Well, on Friday's post I said that I felt that I was in a good place. That was all well and good until Saturday morning around 1:00 A.M. I woke up in a panic that the race was Saturday and not Sunday. I checked my phone calendar, which showed that it was Sunday, but that was not good enough. I actually had to go downstairs and look at the calendar, and compare it to the race info sheet...nothing like a little panic and paranoia to get your heart rate going. As Saturday continued I could not help but feel that "Wackety Sax"was playing while I was getting ready. I got my bags packed, playlist ready, and went to the trunk of my car to grab my braces...except there were no braces to be found. Seriously, is there an elf in the house that is taking my braces and hiding them?
At 8:00 my dad and I hopped in the car and headed to the office to see if I left them in the gym. The cleaning crew was standing at the front door. The head janitor had locked his badge inside and his key would not work. By using his key without a badge, he locked all of us out until Monday. He told me that the braces were in there, but there was now no way to get them out. OK, run to sports chalet and pick up another set. Not what I wanted to be doing at 9:00 P.M. but such is life.
Alarm went off at 3:30 A.M. Sunday. Caffeine, check - b12, check - Cliff Bar, check. Was on the road by 4:00 headed to the office. CIM had buses picking everyone up at local hotels, and I figured my office at least had secure parking and I could take one more crack at getting my braces - no luck. At 5:00 the buses arrived. I piled onto the first school bus and we were headed to Folsom by 5:10. Glad to see that in all the years since middle school, school buses are as uncomfortable as ever. The lady in the seat in front of me kept looking back at me as if I enjoyed jamming my knees through the seat and into her back. The weather seemed to be holding for the hour it took to get to Folsom.
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| Yellow and Red = bad |
We are in the middle of one unbelievable winter storm and as soon as we began to get off the buses the sky opened. Thankfully there was a 76 station that was blocked off by the starting line so everyone tried their best to huddle under the canopy. It did not matter though. With every gust of wind, it blew the rain in sideways.
6:50 - time to begin the walk to the starting line and hear the National Anthem. The rain continued to pour and the wind continued to punish. I could only hope that it would be at my back. It never happened. The rain was blowing directly in our faces. 3..2..1..go.
I started out with the 5:15 pace group, but they took a walk break around mile three and I had the 4:55 pack in my sights. I was roughly a minute behind them as we made the turn up Oak and towards Fair Oaks. The rain continued to pound down and the wind was blowing in from the left. Hard. The only way to describe it is that if you have a shower massager, turn it onto the highest setting, on cold water and shoot it into the left side of your face for two hours, then shoot it directly into your face for another hour. It's quite possible that an ark was being constructed and animals were being gathered 2 X 2. As we approached mile 5 a frawn from a palm tree came crashing down about 5 feet in front of me, nearly taking out the two guys ahead of me. Hopped over it, hoped my heart would stop pounding and continued on. Crisis averted.
Mile 8: I found my first rookie mistake. I had put on my fuel belt at 3:45 A.M. before I left. I failed to realize that it was on upside down. I found it out when I went to grab my first gel. I could not find the zipper to the pouch. Then it hit me...you fool! Now I'll have to figure out how to do this on the run, without dropping all of my gels. I successfully did it and knew that I would have to deal with it again later on. Seriously, who puts on a fuel belt upside down? Not to mention who fails to double check that before the race start...oh right...this guy.
I hung with the 4:55 pace group through mile 10 where Gregor, Justin and Kari were waiting with their first batch of signs of encouragement. It was nice to see friendly faces. As we slogged down Fair Oaks the streets were flooded (shin deep in many places). Apparently a water proof foot pod from Garmin should not be put under the conditions we faced on Sunday. It was toast, my watch now only gave the time. No pacing info, no distance info, now I would have to relate on how I felt to judge how I was doing.
I began the downhill slope that is near Sherwood Florist (awesome shop name by the way) and could see an issue up ahead. The roadway sloped down, bottomed out for a few feet, then a uphill slope. Water had pooled and I could tell that it was deep. Oh well, 2 hours in the rain and no part of me is dry, so this is nothing. The idiot that was 3 people ahead of me however felt that he needed to avoid the puddle at all costs and cut sideways in front of the two guys directly ahead of me.
There was that moment when everything gets slow and you know that nothing good is about to happen. As the first guy cut in front, the two guys tried to avoid him (and they did) however they crashed into each other and went down. Me and another guy crashed trying to avoid them and then two or three (I lost count) came down over the top of me (very Tour De France). I was face down in a puddle that was deep enough for panic to set in. As I scrambled to get to my feet I felt a "pop" in my left knee. Someone had stepped on me. I got to my feet and carried on. I had lost the 4:55 pace group, two of the guys in the collision left via ambulance and I was in shock.
Adrenaline and shock can only take you so far however. I made it though the half way point a little over 2:30 and could tell that I was slowing down. Then Mile 14 hit. The shock wore off and my knee was telling me that this is a bad idea. Only 12 more miles. Do I struggle through or take a DNF? I chose to struggle through. I walked as fast as I could and attempted to run for two minutes, walk for two minutes, but I could not even make 30 seconds before the pain became too much. I was going to have to try to speed walk the rest of the way.
The miles clicked away (slower than ever) and I finally made it to Arden and Fair Oaks where I saw Greg, Justin and Kari for a second time. Greg's sign was alerting me to a zombie attack that was following close behind. I stopped and told them that I would be awhile because of what happened. I was so glad to see them, and looking back, it may have been what kept me going.
I pushed down Fair Oaks over the H street bridge and back into downtown. I hit the last aid station and took whatever they would give me for the pain. Tylenol and ultra strength Tiger Balm. It did nothing. I recognized this part of the course from the Sac Town 10 and knew that I was getting close. As I came down J Street, I could see the Capitol and knew I was close. I found whatever strength I could and hobbled to the finish. I crossed the blue lines and I heard the announcer. "Joe Peterson, you are now a marathoner."
Renee, Mom, Dad, Gregor, Justin and Kari were cheering right past the finish line. Thank you to everyone for coming out in ludicrous weather to cheer me on. Sorry to Jerry Brown and the Sate of California for what the estimated 20k people did to the wet front lawn of the Capitol Building. I felt my knee starting to lock up and Renee convinced me to hit the medical tent.
They saw me in a hurry and I can say that I was in better shape than most of the other people in there. A few had passed out, one guy was suffering from hypothermia, and one had a compound (yikes!) fracture in his shin. The physical therapist let me know that it was a sprain (at the least) and that my temperature was dropping rapidly. She had me drink a few large cups of hot chicken broth to keep my temperature stable while I waited for the doctor. He told me the same, gave me some crutches and sent me on my way.
It is 2 days post run and while my knee is feeling better, my feet are swollen (to the point you can barely tell I have ankles), and causing a lot of pain. I think my feet hurt from overcompensating for my knee. Same goes for my hips. I am noticing some bruising there was well. Hopefully it will go away soon.
I think that I have made it past the initial disappointment in my time and realize that it was out of my control. Finishing under those conditions is a success (while possibly being the stupidest thing I could have done).
Special thanks again to all who believed that I could do this. Thank you again to my cheering section. A special thank you to my wife for giving me the time to train for this. I know that it was a lot of time and I appreciate the sacrifice. That and bringing me ice packs and for the last two days. I know that I am not an easy patient.
She also gave me a 26.2 key chain, which has space for multiple dates to be engraved on the back. I guess that means that I just have to go sign up for another one....
Thanks for reading. Until next time...
