Arizona Rock n' Roll Marathon 2009

Last evening was incredibly nice and as we said our good-byes to a very good friend in the program I realized life is truly amazing. Here is a person I did not know 4 years ago and now there is a very deep seated connection. This person was the person to open up their home to my family if we didn’t want to stay in a hotel for the marathon. We didn’t take them up on this offer but the offer was indeed incredible and now I know we certainly have a place to stay if we ever visit Arizona again. Incidentally I believe the New York Giants will play the Arizona Cardinals next year and if the game is in Arizona I may take up this friend’s offer.

We arrived back at the hotel a little later than anticipated but this didn’t matter because sleep would be hard to come by. We tucked the children in their bed and headed off to bed ourselves. I did stay awake a little longer looking at my previous two marathons and trying to calculate the proper pace. When I ran in San Diego I had no idea I was so close to qualifying for the Boston Marathon and really only set out to run the marathon in 3 hours and 30 minutes. I finished that marathon in 3 hours and 25 minutes surpassing my goal. In Long Beach I had my sights set on the 3:20 goal but missed it by 2 minutes. Last night as I looked at those two races I was hoping to achieve the optimum pace.

Sleep didn’t come easy and my water intake did keep me from falling into a deep sleep. Another key to a successful marathon is water intake the day before. I was a little off on my water intake and had a little too much too late in the evening which caused the restless night’s sleep. This was to be expected and it really didn’t matter much at all. I got out of bed at the requisite time and went through my pre-marathon ritual. Instead of taking 5 minutes to get ready this doubled my time to 10 minutes!! I had to apply “lube” in all the appropriate and some inappropriate places. I was ready and I kissed my wife good bye. As I headed out the door my son came out of his room and gave me a hug and said, “Good luck Dad,” and headed back to bed. I knew at that moment that regardless of my finishing time I was a real winner today!!!

I went down to the lobby where the hotel had a grab n’ go breakfast for the marathoners; I grabbed a half of a bagel and downed my energy drink as I waited for the shuttle. I had a very nice conversation with a fellow marathoner who was down from Alaska and very grateful for the warm temperatures after having endure -5 degrees over the past month. The shuttle was a bit late in its arrival but I was content to wait in the lobby just relaxing as opposed to standing in the 45 degree temperature at the start line. The shuttle did arrive and I was very impressed that the hotel had commissioned such a nice vehicle complete with water and PowerAde. Thankfully I had taken the shuttle because the traffic to the start line was very heavy but the shuttle was able to make their own way and we arrived in plenty of time.

Unlike five years ago the start went off smoothly. Five years ago the start was delayed 15 minutes due to the traffic but I guess all the kinks had been worked out since that inaugural event. I was feeling a bit nervous and a bit cold but I knew the temperature would quickly increase as the miles went on. The openings festivities were very nice complete with the newly appointed Arizona governor making the opening remarks and firing the start pistol; with this sound over 7,000 of us were embarking on a 26.2 mile journey.

I was hoping to run at a little slower pace than my most recent marathon because I was hoping to have something in the tank over the last few miles. I did hit my pace goals for the first 23 miles and I was running with the 3:20 pace group. Normally I don’t run with anyone but I decided to hang with this pace group and was enjoying the camaraderie. I was also enjoying the fact that as we headed into mile 20 the wind became a headwind and we all formed a single file line basically drafting off one and another. Oops I am getting ahead of myself; at about the halfway point I thought I would see my family since the course veered fairly close to the hotel. Five years ago the course went directly in front of the hotel but has changed course since that time. Incidentally that was the time I had to pull out of the race as my knee was killing me. As we made it to the halfway point I didn’t see my family but quickly realized the course was about 2 miles from the hotel and most likely my family wouldn’t make it. It would have been great to see them but it just wasn’t meant to be. I made it to the halfway point at the requisite pace and proceeded into the second half.

As I mentioned it was good to run with the pacer for the 3:20 goal and I was hanging in there. I’m not sure what happened but with a little less than 3 miles to go my legs just wouldn’t respond and I couldn’t stay with the pace group and once again the prospect of finishing in 3 hours and 20 minutes faded away. I tried to dig deep but at mile 24 there was an incline all but sealing my fate. I didn’t hit my time goal and finished the race in 3 hours and 24 minutes. I was a bit disappointed but knew I wouldn’t make it as in the final 10 minutes; my legs once again didn’t have the bounce they had in the first 23 miles and it just wasn’t meant to be.

As I headed down the homestretch I looked for my family but didn’t see them. I crossed the finish line and was tired but not devastated emotionally nor physically. I walked around the finishing area picking up some water and other goodies making my way to where the families were. I once again looked around and didn’t see my family. I realized that the finishing area was a bit confusing since the half marathon had a different finish area than the full marathon. I didn’t panic and made my way over to the “family reunion” area. I asked a very nice person if I could borrow their cell phone and was able to call my wife. I could tell by her voice she was a bit frustrated but she was fairly close. About 5 minutes later my family came up to me and it was great to see them.

My wife did have a difficult time with the lack of organization and did feel frustrated. This was okay and all that matter to me was that they were here now. No, they didn’t see me cross the finish line but when I handed my medal to my son (yes, it was his turn to garnish the medal) it was all good!! This was one of those special little moments and the fact that my daughter asked me how old you need to be to run in a half marathon meant the world. My daughter wants to run a half marathon which could be in only one year from now. I wouldn’t push my daughter into doing anything she didn’t want to do and hearing this was incredible. It would be so great to run with her and I would care less about any time goal knowing my daughter was by my side. Okay, I didn’t make the time goal but all of that is meaningless knowing the three most important people in my life were with me and that is all that matters to me.