inspiration, from the shaner.
a couple of years ago, i took a bio-materials class with my labmate and best pal, joe. at first, we were expecting some serious, full-on, grad level action complete with fascinating insights in to biologically inspired materials and whatnot.
however, as became abundantly clear the first day of classes... this class was cross-listed with a 400 level (undergrad) class. which was a bit disappointing. i mean, it wasn't too bad. and certainly taught me a few things. but it wasn't what i expected.
and a few weeks in to the class, we were informed we'd be doing a term project. which would be presented to the rest of the class at the end of the semester. and we would be kept segregated: undergrads with undergrads and grad students with grad students. which is nice.
so after one class, we were given our group names and emails. joe and i were in one group... with some guy named shane. after class i shot him an intro email, informing him that i was the white kid that sat with the brown kid (as joe is my desi from bombay) in the back.
shane responded with something equally non-PC and sarcastically funny. which i'm kicking myself for not remembering.
joe and i knew it was going to go well. and at our first "meeting" it was, as they say, love at first sight.
shane and i became pretty good friends. so much so that after my philips internship slash apartment fiasco, i moved in to his place for the remainder of his lease.
he's a great guy. easy going. fun. and honest ta god cheerful. but perhaps that's just because he's canadian...
but he did get awarded an honorary ghetto pass from a vendor at RFK stadium during a washington nationals game. one in which he passed out krispy kreme mini donuts to our section.
that all being said... shane competed in, and completed the marine corps marathon this past sunday. completed, without walking. and he wrote a little thing about it today, whilst it was still fresh in his mind, as they say. and i have been granted permission to share it with you all here. it is recommended reading:
The Marathon
By Shane Jacobs
THE SIGN-UP
The siren song of the Marathon calls out to anyone who has ever enjoyed running, challenges, and pushing their own body to the limit. It is the quintessential physical challenge, demanding high levels of aerobic fitness, physical strength, preparation, extreme mental toughness, and incredible willpower. The first ever marathoner, Pheidippides, died at the end (or so the legend goes) which certainly adds to the mysterious allure and challenge of the race. I have had it on my “Life To-do” list for several years as I love challenging myself and seeing what my body can do.
I had run a few half-marathons, ten k’s, ten milers and such, and had been tossing the idea of running a full marathon inside my head for many months, discussing it with friends, dreading the ridiculous amounts of training necessary, and wondering if it was possible. After all, it was twice as far as the previous longest run I had ever done, and I had been exhausted after running the half-marathon. Thus it was simply an idea in my head, until an email showed up in my inbox one spring day reminding me that the Marine Corps Marathon sign-up was to begin the next morning. As luck would have it, I had just had a great run in the mountains that morning, and I was feeling great, loving running and thinking that anything was possible. The marathon was 6 months away, in the fall when the weather is cool, the course weaving through scenic Washington DC, how could I say no?
The next morning as I was entering my information, Chariots of Fire was playing in my head, and I could hear JFK saying “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. I was inspired, I was invigorated, and I entered my credit card number and pressed “confirm”. Suddenly, all inspiring words were replaced with the voice of Ron Burgundy as he jumps into the bear pit, “I immediately regret this decision!”
TRAINING
Over the next few months I trained rather diligently, 4-5 miles a day on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 7-9 miles on Wednesday, rest on Monday and Friday, and longer runs on Sunday. The schedule broke down a few times, most notably the conference and my road trip across the country, but overall it was going pretty well. Come September I was running 10-12 miles on Sundays and trying to work up to a training run of 20 miles, 3 weeks before the marathon. During those last 3 weeks you are supposed to taper, meaning you really reduce your running, and rest in preparation for the big day (this all according to the schedule I had downloaded from runnersworld.com).
Unfortunately, about 6 weeks before the marathon, things went sour. Near the end of a relatively routine 8 mile Wednesday run, I felt something tear in my left hamstring. I was about a mile away from home and I was forced to limp back, feeling dejected and worried. Hamstrings are… how can I put this, rather important for running. Here I was entering what was supposed to be the hardest three weeks of training before the three week long taper, and I was injured and couldn’t run. It was a sinking feeling.
