It's been less than 4 full days since I crossed the finish line on the boardwalk of Virginia Beach, thus ending my run in the 2008 Yuengling Shamrock Marathon and entering the “marathon finisher” club and realizing a lifelong goal. My mind has had some time to start working again and start processing things other than mile splits, pacing, and fuel intake. Following is my unabridged and detailed account of the weekend that was, thoughts, experiences, feelings, and one helluva great memory:
( Thursday night )( Friday )( Saturday )( Sunday: pre-race )THE RACE I started my watch as I crossed the line a few seconds after the horn. I was thinking to myself at the beginning-I’ll have a tailwind for the first few miles, then the middle chunk I’ll be running into a headwind of about 20mph and the last 5 or so miles I’ll have the tailwind again. I knew that meant the beginning would feel pretty comfortable and I just focused on maintaining a steady, even pace. A few minutes after I started, Laur sent me a text message saying, “LOVE YOU! So does your mom. Stay smart, stay even. I can’t wait to see you! GO MARK!” That was AWESOME and put a smile on my face that lasted many miles. I saw a guy in a Superman cape running with another guy and I overheard them talking about a 3:30 goal.
Mile 1 came at 8:10, I remember calling Laur at that point because it was easier than texting her and I was feeling pretty good still. Right after that, I got caught up to by the 3:30 pace group. I figured I should probably stick with them considering that was my goal. I quickly realized they were going a bit faster than the 8:00 pace that would achieve that goal. In fact, mile 2 came in at 7:41 (yikes!). I thought mile 2 felt a little short but c’est la vie. At this point I was starting to lose the 3:30 pace group and the 3:40 group had actually caught up and was passing me. The old-Mark would have been freaking out and rushed to catch up with them. As it was, I felt so good and confident in my pace and my plan that I just let them run on by and was committed to running MY pace, MY race.
After mile 2, we looped around a block of buildings and headed over the Rudee Bridge (elevation gain- 40ft.) down towards Camp Pendleton and the Virginia Aquarium. I missed the 3 mile marker but caught the 4 mile marker and passed it in 31:26 (mile 2-4 were done in 15:35, a little quick but pretty close to pace). Around that time I started running with an older guy who was talking to me about past marathons he ran, including last fall’s Marine Corps Marathon. He also gave me some pretty standard advice after learning it was my first marathon, telling me it was all about finishing and going out easy because you could try to make up time if you went out too slow but you’ll never be able to recover if you go out too fast. I knew everything he’d told me but I took the advice to heart as important reminders. It was nice having someone like that running with me in the early goings to keep me on pace and from thinking about the daunting distance still ahead of me. We also joked about the pace groups running way too fast for the goal times. Mile 5 was run in 8:17 and I was 39:43 into the race (still slightly under goal pace). Around this time we saw the front runners nearing mile 6, flying along- it was quite the sight. We turned around near mile 5.5 and headed back north for the first time, but fortunately we were shielded from most of the wind. Mile 6 was by far the slowest, 8:28, putting me at 48:12, still close to goal time.
We swung right and hit mile 7 in 56:18 (8:06 mile), still feeling comfortable and pretty easy. I was also really happy that I didn’t have an urge to go to the bathroom at all. I probably could have if I tried but I realized that the pace I was running, if I wanted to maintain it throughout, I wouldn’t have much leeway for stops like that. We swung around and entered Camp Pendleton, where we were greeted by about a dozen soldiers on our right doing some sort of drills carrying big machine guns. We also ran past a bunch of soldiers outside a house cheering their heads off and yelling “Ooo-rah!” I yelled thank you as we passed, for the cheers and everything else they do too. Mile 8 was within the barracks, and I passed it in 1:04:23 (8:04 mile). Around this time I started running a little ahead of my older friend, and after the water stop I didn’t see him again. Around this point I also was coming up on the 3:40 group and by mile 9 I had passed the 3:40 pacers and saw the 3:30 pacers just ahead.
