Grateful Recovering Marathoner

Weeks and weeks of training culminated with running the 2007 Twin Cities Marathon this past Sunday. Although it now seems nothing but a great success, this year's marathon (D-Monk's second) was anything but pretty.

It is amazing how much of a marathon is psychological. The 26.2 miles presents a huge mental barrier. Even after running last year's marathon, I found myself doubting very much whether I could do it again.

And completing a marathon brings incredible self-confidence. The mental toughness seems to spill over into other areas of life. If I can endure the simple act of continuing to place one fott in front of the other even when I am exhausted and there are still eight miles to go, I can do anything my boss asks of me at work!

This year's pre-race carb load was at Bucca's restaurant. I went with my wife, my parents, my sisters, and an uncle who is visiting from Texas. I ate and ate and ate: mannicotti, chicken canaloni, lasagna, chocolate cake. And I felt absolutely no guilt!

We talked about my preparation. I said that I felt confident (but really I was very very nervous). I said that I was in better shape and had trained more for this year's race (that was true).

We talked about Sven Sundgaard, one of the local weathermen, who was supposed to be running. He is a young guy (26) who looks even younger. All the girls say he is "dreamy." My wife told me to look for him. I was sure I'd have no trouble finding him amongst the other 10,000 entrants, especially given the fact that he is over 10 years younger than me and likely to be running my pace!

I had been worried about the weather all week prior to the race. Last year's run was under idyllic sunny skies with refreshing fall breezes. But this year's run looked like it would be in the rain.

As Sunday approached, the forecast for rain receded and was replaced with heat. Humid, muggy, awful heat. And this is what we got. It was a terrible day (meteorologically speaking) for a marathon. The overnight low was 72 degrees. It was 72 degrees at the start of the race with 80% humidity! I was sweating before I took my first step.

But the race went well for me. I doubled and tripled the amount of liquids I took in during the course of the race. I stopped at drink stations to make sure I could get 3 gatorades. And that turned out to be very wise.

While this race featured 1,100 fewer finishers than last year's marathon, I not only finished, but I cut 15 minutes off my time. I worked very hard on the last 10 miles not to slow down and not to give in. And I finished!

And guess what else? I did see the dreamy weather guy! I passed Sven Sundgaard at mile 24. He had been much much faster than me for the first half of the race, but the humidity got to him. But he was very nice and chatted with me for a bit. I told him my wife was watching for him and that I had to get to the finish line before him or she wouldn't bother waiting for me. He laughed.

All in all it was a great day for me. I worked hard, pushed myself, finished, experienced great deals of pain.

And now I am a grateful recovering marathoner.