My First Marathon - Endurance 50 Run with Dean Karnazes

I have now completed one more of the things that I thought I would never do at 395 pounds - I have now finished a marathon. I completed event #45 of the Dean Karnazes Endurance 50 in North Carolina on the Triple Lakes Trail Marathon course.

The Prep
I flew to Raleigh to spend some time with my sister on her birthday weekend. I rented a car on Monday night, which ended up being a mini-van and a great choice for the ride home. I spent most of Monday night prepping the van with all of my gear in the back and pre-race food in the front.

Can you spot the Pedialyte in this picture? I mix it with Gatorade and makes for a great drink full of electrolytes!

The Course
This course was really rough. It was 99% on trails and it was very rooty with tree roots, branches and stumps all over the place. In addition, all of the fallen leaves created some slick sections. Dean started the day by saying that on his 50 courses, some are easier, some are harder and that this was definitely one of the harder ones - great! In their pre-race instrcutions, the race directors also said that they fully expected for people to fall and be scraped - wonderful! It wasn't ideal for a first-time marathoner, but it would have to do.

The support on the course was really good. I had been concerned because it was a trail course and knew that a roving SAG would not be available. But, they did have a good number of aid stations with coolers that had drinks and snacks. It was actually quite effective for this course. The only annoying part was that you never really knew when you were coming up on a station. The course was through a fairly dense forest, so you never knew when you were about to hit a roadside or someplace else where they would have the aid stations.

The Run
I had never done an extended trail run, so this made things very interesting. You try to move at a decent pace, but you end up taking some really choppy steps in order to keep from falling. I managed to avoid falling, but I did come close one time after I stubbed my toe on a root. I hit it really hard and I think I might lose my toenail.

The weather was great for running. It was a very cool morning and waiting the parking lot, I had my gloves and sweats on. But they were definitely not needed on the course, it was a little breezy and I think there was a lake-effect that kept the trail cool. So, very close to ideal conditions for a long run.

Overall, this was a really lonely run. It was a Tuesday morning on trails - not exactly conducive to a lot of spectators cheering you on. Most of my encouragement was from the police officers at the intersections where they helped you cross the highway or the couple of volunteers on the course. Its not exactly the party atmosphere you would see at most large marathons. The 25-mile marker was the loneliest one you've ever seen - just a simple little photocopied "25" on a tree, nothing else. No one yelling, "just one more mile!" or people clapping, just a sign on a tree. Also, passing runners (or getting passed) was a relatively rare event. I think I went more than 6 miles in between some runners - it was just me and the course out there.

I had read an account of one of the riders that has completed the Race Across AMerica (RAAM). They wrote about how they celebrated every 500 mile portion of course that they completed. They would have a finish line and everything, taking this entire course 500 miles at a time. So, that was mostly my strategy - I would take this thing 10K at a time. 4 10Ks and 2 miles, that's all it was. I threw my ends up every time I finished a 10K and acted like I was crossing a finish line - it was my strategy and it worked!

I knew that I hadn't put in enough proper mileage for a full marathon, but I also feel like I'm in the best shape of my life right now. So, lacking no confidence, I set what I felt was a good pace during the inital part of the race. By my estimate, I hit the half-marathon mark in about 2:40. I have to estimate it because there weren't markers at every mile, so that's my rough guess. I felt pretty good up until about the 16-mile mark. There was an aid-station at this point and I refueled and felt OK, but as soon as I started running, everything started to ache. Particularly problematic were my ankles and quads. Both were just filled with lactic acid and felt really heavy. It took me just over an hour to get to the next station, which was just 4 miles away. However, at this point, I did feel a little renewed because I knew that it was a mental game from here on in. Before the race, I had told myself that if I could just make it to the 20-mile mark, it was just a 10K from there. So, once I hit that point, I knew I would finish. I refueled, took pride in the fact that I hadnt fallen and nothing was particularly painful (aside from the obvious) so I set off again.

We had been warned that the last 4 miles of the course were particularly "technical". "Technical", of course, is a euphemism for "hurts like a mofo!". It was a very rough section of trail with a ton of roots and many uphills. The frustrating part of the uphills is that they were always followed by a downhill, but you really couldn't take advantage of them because they were so rooty and full of stumps & rocks that you had to be cautious. Otherwise, your race could end with a twisted ankle in the blink of an eye.

I almost couldn't believe it when I came up on the 25-mile marker. I knew that the finish was nearby but it was the longest mile of my life! You would think that you'd have at least some roads at the end of a marathon (to get the finish area) but that was not the case here. You passed a greenway and then up a huge hill to the finish line within a park - not a bit of concrete.
I crossed the line in 6:10 and felt pretty good. I know that on a road course, my time would be diferrent, but hey, this still gives me a marathon PR to work with!

The Party
This event was unique because the after-party was scheduled at the VF headquarters, which is the parent company of North Face. However, I was late to it and missed most of the festivities. However, I managed to still get there in time to get my goodie bag and meet with Dean for a few minutes. He signed my book and finisher's certificate and tooka couple pictures with me. I had always wondered about Dean doing the Death Valley Cup (Badwater and The 508 completed in the same year) - he could probably set the record for it - and I asked him about it. He said that it was on his list of things to do and wanted to try The 508 some time (he already has multiple Badwater finishes).

It was kinda cool to see Dean's bus and realize what a big production this event was. There's a lot of good people behind it and it's all for a good cause, so that's great.

So, I didn't get to enjoy the after-party as you normally would at other marathons, but it was still a fun time. I got some food in me and there were plenty of drinks for the ride home.

The Aftermath
I didn't drive on the ride home, instead I laid in the back seat of the mini-van and put my feet up; the cool glass felt good against the soles of my feet. My knees and quads were aching, but I don't think it was anything out of the ordinary for having run so many miles. When I got home, we had a delicious dinner of pasta and turkey cutlets. The carb and protein combination was perfect for a post-race meal.

I'm writing most of the post at 3 AM and I think that's because my body is still running with energy. I'm very excited about the fact that I finished and completed a marathon under less-than-ideal conditions for a first-timer. I know that there will be other opportunities for marathons in the future, but right now I'm just enjoying this one.