sunburst marathon
Message posted by: Andy M.
As Dennis indicated, there were a series of races held in South Bend Indiana on Saturday, From the Hall of Fame (college football) to Notre Dame. Distances ranged from 5K to a marathon. Being a huge Notre Dame fan, finishing on the field of the House that Rock built was bound to be special.
I ran the marathon. The last time I ran 26.2 was in October of 1984. I was using the race as a training run in my run up to IM Wisconsin. It was overcast early and sunny in the later stages, warm (mid 70′s) and humid (90% or better). I had a pretty decent week of training the week before but that was the plan, no taper, just get in a good long run.
Race started at 6 AM before it got too warm. I felt like I was avoiding the temptation of going out too hard and given the temp and humidity, I took H2O and Gatoraid at every aid station. Everything felt good until about mile 18. My left calf started to grab and the last 8 miles were brutal. I stretched it out and keep going but the cramping got worse. Then the right side went but not to the extent of the left.
I went through 20 at 2:43 which meant a 45 minute 10K would bring me home at 3:28. Wishful thinking, instead, I brought the last 10K home in a blistering 1:07 and was reduced to walking much of it.
The race finished on the 50 yard line of Notre Dame Stadium and I really thought once I saw Touch Down Jesus that would be enough motivation to get me home, wishful thinking again. Once I got to the stadium I was sure I could make it down the tunnel (the one the ND players run out of) and onto the field. I started down, the ND fight song was blaring but even that was not enough. A medical worker wanted to pull me off but I was not about to let that happen. I crossed the line at 3:50. I felt pretty disgusted with myself as I walked around on the field.
I am not as upset with the time as I was with how I finished the last 10K. Maybe it was the heat and humidity since the weather in Milwaukee has been so cold this Spring, I have not had and warm humid training runs. I did have a pretty decent week of training the week prior (Sat ran 1:30, Sun bike 4:00 Mon bike :45 Tue rode 2:00 ran :45 Wed swim Thur ran :50 Fri swim) which was the plan but could have been a contributing factor.
The Lazarus Project full movie Although the finish was not what I was hoping for, It was still pretty special to finish a race there.
I would recommend this race to anyone.
Andy
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