Tuesday, November 27, 2007

JESSE'S MARATHON POST

Hey guys, I wrote a post just yesterday, then Jesse posted his later that same day. If you wanna read my post, just click on the month of November over there to the right. It's called "Excuses..."
Thanks again for reading!
Michael



JESSE'S POST
Well I’m back. I didn’t want to write so quickly as I was still very sore, not only physically but mentally about the running of a marathon. As it was and is the hardest thing I have ever done to this day I didn’t want to write while I was still feeling harsh about the idea. I needed some time to let it settle in.

The 26.2 was very tiring in more than just physical ways. I am still kind of depressed after running my marathon. I know you may be saying “depressed?” well yea, Something I trained for, something I lived for, a goal I was reaching for, a hill I was climbing for over 4 months is now over. I got to know myself and others so much better on my runs, especially my long runs. The sport of running I’ve come to grow very fond of as well. I hadn’t ran since the marathon until thanksgiving day. I went out to the local turkey trot in New Cumberland, just a 5k but it got me out and in my running shoes again. Boy did I miss running. NEVER DID I EVER THINK I WOULD SAY THAT!!

Let me get to my marathon story.

My goal was to finish the marathon. And that’s what I did. In just under five hours and twenty minutes. Did I think I would finish sooner? Yes. Am I disappointed I didn’t? To be honest.. just a little- I am very proud of myself to have ran 26.2 miles. I took my splits every four miles; They were as follows:
4 mile- 40:32 10:08/mile
8 mile- 43:11 10:47/mile
12 mile- 44:10 11:02/mile
16 mile- 43:06 10:48/mile
20 mile- 52:51 13:13/mile


I was very pleased with my pace through mile 16. As you can see it was consistent and it felt great. Once I hit mile 18 I began to lose it. Already at mile 17 my calves were cramping. At mile 18 when I stopped to stretch my quads as they began to cramp I pulled my leg up to stretch. As I stretched my quad I got a CRAZY cramp in my hamstring. I never felt pain like that in my life. This was right before I started the hilly 3 mile section of wildwood lake park. I had trained there once before so I knew what it was like. However I never experienced the cramping so it was a whole new ballgame. I never, not even in my long run training experienced any cramps like these.

As I was running through these cramps we (myself Michael, Sarah, and Anthony Weldon) passed a table called the “Table of Temptation”. This was not a table sponsored by the Harrisburg Area Road Runners Club. It was a local who set up camp. Among their goodies they had Peanut butter cups, Mineral Water, Gatorade, m and m’s Snickers, and oh yea beer. This is pretty much the last thing I remember on my run. This was at mile 22. I had anothony who ran the last half of the marathon with me grab me some pb cups and oranges. These oranges were the BEST I had ever tasted. I asked him for a piece of orange every 10 steps but he rationed me out.

The last four miles I spent walking and running, walking and running, and walking some more. I set small goals in my mind just to make it to the next park bench or street sign on front street. I knew this stretch would be the hardest. I could see the bridge with about 2.5 miles to go. It never got any closer. Michael and the group continued to push me. I got pissed. I lost it and told my girlfriend (Sarah) to shutup. Believe me if I was the half bit conscious I would never say that to her. We finally got to the walking bridge which marked just one more mile. As we got to city island I was prepared to run the rest of the race with the pain. I then experienced a pain like I never have before. My toes were cramping. My toes were bent and stuck like that. Here I was, just .5 mile away from my long awaited goal and this pain made me walk. That was the last thing I wanted to do. If you ever saw someone bend just the middle of their fingers and it looks all weird. This is what my toes were like however they were stuck that way and I could not move them. Finally I ran the last 75 yards like an 85 year old man. Galloping like a horse who had been tortured for years. I finally crossed the finish line!!

My goal had been complete, however not without the most pain ever imaginable, and then some. Actually I found out that some of my students at Susquehanna Township took off my timing chip and gave me my medal. I didn’t remember any of it but they let me know at school the following day.

I didn’t even drink a total of one bottle of Gatorade the whole marathon. I stayed with water and since the sponsors of the marathon was cytomax (which I didn’t train with) that is what was offered with the water. I didn’t want to try anything new and it may cause some adverse conditions that I wasn’t use to.

I began shivering not long after finishing. My body was reacting to the lack of sodium. The volunteers gave me some chicken broth and other foods to get my levels up a little more. I also got a massage from some guy afterwards which I don’t remember much either.