I crossed mile 9 in 1:12:22 (7:59 mile). I didn’t feel like I had noticeably sped up but it felt encouraging to run an 8:00 mile more than 1/3rd into it and have it feel good still. Right before mile 10, we crossed the Rudee Bridge again. I thought to run on the dirt along the curbside but quickly abandoned this idea when my feet started sinking in. By mile 10, I had caught up to the back of the 3:30 group, which was now running much closer to their goal pace. I crossed mile 10 in 1:20:13 (a downhill on the bridge aided 7:51 mile). I was a little nervous because at this point I’d be heading north on the boardwalk/Atlantic Ave. (into the wind) until mile 16. I could feel sporadic gusts from mile 6 on.
This is where I’ll give myself a big pat on the back for excellent strategy and course management. Having caught up with the pace group, I tucked in behind them as we ran out onto the boardwalk and they blocked the wind for me magnificently. The boardwalk had a bunch of spectators both on the ground and hanging out of the balconies of the hotels on the beach cheering us on, it was nice to see and hear. Mile 11 was on the boardwalk and we crossed it as a group in 1:27:57 (a very easy feeling 7:43- probably because of the drafting I was doing behind the pace group), right on pace! I remember swinging out wide and looking ahead and seeing only a few people here and there in front of the pace group, and they all looked a lot less comfortable than we did on the whole. I allowed myself to enjoy the scenery a bit and mostly focused on the back of one runner or the other.
We left the boardwalk and got back on Atlantic and then passed mile 12 in 1:35:58 (8:01 mile). I texted Laur at this point and asked her for 3 gels instead of 2 and where exactly she was. Turns out I “gels” came out as “help” in the text and she took it to mean 3 Advil. I also told her in the morning that when she gave me the gels to rib off the top so I didn’t have to deal with that. What I should have said was only tear off one, the one I was going to eat right away, and leave the rest on because I was going to shove them in my pocket. As I neared mile 13, I looked on the right and a few meters ahead was my darling girlfriend standing and cheering. I got the biggest smile on my face when I saw her and must have sped up a bit. When I got to her I threw my arms around her and gave her a hug and a kiss. She was holding 3 Advil in her hands and I didn’t bother to take them out, I just sucked them out of her hand and washed them down, then picked up the other Gatorade bottle and two PowerGels. Another kiss and I was off. I passed mile 13 in 1:43:51 (a 7:53 mile, into the wind no less!). It was at this point I realized my folly of having her rip open ALL the gels, and that I only had one left. I stuck it in my little pocket inside my shorts and hoped most of it would stay in. I knew there’d be a different brand of carb gel at mile 16 and while I was nervous about trying a different brand I figured it would be alright.
Around this point, some guy caught up to his friend Felix who I’d been running around since Camp Pendleton. Turns out his friend had done the half (in 1:20, wow!) and they started chatting. Turns out this kid PROPOSED TO HIS GIRLFRIEND AT THE FINISH LINE OF THE HALF! How romantic! I was slightly behind the pace group again but I was ok because I was still running on pace. And I still had a handful of runners to shield the wind, which didn’t feel too brutal. At this point we saw some of the last finishers of the half coming south on Atlantic. We also saw the marathon leaders pass by…the black guy and eventual champion was well ahead of the white guy and eventual second place winner- they had been running together when we saw them at mile 6. Yelling words of encouragement at the half runners helped take my mind off the fact that I still had 10+ miles to go. I had started marking off miles on a chalkboard in my head.
I passed mile 14 in 1:51:45 (7:53 mile). Nothing much happened between that and mile 15 which I crossed 8:00 later in 1:59:45. Except that I got a series of awesome text messages from Laur, the first informing me, “YOU ARE A FUCKING ROCKSTAR!” then a quote from Kayne’s song “Stronger” right at mile 15 which made me laugh. I overhead people saying that after mile 6 we bore left and lost the wind in the trees and then the last few miles were with a tailwind. I picked up a Carb BOOM! Energy gel and then crossed the mile 16 marker at 2:07:48 (8:02 mile).
