My Richmond Marathon Journey

My Richmond Marathon Journey

QIC: Sassy

Date: 11/10/2018

Disclaimer: This is going to be a long, long backblast.

So I’ve always had respect for marathon runners coupled with a slight bit of jealousy. You see, growing up with two congenital heart defects (1 fixed, 1 active), I was told each and every year, “…remember, you can’t really do that much cardio. Don’t push your heart because you could really hurt yourself…” I can remember trying to run a mile or two at workouts for golf at ECU like it was yesterday. These guys are running who knows what pace, and I’m being forced to walk because I physically just can’t do it without breathing so heavily that I might pass out. I felt weak, out of shape, like I wasn’t as good as them. I was last in every run we did, struggling to finish workouts, fighting to check all of those non golf related boxes required to compete.

Fast forward to 2011 and I finally decided I’d try to run some on my own to get in shape. My wife, Sara, would always tell me that there’s no way in the world she would ever run, EVER. More on her later, but I’d go run 1-3 miles nearly every day around our neighborhood. Our oldest daughter, Reagan, was born in September 2011, and that was the only distraction needed to basically quit running…only problem was I signed up for a 5k for December. I still ran the race, but was so out of breath by the last mile that I was walking and had to find a bench upon finishing. The time was, in hindsight, decent for me (30:35, 9:52 pace), but running wasn’t fun and I basically quit outside of a couple small stints after moving to Winston. A rolled ankle here and no time there and I was basically like “screw this, this absolutely sucks.”

Fall 2014 – My wife gets this crazy idea that she’s going to enter the No Boundaries program at Fleet Feet. The shock on my face was evident, and she was just as shocked at herself. Our youngest was 6 months old and Sara was ready to find “me” time and get into shape. She got her training schedule and stuck to it like a rockstar. She rocked the Mistletoe in December, and that was the beginning of her very inspirational journey as a runner. That also was the time that we found out that that active congenital heart defect needed to be fixed. It’s one of those things where you hoped it’d fix itself, but alas, mine didn’t and I needed to have it fixed manually on March 19, 2015.

3/19/2015 – Have any of you ever had a great calmness come over you in the midst of what most would call a storm? That was me heading into having a doctor cut my sternum open and fix my heart defect. Long story short, I had “good blood” and “bad blood” going between my heart chambers. The proper term is Ventricular Septal Defect, or VSD for short. There was only one way in to fix this and that was through the chest. Surgery was about 6 hours or so, but they fixed it and it was a huge success. It was encouraging to be up walking around within 24 hours after surgery. I felt good in recovery, and no one needs to have the feeling of their sternum shifting. It is a really weird feeling, one that I’ll never forget. Oh, and sneezing, that was absolutely terrible. But the one thing I remember is that the doctors said that the cardio ban was lifted upon fully recovering.

Summer 2016 – Sara has now run at least one half marathon at this point. P.S., can I tell you she’s run something like 7-8 half marathons now? She is the real rockstar between the two of us and quite an inspiration. The bug rubs off on me and I decide to do No Boundaries at Fleet Feet to start getting into some kind of running shape. It was great to run with people who struggled like me, and I felt like I was where I needed to be. I finally got to a point where I could run 3 miles and I didn’t feel like death afterwards. Progress! I moved on to No Boundaries II in the Fall, and that was when the mileage got tough, getting as high as 5-5.5 miles or so. For a “non-runner” like me, this was getting to be really long and strenuous. I decide to do No Boundaries II again in the Winter of 2017 and, no joke, after the first week, I have a meeting with a manager in the office. Upon standing up, my back locked up and I could barely walk back to my desk. I was so embarrassed at the fact that my back was so weak that as a 32 year old man, I couldn’t even walk back to my own desk. It took at least a couple weeks to recover from sitting in a chair and throwing my back out, what the heck? I shut down running after that and felt very discouraged…Sara finally convinced me to go on our church’s men’s retreat. I finally agree to go….

3/25/2017 – This was what ended up being the start of my renewed interest to get in shape. I had friends in Winston-Salem & Greenville tell me to post to F3. I had gone a couple times, but didn’t have many intentions to keep going. But when I worked out with these guys at the First Pres Men’s Retreat, something was different and I went home asking my wife, “you think I should get up Monday and give this a real shot?” It was like music to her ears as she had complained for me that I wasn’t really doing well making friends…and I wasn’t! So I went on to VI that Monday, the 27th, and the rest is history on the F3 front. I reminded myself of how I felt getting out of that chair and couldn’t hardly move. My back (and body) was so weak and it needed that three-pronged approach of fitness, fellowship, and faith. The gym just wasn’t going to cut it. No way was I going to work out by myself and actually stay accountable.

