Dhammerica – Day Nine: Race Day

Woke up at 4:30 am. Got ready. Breakfast of honey and bread. Bananas. Some Gatorade (which we had copious amounts of, in the previous week).

And we are ready.

The traffic lights bang opposite the apartment complex refused to turn green after about 8 minutes or so. Another dear friend had offered to drive us down to Long Branch along with my other buddies who were there for cheering.

What had seemed like a routine drive for about 45 minutes went berserk and my race didn’t almost start on time. First we encounter slow-moving traffic, of which we had been warned off. The no. of cars headed towards the race start was a few thousand. Since the half marathon also started on time, there were literally thousands of vehicles headed in the same direction.

Our whiz who had gone to sleep wakes up, twenty minutes before the race, by which time, we had resolved to run all the way to the starting point if necessary, except that we didn’t know how much to run. He whips open his Blackberry which proved priceless as we discovered an alternative street which was comparatively empty and when we were about a 200 m from the venue, I got off the car and ran. My heart rate which is usually about 60-80 at rest was at 143 already and I wasn’t even running!

The rush meant that I forgot to take my mobile phone and apply jelly! This would come back to haunt me post race, but would not be a concern for the next four hours or so, which was all that mattered at the moment.

Am at the starting point (a little off, actually) but have managed to find my pacing group for 4 hours. I look around and for the first time in my running history, see more people with GPS watches, heart rate monitors and mostly fit people, not people who are just out to run and have fun. These are serious runners. Most are discussing the qualification for the Boston and NYC marathons. Some are discussing whether to swap pace groups. And then of course, there are some who are there for a cause. There are some marines, fitness instructors and other assorted members of the New Jersey population. There are a few like me, who have flown down from locations across the US. One striking fact was that there were few black runners. There were I think, only 2 Kenyans registered.

Anyways, before the race, there are some announcements, thanking of sponsors and then even a prayer by a pastor who prays for our good luck! Next is the national anthem which is even greeted by some boos by people who are impatient to start as it is 15 minutes past the scheduled start, to the surprise of a few.

And then we are off. Between the gun start and my actual crossing of the start, which is what my chip records, there was about 2 minutes, due to the hundreds ahead, including pace groups from 3 hours to 4 hours, the half marathon runners as well as the elite athletes.

I stuck to the pace group leader for 4 hours for almost 5 miles or so, after which I decided to go faster since I was very comfortable. My average heart rate for the entire race was about 173 bpm, which is excellent, reflecting the great weather I was running in. The temperature for the entire race was between 10 and 12 deg C. In fact, till about 30 km or so, I was closer to the 3:50 pace group rather than the 4:00. I then decided to decelerate to allow for flagging of energy as has happened in the past.

The pace leader for 4:00 kept pushing us really well and when she saw some of us were doing better than the rest, she began to try and push us towards a 3:57 finish. Until I reached the last 4 miles, I was dreaming of this.
But then, some fatigue sets in and the course being almost completely asphalt or concrete hurts the knees. That resulted in some slowing down. All the effort invested in practice began paying through as I refused to be flagged down and pushed towards the closure.

During the race, one guy who wore a t-shirt which said, “ When you see this, Shout GO ART” greeted me with, “Kaisa Hai?” and other assorted greetings in Hindi and also wished me luck! I was too uptight about losing any energy due to distraction and gave him a weak reply and a thumbs up. He was happy. I think the guy was Art himself.

There were adequate water stops, which had Gatorade. I had mostly Gatorade during the race and at every stop, which was about 2 miles apart.

There were a few local residents once every 3 miles or so, with their homemade lemonade, cookies, some jelly based toffees which look like bear cubs, etc, all along cheering the runners. There was some great music being played by three local bands, along the route. There were also assorted localites playing music using kitchen utensils at some points and there were others with triangles, base drums, etc – all lending a very festive look to the race. There was also a kid with a poster showing her name and saying that it was her birthday! I did greet her. There were race officials who were constantly looking for people who were tiring out or so, on cycles.

There were some weird runners, not part of the race, but who were running for about the same time! Since the race was essentially 2 loops of the circuit for full marathon runners, I saw these guys about 4 times.

When I crossed the finish line for the first lap, I was about three minutes under 2 hours and feeling fresh. The second lap was sparser than the first, since most of the half marathon runners were out of the way. Now there were mostly people sitting on their lawns in the sun, little boys and girls who wanted you to give them a high five as you passed by and also wanted you to pick up toffees, water, cookies, whatever it was that they were carrying (reminiscent of Bombay). It does make your day.

I did take a toilet stop as well, since I had the luxury of time.
When I approached the finishing line, I was hoping to see my buddies for a pic, but they were nowhere to be seen. Either they didn’t expect me to finish in three hours or they were parked elsewhere. I realized to my utter dismay that the race clock was already showing 4:00 (due to gun time) and I raced to finish as fast as possible with about a little over a quarter mile to go!

And there was tremendous din to the finish line as all finishers were being cheered. I did eventually cross in 4:01:54 (gun time) for a chip time of 4:00:18 (lifetime best), overhauling my big bro’s record. Now I hold my family’s marathon and half marathon records. Not that bade bhaiyya ever competed.
Just as I crossed the finish line, the effort of finishing kicked in and I almost bent double. Someone promptly removed my chip off my ankle. Another gave a bottle of water while another gave my finisher’s medal and cap – all in about 10 seconds.
Speaks a lot for the efficiency of the organizers. Good Show Art and team.

Then I looked around for my pals. Since I was hurting, I decided to head for the lunch room – where I could only eat the fruit salad, although there were muffins, etc. Despite my full sleeved dri-fit shirt, signs of hypothermia began to set in, since the massage room was Aced and I had not changed as yet! While I kept shivering and ruing the fact that I was not carrying my phone, I asked a policeman for help. He promptly dialed my pal’s no from his cell. I asked my friends to come over and find me.

Relief appeared in the form of dry clothes and a jacket. And then the free massage at the hands of a sweet lady added to the relief.
I had shaved off 41 minutes off my previous best at a marathon. I no longer have to apologetically talk about a full marathon timing beyond 4 hrs when my half timing is closer to 90 mins! Quite some vindication for all the training over 3 months or so.

Next stop lunch. Wearing dress shoes (my race shoes were wet with sweat, Gatorade and water) to appear respectable, for a visit to a restaurant for lunch was quite literally painful as my feet were quite swollen to about size 9.5, post the marathon.

We did find a good Italian restaurant, again using my buddy’s Blackberry to good effect. We (mostly myself) had a monstrous lunch and then we returned home so that I could freshen up.
Once we were ready, next stop was the airport for a flight to Portland. We woke only when we landed in Portland and missed whatever was being served on the plane.
Reached Portland at about 11 pm and met up with our hosts, who were quite nicely waiting for us.

Big Day. Tiring Day.