I’ve had many injuries in the past thanks to years of playing soccer, football, etc, and my Aunt Judy is a physiotherapist, so I know very well how to treat an injury. I iced it routinely, rested, stretched, and tried to rehab, while attempting to maintain my fitness level with low impact exercise like biking and the elliptical. I didn’t run more than 3 miles at a time. I had to skip a few of my soccer games too which was a bummer, but I knew that if I tried to play on it I would only make it worse.
Slowly it healed and I played a full soccer game about 3 weeks before the marathon and felt great. Unfortunately there was no time left to get in a long run, so I was going to have to live with my longest training run of 16 miles, not exactly the 20 I was hoping for. I ran a bit during the taper weeks, played soccer a few more times, and overall felt pretty good. Confidence was low however, as I had missed such a key period in training and I was very worried I might re-injure myself during the race and not be able to finish. Nevertheless, I was eager to give it a shot.
RACE DAY
Finally on October 29th, 2006, it was time to attempt the marathon. The weather was beautiful, crystal clear blue sky and about 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees F), with a slight breeze - perfect running weather. As I awaited the start gun I felt great, ready to take on one of the biggest challenges of my life.
Miles 1-5
Besides stretching I hadn’t warmed up at all, on purpose - I was almost incredulous at the people jogging around at the start line, didn’t they know they were about to be running for a really, really long time? I figured I would conserve as much energy as possible and just use the first couple miles as a warm-up, taking them slowly and getting into my stride. This was a pretty good strategy because I was surrounded by so many people anyway that trying to run any faster would have been nearly impossible. They put the elite runners at the front so they can just take off, and everyone else is crowded in the back, I actually didn’t cross the start line until 6 minutes after the gun went off!
By about mile 4 the crowds had thinned a bit and there was room to run, and I was feeling great, all was going well. I tried to enjoy the Virginia scenery (the race starts on the VA side, crosses over to DC, and eventually back into VA for the end) as well as the people who were running in costume (one guy was in a full banana suit, and another guy was in full body paint dressed as the devil…I didn’t see either of them again though so not sure they finished like that). We crossed over the Key Bridge and had a beautiful view of DC, the Potomac River and the Georgetown campus, it felt great to be out running!
Miles 6-9
As we headed up the Rock Creek Parkway I felt my first pain of the day, a twinge in my left knee. Considering there was still 20 miles to go, I wasn’t too pleased, but I ran it off in about a mile so I wasn’t too concerned. However, the next mile I felt a twinge in my right calf, and when I ran that off I felt some pain in my right hip…I knew it was going to be a long race! I would be in some kind of pain or another for the whole rest of the race.
Throughout the race I thought of friends and family that have inspired me over the years. I pictured them cheering me on and going through their own “marathons”, persevering and overcoming challenges. I had printed out a list of names that I could pull out when I needed motivation, and looking at the names always brought a smile to my face. Some of the names I haven’t seen or heard from for some time, but thinking about them and our friendship made me happy and inspired me to go forward. This was a great idea (I had read about it online) and I highly recommend it to everyone, I don’t think I would have made it without that piece of paper and all of you. So thanks to all of you for helping me get through the race!
I had run this part of the route before, during the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, so I told myself it was just another ten-miler, sandwiched between a couple of 8-milers! It’s a beautiful route and there were some awesome high school marching bands set up playing inspiring tunes. One guy had brought a boombox and had “Eye of the Tiger” on repeat. The Marines at the water stations were great too, offering words of encouragement and yelling the traditional “OORAH!” to every runner.
Around mile 7 I ate my first energy-gel - yes one has to eat during the race, it’s that long and you need to replenish some calories! For liquids I was alternating between water and powerade at every drink station, which were placed about every two miles. Everyone has heard the horror stories of people collapsing from dehydration, or even dying of hyponatremia, which is caused from drinking too much water (not enough sodium in the system), so I figured alternating was a good strategy. Fortunately it was fairly cool so heat stroke was not on my list of concerns.
Miles 10-13
Mile 10 turned into an emotional mile for me. For some reason, right as I crossed the mile 10 marker, all the little pains I’d been having went away (briefly, but they did), and for the first time I really felt that I was going to be able to do this. After all, I only had 16 miles to go, and I had run that far before (once, and not after running 10 miles already, but that wasn’t going through my head at that point!). As well, I thought back to how exhausted I felt at the 10 mile point during my half-marathons, and I felt way better here. My hamstring was fine and my knees were okay, so things were looking up.
