The DC Marathon just kicked off a few minutes ago up the road a bit. The times should be good this year. It's not warm at all. In fact, between the time I got up for our dog-person walk and now, the temperature has dropped from 33 to 30! Downright chilly. The sun should be peeking up over the Potomac in a few minutes, though, and remedy the dipping temperatures. It eventually will get up into the mid-50s today.
I ran a marathon once. I began running in two but never finished the first. They were both in Pittsburgh. In the first attempt my running friend and I foolishly thought we could do a marathon after only a month or so of extra training. Neither of us finished and the next day we could each hardly walk. I remember going down the stairs in our apartment on my rear because I couldn't walk down the stairs.
After that mid-summer's fiasco, we set our eyes on the October Pittsburgh Marathon, which in those days was run in North Park, in the North Hills area of metro Pittsburgh. We trained wisely this time. Gradually working our way up to 21 miles or so before a week ahead of the race. Then tapering off to race day.
To call a 26.2-mile marathon a "race" is like calling DC a country meadow - not quite. At least not for most of the participants, whose goal it is to finish the run within some pre-set time. Those runners sort of all jog off easily at the beginning of the marathon. Content in the understanding that it's going to be a long effort so there is no sense in rushing off. In fact many running books and experts advise doing just that - holding back at the beginning of a marathon, even though your adrenalin is high and you feel great. Because you'll need that energy in the end.
And I did. After having trained through the fall in typical fall weather and usually running in the mornings, when the fallish temperatures where even cooler, on race day the temperature spiked to over 80 degrees! "Drink lots of water," was the thought of the day. But that didn't help in the sun and heat. I had hoped to finish the run in under 4 hours, and I think I would have on cooler day. But I ended up crossing the finish line at around 4:15. Not bad at all. Both my friend and I finished. And that's how you "win" a marathon
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About Me
- Mark Gorman
- I was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, along the banks of the Susquehanna River, in the valley made up by Bald Eagle Mountain to the south, and gentle hills and valleys to the north. That place that sheltered me, gave me food and friends, and both physical and spiritual nourishment for 18 years. That is the space where I was physically and emotionally formed. Ever since growing up there . . . because of growing up there . . . I have been inexorably linked to nature . . . to the earth and to all life.