100th Marathon: Colfax Marathon Recap

In and of itself, my running of the Colfax Marathon on Sunday wasn’t much of a big deal. I went in, I had a tough run and I was done. Done that plenty of times before and I’ll do it plenty of times again. However, this was my 100th lifetime marathon. The milestone was a bigger deal to my family than to me, but this gives me an opportunity to do a retrospective and I won’t get many more opportunities to do that, so I might as well.

I didn’t originally have this race on the calendar, but my wife and kids wanted me to run it so they could see me finish No. 100.** Even though it interfered with my training for Utah Valley (which would have been my 100th) on June 9, I didn’t mind running it. For as excited as my wife and kids get about some of the things I do running, there was no way I wouldn’t run this if they wanted me to. Utah Valley is a bit of a big deal to me on an individual basis, because it’s probably my only chance to qualify to run the Boston Marathon next year. I’ve run Boston each of the past five years and I can’t imagine not going back. Aside from the Operation Jack Marathon, it’s by far my favorite race. But I’ll adjust and do what I can to make it happen out there in Utah. Can’t skip Colfax out here in Denver and deny the fam, right? Personally, I don’t care a ton about the round number the way they do. A little, sure. I won’t lie. But not a lot.

** Two of my kids, Benjamin and Ava, were excited. The third, Jack, has no idea that I run.

Anyways, the race. My goal was to run better than 3:10. Tough challenge for me with only 2 1/2 months up here at altitude, but based on how I’ve been running, I thought I had a chance if I ran a smart race. Breaking 3:10 gets me back to Boston next year and I think I was in good enough shape to give it a legitimate go.

However, on Friday, my right hamstring got pretty sore mid-day. No clue why. On Saturday morning, it was even worse. I tried to go out for an easy jog and I was in a ton of pain and limping pretty bad. Not really what you want the day before a marathon. I tried some things to get it better, and by the end of the day I felt about 90%. When I got up and got rolling Sunday morning, I felt about 98% and thought I’d have a legitimate shot at giving it a go. I was excited, ready to go. This “100th marathon” thing was hitting me a little bit, and I was looking forward to giving it my all and respecting my favorite distance, 26.2, with everything I had.

My first step into the race, though, I knew I was in trouble. My hamstring hurt pretty bad. I wasn’t limping, but that might have been because of adrenaline. It felt like it was fire, that was for sure. I knew it was going to be a painful run, but I figured that if I stayed at the right pace (7:05-7:10/mile), I’d be able to fight through. It seemed fitting that in a milestone run like this, I felt like an old veteran, having to use my experience even more than my ability to get through this. In the early miles, I was thinking of a friend of mine, Sarah, who has a big race coming up soon. I wanted to convince her that I know good strategies for running a good marathon by executing a perfect race. (Spoiler: I failed!)

For the first six miles, I was right on track, feeling pain with every step, but fighting through and hitting my miles the way I wanted to. The race has a lot of gradual uphill early, then peaks at 15 and has a lot of gradual downhill fast. The plan was to lock into the right effort and stay fairly close without going for broke until 15, at which point I’d turn on the jets and head home. For me, for this course, this was the way to do it.

Too bad nausea kicked in at mile 6. I didn’t have the stomach to drink much and had to delay my 2nd and 3rd gels because I couldn’t handle them. The only thing I was doing quickly was slowing down. I was doing that in a hurry! At about mile 12, I did something I’d never done in 99 previous marathons. I dry-heaved! Twice! Then I spit up some nasty stuff. I was going uphill (literally and figuratively) and my right leg was still killing me on every step.

By that point, I was starting to limp occasionally. By 14, it was with every step. This wasn’t the first time I’ve had to alternate hopping methods to shift pain to different parts of my legs. But it still wasn’t fun. I knew that any chance of a respectable time was gone. I just wanted to get to the finish and see the family. I wasn’t having an emotional breakdown or anything like that. I just wanted to be done. On the downhills, I couldn’t even break 8:00/mile, which for me is pretty slow for a gradual downhill. Without the limp and nausea, I would have probably been turning in the 6:30-6:40 range.

I figured I was pushing my finishing time right through the 3:20s and was getting close to 3:30. There wasn’t much I could do, though. I was in a lot of pain. I kept hopping along, trying to get there. I was keeping an eye on my Garmin and with exactly four miles to go, I was looking at about a 3:31. That’s when I snapped. I yelled out loud at myself.

“SAM! Stop being such a {fill in the blank}!”

I can’t start going soft with my family waiting for me. Nausea and limp or no nausea and limp, I can’t be on the wrong side of 3:30 in my 100th! It was go-time. I’m a better runner than the way I was moving right then, and pain be damned, it was time to step it up. So I did.

I started running hard and telling myself the same thing over and over again.

“I know how to finish a marathon. I know how to finish a marathon.”

Nobody knew it was my 100th. But in my mind, I was putting on a clinic. This is how you finish a marathon. Watch the master put the hammer down. I LOVE killing it at the end and I decided to kick for four miles. I needed to give 26.2 some respect. I was totally locked in, in a zone, running folks down like there was money on the line. I needed to step it up to break 3:30, and I did, and then all of a sudden, I started to have a shot at breaking 3:29. Then I had a shot at breaking 3:28. Then I had shot at breaking 3:27.

I didn’t break 3:27, but I was fine with how I finished. I finished hard, with everything I had. I saw my family along the barricades at about 26.1 and gave Ben and Ava high-fives. They were so excited! I also saw my friend Erin and her husband, Weez, who came down to see me and another friend. I turned back towards the middle and kicked it into maximum overdrive for the last little bit. I felt like I was gliding and I could tell I was going faster than I had all day. Wow, sometimes I can actually run pretty quick! I finished marathon #100 with everything I had, at the speed I finish 5KS at. I was totally content with my day. It was something like 3:27:20, and it was pretty much my life rolled into 207 minutes and change.

More pain than I’d prefer, not what I planned or expected, enough to upset my stomach and not as “good” as I’d planned for. But at the end of it all, I gave it everything I had and did what I needed to do. My family is what motivated me and they were right there with me. And I realized … I can’t complain about where I’m at, what I have or what I’ve experienced. That’s my life and my race Sunday, all rolled up into a couple of sentences. I like the way that worked out.

Life is good. And there’s a whole lot more to it than a sub-3:10.**

** But I’ll get it at Utah Valley on June 9!