November 2017 – So Zuckerburg and his wife are in our small group, and they came back talking about how awesome this Richmond Marathon was. A marathon has always been a “bucket list” item for me, and we Clemmons folk were just beginning to ramp up this BBBC workout that Sour Mash and Harden began. Let me clarify, I just came off my highest running month by far of 27 miles in October 2017. I was a fill-in for the Tuna 200 and ran that well; however, there wasn’t much else I’d done running wise. Yet after that small group meeting, I went home and signed up for not just the half marathon, the whole enchilada. Oh, and my wife said she wasn’t signing herself up for a marathon, so being the good husband I am, I signed her up too! She had waffled back and forth about it, but I knew she could do it. So…now to find a half so that I could at least get to a checkpoint of sorts…

Three dates stick out in their own way as turning points in this journey, I’ll do my best to explain them:

1. 4/8/18 – half marathon in Raleigh. I’m pretty sure I’d run four 5k’s to this point. But regardless, I had trained for this race and felt pretty good. I ran great for about 11 miles and then began to cramp up some near the end. While I finished, it just seemed like a bit of a blow to realize “this is only half of a marathon. I have to run this entire route all over again in order to do the marathon!” It was very daunting and sent me into a bit of a mental and physical break afterwards…a bit too long to the point where I’d basically have to start over again training wise.
2. July 4th week/month – So my plan was to try to run a 10 mile route at the beach during a family vacation. Lights? Check! Camelbak? Check! Alarm? Check!…except the bed was so high with no side table that I didn’t hear my phone’s alarm when it went off. Not only had this challenge seemed too big, it was overwhelming. Sara pleaded that I go out and do something, but I was done. Physically and mentally done. I told her I was going to do the Richmond half marathon because I just didn’t have it in me to do the marathon. I had the change race page pulled up and I think somewhere in there she said give it a couple weeks to think more about it. I remember telling Harden much the same in text and in running that I just felt like I just didn’t have it…but something in me said stick with it. Give it one last shot, at least research how long you need in order to train. So I realized most training plans were 16 weeks and there was still 18 or so, ok, let’s give this thing one last try. But these are the new ground rules: this isn’t meant to be fun, it is work…hard, hard work. Then came the 9 miler with Harden and Rust Bucket. Then an 11 miler with my wife and some of her friends. Then there was the infamous half marathon from my house to Hanes Park for the OGs invasion all while launching at 3:30am. That run was 8/3, a month to the day that I missed my alarm and felt like quitting. It seemed a corner had been turned and now it was time to press onward towards a full marathon again.
3. Week of 10/7 – So my plan was to run 20 miles Sunday, do the Bourbon Chase the following weekend, then run another long run the weekend after BC. My great uncle just passed away, and I had spent the better part of 4 months leading up to that helping him almost daily with basic needs. His death was the third in our family since the half marathon in April. The mental and physical toll came to a head on this run. I got to about my 11th mile and really started to feel bad. By mile 13 I was calling Sara looking for something to motivate me. By mile 16, I called her to tell her I needed to stop. I just didn’t have it. What I didn’t realize is that was one of the best decisions I could have ever made. I was mentally drained from everything that happened and I didn’t injure myself trying to get to the coveted 20 miles. I listened to my body, cut it short, had Sara pick me up, and went home at 16.5 instead of 20. I then took most of that week off leading up to the BC and it was my 2nd leg when I paired up with another runner that I found a new gear inside of me. I’ve never pushed through a wall like I did that night, breaking through my physical shortcomings to just keep moving. I carried that into my 3rd leg and beat my expected time by 1:00-1:30 per mile for 7.6 miles. That confidence carried me into the following weekend, where I cramped up in the last half mile of 20 miles, but I finished it. I knew that with more electrolytes and planning that I would get through that point better than in this training run.

11/10/2018 – A day that I’ll never forget…

Riding up, it’s hard to believe a weather forecast as the one that was predicted. It rained 95% of the way to Richmond and while in Richmond. Having dinner with Tuco and his family the night before was an absolute highlight of the trip. It was so fun to reconnect and hang out, all while Tuco giving his HC (again) for the Tuna 200 (and potentially an HC into Richmond’s half marathon next year).

Race day was perfect: not a cloud in the sky, a bit of a breeze, and around 45. The nicest part was that the temperature wasn’t supposed to move much during the day, which meant no real stripping of clothing during the race, etc. = awesome, one less thing to attempt to plan. Pre-race felt like pre-tournament when I competed in golf, it was weird. There was still the unknown of “will I finish this?” Sara was nervous as well. I told her I would run with her the entire race, at least until close to the end, as I felt we would need each other’s encouragement throughout the race to survive. Her marathon training friend, Heather, came with us to Richmond and the three of us were starting together. Heather has run a previous marathon at OBX last year and had time intentions, so we knew she would want to run onward, but needed us so she didn’t gun it out of the gates.

