California International Marathon
Before the Race
Yes, it’s time for another trip report already. This time, the destination was Sacramento, CA for the California International Marathon. I’m tempted to start with the Wednesday prior to the race, but I’ll spare you (this time).
I flew out of Pittsburgh on a mid-afternoon flight, and watched an appropriate movie, Without Limits (one of the two recent movies about the famous Oregon runner, Steve Prefontaine). I arrived at SFO right about rush hour on Friday. Still, Katie met me at the airport right on time and, after a side trip to pick up my rental car, we went to dinner at Chevy’s (Mexican, for those of you, who like me, might not be familiar with that chain). We had a nice dinner, and then I left for Satish and Smita’s to see what havoc they were up to. Fortunately, they took pity on me, so we only stayed up ‘til 11pm or so, and I was able to sleep in the following morning.
After a quick breakfast, I was off to meet Katie for lunch up at Walnut Creek. We picked up some sandwiches and headed to a reservoir trail with her dog, Bear (an aptly named Rottweiler). Yes, I probably should have stayed off my feet as much as possible the day before the race, but it was only about a two-mile loop and it would be uncharacteristic for me not to break a few training “rules” (besides, who can say “no” to a beautiful woman, with a dog, even :-).
Too soon, it was time for me to leave for Sacramento in order to make it there before the expo closed at 4pm. I arrived just after 3, so I had plenty of time to wander around the expo, which was good because it was spread out over several areas of the race hotel. I didn’t see anything I just had to have, so after picking up my number, shirt, and goodie bag, I left to find my hotel. It was sort of strange being there so early, but I decided to make the most of it and try to find breakfast for the next morning, eat dinner, and see if I could slip in the requisite pre-race movie and still get to bed early, since I was supposed to catch a bus to the start around 5am.
Breakfast was the usual: a couple of bagels; I also picked up water and Gatorade to try to be good about hydration. The hotel desk clerk had recommended an Italian restaurant, which wasn’t very crowded at just after 5pm. Actually, it was a very reasonable, but nice, place and it was interesting to find myself surrounded by other marathon runners. So, besides a very pleasant meal, I had the opportunity to watch the end of the Kansas State vs. Texas A&M game, and chat with a few other runners about their races and expectations for C.I.M.
Next, I headed back to the movie theaters, which were right next to my hotel. There were 14 movies, but they were spread out among several buildings, so I parked in the middle and walked around to see what was showing. You would think that I would know what at least a few of them were about, but that was hardly the case. I had a recommendation to see Meet Joe Black, but that didn’t seem quite appropriate for the occasion, and the start time wasn’t until 8:20 (and it wasn’t even quite 6pm yet). So, I took the scientific approach to picking a movie: the one with the next start time, which turned out to be Enemy of the State. Like Columbus, this wasn’t a terrific choice, but it was entertaining and got my mind off the race for a couple of hours.
After last-minute good wishes for a good race from Katie, I was in bed by 9pm. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the least bit tired yet, so I watched TV until I was bored enough (which didn’t take long) to try to sleep anyway . As is usually the case, I didn’t get much sleep, but it wasn’t too bad, and I had no trouble getting up at 4am for breakfast. I managed to dally enough that it was a bit after 5am before I left for the buses leaving from the race hotel.
There was quite a line of runners waiting to board a bus to the start line, but naturally it was interesting and exciting to be in with the crowd. The bus ride was about 30 minutes out to the start, near the Folsom Dam, so there was still nearly an hour to kill before the start. It looked like they had buses for the elite runners to keep warm, but we were promptly kicked off the bus so it could return for another trip. The temperature was about 35 and very humid, so “cold” is a pretty accurate description of how it felt. I met some nice runners, though, who even gave me a garbage bag to wear after dropping off the bag with my warm-up clothes (for transport to the finish). Ironically, it was only about 30 seconds later that a race volunteer arrived, handing out garbage bags also (but it’s the thought that counts, right?)
The Race
The last minute lines for the porta-johns looked hopeless, so I went for a short “nature walk” and then headed to the start line. As in Columbus, I actually missed the start (many of us thought it was the wheelchair racers start, which we must have missed entirely), so my watch wasn’t going to be accurate once again. Anyway, the start was on a wide stretch of road, so it took very little time to reach the start line and the first mile wasn’t too terribly slow – about 7:48.
As in Columbus, I tried to just settle into a nice easy rhythm early in the race. I was surprised to find that my pace was averaging from 7:05-7:15 minute miles, but I really didn’t feel like I was going too fast, so I just went with it. By the fifth mile, I was pretty honed in on a 7:06 pace and was feeling good. I tried not to think about whether I could hold that pace for long, and played the usual game of trying to only think about the next six-mile segment of the race. The course is “rolling”, especially for the first half of the race, but it really helped to know that overall, the course loses almost 300 feet of elevation.
