Milwaukee Marathon 2007 - Race Adventure (Report)

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon
October 7, 2007
3rd Overall
3:19:30

Its been a long road to my marathon this year but I was here and lined up for my Boston attempt. I had several concerns weighing me down as I had not really been able to train much over the last 8 weeks due to a knee injury followed by ankle tendonitis. My weekly mileage was minimal and the number of 20 milers completed was a grand total of 1. I had e-mailed the race director to let her know I wasn't coming and I let it go...or so I thought. The ankle was getting better slowly and I thought if my ankle was in good enough condition come race day I should just go get the job done on what I had. It wasn't going to be pretty but it was not unreasonable considering the shape I was in before the injuries and the strength I knew I still had. I felt confident that all would be well and I did what I could running wise, took care of my ankle the best I could, got my sleep, and ate well. I never even thought that race day would bring temps in the high 80's low 90's. My confidence started to drop. I SUCK in hot weather. The last time I ran in a marathon that had a starting temp over 70 degrees was a disasterous and tearful DNF in a very high profile women's national race (Grandma's Marathon 1994). To add to my concern was that my 9 year old daughter had asked to come and help and I had said yes so I definitely didn't want Kyla's first close up view of a marathon to be of her mom crashing. I had to get my act together and keep it together, it was important.

Okay so here we go.....ankle wrapped, very little training, hotter than hell, loved ones in the front row seats.
Oh boy...

crew member - Kyla

The Start

The early miles were pleasant. It was already 71 degrees but there was plenty of shade and a nice breeze. My plan was to stick between 7:30 and 8:00min/mile so of course my first two mile splits are 6:58 & 6:59. Of course. I swear there were a lot of downhills! Really! I pull back letting go of a nice pack of runners I thought would be fun to run with.

Over the next 2 miles there is small chatter with different groups of runners as we all check out what goals are and see if there are people to click in with for the long haul. I find myself with a guy who seems to be comfortably in the same area with me and we slowly gravitate to each other and start matching pace. Mile 3 - 7:21 was much better but Mile 4 - 7:16 comes too fast again. Again we had some nice downs but also there were a lot of women passing me and I was working hard not to go with them. Mile 3 saw the pack in general surge up and mile 4 had 4 women passing me all at once. Resist, resist.

Course starts to roll and after the 5 mile split of 7:11, Tom and I finally settle into the pace we need to be running which is in the 7:35 - 7:25 range. I see Andy and Kyla around this point and all is well, I'm comfortable and I take my first GU and drink some. It is getting warm and we lose some of the shade we had been enjoying. I keep my head wet with each aid station and I drink freely from the bottles of gatorade on my fuel belt.

Tom to my left. I'm reaching for my gatorade

Miles 6 - 10

Miles 6 - 10 are beautifully steady even with a lot of annoying inclines. It's Tom and I with a group of about 3 other men including one guy who keeps sprinting forward, then walking, then sprinting forward again. Idiot. It's getting really hot but we are gifted here and there with shade, residents with water hoses, and at mile 7 we get a half mile of "cold" Lake Michigan air. That was heaven but it was short lived. Somewhere in this stretch we come upon Bonnie Blair Olympic speed skating champion. What?? Okay let me explain. There are relays in this marathon and there was a relay made entirely of Olympians (including Bill Rodgers) running to raise money for Jenny Crain's medical expenses (a local elite athlete suffering brain injuries after being hit by a car). I have posts on her if you care to look. We make a big deal about meeting Bonnie and she apologizes for being a terrible runner and we all laugh and tell her how sorry we were for her, gold medals and all. We leave her and continue on. Splits: 6 - 7:34, 7 - 7:34, 8 - 7:23, 9 - 7:25, 10 - 7:35 for a 10 mile total time of 1:13:19.

Miles 11 - 15

Okay so far things are good but I'm am working just a little bit harder than I had hoped at this point so I tell Tom that my plan is to not give any of the inclines much energy and take what I could from the downhills and he says that fine and stays with me. So after the 11 mile split of 7:25 we don't see anything under 7:30 for the rest of the race but that was no issue and really was just a small shift needed to deal with the heat and rolling hills. As we approach the half way point I start seeing the women come back to me and I'm starting to see a lot of walking. According to Andy it was really hot at the half way point. I was still in control and not letting the heat get to me mentally. He notices the women coming back to me and some dropping out. Later he tells me it was like they all died exactly at the same time. I was in 7th place at the half and then just a few miles later I was in 4th. Splits 11 - 7:25, 12 - 7:33, 13 - 7:36, 14 - 7:33, 15 - 7:35. Half way point was 1:36:48.