7:45 hits, but being in Zone 3,321 or whatever it was, it was more like 7:53 before we went through the start line. We started at a good pace and Heather ran on after about 3-4 miles to chase her PR. Sara and I hung around a 12 minute pace for a good 7 miles or so. We walked some, but we kept a good pace and crossed the river with relative ease. We got to our first major hill close to mile 10 and decided to walk it. I mean, there’s 16 MORE MILES AFTER THIS HILL! We weren’t taking any chances as our goal was to finish. We churned through the next 7-8 miles at about a 12:30 pace or so and things were getting tougher, but it was still manageable. We then made the left turn after mile 15 onto the bridge…yikes. I knew it was coming, but the wind smacked us in the face as we began this very gradual climb of a half mile or so over a big bridge back into downtown Richmond. This was when mentally, I was beginning to really struggle, but I knew Sara was too and we found it in each other to keep going. We walked some, we ran some, but we got past the bridge and the big hill after the bridge….oh hey there’s still 10 MORE MILES! Doesn’t 16 win you a prize? 17? Hey I could get to 20? Is that good enough????

Lots of encouragement went into Sara at this point as I could tell she was struggling with that very same fact. My encouragement to her was also self-encouragement as well. I needed to hear it to keep moving. Then one of the more unpleasant things to feel as a runner came before mile 20….cramps. How on earth am I to survive 6 miles of cramps? My calves are on fire as I find some curb to stretch them out. At each water stop, I pounded 2 water cups and 1 Powerade cup. Heck, half the time I’m running through the cramps and they’d go away temporarily. It just wasn’t fun anymore, but then I started to think about the finish line. Sara and I agreed we could just walk it in from here and finish, so there was reassurance that we’d made it far enough that we could practically limp in. Around mile 23 we bumped into a friend of Sara’s from Fleet Feet and she might have been more done than us. We all took our shots of pickle juice though and on we went. She said she was going to finish with someone she knew, and I told Sara that around mile 25 or so, I was going to sprint because I needed to be done before these cramps made it near impossible to finish.

I take off at mile 25….within a tenth of a mile I cramp up badly. I took about 30 seconds to stretch out my calves and prepare for the big run to the finish line. On the second try, I finally am able to go. I made it to about 25.6 and started to feel them again, so I took a slight break and walked them out. Then this girl goes “the finish line is around the corner, there’s no time to walk now! Go!!!” Welp. Somehow in this cramping body, I ran an 8:30 pace the last half mile and passed 10-15 people in the process. When I crossed the finish line, there were so many emotions. I was able to film Sara finishing right behind me and we somehow achieved something that neither of us truly were sure we could do. Oh, and Heather rocked her race and set a PR by over 20 minutes or so.

This certainly goes down as one of the greatest achievements in my life. 5:44:58. It isn’t a Boston qualifying time, but it’s my time and I’m proud of it. One thing I didn’t realize until Facebook reminded me with its “memories” that pop up daily. On November 10, 2016, I ran 4.67 miles and that was my distance PR, to date. On November 10, 2017, I ran 6.51 miles and, again, that was my distance PR, to date. Now again, on November 10, 2018, I ran 26.2 (or 26.34, I don’t run in perfect tangents, sorry Patch) miles to set my new distance PR. Seriously, what are the odds? To go ahead and answer the question: no, I’m not running an ultra, 50k, 50 miler, or something over 26.2 on 11/10 next year.

This was my first and possibly last marathon. I leave the door open because I know there are many others who think “I couldn’t ever run a marathon” or “I don’t know anyone who’ll train with me because I’m so slow.” Well, lemme tell you some things: 1) you CAN run a marathon, 2) I will help train with you as much as I can, 3) it is really, really, really hard…I “quit” in my mind 2-3 times in training, but at some point it becomes a mental thing more so than a physical thing. I ran 28.8 miles in November 2017 and ran a marathon in November 2018. I hope this book encourages you to consider that opportunity. My wife and I are certainly planning on going back to Richmond next year. Tentatively, we are planning on the half marathon, but who knows what will happen between now and 11/16/2019. I will tell you that Richmond is a great place to run your first marathon. Water stops every 2 miles (and every mile after mile 20), volunteers and community cheering you on everywhere, food and gels multiple times on the route, and many other small things that truly do make it the “friendliest marathon.”

I thank God for keeping me healthy through this training process and for His encouragement in my darker days of training. I thank Sara because she was quite a sounding board of random complaints, thoughts, and analyses that I’d have and she was a trooper listening to all of that, but she was an unbelievable encourager and kept me going. If any of your wives think they can’t run, have them have coffee with my wife. She started at 0.0 and now has run 7-8 half marathons and a full marathon over the last 3 years or so. She’s incredible and a true inspiration to myself and many others. To the PAX who agreed to run with me before workouts, during workouts, on Sundays, at random hours, whenever…you guys know who you are, you’re awesome and thank you for your encouragement and time commitments. I can remember anything from 6 degree runs with Harden in January to sweating it out mid-summer amongst many of the PAX.

SYITG!