We then turned onto Shore Drive which took us on a spectator-less road lined with big trees and silly placards with random facts and jokes on them. The road seemed to go on forever. (In fact, we ran 3 miles in a relatively un-turning westward direction). Mile 17 was passed at 2:15:46 (a 7:58 mile). I thought to myself how I still felt pretty good. The pace group had thinned a bit, and were somewhat ahead of me still but I had them in my sights and that was good enough for me. I passed mile 18 in 2:23:51 (8:04 mile) and thought to myself that this road was getting boring. I also texted my time to Laur at this point and she just texted me back “PERFECT!” which was really encouraging, even though I knew already that I was on pace. My brain was getting a little foggier and while I knew I was running 8:00 miles still and thus close to on pace, I wasn’t really doing any computations in my head like in the beginning.
We entered Fort Story at the mile 19 mark, and I was at 2:31:53 (an 8:02 mile). I felt my legs beginning to feel the slightest bit tight and I thought to myself, “Is this the dreaded mile 20 wall?!” I just focused on keeping my breathing even and tried to open my stride a bit. Mile 20 was passed 2:40:03 (an 8:09 mile). For the first time since the beginning I had slipped ever so slightly over 8:00 pace. I wasn’t worried just yet, I was close enough and I only had a 10k to go. If I could do the 10k in 50 minutes I’d JUST hit my goal. At mile 21 I saw the Cape Henry lighthouses, passing the marker in 2:48:14 (an 8:11 mile). At this point we started heading southward again, and I could feel the tailwind begin to pick up, giving me a bit of a mental boost. Somewhere around this point I took off my hat and stuffed it in my shorts, I also sucked down my other PowerGel and the last of my Gatorades. At the s water stop at mile 21 I started sucking down a Gatorade (as I’d been doing at every water stop) and splashing a cup of water over my back. This helped a lot. Also at this point, Laur texted me as an inspirational joke,“I expect a strong finish, like my Coogan’s. ” alluding to the fact that she had a serious kick at the end of the Coogan’s 5k race in Washington Heights March 2nd. I got it and was a little concerned if I was going to be able to do so.
We hit mile 22 right before the exit from Fort Story. I passed it in 2:56:17 (an 8:02 mile). This made me pretty happy because the previous few miles had been getting slower and that was getting me nervousish. Right before mile 23, I was handed another Carb BOOM! Energy gel. I tried to open it and it was an epic fail, so I threw it on the ground and figured I would be ok with just the Gatorade and water til the end. Right out of Fort Story, I saw a woman, she must have just been someone who lived in the area, she was running up to runner swith a Tupperware container. After she gave the runner about 30 meters ahead of me something she started running right at me. I saw that she had orange slices which she so graciously offered me. I took one and it was probably the best on-course re-fueling I had the entire time. What wonderful local support!
Mile 23 was passed at 3:04:17 (an 8:00 mile). Around this time I was getting kinda nervous and sort of telling myself that 3:35 or even 3:40 was still a respectable time. My brain was started to check out. Fortunately for all involved parties, my legs weren’t really listening. At all. They kept chugging along, through the building fatigue. I think part of it was just the feeling that it the finish was so close but it felt so far. At this point I was sort of by myself, the pace group had really dissolved into a string of runners. The great thing was that, despite the way I started feeling, I was started to pass people one by one. I got a big mental boost when I passed Felix and his newly engaged friend because they had gone pretty far ahead of me in Fort Story and I figured I wouldn’t see them again. I had also taken to counting down the cross streets at this point- they were numbered and we exited Fort Story around 88th St. and I knew the finish was on the boardwalk around 30th St. My mind really was being ignored because despite the way I felt, I passed mile 24 in 3:12:16 (a 7:58 mile!). I started thinking to myself that I could totally do 2.2 miles in about 18 minutes, but it was going to be close. I was passing more people and trying to keep pace with one guy who looked like he was running strong. I also saw the bald 3:30 pacer still encouraging people along and then came mile 25. I passed it in 3:20:16 (an even 8:00 mile). All I had to do was run 1.2 miles in 9:44, although I wasn’t able to do that math at the time. Instead I just remember knowing I was slightly over 8:00 pace and that I had to really go and not slow down.
