Six months or so ago I thought it would be pretty cool to run a marathon on my birthday. So I signed up for the D&L Heritage Marathon. It was early on in my training season and I was feeling like I could do anything at that time. The toll that 5-6 months of solid training takes on your body never really crosses your mind at this time of year. Not to mention being well into middle age now.The triathlon season ended with a nagging IT Band as my reminder. I was back into 7 weeks marathon training after two weeks of recovery. And now that day had finally come.
I kept telling myself and my wife that if the IT Band starts acting up or hurting I would stop and pull myself out of the race. Or maybe just do the half? I really do not want to jeopardize my hopes of completing Ironman Lake Placid in July. But, I knew damn right well I would have to be in severe pain before I would quit this race. My wife was volunteering so we needed to be there by 5:30AM. We were gaining an extra hour of sleep with Daylight Savings Time, but for some reason I was unable to sleep from 1-3AM. I was not nervous about the race itself, but more about the damage I might do to myself. The 4AM alarm eventually came and I sucked down my smoothie, grabbed my run bag and off we went. The temps were in the high 30’s but it wasn’t windy. The only people at the race start were a few volunteers, so I did a lot of waiting around. We were parked a football field away from the car, so I made several trips back and forth.
They usually limit the half and full each to 750 entrants, but since the New York City Marathon was cancelled and Hurricane Sandy, they extended the registration until the day before. They also accepted up to 820 entrants. While I was getting ready back at the car, I heard some guy yelling to me if this was the parking for the marathon. I looked over the open car door and replied “Yes”. He immediately parked next to my car and continued talking very loudly out the open window to me while pulling into the spot on the other side of the car. He also managed to yell directions to his wife on the cell phone, who was lost somewhere on MacArthur Road, while steering the car and talking to me. “Oh boy” I thought here we go. I just wanted to hang out at the car and collect my thoughts a bit before the race and now I would have to deal with this nimrod. He spoke with what sounded like a New York City accent, but told me later he was from Berwick, PA. He was screaming at his wife at times on his cell phone and then asking me if I knew where such-and-such a place was. Each time I responded I knew where that was, but I had no idea how to get here from there. This guy acted like he had drank about thirty expresso’s and was really wigging me out. He told me how this was his first marathon too and that he had not run at all in the last three weeks! I told him “well at least you are well rested!” 
I managed to sneak away from him and head back across the field to officially check-in and chat with the wife a bit. I thought the Berwick Bulldog would be gone by then so I headed back to the car. No such luck. I got in the car to warm up a bit and closed the window on him. Get the hint dog? 7:30AM came and I ditched the warm clothes and secured my fuel belt. I ended up helping my wife fill water cups for a while since she was alone and people were getting their last hydration in before the start. The half started 10 minutes before the full and I somehow missed that. My wife said are going to line up or what? I didn’t even realize they full was lining up already. I hung in the back of the small start group and off we went.
We made a loop around the block on the road and headed up a small section of the Nor-Bath trail and back around again before heading across Northampton to Canal park. We headed past my wifes’ water station on the loop back 
and I gave her a high five as I passed. The entire beginning of the run, I was on constant alert for any signs of IT Band issues and feelings in the side of my knee. IT always kind of lingers there just letting you know that it is there and one false move and it will break you down. I felt like I was running on a tightrope. We eventually made our way through Northampton, across the Lehigh bridge and onto the D&L trail. Once on the trail, the next 10 miles went by pretty quickly. I managed to keep a steady 9-9:30 pace for the first 11 miles. I passed the Berwick Bulldog around 6 or 7 miles and he was not looking good. I said “Hi” as I went by and he yelled back to me. Actually he kept yelling something but I eventually went out of earshot. Thank God!
At around the 13 mile mark we diverged off the trail onto another paved trail that climbed up through Slatington. It was a nice path with a stream coming down aside of it, but it was a continuous uphill. This is where things started to get a little uncomfortable. My feet really started to ache. The good thing was that it took my mind off my knee/IT Band. There was a motocross track partway up and this guy was hitting some major air time. It took my mind off the torture I was putting myself through for a few seconds. Eventually I reached the top turnaround and the gang from Endurance Multisport were there handing out water and aide. I walked a bit as I chugged down some water. Then made my way back down the hill. It was a little better going down. I also decided to dig out my ziploc full of energy chunks and Honey Stinger waffles as I was getting a bit hungry after what was now about 15 miles. The bag was just a moosh of crumbs so I just strapped on the old feed bag…literally. Yummm!
When I reached the bottom of the Slatington path I refilled my fuel belt bottle at the aide station and popped in a Nuun hydration tablet. The next 2-3 miles were mostly a blur, except the part were you run past the finish line. Ugh! That really sucks the life out of you. Then about a mile after that was another aide station, which was cool, but then I saw people lumbering up the VERY steep path to the left of the volunteers. I blurted out “you have got to be kidding” to the young volunteer as I grabbed a water from him. I scurried side-to-side up the narrow path trying to add some diversity to my form and incorporate some different muscle groups for assistance. I managed to pass an older gentleman who was partially hunched over and had a duck-like running form. Once we crested the small but steep hill, we ran along what was no more than a tractor path that gradually ascended up towards the north side of the Lehigh Tunnel on the PA Turnpike. This provided a nice view, but things were really starting to hurt now. The rocky terrain below was not helping either. What is this an ExTerra race or what. At some point, the older gentleman that ran like duck, passed me and I never saw him again. My wife later saw him finishing before me and she started to worry. No wonder! I was worrying when he passed me.
Eventually I reached the turn back down to the lower path which was marked by two volunteers dressed like some kind of animals. They were jumping and dancing around and guiding you down the steep road. The first couple steps down were excruciatingly painful on my knees, so I was forced to walk until it leveled out a bit. The route turned right onto a a flatter road which eventually paralleled the rail trail. I spotted my wife at the juncture and she ran down to the turnaround and back with me. It was good timing and it took my mind off of the hurting. Right after she left to head back to the finish line I passed the 23 mile mark. Only 3.2 miles to go! A 5k right? Piece of cake. Not! The next 2 miles were painful. I stopped once to try to stretch my IT Band, but that was a mistake. When I started to run again both my knees were screaming! After 25-50yds the pain eased a bit. No more stopping now. I actually ended up passing a few people which was surprising, but I guess they were hurting more than me.
When I hit the 25 mile mark, I felt a sense of calm come over me. I knew I was going to finish this. I had not looked at my overall time much during the day, but I knew I was over 4 hours. As time went on I really didn’t care. I could see the bridge at the finish line approaching and I tried to pick it up a bit. It is funny how all that pain kind of washes away in that last mile. As I turned into the finish lane I heard someone yell behind me to “catch him!” I turned and saw a guy in an orange shirt turning it up behind me, so I kicked it in for the finish. Done in 4 hours and 27 minutes and 45 seconds. Not the most stellar performance, but given the situation I am happy to finish in one piece. At least my legs now know what 26.2 miles is like now. Oh yeah and it is my birthday. Never thought I would be running a marathon at 44 years old.
I grabbed my medal and headed to the food tent for a veggie burger and some killer bean soup. Nice they thought of us veg-heads. Actually the veggie burger had egg in it, but I really didn’t give a shit at this point. I guess I am caught up on my B12 now. I never ended up seeing the Berwick Bulldog again and I didn’t see anyone listed in the results with his first name, so I assume he didn’t make it. Oh well. Now it is time to rest. Ironman training will be here before I know it. Happy Winter!
