steam and endophins and steam

I got into a zone; I was disappointed with my result on the one hand but happy about the zone.

My first looped marathon, Winterman 2009, turned out to be mind-melting drift without The Wall, and I was hoping to enjoy a repeat of that by signing up for another looped marathon. Early September is usually warmer than late February but the average high is about 20C, which seemed manageable.

Plus this marathon was an evening run! How rare is that?

I woke up feeling a little ill, just nerves, and I ate what usually goes down smoothly, but the rice noodles sent me into a 2-hour nap. That was a relief: two fewer hours of clicking on the weather and seeing the numbers roll past 30C. Oh, yes. I think it got up to 32C for a bit, then started to drop...the humidex was 35C. This is ok for casual running, but a full marathon?

My husband dropped me off at the start...I decided to go mainly to see how many other crazy people would be there. IT was surprisingly crowded.

I got sorted out and lined up, ready to go. Oh, wait, I needed the chip ankle-band thingy...I got back just as the gun went off, which was totally fine because I let pretty much everyone go ahead. What was the rush?

The race was six laps. The first two were surprisingly comfortable. I settled into a good pace, about 38-39 minutes per 4.38 miles...I'd decided that anything below 40 minutes per loop would be great, but I wasn't going to worry about it because the main thing was to find the pace that my body could sustain. I didn't wear a watch or timer, but there was a timer at the start/finish of the loops. I was happy, I was in a good zone. I was running alone, but there were friendly volunteers, and there were runners on the other side going back after a while (I was still near the back), plus there were the ironman competitors. I decided to tell them "Good job!"

After a couple of loops, my stomach started to churn. It got worse.

I was not expecting this, but I figured it out pretty quickly: blood was being redirected to surface capillaries (for cooling), as well as to my legs (for locomotion)...my poor digestive system, always a bit of a maroon during endurance events, was being left especially high and dry (or in this case, stagnant). The thought of another gel disgusted me.

Fortunately, a couple of friends had come down to spectate--seeing them on the 2nd and 3rd laps helped a lot!

I felt like quitting at the halfway mark, which I reached in 1:58, I think. I was starting to slow down at this point but that didn't matter so much as the stomach issue. I had planned to take six gels total, one at the start of each lap, but after the first three during the first half, it took about a lap and a half to stomach another. The only gel I took during the second half was fortunately perfect: cherry-lime roctane. It was a delicate, cooling, and not too sweet flavour. I opened it, gagged, but the freshness quelled that reflex and I was able to finish it.

Apart from the GI distress, however, the rest of the race went well. I was moving slower, about 41-42 minutes per lap, which was a bit disappointing, but I was catching up to and passing people, one here, one there. My legs were starting to go leaden but I could still move them fine. I wasn't feeling too hot. And apparently, I was still smiling.

It got dark, and cooler; after the fourth lap, I was on automatic. I wasn't talking to the other competitors anymore; I couldn't really see them until it was too late (there were some other people on the path too). I finished the fourth lap feeling tired, but stopping was a foreign decision, and I went back out. Mentally, the loops were very easy because going out was a bit downhill: all I had to do was get embraced and swept along by gravity. Going back was easy too because the uphill gave some muscles a rest, plus once it got dark, it seemed easier to see going back.

The fifth lap was a blur. I honestly don't recall much of it. I was feeling some discomfort, my stomach and my legs, but it passed. It didn't seem endless at any point. That's the benefit to loops: you know where you are, you know that it'll take x minutes to get to such and such a point, which you've run to before after the first lap. There is no crushing uncertainty: how long is this hill and where the heck did it come from? Am I there yet? Instead, there is a machine-like efficiency that squashes the usual marathon doubts: I've run this before, I can run it again, what's the worry? It makes the distance so much easier.

The sixth lap, being the last, went pretty easy. I was trying not to stop; I broke the course into bits and coaxed myself through...and then I started to feel a bit of an acceleration. This is what happened during the last looped marathon though at a larger scale: pretty much each successive loop was faster. This did not occur this time, except that I think the last half of the last loop was faster. However, I passed several women during the last two laps, and NOBODY passed me except for some half marathoners who had started later. I was very happy about this.

At the second last drink station, I stopped to walk (as I had done for each water station)...I drank some water and a volunteer asked me if it was my last loop. Yes, it was, thank goodness. He asked again, I confirmed. Then he told me that I'd better get going. It seemed like an odd sort of attitude, almost as if he was shooing me away. It was too dark to see if he was smiling. "Go on, finish it up." I almost got annoyed, but I got going, and am now extremely grateful that he was that direct. I picked up my pace, passed another woman with less than 1 km to go (we both skipped the last water station, but I was rolling and she was fading), and I finished it. It felt great going up the last little hill onto the track. It was a strong finish.

Time: 4:01:XX
Temp (humidex): 35-30C.
Wall (apart from GI stuff): not apparent!

I wish the weather had been cooler so that I could have pushed myself more, and it is kind of annoying to see that "4", but having completed this race in this sort of temperature was a big confidence boost. There will be other hot races.