John's Marathon Journey

Success!

I finished!!! It's been 1.5 weeks since the big day, March 3, 2002. I'm finally over my soreness; I can't remember being sore for so many days before. But, I'm relieved that the pain during running and soreness afterwards was in my muscles. Muscles can always heal.

The Napa Valley Marathon was very tough for me, much tougher than I expected. I had hit "the wall" by mile 16-18. When I saw my family at mile 16, I told Susan in my non-stoic way "I'm hurting now". My leg muscles, in particular the quadriceps that lift the leg, just would not work properly. Since I couldn't lift my legs, I started taking shorters strides and slowed down my pace.

This was where our mental conditioning came in. My legs really hurt. But, inspired by the Patton quote that I earlier posted and determined to finish after training for 4 months, I pushed through to the finish.

Actually, miles 18-23 were the toughest. Starting at mile 23, there were a lot more spectators out on the course, including people from Team In Training. This was a tremendous boost and really picked up my spirits. Since we had written our names on the front of our singlets, the cheers and encouragement from the crowd were personalize. "Way to go, John!" "Looking good, John!" It was quite emotional the last few miles. I got a little choked up. No crying, OK?

The Finish

The inspiration allowed me to pick up my pace significantly and finish at a strong clip. I was running so hard to the finish line, I had tunnel vision and couldn't see if my family or friends were in the crowd. I heard them announce my name as I crossed the finish line, and I could finally stop! I was gasping for air so hard after the big finish, that the helpers in the chute thought I needed medical attention. I told them it was just because I sprinted at the end, and I wasn't in danger of collapsing. They were handing out medals at the end of the chute, which you can see me wearing in the pictures that I posted.

The Weather

The weather was as good as could be asked for. It was fairly cold at the start (36 F?), but by the time I saw my family at mile 8.5, I was ready to take off my long-sleeves and gloves. It was a little warm at the end, 60-70 F, but much, much nicer than what my colleagues at the LA Marathon faced. They started later in the day and were running in 80 degree weather! That's especially hard considering we trained the whole season in cold weather.

Official Quote of the 2002 Napa Marathon

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired…You’ve always got to make the mind take over and keep going.”
~ George S. Patton, U.S. Army General (and 1912 Olympian)

What Ever Shall I Wear?

Well, it's the day before my first-ever marathon, and we're packing up to leave for Napa. One of the factors that I had been wondering and worrying about was the weather. There's a lot of good news on this front: no rain and little wind is in the forecast for Napa tomorrow!

On the other hand, the temperature range is pretty formidable. The handy weather web site forecasts 33 F at the start and 59 F at the finish. How can I dress to perform over such a range? Some new options that our coaches suggested are the always-fashionable garbage bag top at the start, and the throwaway long-sleeve shirt. It may be hard for a thrifty guy like me to drop an article of clothing on the course!