I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon alright, I just ran it twice. The start was pretty uneventful and I was running at a very conservative pace. By about seven miles I was tucked behind a couple of women from Pasadena. Saw Margaret with a couple of TNT people cheering near the Belmont Pool and she yelled to tell me she had my utensils from the Friday party. I said she can have them to keep till next year's party. I hung on with the two women till 10 ½ miles after which I had to make a decision. Make the left turn on Ocean Blvd. and push the pace for 2 ½ miles to the finish? Or make a right turn on 2nd St. and try to finish the whole marathon? Having already done a couple of 20 milers in training despite a nagging right ankle injury and a left Achilles tendon injury, I decide to make the right turn. Hmmm, big mistake! First off, while I have done the training, I don’t think I did the eating thing right. I didn’t carbo load enough. After all, no need to carbo load very much for a half-marathon, right? My wake up weight on marathon morning was about was about 1 ½ to 2 pounds lower than usual. Even though I ate 1-½ Clif bars and drank lots of fluids before the start, my intake was not enough as evidenced by what was to come shortly. By 14 miles I started feeling drained and my legs were dead. I had to down a couple of Clif Shots within a 30 minute period and more Ultima drinks, and had to start walking. For some reason, after the walk break, I got my second wind and was actually able to pick up the pace. I ran and did walk breaks until 19 miles and that was when I started feeling cramps on my left leg from the quads to the hamstrings and all the way down to the calf. This is when I started walking more than I was running.
Time for Plan B – just get to the finish line no matter what. Saw Bernard at about 20 miles with the Hashers and upon seeing me with a half marathon bib number, yelled “Cheater!” I got some help from Emmett who was at about 20 ½ miles and ran me to the 21 mile point. I tried to do some power walking except without the power, and then jog a few steps till I start cramping again. Don and Wendy passed me at about 23 miles. That didn’t surprise me at all, I was expecting more from our training group to pass me since I was really suffering at that time. My left Achilles tendon was hurting, my right ankle was hurting even more. I started looking for Roberta because I knew that she was going to be at about 25 miles with her camera. Had to look good for that. Never let a camera see you hurting. From 25 ½ miles I was determined to finish my double half marathon if not running then at least shuffling my feet. James was at the corner of Ocean Bl. and Shoreline Dr. cheering runners on and taking pictures. Had to look good for that again! 100 yards from the finish line and I see Todd and Jacqui behind the fence cheering and I flashed them a smile and proceeded to the left chute to the half marathon finish line. At last, I made it! All of 13.1 miles times two, in 4:49:35, my slowest “half marathon” ever, 9th to the last half marathon finisher. Someone get me a wheelchair! File this experience under “How not to run a marathon” (but still look good at the end). The spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, but the willing sprit carried the weak flesh all the way to the finish line. All in all, I had a terrible run but had a great time!