Green Bay Marathon

I wish I could say that I ran as strong of a race as the one I recently ran in Door County. It didn't happen. With this post, I wish I could say that I paced myself properly at the start and increased my pace as the race progressed. It didn't happen. With this post, I wish I could say that I ran all 26.2 miles without stopping. It didn't happen. With this post, I wish I could say that I broke the 5-hour barrier. It didn't happen.

Despite all these "misses," I'm not hanging my head. My official time of 5:03:01 was just a tick faster than my time in Chicago last October (5:04:36). I felt stronger for Green Bay than I did for Chicago and had a more enjoyable run. So what happened?

On Saturday afternoon, I drove to Green Bay. Unlike last year, Jody was unable to join me for this marathon because of a scheduling conflict. My first stop was Lambeau Field where I picked up my race packet. 

It is hard to tell, but in the bottom center is the marathon expo at Lambeau.

After that, I checked into the hotel, rested for a couple hours, and then headed to dinner. The latter would be at Grazies, where I had two servings of bread, a small bowl of chicken and rice soup, and an enormous plate of spaghetti. Yes, I may have taken "carb loading" to an extreme.

On Sunday, the alarm went off at 4:30 AM. I hit the snooze button once but slid out of bed at 4:45. I was out the door by 6:00 AM and at Lambeau Field ten minutes later.

The race started at 7:00 AM, so I had some time to kill and spent most of it sitting on a curb watching the runners warm up, take photos, and chat with friends and family. I walked around the grounds a little bit and did some light stretching but nothing like I would have had this been a 5K race.

By 7:00 AM, the corrals were mostly full. This race had about 8,000 total runners, but this included the half-marathoners. For the marathon, there were 1289 men and 1290 women.

In the corral, waiting for the race to start.

I started in corral/wave D, at roughly the 12:00 min/mi pace area. However, as soon as we started, I moved up and approached the 11:26 min/mi pace group (which is a 5 hour finish). I would regret this decision later.

The course is flat. Chicago Marathon flat. It winds through friendly neighborhoods, follows the Fox River Trail for about six miles, does a lap around City Stadium at mile 18 (where the Packers played from 1925-1956), and culminates with a lap around the grass at Lambeau Field.

Like Chicago last October, I started out strong. Too strong. Despite being more more mindful of my pace in the early miles, I still let my ego get the better of me. Instead of hanging back with the 12:00 min/mi pace ground for the first half of the race, I pushed myself to keep within eye shot of the 4:45 finish group (a 10:52 min/mi pace). Ideally, I would have hung with the 5:00 hour pace group, but I quickly found the pace leader to be too annoying to tolerate for any extended period of time. This group used a combination of walking and running with their commander-in-chief barking out orders ("and we're walking at a brisk pace..." or "and we are running ... but don't push it"). Besides, one of my goals was to run the whole race (water stations being the exception).

Instead, I ran ahead of this group but behind the 4:45 group for the first 15 miles. But soon after we crossed the halfway point, I started to slow. I watched as the 4:45 group disappeared around a corner, never to be seen again. 

By mile 20, my quads and hips were begging me to stop running. There was a growing soreness in my lower-right back, and I was fighting a slight side stitch on my right side. Also, my stomach did not feel the greatest. At mile 22, I could run no further and started to walk.

Who would have thought that a run in Green Bay on May 22 would be on one of the warmest days of the year so far? Well, it was. From the first step until the last one, there was not a single cloud in the sky and by the mid-race point, the temperatures were approaching the lower-70s. As the course weaved its way through the neighborhoods, there were stretches of shade, but there were also stretches of intense sun exposure.

I have always struggled running when the sky is completely clear and the sun beaming down on me. Unless it is 40 degrees or cooler, I get frustrated at the relentless rays and lose focus. I start to slouch and cower away from that bright shining star, which causes my running form to collapse. When this happens, every mile feels like 5 miles and all I want to do is curl up into a ball and take a nap under a shady tree. This is what happened on Sunday. Miles 22-26.2 were a complete struggle -- mental and physical.

By mile 22, I heard the booming voice of the 5:00 hour group leader. I had lost the 6 minute cushion I had built up from earlier in the race. I managed to keep ahead of the 5:00 hour group until about mile 24. For a few fleeting steps, I thought I could keep pace with the few runners still remaining in the group. Nope. They soon disappeared around a corner.

The final 2.2 miles were a blur. I did manage to run all the way around Lambeau Field before succumbing to a few walking steps less than 100 yards from the finish line. A final push let me run the last 50 or so yards to the finish line.

Overall, this was not my best race nor was it my worst one. I felt better and stronger than the Chicago marathon. As I write this, a day after the marathon, my legs are not nearly as sore as they were the morning after Chicago. This leads me to believe that my inability to run for longer stretches was more mental than physical.

There is much more work to be done for me to break the 5-hour mark. I will try again next year. Where and when, I don't know yet, but after running two marathons in 70 and 80 degree temperatures, a marathon in Alaska doesn't sound so bad.

Post-race selfie. It's kind of a part-smile, part-grimace, part-squint.