Hey, it happens. Not only did I not qualify for Boston, I ended up dropping out a little after 17 miles. Not really sure what went wrong, but dehydration and a couple of other issues led me to stop. I've run marathons for 25 years, and this is only the 3rd time I've not finished. The other two involved fever and a knee injury.
I hated quitting today. I actually wept a couple of times; the disappointment is pretty deep. I was on pace for the first 10 miles, but then things started happening. My pace got progressively slower, and the weather was getting warmer and warmer and very windy. I decided it was best to cut my loses and get back to training sooner rather than later, which would have involved having to wait 2-3 weeks to recover from what would have been a very ugly finish.
Defeat and failure are most unpleasant companions, but they can be good instructors. I learned a few things today, mostly about my training flaws. I need to reflect some more, but I am pretty determined to adjust and try again, probably in early spring. I have all winter to log lots of miles, which is what I really want to do.
The upside of the day was that Lester ran the half marathon--his first--and did well. We were able to run together for the first (nearly) 7 miles. He cruised in 1.48. He stands to improve dramatically. He had never run more than 10 miles before. He's pretty pleased. My main training partner had a good run today. He finished in 3.45. A couple other of my friends had really good runs; one had a really bad day but gutted it out. There was another guy, but we don't know what happened to him.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
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2 comments:
I don't know if the title is correct. Monumental Disappointment would be having the skills/knowledge to do something without ever trying. I would say running with your son and seeing him accomplish something he had never done before would be a Monumental Achievement! I would be a liar if I said it inspired me to run a marathon but it does inspire me to do other things I know I should be doing. Running for me was always a form of discipline for messing up in athletics so I cringe at the sound of someone running for FUN. Enjoyed the post.
What are you? A half-full sorta guy? ha ha. Good points, and I appreciate your words.
I am extremely sore today, which tells me something serious in the physiological realm took place. I am usually not very sore after long runs, even 20 milers. Those 17.5 on Saturday took a lot out of me. I was dehydrated.
Here is a rather long post about the race from Bill Deckard, one of our running friends. He came up to watch, along with Rand Hammel.
I plan to go for a run this morning and try figure out what the next step is.
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