2008 Okinawa City Marathon

The only cold I experienced on marathon day was the temperature, which remained pleasantly in the low 60's. My coughing cold went away with a full day's rest on Saturday and only provided reminders by way of a steady stream of snot, which gave me something to do. I stuck to my game plan of not looking at my watch and instead just held a pace I felt comfortable with. It worked; I ran really well. My official time was 3:22.08, but my chip time was 3:21.37. The chip time is my actual time, which begins when I cross the start line (and my chip registers) and ends at the finish line. The reason there is a 31 second difference is because not everyone can be standing on the start line when the gun goes - and I was 75 meters back. Some people probably didn't cross the start line until 8-10 minutes after the gun - and that would've been me if I'd followed directions and lined up with my seed number (6900). But obviously something went awry with my seeding as I entered a predicted time of 3:25.

My first 10k was challenging. I had trouble settling into a comfortable pace. I didn't succumb to the pace pressure of those around me, but I had stomach aches and snot and huge headwinds and I imagine my 1k times varied by 10 or more seconds. The hills started at 11k and oddly enough, that's where things started clicking. At 15k I hooked up with an Okinawan girl who held a beautiful pace the rest of the race. For the next 15k I never got further than 20 meters from her and spent most of my time close enough for drafting.

I allowed myself to see the clock at the halfway point and it read 1:39.21. This was fast, considering I still had another 21.1k to go. I felt really strong, but I knew better than to let it go to my head. I had my mind set on the hills at 26k and 32k. But at 30k there was a huge uplifting surprise: the course went through a military base and the support was magnificent! I was only the third white person through at that point so you can imagine the yelling I got from the hundreds of military personnel. It was surreal to see Caucasian [and black and Hispanic] families, with little blonde girls yelling for me in English. They're the first non-Japanese children I've seen since leaving the United States.

I took the lead from the Japanese girl at that point, using my adrenaline to allow a surge and take my turn as pacesetter. I made it through the 32k hill fine, but then at 34k life went downhill. That's a mild literal reference, but much more figurative. I'd put all my concentration into that 32k hill and left myself with nothing to think about for the last 8k. And 8k is 40 minutes. A long way. I suddenly started to feel my quads and then my hamstrings. I noticed my breathing was more labored. My heart rate was settled in at 180 (my average during the first 10k hovered in the low 160's). My lips got sticky - and kept sticking together at the edges. I finally decided to eat the two slices of mandarin orange I'd been holding in my left hand for 17k. My body started to hurt and my concentration slipped to 4-second thoughts.

I just worked at it 1k at a time, pretending I was running my 8k route on Zamami. At 35k I passed Jaimee, a fellow JET who ran the 10k and also gave me a ride to the race (she's awesome!). At 36k I set a new goal of 40k, where I knew a big downhill existed. At about 37k the girl passed me at a pretty good clip. I reached in and found something somewhere and after nearly losing it, I got back up to her pace. Fortunately I was wrong about the hill - it actually showed up at 39k. This was huge. At the bottom there was only 1.6k or so to go. At 1k I checked my watch and noticed I had a shot at breaking 3:22. I put quite a lot of effort into the final kilometer, sticking right on another guy who was pushing hard. I am sure I ran it in less than 5 minutes, but somehow I finished with 3:22.08. I came in 202nd place overall (out of just under 10,000), four places and 15 seconds behind the girl, whom I congratulated. My first half was 1:39.21 and the second half was 1:42.47. My 10k averages were about 48:12 (I think). I am really pleased with all of those splits.

The next hour proved that I done an excellent job of using all my energy in the race. My life turned to slow motion, going from the chip removal station to the lunch/drink ticket station to the medal putter-onner (I chose the most attractive girl I could find for this, pleased to still have my instincts) to the certificate printer. The 24 hours after a marathon are all about hobbling, but that first hour is a messy struggle. For some reason, my sole purpose became food. I asked everybody (in Japanese) where to get food and they all directed me to the gym. The people at the gym stared blankly and directed me back to the finish line. I was not amused so I settled for carnival fare (which nearly made me sick but, as I found out later, wasn't much better than the free food which was Cup 'O Noodles).

I had awhile to wait for Jaimee so I managed to get my body to the floor of the gym (sitting down took planning and a lot of arm effort). Then I think I fell asleep for 40 minutes (or passed out?). The rest of the day is just more of the same, but with gradual improvement. I eventually met up with Jaimee and we got back to her car and I drank and ate slowly and by nighttime was in pretty good shape again, especially after my friend Laura made me dinner.

Today I'm fine, but full of contemplation about the race and my training regimen and where to go from here. I've promised myself to take six months completely off of running. Obviously that won't happen and never when I made that promise did I believe it. It's 10:15pm right now - the latest I've been up in a long time - and already I miss my 9pm bedtime. Ask me in a week if I miss waking up at 5am.

I am happy with the result of the race. A 3:30 marathon has been a brewing goal for years. I obviously finished well under that and, barring sickness, I knew I would. The last month has been full of curiosity about breaking 3:20. Surely I could have shaved 1.5 minutes somewhere yesterday, but nowhere comes to mind. There was weakness, but there was also a lot of strength. I trained well and it payed off. I know I am capable of more, but not much more right now with the training I've done. If I want to go faster I'll have to step it up and that'll be at least next winter if it happens.

But tomorrow, I'm going to sleep in.