Before I ran my 150th marathon, I wondered “What will it bring?” A challenge? Certainly. Excitement? Hopefully. A successful finish (or start for that matter)?? Always a question until the feet hit the road!!
Indeed, my twin sister Tina was able to visit for this year’s San Diego’s Suzuki Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on June 1, her 40th birthday, guaranteeing a fun outing. I had said before the run that this one was for Tina, my Mom and Dad, and my friends and family – both athletes and not – who had put up with me and encouraged me for these many years. For me, it could not get any better than that.
However, during the weekly Wednesday AREC run four days before RNR, my left foot began to hurt. The next morning I could not walk. Not the most comforting of feelings knowing that there was 26.2 miles of reality coming that Sunday.
So I went to the hospital emergency room. A friend dropped me off directly at the entrance then went to park the car. A harbinger for the day came with the security guard stationed at the ER metal detector after he searched my belongings: “Sir, you will have to take your pocket knife and cigar cutter back to your car.” My reply: “I don’t know where the car is.” “Well, you will have to walk it there anyway.” “But I can’t walk. That is why I am here.” After stashing my cutting devices outside in the brush with everyone else’s, I headed inside.
After quite a while I was ushered to the examination room. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it hurt?” “Right now?”, I asked. After a nod, I answered honestly, “I am currently sitting so I guess it is a zero.” When I told the doctor that while standing it was about an 8.5, he informed me that my near-intolerable pain level was “subjective”. Now I ain’t no Richter scale, but I have a high pain threshold (for those of you who may need to know that sometime!) and when I say something hurts, I’m not kidding! After a few more questions, I was told (with feeling) that based on my history (like, they knew I had run once that week) and without the aid of any newfangled medical devices such as an X-ray machine, my ailment was most certainly a stress fracture. The medico gave me a prescription for foot pain and told me to “stay off of it”. I had the inclination to ask if my considering running a marathon was OK because "staying off of it" was subjective also!
The next couple days for me were fraught with pain and uncertainty. To run or not to run? As I wrestled with this issue, I asked some of my close running friends their opinions. I suppose I should have known better than to ask some of the folks I know. Infamous for running a marathon with a bonafied stress fracture, our own Todd Rose gave me the distinct impression that I would be a wimp if I did not do my 150th that Sunday. At the RNR Expo, friend Blair Cohn said as I hobbled up to their Long Beach Marathon booth: “You know you are going to do it!” Truth was, I did not know what I was going to do come daybreak.
That evening at dinner with friends, fellow Penguin and physician Keith Osborne from Arizona offered his medical opinion at my request: If it gets any worse during the marathon tomorrow, you will definitely know it. I took that statement to be a lack of a strong recommendation to not participate. I figured it was the best non-“man are you stupid!” input I was going to get.
Race morning dawned nicely for a marathon. I dressed to run and figured I would make up my mind in the starting grid. Sporting bib #150 (thank you Tracy Sundlun!) and hearing the announcement arranged by friends in front of the waiting 25000 participants honouring Tina’s and my 40th birthday and my 150th marathon, I was hard-pressed to DNS (did not start). We had made provisions for the worst: I had a mobile phone with me to check in every two hours with an update; Tina and Margaret had crutches in the car for me and with their VIP credentials could have delivered them anywhere along the course; and I was going to start in one of the front corrals which my number afforded because I thought I may need the extra clock time to make the course cutoff criterion. With all that, thirty seconds before the start, Tina looked at me with those sisterly eyes and asked if I was sure I wanted to do this. As I recall, my response was “No”.
Nonetheless, the race started and I was swept up in the mass of humanity. Nearly immediately, athletes I knew started to pass me with their own words of encouragement. Jon from Alaska, who was running barefoot, got me to run some with him after I had intended to walk the entire distance. Jon went ahead as I took a walk break then I was buoyed by AREC’s very own Rich doing his first marathon and veteran marathoner (and new AREC member!) Katrin. After the first couple hours passed I phoned in with news that I was cautiously optimistic about a same-day vertical finish. As the day wore on and the clock ticked away, the miles passed more quickly than I would have thought. Tina and Margaret met me at mile 19 - where from my New York Marathon days with my sister’s support, I asked Tina “Am I in Central Park yet?” Obviously a case of oxygen debt! Then Christy blew by me on her way to her first marathon finish, smiling and helping her friends all the way.
Shortly afterward I finished nonetheless and was happy to have dodged the bullet once again without doing any more permanent damage. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the VIP tent with friends and congratulating all of the finishers, including several AREC members. All in all, the experience was very nice even considering the anxiety beforehand. The event just helped to remind me that the most important part of any marathon for me is not the attempt or completion of yet another race. It is indeed the people and the friends who offer their support of another person which is of most import. Without the help of everyone involved that particular weekend, I do not believe I would have been able to complete my 150th marathon. For my next marathon training seminar, however, I am definitely going to put “Do not run a marathon if you are currently diagnosed with a stress fracture” in my do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do column!