It was the 16 mile taper run for the lakefront marathon on 9/16/07 (a day after my Al's run 8k@41:59) with the badgerland striders group at 8.00am. I neither felt like waking up nor running 16miles that day, but that is the advantage of committing oneself to a group run. I did go.
The congregation of about 70-80 runners had assembled by the time I reached. After a few minutes Dr. Meuller enthusiastically climbed up the park bench and gave away some free inspiration, instructions, enlightened us with the route and the location of the water stops and atleast got me psyched about the next 3 hours.
We began the run around 8:15am and I started at the back of the group since I didn't want to get caught up in the initial rush. Not withstanding the pep up talk by Dr. Mueller (the one man organizing guru!), I wasn't really warmed up for the run physically and mentally. So I started out pretty slow, I would guess around (11-11:30 minute mile). Luckily there were runners of all sizes, age and more importantly speed. Although a majority of them took off ahead of me, there were quite a few along side and behind me. Not bad I thought!
After about a mile the pain started. I was worried because it was the shin. I did not want to injure myself just 3 weeks before the marathon. But I just kept running. Then the left foot started hurting. Everytime I landed my foot it felt like a hard slap which was getting increasingly painful. It felt as though I wasn't landing my foot right. But I was not doing anything new. So I decided to overrun the pain. It lasted for another 3 miles. I tried not to think about it. I did try some goofy things to distract my thought from the shin and the feet that were'nt cooperating..... like experiment with hip extension during running to see if the swing got any better....... tried to push harder with soleus for speed..... experimented with different stride lengths..... looking at other runners and bikers on the trail...... looking up and down like the character in the song pon malai pozhudhu.... yeah!! whatever it took!!
Finally after what was quite a painful run, I got to the first water stop and there was Dr. Mueller with encouraging words, water, gatorade and gu gel. Four and a half miles in good time he announced. This time he had some espresso flavor gu gels, a welcome respite from the exaggerated sweetness of raspberry flavor last week. I fueled myself.
As I headed out, there was no more pain. It felt like someone had cleaned the slate in my head that screamed "PAIN". And I didn't feel no pain until the finish. I picked up speed and just kept running. I went past many other runners who I didn't see after the start line. The rest of this 16 miles was a cake walk. The pain during the first 4.5 miles was a lot to take. But I was happy that I did not give in to it. I ran through it. I fought the battle at a higher level - the mental battle. I successfully dissed the dis-comfort and finished strongly. 2:30 for 16miles... with gas left to go for more!
Finally after what was quite a painful run, I got to the first water stop and there was Dr. Mueller with encouraging words, water, gatorade and gu gel. Four and a half miles in good time he announced. This time he had some espresso flavor gu gels, a welcome respite from the exaggerated sweetness of raspberry flavor last week. I fueled myself.
As I headed out, there was no more pain. It felt like someone had cleaned the slate in my head that screamed "PAIN". And I didn't feel no pain until the finish. I picked up speed and just kept running. I went past many other runners who I didn't see after the start line. The rest of this 16 miles was a cake walk. The pain during the first 4.5 miles was a lot to take. But I was happy that I did not give in to it. I ran through it. I fought the battle at a higher level - the mental battle. I successfully dissed the dis-comfort and finished strongly. 2:30 for 16miles... with gas left to go for more!
-Vijayasarathy-
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