Napa topo map and course profile.
Warning: File is big (1.2Mb).
2004 Napa Valley Marathon
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| Some images from the race (click to enlarge) | ||||||
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| Kim at mile 22(?) | Kim at mile 10(?) | Kim at mile 22(?) | Kim at mile 10(?) | Kim at finish | Morgan at mile 23 | Morgan at finish |
Put simply, I don't feel the need to engage in the same post-race self-flagellation as after the BSIM. While I didn't run an optimal race, I ran a good-enough race and didn't quit. Based on my training, state of health on race day, and the weather, I did my best and achieved my goal. End of story. Which makes me feel all the worse for Kim. She ran a 4:08.33 marathon. Not a bad race; she finished 217th out of 684 women, or in the top 32%. My time, on the other hand, earned me 372th out of 872 men, merely in the top 43%. Still, she started walking around mile 22 and felt pretty bad about it--exactly as bad as I felt after the BSIM. Nobody likes to give up, especially not the type of person who runs marathons!
So, with all haste, we are currently preparing to run the 2004 Avenue of the Giants Marathon in Eureka. I've been somewhat alarmed to see our running pace deteriorating after the SF Half Marathon, so I hope that our forthcoming trip to the Virgin Islands, as well as a pace reduction on our everyday runs, will help us regain our old speed! I've promised Kim a 4-hour marathon, so I can't let her down. She's got a lot more motivation for this one than she did for the Napa, however, so I've got a lot of faith.
Oh, I almost forgot to describe the race. I wrote an entry for our running blog just a day after the race, so I will quote it directly for its vividness.
Well, somehow I finished the marathon. Physically, it was tougher than the Big Sur. Mentally, I was better prepared. I hit the wall around mile 22, but was able to keep running...well, plodding, to the finish. I believe I was running solid a solid 8:45 pace until 22, but I finished with a 3:54:52 marathon, for an 8:58 pace. The NVM doesn't do chip timing, so (arbitrarily) subtracting a minute from my finish time would give an 8:56 pace. Looking at my pre-marathon predictions, I finished between my "low" and "medium" predictions, but closer to the medium. Frankly, I'm just tickled pink to have run a 4-hour marathon, and on my 30th birthday to boot.
We got "lucky" -- the marathon coincided with an all-time heat record for this date. I put lucky in quotes because people go so $*#*!# ga-ga over hot days. Oh, what a beeeeyewwwteeeful day! These people obviously enjoy most of these days from the inside of an air-conditioned house/vehicle, becuase let me assure you, 75 degrees air temps, with a blazing sun and perhaps 100-degree asphalt running surface makes for a decidedly unpleasant marathon experience...at least in my opinion.
I think I had heat exhaustion. From a possibly-reputable reference, this condition is "excessive fluid loss due to sweating, resulting in the depletion of body fluid volume, which creates an imbalance of the electrolytes in our system." Obviously, a lot of sweating will occur on a hot, dry day. I made the mistake of skipping the aid station at mile 21, perhaps when I needed it most. I also took an Actifed tablet before the race to counter some (mentioned below) prior respiratory congestion. This drug tends to dehydrate the body. Anyway, starting around mile 18, I felt strange waves of cold coming over my body, even though it was perhaps 80 degrees on the road. I've never experienced this before! My reference states that in heat exhaustion cases, that "skin is usually pale and clammy or cold."
Starting at mile 21, I felt dizzy, and thought I might pass out (another symptom of heat exhaustion). Somehow I staggered to the finish, and felt utterly incoherent. People asked me things, but I could barely speak. More than one person asked if I was alright, including a trainer, who noticed me laying down. He said, "I have to check on people who are laying down, because those are the ones who usually require medical treatment." So I got up and waited for Kim to finish. I felt as if my eyes were unusually dilated, because everything looked overwhelmingly white, like the opposite of a blackout. As I drank more water and ate a banana and oranges, I slowly regained my senses. Maybe the next(?) time I run a marathon, I'll find a better way to hydrate my body before a race.
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Department of Geophysics Stanford University |
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