Sunday, September 14, 2008

Lewis & Clark Marathon

Well, my blog proclaimed that I was to ‘run like an animal’ and nothing would stop me from running under 3:00:00 for the marathon. I took into account the possibility of: ‘hitting the wall’, blisters, the 26.2 miles and even Hurricane Ike.

What I did not take into consideration was the possibility of the Race Director cutting the race short in running!! Yes, Hurricane Ike roared through downtown St Charles before 5:00 am with wind gusts of 35mph, torrential rain and sometimes hail, the outcome of which was flash floods and road closures. It was road closures on the course that left the race management with no alternative but to take decisive action and ensure the safety of over 5000 runners. The race route was altered in running and a forced finish line of around 10 miles was imposed on both events, the full and the half marathon.

For my part I was ready and willing, although when waiting in the incessant downpour for 40 min before the delayed start, I did question my overall sanity. I was cool, even cold, the wind was blowing hard, the hail was hurting my head and the dark sky was still erupting. I was coping very well with the surprise conditions and went through the first 2 miles in 15 min, 5 miles in 35 min and 10 miles in 64 min, only to be cut off in my stride…..I was on my way to a sub 3:00:00 marathon. I acknowledge that you can’t count your chickens at mile 10 in any marathon, but my legs were just about warmed up and my breathing was easy, even in the wind! I now know I can go under 3 hours……so my next move is to log onto the Chicago Marathon website and see if I can create myself a new goal.

By they way, at 6.15 in the morning it takes guts to step out of your warm, dry car into what felt like a cold power shower and get ready to run a marathon or half marathon, over 5000 people did that this morning and I take my hat off to all of them and most of all to all the spectators, volunteers and race management who did a sterling job under unbelievable circumstances.



David Carruthers 14th September.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well done David, you're looking good! What happened to the hair though? V