Here is my 2019 in review. I posted photos that are meaningful to me. The first one is collage of “friend” photos.
Here is the “where” (many of the “wheres” anyway)
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
I have season tickets for Illinois football. But their game against Nebraska was moved to Saturday night, which made it impractical for me to see that game and do the Quad Cities Marathon the next day (a 3 hour drive from Champaign) So I gave up my tickets and watched the game from a Motel 6 room in Moline…it was the South Florida game all over again. Illinois gave up almost 700 yards in total offense (over 700 before “victory formation” plays took a few yards away) but Nebraska fumbles kept Illinois in the game; it ended 42-38 Nebraska.
Oh well…but the bottom line is that I gave up a game to do this marathon.
I was to remind myself of that a few times.
I had thoughts of trying to outdo my 6:14 last year. But that weather: 70 F and humid to start and throughout the day…with frequent drenching downpours.
I really thank the volunteers for their great work.
Anyhow….I really felt the effect of age during this race. Why? I really find it difficult to do proper marathon training; I had lots of 20 mile walks but none of the necessary speed work; most of my stuff was high 14-low 15 pace for 20 miles..mostly just over 15 minutes per mile.
And that is what I averaged: 6:42 for 26.2 or 15:27. And I added about 8 minutes in the final 5K (58 minutes!)
My watch:
1:08:02 (5)
2:20:03 (10)
3:04:53 (half way)
4:53:24 (mile 20…fastest 20 in a long time..since last year’s marathon)
6:21:12 (mile 25…major collapse between 23 and 24)
Here is my 2018 race as comparison (perfect weather)
Roughly what happened was this: yeah, it rained hard for much of the race (with brief periods of let up) and the “bike path” parts of the course had standing water on it: this is the mile 5 to 9 (near where the Quad Cities Bandits play) Weather: 70 F with suffocating humidity. I never do well in such conditions.
Still, my first 10 miles were not that bad; I did slow down when the half marathon split off from the marathon (fewer people to chase)
Of course the Rock Island part took a while and was sort of empty; I was chasing a run/walk couple. They really got away later.
I was starting to tire as I walked to the Arsenal Island part and my goodness..the parts without the half marathon people was EMPTY; I was too damned slow. I was chasing one relay runner who too got away.
About mile 16 I endured the first of a couple of collapses. It was pouring, my pace..well, still sort of ok but the feet were hurting and I was by myself. Dang, you are on that island for a long time and about mile 16 I started to feel sick. I slowed and thought: well, I guess that is another DNF but I forced myself to keep going forward, slowly.
After a very slow mile (maybe 18 minutes?) I started to feel better (the rain revived me) and I picked it up to a 15:xx pace again. I thought to myself: I GAVE UP THAT GAME FOR THIS; I HAVE TIME TO FINISH AND SO I WILL. And by the time I got off of the island it was 4:53 (mile 20); I’ve done worse. I even had a bit of pep to my step..for a while.
Now came that long 10k out and back stretch (it used to be 15k). Miles 21 and 22 took forever and I was really getting whiny at mile 23…man that took forever.
Then I felt sick again..slowed again and maybe did a couple of miles which felt like 20 minutes. They really weren’t quite that slow but they felt like it. DAMMIT, I GAVE UP A GAME FOR THIS.
I got passed a few times but ended up almost catching a couple of women ahead of me…and that long, “just walk to the next traffic light” stretch. But the end came and the RD, who knows me, high fived me and told me “welcome home” I teared up a little.
Conclusion In come ways, I hate what I’ve become. You can see my old performances and while I did DNF this race thrice (usually when it was hot) I was almost 2 hours slower than walking PB and 3 hours slower than when I did this race as a runner.
But…well, this one was WORK. It was one of my toughest marathon finishes ever..even if it took me longer than my 2003-2005 50K walks. (5 miles farther)
Quad Cities History
1998: 3:55 as a runner (hot)
1999: 3:45 as a runner
2000: 1:40 for half of a relay
2001: 1:49 for half marathon (week after giving blood)
2002: 4:44 marathon as a walker
2004: 5:12 marathon as a walker
2005: 5:34 marathon as a walker.
2007: DNF at mile 23 (walker)
2008: 2:25 half marathon (walker)
2009: 5:28 marathon (as a walker)
2010: 2:39 half marathon (as a walker; knee surgery in July).
2011: 2:22:27 (half marathon powerwalk)
2013: 2:20:59 as a runner
2014: 2:24:17 powerwalk.
2016 DNF mile 20 (run/walk) heat
2017 DNF mile 20 (walk) heat
2018: Marathon powerwalk 6:14:11.
2019: Marathon powerwalk 6:42:06
Ok first the present: 3 mile walk this morning…that was it (W. Peoria)
Next: the post. These photos were from my first 3 marathons.
First Marathon: Maryland, December, 1980.
During my senior year in college, I decided to run the Maryland Marathon. That was me at about mile 18 or so; note the cotton shorts, cotton shirt and the New Balance 730s. Those were state of the art shoes back then.
Though I had several 50 mile weeks, I did no run over 15 miles. So the marathon was a bit of a rude shock. I hit mile 10 in 1:15, half way in 1:37 and slowed to 2:38 at mile 20. The finish: 3:33. Boy, was that last 10K a death march! It wasn’t just for me though; I managed to keep something like a shuffle (and flipped off a kid who said “here is a fat one”) and people were walking at this point; not everyone of course.
My buddies (who went to the race with me) ran 2:38 and 2:59. I ran 3:33 for 1054 out of 2229 men; the median time for the men was 3:36. There were 201 female finishers; two friends of mine finished in 3:30. The median female finisher was 4:05.
How do I know this? I still have the program!
Second Marathon: San Antonio, November 1981.
I was about 10 lb. heavier (roughly 210) but I did have a nice 22.5 mile run 3 weeks earlier: 3:00:xx. It was the “Double Decker” challenge ..I so wish THAT had been the marathon. I had gone out right at 8 minute miles and maintained it, reasonably easily.
So what did I do on this hotter day? I took it out at a 7:30 pace which I held for 10 miles; I slowed to a 8 minute pace for the next 5 miles (about 1:40 at the half way point); slowed to 2:41 at mile 20 (some walking) and then did a 1:07 walk/jog death march to finish in 3:48. That was a dreadful time in those days; I still have the newspaper and they had a strict 5 hour cut-off.
Of note: a woman that blew me off when I hit on her during a training run gave me a long, emotional hug when I went to shake her hand to congratulate her on her finish. A buddy fixed me steak for lunch. And then I had a GREAT date with a young woman I was to date a few more times …a Baptist, if you can believe that.
Third Marathon East Lyme, CT: October 1983
I was to deploy to my submarine later that month, and yes, I had gained even more weight. My running was a disaster; my long was a 16 miler 2 weeks prior (had some earlier 20s) I did NOT feel good physically.
The result: I was walking (unintentionally) THREE MILES into the race..I had severe foot cramps. An older guy tried to encourage me to stick with it and slapped me on the ass as he ran past….told me “anyone can quit.” And yes, I stayed with it; I was something like 1:28 at mile 10. The rest was “walk/jog” and several times, the sag wagon asked me if I wanted a ride.
I stuck with it…though the roads were open to traffic..and limped in at 4:24…I felt I was dead last but really wasn’t. The announcer said “I was a winner” and I wanted to die of shame. I was fat and out of shape and knew it.
Ok, those were all runs or attempted runs.
But now…let’s just say that my next marathon will, more than likely take me over 6 hours. LOL…
Life of an old goat 