Surf City Marathon - Feb 6, 2011

Yesterday I ran my first marathon, the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA. I didn't officially train for it by following the typical 18 week courses, I just kept running my 3 days a week runs steadily increasing my mileage until I was routinely running 17-20 miles on Saturday's or Sunday's, depending on what was going on that week.

According to the 2011 results page I ran it in 3:57:28, which equates to a 9:04/mi pace. Overall, that put me in 743rd place out of 2,435, or the top third of the group. I was 529th out of 1466 for just men, or in the top portion of the middle third of the group. When compared to men of my age (40-44) I was 84th out of 206, or in the top half. I'll take those results any day considering that just a little over two years ago I weighed 220lbs and couldn't run to the mailbox and back without feeling like I was about to die.

I ran the race in my Vibram Five Fingers KSO Remix shoes. I saw one person running the full marathon barefoot and my wife saw two people doing it. So at least two or three did it barefoot, depending on whether the guy I saw was one of the one's Susan spotted.

I saw at least 4 others running in Vibrams. The models I remember were one set of Bilikas, one set of Sprints and two KSOs (like mine).

This is what I remember from the race by mile:

1. I remember looking at my watch and seeing it was at 0:03:55, so well before the first mile marker. I was mainly checking to see if I had remembered to start the timer. I never saw the first mile marker itself though. I wonder what I've gotten myself into, but I don't let that bother me. The first 10 minutes are the worst as my body starts to get into it.
2. Mile 2 came up in about 17 minutes or so, which put me at a 8:30-8:59 pace. Slower than I like, but that is good for a long run. Too much speed too early and I get "lead legs" too early. I still had some visibility to the 3:40 pacer group, but they were pulling ahead and I had no desire to try and keep up.
3. Never saw it.
4. Never saw it, but it was around 38 minutes that I sucked down my first Honey Stinger and grabbed a bit of water from a Dixie cup.
5. I want to thank the woman that passed me here. She gave me more encouragement to pour on a bit more speed than any cheering could have done. She had the hairiest legs I've seen on a woman in a long time, and it made me throw up a little. I eased past her. I was also noticing others around me that were in the same pace I was. There was pink-bottle lady, red-hair lady and awkward teenage boy. We stayed together for quite some time, each passing the other only to be passed again later.
6. Hairy-legs passed me again and once again, I surged a bit. I never saw her again, thankfully. We also did a bit of trail here, maybe 100 yards, and the ground was rough. Not sure I would have enjoyed that part barefoot. We were also going through a cemetery and I thought that was very convenient. Perfect place to drop dead. Would have been more useful at the 23 mile marker though.
7. I  remember this only because I thought "Man, this is great. I am DEFINITELY doing this again."
8. Here the pacer group for the 3:50 clan was right on my heels. Although my goal was to finish in less than 4:00, I privately wanted to beat 3:50, so I added a bit of steam. We also started running up a hill here and I guess training in my neighborhood (I use that term loosely as the area covers a diameter of about 10 miles) with the hills helped. No one that I was pacing with ever passed me on a hill and I passed a number of them, usually to be overtaken again on the flats.
9. Never saw it.
10. Never saw it, but Susan said it was the same place the 3 mile marker was. The course looped back and forth a lot. She had run 3 miles from the start to cheer for me here. I had my sunglasses on and there was no need as it was foggy and the sun was nowhere to be seen. I should have given them to her here, but I only thought about it a minute or two after I passed her. Old-coach guy pulled past me then pulled over to stop and get something to drink. He would do this a number of times today and we stayed within 100 yards of each other most of the rest of the day. There was a lot of families here cheering people on and more than a few had cow bells. I don't get that at all.
11. Pink-bottle lady and I had traded places several times, but between 10 and 11 she dove off to the port-o-potties. One less person to judge my pace with. Awkward Teenage Boy passed me in this stretch too. I passed red-hair lady and never saw her again. Guy-in-tights starts running in my general vicinity.
12. Pink-bottle lady blew past me. Obviously she didn't stop to go to the bathroom but to inject some sort of illegal substance. Still, I hung with her for another 10 miles.
13. Between mile 12 and 13 we did a quick U-turn on the Pacific Coast Highway. Kind of lame. As you run your ankles get sore (or at least mine do) and sharp turning sucks. More Honey Stinger and some water. Half way there. A new pacer too, Neon-pink lady.
14. Darn it, there is the 3:50 pacer right behind me. Surge. Guy-in-tights is back.
15. I somehow managed to pass pink-bottle lady and neon-pink lady and caught up to awkward teenage boy. Another u-turn as we head back north on the sidewalks. Guy-in-tights passed me. Again with the cow bells. When Christopher Walken said "more cow-bell" he was kidding.
16. Only 10 more miles. Doing ok, but now not so enthusiastic about doing this again. Caught up to a guy wearing black Vibram KSOs. Took me probably a mile before I passed him. I had no surge left. I think I saw Susan around here again and think that this is roughly where this picture to the right was taken. Once again, I forget to give her the sunglasses.