During those middle miles, I actually had several sub-7-minute miles, which were exhilarating (I had wanted to check later to see if they corresponded to net-downhill miles, but managed to reset my watch before I captured the lap times). I can’t describe how great it felt to hear mile after mile click off at around a 7:06 pace, with a projected finish of 3:06! It surely wasn’t easy, and not as “fun” as Columbus had been, but I kept thinking about how cool it would be to qualify for Boston again and perhaps snag an unexpected PR (my previous best was 3:11:02 at the 1996 Pittsburgh Marathon).
I was so glad to finally reach the 20-mile mark, still on pace. However, things really started to get difficult then. I was constantly trying to calculate what affect a one-minute per mile slowdown (the typical impact of my hitting the wall in previous marathons) would have on my finish time. Fortunately, math isn’t very easy at this point in a marathon, so it kept my mind pretty well occupied. Anyway, I worked as hard as I could to see if I could keep the pace to less than 7:30. As it turned out, most were right about 7:28 (and I’d been up around 7:08 in the previous miles), so I was quite pleased – 20 seconds didn’t seem bad, considering how I felt.
My most striking memory of those last miles was passing the 25-mile mark at less than 3 hours – a first for me! Of course, those last 1.2 miles seemed interminably long, and I didn’t feel anywhere near as good or “fleet of foot” as I had in Columbus, but the prospect of how great I would feel at the finish kept me pressing towards that final turn. When I rounded the last corner and could see the clock, it was already at 3:07:55, so I knew I couldn’t break 3:08 and just tried to see if I could get 3:08:15. I thought I’d made it, but later found out that my official time was 3:08:17 – still a new, and very unexpected, PR and well below the qualifying time for Boston. Also, it was a thrill to hear my name announced as I finished (of all the races I’ve run, this is the first time that has happened) – twice even (or was that just an echo in my head?)!
After the Race
I knew that Katie was a volunteer at the finish, but I didn’t see her (I later found out that she was right at the finish, recording runners’ numbers as they crossed the finish line). However, no sooner was I through the chute than I heard my name again – this time it was an ex-Transarcer and friend, Ward Travis. I’d exchanged email with him before the race, but we hadn’t run into each other until the finish. Ward had been shooting for a sub-3, and it sounded like he was in shape to do it. Well, he crushed it, running a 2:56 marathon! I’ve tried to imagine running at about a 30-second per mile faster pace, but that’s pushing my imagination – maybe when I get as young as he is (what? it doesn’t work that way?)… Anyway, we were two very happy campers at the finish.
I needed to keep walking, both to keep from getting too stiff and to try to get warm – once you stop, the temperature sure seems colder. I guess the need for food and hydration may have something to do with it, too. So, we gathered our clothes and headed off to raid the post-race refreshments. I wandered around looking for Katie for about 45 minutes, but never found her since I didn’t make it all the way back through the crowd to the finish line, so I headed off to find the bus back to the race hotel.
Once back at my own hotel, I wanted to spend all afternoon in that warm shower, but I thought the management would appreciate it if I checked out sometime close to checkout time. Fortunately, Katie managed to catch me just before I left the room and agreed to meet me at the hotel lobby and be my chauffeur for the afternoon. We went back downtown to Old Sacramento and wandered around the shops, ate lunch, and generally mellowed out. Naturally, I was still flying high over the race result, so I felt no pain.
The drive back to Satish’s was a different story – it seemed so much longer than the drive to Sacramento, and my legs didn’t seem to appreciate the situation much, either. Eventually, though, I made it back and got to revel in the race outcome and ramble on with Satish, Smita, and friends for awhile. My complete lack of planning for the weekend resulted in us being unsuccessful in rounding up anyone for dinner, so Satish and I made a dash to the California Pizza Kitchen for pizza and a beer. Soon afterwards, it was time for me to head back to the airport for the red-eye back to Pittsburgh.
I was asleep before they even started the drink service, and even though I woke up (if you could call it that) before the movie ended, I have no idea what was playing. I was in a full row, so I couldn’t stretch out, but I still managed to sleep for about half of the flight back, and was awake for our loop around downtown (very pretty at 6am) on the way in to land. After re-learning how to drive my car (I hate switching to/from rentals), I was back home in time for a quick shower and on to work…
Thus ends another successful, if short, excursion to run a race and visit friends. If you made it this far, you must be a hardy soul; if you want to accost me – hey, I didn’t make you read this drivel – it was your own choice. Now, I need to start thinking about the Disney Marathon next month (an excuse to visit my sister in Deltona) and whether a repeat attempt at Boston is in order. Wish me well.
Thanks, Tim
P.S. Sorry (?), no pictures this time. I may as well have left my camera at home, since I never managed to remember to take it with me anywhere.