One thing I know about running 60 marathons is that I’m going to have a little bit of everything. Good races, bad races, fun races, boring races, slow races, fast races, perfect races, hot races … and, on days like today, cold races!
I spent all week looking at the weather forecast and I knew it was going to be cold. At first, it was looking like a high of 36 and a low of 23. It moved down to 28/18, but back up a touch. When I got to Jackson the day before the race, it was extremely cold. I spent four years in Kansas, but I’ve been back in California for a decade and I’ve re-acclimated. The coldest I had ever run in was 34 degrees a few weeks ago, and it was so cold, it hurt to breathe. I don’t have the option of not running, so I knew I had to suck it up and run.
On my way to the race, I drove by a bank with a thermometer that said 18 degrees. Well, I think it said 18 degrees, but I couldn’t tell because I was peering through iced windows. When I de-iced at a gas station, I could see snow flurries in the light. Bad sign?
I got to the start in plenty of time and did whatever I could to stay warm. I succeeded and didn’t go over to the start until about five minutes before gun time. We did a dual run with soldiers in Iraq, which was cool. I complain about the cold, but I’m sure they’d love to be shivering in Mississippi. They simulcast the start on a big screen and they seemed pretty excited to be a doing a satellite version of the race.
Anyways, we got rolling, and instantly, I was COLD. I capitalized that for emphasis! From what I’ve been told, it was 19 degrees. I was bundled up in running pants, a warm long-sleeve technical shirt, an Operation Jack shirt over that, gloves, a headband that covered up my ears, and over that I wore a contraption that covered everything from my neck up aside from my eyes and the top of my cheeks.
Still, my hands were completely numb in 3/4 of a mile and my toes were gone in 1.5 miles. I was getting a little bit concerned that I might get frostbite because they started hurting, but every four miles or so they rotated from fine to numb to painful and I figured they’d be OK.
I was running OK, averaging about a 7:05 at my target marathon heart rate for the first 6 or 7 miles. But all I can remember is how cold everything was. I had occasional breathing problems with the whatever-you-call-it that was covering my mouth and nose, so I’d pull it down and freeze. I could feel sweat on my eyelashes freezing. I could feel sweat on my forehead freezing.
The water and Gatorade at the aid stations were slush and very cold going down. By about 10 miles in, I had to keep my mouth and nose uncovered to make sure I could breathe. I take three gel packs during a race and a couple of times, I struggled to open them because my fingers were so numb. There’s a theme here — it was cold!
Moving along, my paced started slowing a little bit. I lost some speed over the summer with my layoff with the sprained ankle and I haven’t gotten it all back. I also don’t think I can remain effective at marathon effort for 26.2 miles right now. I have a lot of opportunities to keep working at that, though, so I’m sure I’ll get there.
I kept rolling, hit the half a little past 1:37 and started fading a little bit. The 7:25s I was turning became 7:35s and 7:45s. The course was nice, cutting through several different neighborhoods. One thing I kept thinking was how fortunate I am to be able to run these marathons, because I’m going to get to see lots of America. I love America, and it’s great to see so many parts.
I saw a lot of Jackson and a lot of people from Jackson. They were wonderful, consistently thanking us for running. I had to remind them all that they were the ones who needed to be thanked, braving 19-degree temps to volunteer to help. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “Thank you for choosing to run in Mississippi!” and they didn’t even know I’m from California. I was glad I ran the race — I enjoyed the sights and I really enjoyed the people.
Does it look warm? Because it wasn’t!
I kept gradually slowing and by the time I started trying to figure out what my time would be by 17 or 18, it was looking like a 3:18 or so. I hoped for a BQ (3:15:59), but knew it wasn’t going to happen. I developed a side stitch (really painful abdominal cramp) at 23 that stuck with me to the end. That mile was an 8:25 and I started hoping to hang on to a sub-3:20.
At mile 25, I was really slowing and a guy came up on me. I was prepared to let him go and tell him “nice run,” but he told me to step it up because there was only one more mile. So I took off, side stitch and all, and powered the rest of the way. Mile 26 was 7:05, which was nice, but tells me I fold too often. No way should I be doing that in that condition and only turning 7:25s earlier in the race. The guy couldn’t catch me and I couldn’t see him in the finisher’s area to thank him for the push.
I ended up 3:18:44, surprisingly good enough for second place in my age group, 33rd overall. I had no idea I age-grouped until I received a congratulatory email while I was at dinner in Alabama. I guess I could say the conditions made it tough, but that’s an excuse. Individually, I’m not pleased with the race. But overall, I know it’s great to be able to not be pleased with a 3:18 in these conditions, and it’s even better to continue along with Operation Jack.
Two down, 58 to go. Next up, Mobile, Alabama tomorrow!
Ms. V says
Beautiful job, once again. You should stay around to collect your hardware!!
Rachel Boyd says
Congrats on great race in tough conditions! You were running close to my hometown and I know how cold it can be..those conditions can be tough for people used to them and brutal for those of us accustomed to SoCal. Way to tough it out in order to nail race #2.
Jeff Cate says
Awesome job, Sam. That’s one for the memory books for sure. Warm up and run well in Mobile tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll be a bit warmer! Good on ya!
Emil Cheng says
Great run in the COLD! Hope you have another great race tomorrow!
Ben Fesagaiga says
GREAT JOB SAM!
Ben Delaney says
Sounded a like a fun time. Can’t wait for the race photos to show up so we can all see the contraption that you had to wear over your face. In the mean time, I will refer to it as a running burka.