Miles 16 - 20

Okay now we enter what I affectionately call the "BLACK HOLE" of most of my marathons. Typically after 14 miles I start to lose focus, I start to feel overwhelmed by the distance that is left and I slow down tremendously till about 19 miles. A lot of time is lost in here and I usually don't remember much other than being pissed. Well not this time!! I think a lot of this had to do with how well Tom and I were working together and the care we took with most of our previous miles. Tom and I take turns being in control of the pace without saying anything, it just seems that when he is feeling crappy I'm feeling strong and when I'm feeling crappy he is feeling strong. Works well. The carnage around us is growing as there seems to be more people walking than running, a lot of drop outs, but the residents are out in full force with water hoses and positive energy, not something you normally get with this marathon. We pass one of the women on the side of the road crying and she appears to be bleeding. She isn't alone and she is being taken care of so we move on. I'm in 3rd now but I'm feeling a little somber as I realize how difficult this race is and I worry about my friends out on the Chicago course. There are some significant inclines in this section of the race and after 18 miles I have lost Tom after going through a water stop. Having all my gatorade with me allowed me to sail efficiently through the water stops taking only what I needed to douse my head and take a small sip, the rest came from the bottles I had on me. Thank God I had decided to wear my fuel belt, something I NEVER do when I race. We see Andy and Kyla multiple times during this section and everytime I see them I get a great lift. I toss them some of my empty bottles. Splits 16 - 7:33, 17 - 7:36, 18 - 7:39, 19 - 7:33, 20 - 7:35 for a total 20 mile time of 2:29:03.

The Last 10k

10K to go! I'm very hot now and tired and alone. All I can think about is the famous drop at 23 miles and hopefully the cool lake air as somewhere past there we have the lake to our left with nothing inbetween but open park area. I'm struggling with the inclines but mentally I'm still okay as I know that my Boston Qualifier is no where close to being in danger. I've shift to mile splits over 8 minutes but I'm okay with that, I can go way over 9 minute miles if I have to, but of course I don't want to. The course starts turning a lot as we go through some neighborhoods that remind me of the rich north shore. I turn a corner to see the 23 mile mark and then it hits me. My head starts spinning, I feel like I'm going to throw up. Its over, I'm done I pass the 23 mile mark and I collapse on the grass right next to the owner of the lawn sitting in his lawn chair. In retrospect it was kind of funny. I wait for the wave of failure to wash over me and then I say to myself "Damn you, you have 50 minutes to get 3.2 miles completed. Sh*t I could probably walk that, it would be embarrassing but it would be a Boston Qualifier. I also thought about Kyla and Andy and just at the moment I hear a voice saying "Let me help you up, you can finish this, you gotta get up" A fellow runner had stopped, stopped for me, someone he didn't even know, and he wasn't in any great shape either and he got me going again. I wish I knew who he was but wherever you are THANK YOU. I did a few yards of power walking then I started jogging. The woman at the corner was just cheering her head off at me as she saw the whole episode and she yelled out to me that there was a special treat for me when I turned the corner.....and there it was THE GREAT DOWNHILL DROP and the LAKE. The temp felt like it dropped a whole 10 degrees (I'm sure it didn't but it felt like it) and I was back! A little while later I pass the runner who had helped me and he was walking. I put my hand on his arm as I passed and gave him what encouragement I could. Quads are starting to cramp but I know I'm almost home. Now its just one mile after another as I hear the announcer in the distance and the rest takes care of itself. Splits 21 - 8:01, 22 - 8:00, 23 - 8:11, 24 - 8:26, 25 -7:59, 26 - 8:11, last .2 - 1:36. Finish time 3:19:30.

The Aftermath

After I crossed the line my quads staged a mutiny and cramped up and I was stumbling through the finish area. The volunteers at the finish area, bless every one of them, were working hard holding everyone up and bringing them safely into the arms of their families. I was escorted to Andy and Kyla and I was so happy. I asked Andy to take me to the medical tent because I was getting dizzy and my quads were still being a problem. I spent about 15 minutes in the medical tent and I was released after drinking 2 cups of gatorade and once my blood pressure stablized. Throughout the race I had consumed over 35oz of gatorade plus the water I took at aid stations.

After all these weeks my ankle decides to be silent, whaddya know!

News From Home

After showering and returning to the finish area for the awards ceremony, which we knew we missed but just in case they were running late, we spoke with the race director and got news of the war zone the Chicago Marathon was turning into. Kris told us that they were telling everyone who had not reached the 16 mile mark by 3:30 to stop running because the race was being cancelled. Immediately I was concerned for all the friends I had running in Chicago but I knew I probably wouldn't know anything for a while. As we left Milwaukee I took out a piece of paper and started figuring out what pace you had to be on to make that cut off. It was pretty funny with me converting time to minutes, dividing things out through long division and talking to myself the whole time about where I thought each of my friends could have been at that time. I felt pretty confident that everyone I knew should have made the cutoff as long as they weren't already in trouble with the heat. Knowing the course I was pretty sure that Chicago's course wasn't giving the runners the breaks we got in Milwaukee. I was worried but all I could do was wait.

Andy, Kyla and I of course stopped for lunch at the Brat Stop on highway50 and I94 on the way home. Eating lunch here after the Lakefront marathon is a tradition from back in my olympic trials training years. For every member of our training group that ran the marathon we would all celebrate a race well done here. It is here that the team helped Ann and I celebrate qualifying for the olympic trials. We popped champagne and made a lot of noise. The following year we all celebrated Jane's qualifying run. I was tired but I ate my traditional brat with gusto.

I did get a call eventually from Kelly reporting in that she finished but that it was absolute hell. I spoke with Brian as well. It was almost 5:30 pm at this point and my family and I were just arriving home in Naperville. That was one long day for my Chicago friends.

Well I'm going to wrap up here. Congrats to all who ran the Chicago marathon, whether they finished or not. It was not a kind day and there were many personal struggles.

Goodbye October 7, 2007!