Breakers Marathon
This marathon was one I deferred from last year because of bronchitis. This year I was fighting off a cold and cough for 2 weeks already. My daughters coughing on me with their new school year germs apparently is a trend.
I left early from work Friday, picked Melissa up from the train station, and then we were off to Newport, Rhode Island.
John(Cayman) arrived earlier in the afternoon and Dave(run sparky run) got there earlier in the evening. We didn’t arrive due to traffic until almost 11:30 pm. Fortunately the race start time is 8:00 am. I could get a solid 6 hours of sleep in. Hopefully.
I took some cough medicine before bed so I could get a good night sleep uninterupted by coughing. It worked but I felt sluggish and dried out in the morning. I took a shower to cler my head and warm up. I still felt congested and started coughing so I decided to take some Dayquil.
It was in the 40’s, but it felt colder. I don’t like being cold but I am okay once I am moving. I wore shorts, and had a long sleeve tight wicking shirt under my tuxedo bike shirt and gloves. It was supposed to warm up into the 50’s by midday, so I could strip down a layer if need be.
Melissa was going to meet with Dave’s wife and kids later so I let her sleep. I met Dave in the lobby. We had a short 2 mile drive to the start parking lot. We were able to park less than 100 meters from the start.
We went inside the tent and picked up our packets. John(cayman) met us at the pick up. We went back to the car to keep warm, wait for the start, and make sure we had all our stuff ready for the run.
As we were getting out of the car, I saw a couple of friends from NJ, John(different John than Cayman) and Frank. We chatted and then got our stuff and headed with them to the start. I saw Melissa, with the cowbell, and Dave’s wife Barb and his daughters just near the start.
They lined us up on America’s Cup Boulevard. It isn’t a large race, less than 700 participant including relay runners, and there was no half marathon event. I had a long sleeve t-shirt over my Running shirt. The gun goes off, and we got moving quickly, since everyone was chilly. The first part of the course is a nice tour thru downtown Newport near the piers, very scenic. I took off my long sleeve t-shirt after i started warming up.
After few neighborhoods we head toward Fort Adams. Where we have the first aide station around the 3 mile mark. We head back along the seashore where the waves are breaking on the rocks. The road leads us down Bellevue Ave by many of the old mansions, and bed a breakfasts. We then out and back to a wildlife sanctuary by the beach. The aide stations were few and far between on the first loop, at least 3 miles apart. I had enough gels but not enough water or gatorade. The dayquil helped with the cough but was making me feel dried out again. Bad combination.
I am still running with Dave as we pass by the Vanderbilt house and some other famous landmarks just before we come to the halfway point at Easton’s Beach. We are under 1:55. The first half of the course is moderately hilly, but the loop on the second half has steeper inclines and declines. My legs felt tired from the start and a little heavy but that feeling is getting worse.
There is a great aide station that comes in the middel of a short out and back. There is Halloween music playing and lots of people dressed in costume. I got a lot of comments on my ‘tuxedo’ here. The out and back goes from the wildlife sanctuary, and then works it way around mile 17. Hills that are more chanllenging and frequent come soon after. my legs were not quite cramping but stiffening up. The sun came out and I was feeling less chilly than before.
18 and 19 I was really hurting and Dave was really slowing down to stay with me. I made repeated attempts to tell him to get going but he stayed for awhile. There was alot of walking then running. Finally after mile 24 I told hime I was going to probably have to walk it in. He grudgingly left.
I kept up with the running and walking and then came up to a rough steep hill at mile 25. John passed me at this point. After that I was keeping a consistant shuffle/run thing going. I came down the last hill and Melissa was running toward me slowly. They saw dave finish solo and they wondered what happend to me. Dave told them I was taking it slow and probably walking it in.
Melissa ran the last 1/2 mile with me and let me run thru the finish. I thought it would be worse but I finished in 4:27:25
I got my mylar heat sheet and I hobbled over and met up with Dave and his family and John. Melissa worked aorund the crowd and joined us. We fortunately got on the shuttlew bus quickly. One I passed the finish I was getting cold and stiffening up even worse.
We got back to the finish party, and they had lots of great food, and drinks under the big tent. I don’t usually get a post race massage but I opted for one this time because I my lets and lower back were so tight.
It did actually help. I was able to get back top the hotel and clean up. We all went over to a seafood place and had a nice post race lunch. Now I hoped this leg issue wouldn’t linger for NYC coming up in a few weeks…