My first Marathon

 

Deng Huang

 

Today (10/30/05) I completed my first Marathon in 3 hours 32 minutes.  I was way short of my goal (3h10’) as I walked the last 2.2 miles.  It was a good experience.

 

The event was the Tri-City Marathon in Richland, WA.  The weather was perfect, sunny, ~50F, 5 mph wind.  The course was beautiful.  We started at 8am.  I completed the first half (13.1 miles) smoothly and fast, in 1h32’.  The first sign of trouble appeared at about 15 mile, when I felt slight cramp in my left leg.  And it wouldn’t go away no matter how I adjusted it, so my speed was down, and each mile seemed longer than the last.  But I fought not to stop (now I think I probably should), and at miles 20-22 I felt extremely tired in my legs.  I think I may have hit the “wall”.  After mile 22 my speed picked up a little, but at 100 yards from the 24-mile water station (~2h55’), my both thighs cramped.  There was no way for me to keep running, so I walked, and drank a lot of Gaterade hoping to ease the cramps.  For several times I attempted to run again, but my muscles so tightened that I nearly fell.  At the end I entered the finishing area like I was taking a causal walk in the park – very funny.

 

I have to thank my buddies Zhengyu and Hong for cheering and supplying mid-run energy gels for me.  Zhengyu also did as a pacer at miles 15 and 22.

 

To reflect on my unsuccessful second half, it may be due to the following two reasons:

1.      I did not do enough long runs in the training (for the reason I will explain below).

2.      The first half was probably a bit too fast, even though I tried very hard to control it.

 

The course map

 

 

4 miles – last good-looking picture

 

 

Below is about the training.  I started the training in mid-May.  Every Sunday morning I did a long run with my friend Minghao.  My schedule before early-September was approximately (in miles) 6, 8, 8, 10, 10, 13, 10, 16, 12, 10, 16, 12, 20, 12, and 24.  I often had some difficulties after 15 miles, but the first 12 miles was usually fast and fun.  I remember I had a 1h22’ 12-mile run (and Minghao did 1h20’).  The 24-mile was my last systematic long-distance training.  In that run, my right knee was very painful after 20 miles, but I sustained to the finish.  I could barely walk in the following week, so I skipped training that week.  And then in the long run two weeks later my left knee gave up after 10 miles.  So I rested for another two weeks, hoping to fully recover.  However, after the rest, my knees felt even more vulnerable (it was then a month from the race and I couldn’t even finish 10 miles).  At this time I started to question my techniques and tried to change my running styles.  The various adjustments were not very effective in general, until I read an article that condemns the classic technique of “rolling” the running shoes from heel to toes.  The argument is basically that human being evolved without shoes; therefore the best style is the way you run without shoes, which means less strides and more force on toes rather than heels.  I practiced this idea and my knee pain was mostly overcome.  But by then it was already mid-October, too late for any long runs.  I did 16 and 10 miles on the two Sundays prior to the race.