Friday, January 25, 2019

Marathon XX

When I was in Biloxi for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon, I was seduced.

The race booklet made mention of a special medal for runners who participated in any race at that event and any race at the Louisiana Marathon event six weeks later. This Beach to Bayou medal was huge - a giant hunk of metal with magnets on each side, where the medals from both Mississippi Gulf Coast and Louisiana can be attached to form big, mural-like triptych.

I was in its thrall and could not pass it up, despite the fact that my near-PR in Mississippi took everything out of me - destroying my hamstrings in the process. I probably should have rested, repaired and recuperated. But no, I looked up Hal Higdon's Multiple Marathon plan and got right back to work.

Admittedly, it was a relatively small amount of work, with a maximum mileage week of only 36. But almost every run, from the twice-weekly four- and six-milers to the peak 16-mile long run, felt labored at best, painful at worst.

By the time Gloria and I rolled into Baton Rouge on Friday (a 25-hour road trip from New Jersey), my outlook was bleak. At worst, I could slowly run the 5K with Gloria on Saturday, collect the Beach to Bayou bling and let whatever happens happen at the marathon on Sunday.


Driving to Louisiana and not completing the marathon didn't make sense, though. I needed to add a 19th state to my list. So, theoretically, I could crawl to the finish line in the seven-hour time limit, get my marathon medal and cross it off in my effort to run all 50 states.

But if I really wanted to keep my streak going, it needed to be under four hours. By Friday, with my hamstring still in agony, it felt like I needed nothing short of a miracle to accomplish that. At the race expo, a minor one showed up in the form of a topical analgesic called Real Time Pain Relief, which I bought as a desperate, last ditch attempt. The salesman may very well have been offering me snake oil, but I gave it a shot.

Happily, it did ease some of the pain as I continued to slather it on Friday night. The first real test would be to see how my legs held up on a relaxed 5K on Saturday.

From the get go, one thing was for sure - this was going to be a very weird weekend.

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