Columbus Schmumbus

Everything was perfect for the Columbus Marathon today. Perfect weather outlook. Perfect training. All signs looked ideal to run a PR. We arrived in Columbus on Saturday a little later than I wanted due to a small 40 mile error in our drive. No big deal. Got to the convention center a little later than I wanted. No problem...just cut through the lines. Go out to eat a little later than expected. No biggie UNTIL.....my food arrived. I ordered the oriental pizza. Tasty. Into my second bite I feel something hard. My initial thought was that I bit into a tough piece of chicken. I lift the cheese and find a broken piece of knife. Yeah...I bit into a knife. Fortunately it didn't cut my mouth...but it did scrape it enough to keep the memory fresh for the rest of the night. Dinner was on the house for me, Jo, Maddie, my Mom and Dad. Headed back to the room for a good nights sleep. Woke up at 2:15am to the very loud sounds of a group of people yelling up and down the hall. I guess the bars closed at 2am. As the yelling turned to threats and fighting words, Jo decided to call security....but they quickly went away. Back to sleep. Woke up at 5:50am expecting my wake up call at 6am. Never came. Good thing I couldn't sleep. Now to run...

Again...perfect running conditions. Got off to a good start and felt like a million bucks. I was peeling off 6:05-6:14 miles the way a lonely fat guys peels off $1 dollar bills at a strip club...without effort or reservation. Felt amazing. Locked in with a runner doing the half. Had a very enjoyable first half. Went through the half in just over 1:22. Right on target. We were now approaching the new 2nd half of the course. Saw Andy R just after 15. Running smooth. Saw Chris F near 16. Felt on top of the world. Approached 17 and a funny thing happened. My legs seemed to gain 30 lbs each in the span of about 1 minute. I shook them out over the next mile by changing my stride, kicking up my heels, etc. I just couldn't pick them up. A little after 18 I started to get fatigue cramps. Nothing in one specific area, just tight and small cramp pings. From 18 to the finish I stopped running at each water station, drank a cup of Gatorade and a cup of water, knelt down to stretch, then continued along. I dropped like a stone from 18 to the end. At 20 I did a bad thing. I started doing the math. OK...remaining time divided by miles to figure out what I needed to average to get under 3 hrs. Six miles of math just sucks. Anyway I ended up with a 2:55:14. This put me as 2nd in the Men 45-49 age group.

So once again I chalk up another tough time. My plans to NOT run a Spring marathon also change. I will wait a few weeks then pick another target. Rest a few days then jump into 5K training for a few late Fall races.

Good job to those who met their goals, including Tony H, Denise Y, Jamie C, Sean M, Wyatt H, Jeff U, and anyone else I failed to mention.

Lastly a huge congrats to Tim Budic for his 4th place overall and a 2:26 effort. No science involved. Just ran. Very inspirational.