In this issue: - Second Wind Running Club

12 In Passing ● November/December 2010 ● secondwindrunningclub.org
IN PASSING
The Chicago Marathon, 10/10/10
By Valeria Rohde
I felt ready. I was carb
loaded, hydrated, rested, and
healthy. I had lots of support
from friends and family, and I
had only one goal: to qualify for
Boston. I was ready.
Before the race I told myself
that no matter what the outcome
was, I would be happy with it,
that it was a marathon and it was
still a great accomplishment,
even if I didn’t meet my goal.
But this was not giving myself
permission to not try my best,
not at all. I wanted to perform
the very best that I could and
give it my all to try to meet my
goal, but I wanted to be aware
that if for some reason it didn’t
happen, I would not be upset
about it.
Once the race started, it took
me about three minutes to cross
the start line. I was running
with the 3:40 pace group, but
unlike last year, this time I was
not obsessing about matching
the first pacer’s every step. I
was relaxed and calm. The first
few miles went by and they felt
easy, which I knew they would.
When we went under the first
bridge, I could feel the heat of
the day, and I told myself that I
needed to be smart about taking
care of myself if I wanted
to have a good chance at my
goal. It’s science right? And,
well, common sense. Do not
let yourself run out of fuel and
don’t get dehydrated. Simple. I
took a drink of either Gatorade
or water at the first three aid stations.
Then I worried a bit about
taking too much and having to
stop for a bathroom later on, so I
started paying more attention to
drinking just enough but not too
much, at every single aid station.
I took a gel diligently every
fourth mile, even if I didn’t have
water to drink with it. The day
felt a bit warm, but the humidity
was down. Also, there was
quite a bit of shade throughout
the course, and it felt good in
the shade. At some aid stations,
I would take one drink of Gatorade
and one drink of water,
and then I started pouring water
on my head later in the race, but
before I felt like I needed it. It
also helped that there were some
sprinklers and people with water
hoses out there.
Around mile two, someone
stepped on the back of my shoe
and I took a couple of steps
without it. But this was very
early in the race and my mind
was still sharp and I reacted
very quickly—although when
I stopped and looked back for
a second I thought I could get
pushed into the ground and then
trampled by the stampede of
runners coming towards me. I
had a flashback of The Lion
King and Mufasa’s death. I also
thought that I would completely
miss my pace group. But I handled
it amazingly well and was
able to get back to running very
fast. I realize that this would be
a very different story if this had
happened at mile 22. That would
have ended with me crying and
probably blaming the incident
for ruining my race.
Every aid station was chaos,
until I figured out the process
after a few miles, then it was
just about being aware of what
I needed to do and what other
people were doing. I started
using hand signals pointing towards
where I wanted to go and
running in between runners who
would stop abruptly by gently
touching their arms so they
knew I was coming. This really
helped in the last miles when
I started to get very annoyed
and tired. I had the chorus of a
Christian song in my head for
a big part of the race, and that
helped me relax and stay within
myself. There were times when
I would lose focus, but I would
remember to keep that song in
my head and run my race. I was
also thinking of form and not
wasting any extra energy. The
crowds also helped. The thing
with marathons is that no matter
how wonderful you feel during
the first half of the race, or even
past mile 16, you know that it
will change. There’s no way
around it. You know you are
going to hurt and it’s going to
get really hard. So it’s a waiting
game, and being prepared
for when that time comes. That
time for me came very gradually.
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