my life on October 4 ,I didn't see
much reason for optimism.


* How did you feel afterwards?

It hurts to answer.
Two days after the race,I still have trouble getting out of a chair. Stairs
petrify me. The thought of running is ludicrous. But this too shall pass.
I am already looking forward to my next marathon,determined to learn the
lessons from this one

* What lessons did you learn?

I don't want to bore you.
* Are you glad you ran it?
YES!!!!!!!!!!