The course was winding around the DC mall, past the Washington monument, the capital building, all the Smithsonian museums, it was great. Thousands of tourists got swept up in the marathon fever and cheered simply because they were there. I high-fived dozens of small children as I ran by, who looked at me like I was some kind of superhero. People’s signs were great too, “Pain is temporary”, “You can do it mom!”, “Runners have nice legs”, “You signed up for this!”, “Free beer at finish line!” etc. etc.
Somewhere near the Lincoln memorial I passed the halfway point, which was a great feeling - I only had a half-marathon left! The bad news was I was starting to feel tired and my leg muscles were all a little sore. At mile 12 my hamstring had started to act up a bit, I was really worried about that, and I had a pretty steady pain in my right knee. Well, as the sign said, I signed up for this, I knew what I was getting myself into.
Miles 14-20
I had heard that these miles were going to be tough, and that turned out to be a supreme understatement. I was exhausted, hurting, and didn’t have the motivation of knowing there’s just a few miles to go. No, in fact, there were 12, 11, 10 miles to go. It felt like 1000. People were dropping out of the race left and right, and many people had begun walking. One guy about 100 m in front of me all of a sudden fell over clutching his hamstring, screaming in agony. A first-aid responder rushed to him right away and he was carried away in an ATV, it was scary. I felt really bad for him and tried very hard to push the thought out of my mind that that could happen to me. My hamstring felt tight at the time, and it was a very sobering thought. I felt bad for all the people dropping out, but I had to clear them out of my mind or I would succumb also. (I found out later, while watching the news, that someone died during the race, a 55 year old man had a heart attack. Very sad. So make sure you have a strong heart if you’re going to attempt this!)
It really became a mental battle at this point. Everything hurt, and every nerve in my body was telling me to stop, but I forced myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. My list of names was coming out of my pocket every few minutes, as I tried to resurrect the motivation and inspiration I’d had at the beginning of the race. There are a few songs I sing, mantras I repeat, and poems I recite to myself while I run, especially Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” which ends in the famous line “And miles to go before I sleep”. I must have recited that poem to myself a hundred times as I slowly ticked off the miles.
I ate another power gel, and it tasted awful. I didn’t feel like eating, but I knew I had to. The next water station seemed to be an eternity away, I needed some water to wash down that awful taste in my mouth. On the plus side, my bladder was holding up, I didn’t stop to go at all during the race, which is more than I can say for the hundreds of guys I saw running into the bushes along the way!
More people dropped out. I passed a group of girls wearing matching shirts with different words on the back, running in a row. They had, “it” “to” “win” “it”. I figured that “In” must not have made it. For a while I had been running in front of a guy with a Maple leaf on his shirt, and many people had been yelling out “Go Canada!” as we ran by, which worked out great…but lately those cheers had disappeared, my Canadian friend must have started walking.
By mile 19, I could feel a blister forming on my left pinky toe, and the entire bottom of my right foot felt like it was on fire every time it hit the ground. The main thought that went through my head at that point was “why would they be different?” I couldn’t figure it out. I just kept pounding the pavement, passing all the people that were now walking. Right around mile 20 we got on the 14th street bridge taking us back into Virginia. People often refer to the last 6.2 miles of a marathon as “the home stretch”, but I couldn’t stop thinking that was an awfully long home stretch!
Miles 21-24
The bridge was tough, uphill and windy, but I tried to tell myself I had nothing but a 10-k to go. How many times had I run 10-k? Hundreds. Heck I’d already ran three of them today! I could do this. In an hour I would be done. In an hour I would be done. In an hour I would be done. I could do this. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Miles to go before I sleep. Miles to go before I sleep.
It’s funny, because I never actually “saw” the pentagon. That’s a little scary considering we ran right by it a few times during these last miles, and, well, it’s a fairly big building, not something you would ordinarily “miss”. I was in a bit of a daze, staring at nothing but my feet, praying that I could make it through the pain. Everything was a blur as I counted down the miles and the time.
