It is pretty rare that I get someone else's stories up on my blog. After all, this blog is dedicated to my own self promotion. But as my readers know, my life is pretty boring, especially during the week. I got this story sent to me and it is a pretty entertaining read so I decided to post it. If you know me, chances are you know my buddy, Krum. This is the story that he sent me regarding his marathon he ran last weekend.
Well my first almost marathon was definitely an interesting one….
My friend, John Gardiner AKA “Goob”, came in from California to run it with me. Our plan was to go out at 7:30 and see how things went. Obviously you all know the situation with the temperature and humidity. We went out in wave 2 so we were weaving through many a donkey in the first 2 miles. We took a leak in the bushes by the sculpture garden and hit the 2 mile mark at 15 minutes….slow down we said…we turned out a bunch of 7:30 miles almost on the nose, a 7:28 followed by a 7:32…we were 7:30 machines. Things were going pretty well, getting fluids, sweating a bit too much, but feeling strong. My friend John Schafer ran with us around Nokomis, we were still feeling strong. We had passed a few people that I was concerned about passing as I knew they were going to be running faster paces than I intended to be running, but we just kept ticking off the 7:30’s. we hit the river and kept it moving, nothing faster than a 7:19 and nothing slower than a 7:49. We saw a bunch of people walking on the Minneapolis side of the river- to which John (who has run it a handful of times) commented, I have never seen people walking on this side of the river. We hit the St. Paul side of the river and started into the hills. My legs and lungs felt fine, (considering) but my heart rate started to creep up on the hills, and then not really recover, I was in the 168 range and couldn’t get it back to the high 150’s where I wanted to be. At 20, I was not totally hating it, but not totally loving it. Things get a bit foggy after this, I remember running summit, I remember passing Fort Snelling, and I remember thinking, 5K, you can do a 5K……..
What I don’t remember is handing Goob my watch, after looking at it, and saying “Goob, 185….Ligit!” that would be my max heart rate, or damn close. I don’t remember falling over, trying to get back up, almost landing on a 3 year old, and then getting rolled into an ambulance. I also don’t remember puking all over the EMT in the ambulance (the greenest thing they had ever seen) nor getting my clothes cut off (sweet team ortho top souvenir) and getting a ton of stuff stuck in me to get my record breaking 106 temp back down to something less life threatening. I guess they asked if I was running a marathon and I said no, I said it was winter, and I was just outside doing nothing….
I was running, then I was face up in a hospital room an hour later……I was there for 2 hours, and when I had my wits about me they let me go. There were runners in the hallway due to the lack of rooms…not a good situation. There was still 30 minutes left until cut off, we joked about dropping me off at the finish for a 5:45 time, but that was a short joke and was not that funny.
I am ok now, can eat and drink, can’t really walk, but aside from almost dying, it was a great race, you don’t know your limits until you cross them, so there is no doubt about the effort, but some serious doubt about the whole “listen to your body”
Up until 24, we were on 3:19 pace……which would have been a great first marathon.
My friend, John Gardiner AKA “Goob”, came in from California to run it with me. Our plan was to go out at 7:30 and see how things went. Obviously you all know the situation with the temperature and humidity. We went out in wave 2 so we were weaving through many a donkey in the first 2 miles. We took a leak in the bushes by the sculpture garden and hit the 2 mile mark at 15 minutes….slow down we said…we turned out a bunch of 7:30 miles almost on the nose, a 7:28 followed by a 7:32…we were 7:30 machines. Things were going pretty well, getting fluids, sweating a bit too much, but feeling strong. My friend John Schafer ran with us around Nokomis, we were still feeling strong. We had passed a few people that I was concerned about passing as I knew they were going to be running faster paces than I intended to be running, but we just kept ticking off the 7:30’s. we hit the river and kept it moving, nothing faster than a 7:19 and nothing slower than a 7:49. We saw a bunch of people walking on the Minneapolis side of the river- to which John (who has run it a handful of times) commented, I have never seen people walking on this side of the river. We hit the St. Paul side of the river and started into the hills. My legs and lungs felt fine, (considering) but my heart rate started to creep up on the hills, and then not really recover, I was in the 168 range and couldn’t get it back to the high 150’s where I wanted to be. At 20, I was not totally hating it, but not totally loving it. Things get a bit foggy after this, I remember running summit, I remember passing Fort Snelling, and I remember thinking, 5K, you can do a 5K……..
What I don’t remember is handing Goob my watch, after looking at it, and saying “Goob, 185….Ligit!” that would be my max heart rate, or damn close. I don’t remember falling over, trying to get back up, almost landing on a 3 year old, and then getting rolled into an ambulance. I also don’t remember puking all over the EMT in the ambulance (the greenest thing they had ever seen) nor getting my clothes cut off (sweet team ortho top souvenir) and getting a ton of stuff stuck in me to get my record breaking 106 temp back down to something less life threatening. I guess they asked if I was running a marathon and I said no, I said it was winter, and I was just outside doing nothing….
I was running, then I was face up in a hospital room an hour later……I was there for 2 hours, and when I had my wits about me they let me go. There were runners in the hallway due to the lack of rooms…not a good situation. There was still 30 minutes left until cut off, we joked about dropping me off at the finish for a 5:45 time, but that was a short joke and was not that funny.
I am ok now, can eat and drink, can’t really walk, but aside from almost dying, it was a great race, you don’t know your limits until you cross them, so there is no doubt about the effort, but some serious doubt about the whole “listen to your body”
Up until 24, we were on 3:19 pace……which would have been a great first marathon.
4 comments:
Krum,
I think getting dropped off at the finish line would have been outstanding. Great story nonetheless!
-Bubs
I know your friend Paul; he dumped me for a red head. Anyway, I saw him running around mile 20 and he looked like crap--like a fast, green ghost. I thought I felt like crap being 6 months pregnant and watching a marathon in the heat, but then I saw Paul and realized that I had it good.
I have visited your blog occasionally since you went on a date with my friend Nicole. Your blog's been a little dry lately but I have lived in Appleton--it ain't your fault, man. The place can be a drag.
To Krum's bitter sounding ex,
It sounds like you enjoyed seeing Krum in pain. Glad that worked out for you. As for the blog being dry, you got that right. It is real dry. Appleton is not the cure for boredom. My life is just not exciting during the week. However, Halloween promises to ensure some quality pictures. So be patient.
Oh, now be nice. I am not bitter, and I am not his ex. I merely made out with him a million years ago, and recognized him on your blog. He looked as sick as he turned out to be--that was my only point. I became a first time contributor to your blog b/c no runner wants to see another runner get that sick; besides, I am a darn nice person.
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