Right after the mile 25 mark and the water stop, I started internally chanting to myself “Lau-ren-Lau-ren” over and over and thinking about how she was waiting at the finish for me (she had texted me that she was in between the big Neptune statue and the finish line and that I was her hero). It really got me going, thinking about her and about how good it felt that someone else cared so much about this. I didn’t want to let her or myself down and I told myself as much as I sped up. Atlantic split from Pacific Ave and turned left closer to the beach around 38th St. and I could see the cones a block ahead directing runners to the beach. I caught and passed a woman in bright blue running shorts as we turned towards the boardwalk and the final stretch.
Having walked the boardwalk from this point to the finish line earlier in the day I knew about how much I had left and that was a HUGE help mentally. I looked down at my watch and saw 3:26:XX and knew it would be close but that 3:30 was definitely within reach. I could see the Neptune statue and the Finish Line. I pushed it. I passed mile 26 in 3:27:59 (a 7:42 mile!) but I don’t remember looking at that, just running. As I came up to the Neptune statue I looked for Laur and spotted her. I don’t think I had the energy to smile but the adrenaline boost inside was ENORMOUS! NO WAY was I slowing down, not this close! I pushed, I ran and ran and ran as hard as I could. My last thought before I finished was to remind myself not to look down and stop my watch as I crossed the finish because it would ruin the picture. I crossed the finish line with my hands raised triumphantly and my heart ready to leap out of my chest, both from the effort and the emotion of actually finishing. I hit the tape in 3:29:35…I HAD DONE IT!!!! I AM A MARATHONER!!! MARK MANZ FTmfW!!!
Right after I passed the finish and slowed to a walk, I felt the toll that 26.2 miles of running as hard as I had took on my legs. More than that, though, I felt like I was in a total daze. The whole sequence from finish to leaving the finish area was like a dream sequence. I was so happy I know I pumped my fist and shouted a “YES!” but I was too dehydrated and out of it to cry. I saw some people getting their chips removed so I put my foot up in front of someone and they took mine. Then someone put a medal around my neck. Or did it happen the other way around? Then I got a goodie bag and a hat that Laur later pointed out says “26.2 Finisher” on the back. I remember sucking down a 16.9 oz water bottle in about 4 seconds and taking another.
Laur tried calling me as I exited the finish area and I fumbled with the phone and missed the call. Then I tried calling her back as ambled down the steps to the beach, where the Beer/Stew/Finish Line Party tent was located. I finally got her on the phone and told where I was and then we spotted each other. I know finishing the marathon was one of the BEST FEELINGS EVER, especially knowing I had beat my goal time. But the BEST part of the whole experience is what came next. I saw her and she started running to me and my legs tried in vain to move quickly towards her, so I just stopped and bent over with my hands on my knees. She got to me and we immediately threw our arms around each other in the tightest hug. THIS was when I lost it, just crying over and over “I DID IT BABY! I FRAKKIN’ DID IT!” through tears and sniffles. She told me she was so proud of me and I got a hard-earned finishing kiss! We shuffled into the party tent where a really good cover band was rocking out, I got some stew and we both got a free Yuengling, drank another water, and put our stuff down at a table. Then we raised our beers and toasted. She said, “If you have to ask.” To which I replied, “You’ll never understand.” “TO FINISHING A MARATHON!”
We stayed for a while, cheered on some of the 4+ hour finishers, and then headed back to the car. As I hobbled back down Atlantic, I was overwhelmed with pride and contentment that I had managed to accomplish such a monumental goal, that everything had gone exactly as well as I could have hoped. And to be able to share it with someone so awesome and appreciative of what I just did made the whole thing so much more meaningful and rewarding. We’re planning to run our first one together, which will be her first ever, November 22nd in Rehoboth Beach, DE (something about beach marathons!). I’ll probably do another one the end of August/September-ish (any suggestions?), but for the time being I’m going to really soak in the feeling that this whole wonderful experience has given me. I want to send a
HUGE THANK YOU to
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travelogger for really helping me plan through my training pretty much from the onset and being so patient with my questions, and to
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runners in general for first inspiring me to actually attempt this, and motivating me from beginning through the whole of my training on up to race day.
( My splits )HAPPY RUNNING INDEED!