Eventually I crossed the 23 mile marker and realized there was only a 5-k to go. I’ve ran a 5-k in 20 minutes before, of course that wasn’t going to happen now (it would be more like 30), but it was still a motivating thought. Such a short distance, I really was going to make it!
Miles 25-26
The last two miles were a juxtaposition wrapped in an oxymoron. I was utterly exhausted. I felt like I needed to lie down for days. I was in extreme pain, excruciating pain, unbelievable, ridiculous, absurd amounts of pain in far too many places. Feet, knees, hips, calves, quads, hamstrings - pain. And I had a smile on my face. Huge smile. I felt utterly amazing. I felt like I could run faster! I knew I was going to finish. There were no thoughts of walking at this point, I was running and picking up speed, passing people left and right. Thousands of people lined the roadways cheering me on, and I was smiling at all of them, like they were my best friends. I began to see the massive crowds at the finish line and I knew my friend Mark was waiting for me there, it was an incredible feeling. As I saw the 26 mile marker I almost couldn’t believe it, I thought it might be a mirage. Back at about mile 17, I had overheard some fellow runners, “only 9 miles until the end” says one, “there is no end, this race never ends” says the other. I had felt that way too, and yet, there it was, approaching, one painful and glorious step at a time!
Miles 26-26.2
The last .2 miles were unbelievable, I don’t think I can put them into words. In my training, I had always added .2 miles to every run, (eg. if the schedule said 5 miles I would run 5.2, if it said 10 I would run 10.2), so I was ready for the last .2, which also happened to be straight uphill! Awaiting us at the end was the Iwo Jima Memorial, one of my favorites in the DC area, both impressive to look at and very inspiring. I pumped my arms as hard as I possibly could, charging up the hill. My running stride must have looked ridiculous, in actuality I was barely moving but in my head I was sprinting! I heard Mark call out to me with 100 meters to go, my smile grew even bigger and I “sprinted” towards the finish.
There was the finish line! I couldn’t believe it. As I crossed, in my exhausted, weakened state I was overcome with emotion and I almost began to cry! I raised my hands above my head in triumph and nearly collapsed. A marine placed my finisher’s medal over my head and I shook his hand and looked up at the Iwo Jima Memorial, glistening in the sun. I was absolutely exhausted and everything was in pain, and it was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had in my life.
shane jacobs, marathon man.
however, as became abundantly clear the first day of classes... this class was cross-listed with a 400 level (undergrad) class. which was a bit disappointing. i mean, it wasn't too bad. and certainly taught me a few things. but it wasn't what i expected.
and a few weeks in to the class, we were informed we'd be doing a term project. which would be presented to the rest of the class at the end of the semester. and we would be kept segregated: undergrads with undergrads and grad students with grad students. which is nice.
so after one class, we were given our group names and emails. joe and i were in one group... with some guy named shane. after class i shot him an intro email, informing him that i was the white kid that sat with the brown kid (as joe is my desi from bombay) in the back.
shane responded with something equally non-PC and sarcastically funny. which i'm kicking myself for not remembering.
joe and i knew it was going to go well. and at our first "meeting" it was, as they say, love at first sight.
shane and i became pretty good friends. so much so that after my philips internship slash apartment fiasco, i moved in to his place for the remainder of his lease.
he's a great guy. easy going. fun. and honest ta god cheerful. but perhaps that's just because he's canadian...
but he did get awarded an honorary ghetto pass from a vendor at RFK stadium during a washington nationals game. one in which he passed out krispy kreme mini donuts to our section.
that all being said... shane competed in, and completed the marine corps marathon this past sunday. completed, without walking. and he wrote a little thing about it today, whilst it was still fresh in his mind, as they say. and i have been granted permission to share it with you all here. it is recommended reading:
The Marathon
By Shane Jacobs
THE SIGN-UP
The siren song of the Marathon calls out to anyone who has ever enjoyed running, challenges, and pushing their own body to the limit. It is the quintessential physical challenge, demanding high levels of aerobic fitness, physical strength, preparation, extreme mental toughness, and incredible willpower. The first ever marathoner, Pheidippides, died at the end (or so the legend goes) which certainly adds to the mysterious allure and challenge of the race. I have had it on my “Life To-do” list for several years as I love challenging myself and seeing what my body can do.