I do remember finally getting home and drinking about 4 more bowls of chicken broth and eating a bunch of general tso’s chicken. I ate everything in sight for the next 3-4 days.

I have learned many things from my first marathon, including what to eat, how to drink and how to run, but the most important and meaningful was that my friends were there for me when even I wanted to quit. They were there to get down my back and remind me about my training and to keep me motivated. There is no doubt I wouldn’t have been able to finish without these guys. I want to leave you a quote from PRE (mentioned in previous blogs by Michael.) “To give anything less than you best is to sacrifice the gift”

Guys we all have gifts and talents. I never believed I had the gift to run this marathon until I decided to do it. Even then I doubted myself during the end of the race. My friends were there for me. They made me realize I had/have the gift to keep fighting. Not just in a race or marathon, but through life as well. I look at the marathon as an obstacle in my life. I am going to go through a lot more as I grow older. But with me completing this marathon I feel so much more confident that I can make through anything God puts in front of me. If I can’t do it myself, I have faith that a friend will be there to lift me, to hold me up, to set the next short goal, and to cheer me on to the finish line.

Special thanks to all who helped me train whether it be through giving me knowledge, advice or running with me in the numerous locations. You guys are the best!

Excuses...

I thought I'd put a new post up this week until Jesse gets around to adding his final post about his actual marathon experience. Anyway, I've wanted to use this quote (I just added it to the side where the rest of the quotes are) for some time now and I just figured I'd add it to the quote section and write about it this week especially since I feel Jesse took a HUGE chance by undertaking a marathon challenge...here goes:

I teach inner-city kids all day long.....all day long I see kids who have already given up on themselves, their future, their life in general...it's very depressing and damn near emotionally exhausting on a very daily basis. I came to a conclusion years ago when I was teaching in inner-city Baltimore...I had kids who wouldn't even try in class. They just accepted their failure and didn't seem to care either way. What a shitty way to go through life?! Anyway, I concluded that in a lot of cases, their willingness to accept failure was because it's easy to fail when you don't even try! It gives you great excuse (you could always say:"of course I failed, I didn't even try!")! Sure you're gonna fail when you don't try....it's like having a safety net, it wouldn't reflect upon you as much as if you REALLY tried and failed...as if failing at something reflects sooooo negatively on them. They think that somehow, failing at something would mean that they, themselves, are a failure. I fight that attitude everyday in soooo many ways.

I began thinking about this as I read Jesse's post. He said a lot of people say they wanna run a marathon but they just don't' have the time...that is BS and just as much a likely excuse as many of my students use to not even try. I've been saying this again and again in my previous posts: take chances! Accept new and different challenges! How many times do we think of things that we'd really like to do, dreams that we often dream....but we shoot ourselves down before we even get started cuz we've already decided that we couldn't do it, that we couldn't succeed, that it just wouldn't be practical, prudent?! I'm not saying that everyone should run marathons...what I am saying is that if you re the type of person who continually lets yourself off the hook with good excuses not to try things...QUIT IT! What victory, what achievement is there in not even trying? If you haven't figured this out yet, learn it now: accept that you will fail in many things in this life...know that failing does not mean you are a failure. Know that you need to learn from those failures.

"Boats are always safe in the harbor, but that's not what they're for"

Thanks for reading,
SEE YA ON THE HILL!
Michael

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

"It is done"

Well.....Sunday Jesse Woodrow climbed his "hill" and I was there to see it! Since he finished his 1st marathon, I am going to let him write this week's post. When he is ready, he'll update this post with his thoughts on Sunday's run. He did well and regardless of time, the important thing is that he finished.....alive!!! Good job, bud!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Good Luck Jesse

My friend Jesse Woodrow is running the Harrisburg Marathon this weekend! He and I trained all summer (until my injury sat me down for 4 weeks and I missed my window). He continued on in his training and is ready to run his very first marathon! If anyone wants to meet up on Sunday (race day) and run a couple of miles with him, I'm sure he'll appreciate the help. I'm gonna try to run miles 7-10 with him and then 20-24 with him. The course goes right passed my Dad's house twice so that's kinda where I'm gonna set up camp. If you wanna come out and cheer him on (or run with him), just lemme know!

JESSE:
Go get'em this weekend! You've trained hard all Summer and this last run Sunday morning will be a great accomplishment for you! I'm so very excited to have been able to be a part of helping you "climb" this "hill." I'll see you at the start, miles 7-10, and somewhere around mile 20...

Just think......ONE MORE RUN!!!!





Thanks for reading,
SEE YA ON THE HILL!
Michael