17. Don't remember seeing this marker, but in this area, the asphalt sidewalk was very rough. I am looking for smooth areas to run and for at least half a mile, there are none. Barefoot would have been brutal.
18. 3:50 pacers pass me, as does neon-pink lady and pink-bottle lady. I am not going to try and keep up. I can feel my legs getting heavier. Old-coach guy stopped to drink more of whatever was in his bottle. Then off he goes again.
19. Never saw it.
20. Between 20 and 21, a super-sharp u-turn. This was the only time I stopped during the race. There was no room to run around the corner. I just stopped, turned around and veered slightly to the right. Ridiculous. I passed the 21 mile flag in 2:57:00 or so. Sweet. 4 hours looks very possible. Turns out I'd need quite a bit of that remaining 1:03 to finish the last 6.2 miles.
21. Five miles left. I am feeling the weight on my legs now. Got some more water and took the fifth and final Honey Stinger of the day.
22. Four miles left. Now the prayers start. "Lord, just give me 40 more minutes of energy." The 3:50 group, along with pink-bottle lady and neon-pink lady fade out of my view. Guy-in-tights, old-coach guy and awkward teenage boy are still around.
23. Oddly enough, I don't remember this. You'd think at this point I'd be remembering every sign counting down the finish.
24. More prayers. Only need 20 minutes of energy. There was a guy passing out half-orange slices. It looked good and I thought it would be refreshing. I was wrong. Last water of the day. They are passing out Fig Newtons. How can someone think Fig Newtons are going to taste good at this point in a marathon? That crap about the first 10 minutes being the worst is just that. Crap. The last 40 minutes are the worst.
25. One mile left. It is about 3:47 on my watch. Those cursed 3:50 pacers will be done in 3 minutes. I still have 10 to go. I passed awkward-teenage-boy again. He was walking. I am determined not to walk, or do the marathon shuffle. My brain tells my legs to pick my feet up a bit. I am NEVER EVER doing this again. What was I thinking? And the cow bells are in full force.
26. Yay! 26 miles. But not done. It is 26.2 miles. The next minute and 40 seconds or so will be the longest ever. No one is passing anyone. We are all just struggling to get it over with. I can barely see the finish line marker ahead. Almost there.

I crossed the finish line. If they took a picture of that, it must look horrible. There was no last minute surge, no raising of the arms in victory. I just went through, grabbed a bottle of water and a bag of food a few yards down. I snarfed down a cup of mixed fruit but nothing else looked remotely appetizing at the time. Susan caught up with me here. The finish line was at least a quarter mile north of the start, and we parked south of that, so I had a long walk. I should have just run to the van. Walking only allowed my legs to tighten up. I looked like an old man. I felt like one too.

Biggest surprise is no knee pain. I started running barefoot when I got some pain in my right knee. When you run barefoot, you land on the ball of your feet, which takes most of the punishment from coming down on the pavement instead of it being shot up to your knee through the heel.

Still, after running some 20-22 milers around the house, I would get some sharp pains in the knees after a long run and for a few hours afterwards. Now some 36 hours after the race, not the least bit of pain. My legs are VERY sore. When I get up from my desk, I hobble like an old man until my legs loosen up after 10-15 steps, then I can walk somewhat normally.

I'll definitely do it again, just not sure when. Right now I have a trail half marathon to train for in March.