I had run a few half-marathons, ten k’s, ten milers and such, and had been tossing the idea of running a full marathon inside my head for many months, discussing it with friends, dreading the ridiculous amounts of training necessary, and wondering if it was possible. After all, it was twice as far as the previous longest run I had ever done, and I had been exhausted after running the half-marathon. Thus it was simply an idea in my head, until an email showed up in my inbox one spring day reminding me that the Marine Corps Marathon sign-up was to begin the next morning. As luck would have it, I had just had a great run in the mountains that morning, and I was feeling great, loving running and thinking that anything was possible. The marathon was 6 months away, in the fall when the weather is cool, the course weaving through scenic Washington DC, how could I say no?
The next morning as I was entering my information, Chariots of Fire was playing in my head, and I could hear JFK saying “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. I was inspired, I was invigorated, and I entered my credit card number and pressed “confirm”. Suddenly, all inspiring words were replaced with the voice of Ron Burgundy as he jumps into the bear pit, “I immediately regret this decision!”
TRAINING
Over the next few months I trained rather diligently, 4-5 miles a day on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 7-9 miles on Wednesday, rest on Monday and Friday, and longer runs on Sunday. The schedule broke down a few times, most notably the conference and my road trip across the country, but overall it was going pretty well. Come September I was running 10-12 miles on Sundays and trying to work up to a training run of 20 miles, 3 weeks before the marathon. During those last 3 weeks you are supposed to taper, meaning you really reduce your running, and rest in preparation for the big day (this all according to the schedule I had downloaded from runnersworld.com).
Unfortunately, about 6 weeks before the marathon, things went sour. Near the end of a relatively routine 8 mile Wednesday run, I felt something tear in my left hamstring. I was about a mile away from home and I was forced to limp back, feeling dejected and worried. Hamstrings are… how can I put this, rather important for running. Here I was entering what was supposed to be the hardest three weeks of training before the three week long taper, and I was injured and couldn’t run. It was a sinking feeling.
I’ve had many injuries in the past thanks to years of playing soccer, football, etc, and my Aunt Judy is a physiotherapist, so I know very well how to treat an injury. I iced it routinely, rested, stretched, and tried to rehab, while attempting to maintain my fitness level with low impact exercise like biking and the elliptical. I didn’t run more than 3 miles at a time. I had to skip a few of my soccer games too which was a bummer, but I knew that if I tried to play on it I would only make it worse.
Slowly it healed and I played a full soccer game about 3 weeks before the marathon and felt great. Unfortunately there was no time left to get in a long run, so I was going to have to live with my longest training run of 16 miles, not exactly the 20 I was hoping for. I ran a bit during the taper weeks, played soccer a few more times, and overall felt pretty good. Confidence was low however, as I had missed such a key period in training and I was very worried I might re-injure myself during the race and not be able to finish. Nevertheless, I was eager to give it a shot.
RACE DAY
Finally on October 29th, 2006, it was time to attempt the marathon. The weather was beautiful, crystal clear blue sky and about 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees F), with a slight breeze - perfect running weather. As I awaited the start gun I felt great, ready to take on one of the biggest challenges of my life.
Miles 1-5
Besides stretching I hadn’t warmed up at all, on purpose - I was almost incredulous at the people jogging around at the start line, didn’t they know they were about to be running for a really, really long time? I figured I would conserve as much energy as possible and just use the first couple miles as a warm-up, taking them slowly and getting into my stride. This was a pretty good strategy because I was surrounded by so many people anyway that trying to run any faster would have been nearly impossible. They put the elite runners at the front so they can just take off, and everyone else is crowded in the back, I actually didn’t cross the start line until 6 minutes after the gun went off!
By about mile 4 the crowds had thinned a bit and there was room to run, and I was feeling great, all was going well. I tried to enjoy the Virginia scenery (the race starts on the VA side, crosses over to DC, and eventually back into VA for the end) as well as the people who were running in costume (one guy was in a full banana suit, and another guy was in full body paint dressed as the devil…I didn’t see either of them again though so not sure they finished like that). We crossed over the Key Bridge and had a beautiful view of DC, the Potomac River and the Georgetown campus, it felt great to be out running!
Miles 6-9
As we headed up the Rock Creek Parkway I felt my first pain of the day, a twinge in my left knee. Considering there was still 20 miles to go, I wasn’t too pleased, but I ran it off in about a mile so I wasn’t too concerned. However, the next mile I felt a twinge in my right calf, and when I ran that off I felt some pain in my right hip…I knew it was going to be a long race! I would be in some kind of pain or another for the whole rest of the race.
Throughout the race I thought of friends and family that have inspired me over the years. I pictured them cheering me on and going through their own “marathons”, persevering and overcoming challenges. I had printed out a list of names that I could pull out when I needed motivation, and looking at the names always brought a smile to my face. Some of the names I haven’t seen or heard from for some time, but thinking about them and our friendship made me happy and inspired me to go forward. This was a great idea (I had read about it online) and I highly recommend it to everyone, I don’t think I would have made it without that piece of paper and all of you. So thanks to all of you for helping me get through the race!
I had run this part of the route before, during the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, so I told myself it was just another ten-miler, sandwiched between a couple of 8-milers! It’s a beautiful route and there were some awesome high school marching bands set up playing inspiring tunes. One guy had brought a boombox and had “Eye of the Tiger” on repeat. The Marines at the water stations were great too, offering words of encouragement and yelling the traditional “OORAH!” to every runner.
Around mile 7 I ate my first energy-gel - yes one has to eat during the race, it’s that long and you need to replenish some calories! For liquids I was alternating between water and powerade at every drink station, which were placed about every two miles. Everyone has heard the horror stories of people collapsing from dehydration, or even dying of hyponatremia, which is caused from drinking too much water (not enough sodium in the system), so I figured alternating was a good strategy. Fortunately it was fairly cool so heat stroke was not on my list of concerns.
Miles 10-13
Mile 10 turned into an emotional mile for me. For some reason, right as I crossed the mile 10 marker, all the little pains I’d been having went away (briefly, but they did), and for the first time I really felt that I was going to be able to do this. After all, I only had 16 miles to go, and I had run that far before (once, and not after running 10 miles already, but that wasn’t going through my head at that point!). As well, I thought back to how exhausted I felt at the 10 mile point during my half-marathons, and I felt way better here. My hamstring was fine and my knees were okay, so things were looking up.
The course was winding around the DC mall, past the Washington monument, the capital building, all the Smithsonian museums, it was great. Thousands of tourists got swept up in the marathon fever and cheered simply because they were there. I high-fived dozens of small children as I ran by, who looked at me like I was some kind of superhero. People’s signs were great too, “Pain is temporary”, “You can do it mom!”, “Runners have nice legs”, “You signed up for this!”, “Free beer at finish line!” etc. etc.
Somewhere near the Lincoln memorial I passed the halfway point, which was a great feeling - I only had a half-marathon left! The bad news was I was starting to feel tired and my leg muscles were all a little sore. At mile 12 my hamstring had started to act up a bit, I was really worried about that, and I had a pretty steady pain in my right knee. Well, as the sign said, I signed up for this, I knew what I was getting myself into.
Miles 14-20
I had heard that these miles were going to be tough, and that turned out to be a supreme understatement. I was exhausted, hurting, and didn’t have the motivation of knowing there’s just a few miles to go. No, in fact, there were 12, 11, 10 miles to go. It felt like 1000. People were dropping out of the race left and right, and many people had begun walking. One guy about 100 m in front of me all of a sudden fell over clutching his hamstring, screaming in agony. A first-aid responder rushed to him right away and he was carried away in an ATV, it was scary. I felt really bad for him and tried very hard to push the thought out of my mind that that could happen to me. My hamstring felt tight at the time, and it was a very sobering thought. I felt bad for all the people dropping out, but I had to clear them out of my mind or I would succumb also. (I found out later, while watching the news, that someone died during the race, a 55 year old man had a heart attack. Very sad. So make sure you have a strong heart if you’re going to attempt this!)
It really became a mental battle at this point. Everything hurt, and every nerve in my body was telling me to stop, but I forced myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. My list of names was coming out of my pocket every few minutes, as I tried to resurrect the motivation and inspiration I’d had at the beginning of the race. There are a few songs I sing, mantras I repeat, and poems I recite to myself while I run, especially Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” which ends in the famous line “And miles to go before I sleep”. I must have recited that poem to myself a hundred times as I slowly ticked off the miles.
I ate another power gel, and it tasted awful. I didn’t feel like eating, but I knew I had to. The next water station seemed to be an eternity away, I needed some water to wash down that awful taste in my mouth. On the plus side, my bladder was holding up, I didn’t stop to go at all during the race, which is more than I can say for the hundreds of guys I saw running into the bushes along the way!
More people dropped out. I passed a group of girls wearing matching shirts with different words on the back, running in a row. They had, “it” “to” “win” “it”. I figured that “In” must not have made it. For a while I had been running in front of a guy with a Maple leaf on his shirt, and many people had been yelling out “Go Canada!” as we ran by, which worked out great…but lately those cheers had disappeared, my Canadian friend must have started walking.
By mile 19, I could feel a blister forming on my left pinky toe, and the entire bottom of my right foot felt like it was on fire every time it hit the ground. The main thought that went through my head at that point was “why would they be different?” I couldn’t figure it out. I just kept pounding the pavement, passing all the people that were now walking. Right around mile 20 we got on the 14th street bridge taking us back into Virginia. People often refer to the last 6.2 miles of a marathon as “the home stretch”, but I couldn’t stop thinking that was an awfully long home stretch!
Miles 21-24
The bridge was tough, uphill and windy, but I tried to tell myself I had nothing but a 10-k to go. How many times had I run 10-k? Hundreds. Heck I’d already ran three of them today! I could do this. In an hour I would be done. In an hour I would be done. In an hour I would be done. I could do this. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Miles to go before I sleep. Miles to go before I sleep.
It’s funny, because I never actually “saw” the pentagon. That’s a little scary considering we ran right by it a few times during these last miles, and, well, it’s a fairly big building, not something you would ordinarily “miss”. I was in a bit of a daze, staring at nothing but my feet, praying that I could make it through the pain. Everything was a blur as I counted down the miles and the time.
Eventually I crossed the 23 mile marker and realized there was only a 5-k to go. I’ve ran a 5-k in 20 minutes before, of course that wasn’t going to happen now (it would be more like 30), but it was still a motivating thought. Such a short distance, I really was going to make it!
Miles 25-26
The last two miles were a juxtaposition wrapped in an oxymoron. I was utterly exhausted. I felt like I needed to lie down for days. I was in extreme pain, excruciating pain, unbelievable, ridiculous, absurd amounts of pain in far too many places. Feet, knees, hips, calves, quads, hamstrings - pain. And I had a smile on my face. Huge smile. I felt utterly amazing. I felt like I could run faster! I knew I was going to finish. There were no thoughts of walking at this point, I was running and picking up speed, passing people left and right. Thousands of people lined the roadways cheering me on, and I was smiling at all of them, like they were my best friends. I began to see the massive crowds at the finish line and I knew my friend Mark was waiting for me there, it was an incredible feeling. As I saw the 26 mile marker I almost couldn’t believe it, I thought it might be a mirage. Back at about mile 17, I had overheard some fellow runners, “only 9 miles until the end” says one, “there is no end, this race never ends” says the other. I had felt that way too, and yet, there it was, approaching, one painful and glorious step at a time!
Miles 26-26.2
The last .2 miles were unbelievable, I don’t think I can put them into words. In my training, I had always added .2 miles to every run, (eg. if the schedule said 5 miles I would run 5.2, if it said 10 I would run 10.2), so I was ready for the last .2, which also happened to be straight uphill! Awaiting us at the end was the Iwo Jima Memorial, one of my favorites in the DC area, both impressive to look at and very inspiring. I pumped my arms as hard as I possibly could, charging up the hill. My running stride must have looked ridiculous, in actuality I was barely moving but in my head I was sprinting! I heard Mark call out to me with 100 meters to go, my smile grew even bigger and I “sprinted” towards the finish.
There was the finish line! I couldn’t believe it. As I crossed, in my exhausted, weakened state I was overcome with emotion and I almost began to cry! I raised my hands above my head in triumph and nearly collapsed. A marine placed my finisher’s medal over my head and I shook his hand and looked up at the Iwo Jima Memorial, glistening in the sun. I was absolutely exhausted and everything was in pain, and it was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had in my life.
shane jacobs, marathon man.