Avenue of the Giants 2

I am still in awe of that incredibly beautiful marathon venue, almost entirely under and beside the enormous redwoods of northern California. Some marathon courses are forgettable; no such problem here.

Two days after the marathon all is well, except there is a familiar pain in my right hamstrings which I recognize as a chronic problem that dates back several years, reappearing now and then. This time it appeared the day after the marathon. I believe it will go away if I do my stretches and exercises daily; I was a bit lax in doing these before the marathon and may have set myself up for the problem. Ease back into the routine, skip the New Prague Half Marathon, then ramp up for Grandma’s in mid-June.

Actual chip time was 3:49:59, first of five in my age group, and UNDER 3:50 by one lucky second. I did kick it up a notch when I got within sight of the finish clock and saw it so close to 3:50. It turns out that the temperature climbed from a perfect 54 at the start, no doubt lower in some wooded hollows, up to about 70 at my finish and 75 by the time my sweeties finished. Though the tall trees provided a lot of shade there were still stripes of sun across the road as well. I wore a T-shirt over a singlet at the start, but discarded the shirt at mile four. At the half I was ONE SECOND ahead of schedule for a 3:45 finish, then lost just a minute and a half off that schedule up to mile 20, and then another three and a half in the final 10k.

Of course those last miles are always the hardest in a marathon, but the rising temperature and cloudless sky didn’t help. It’s my only excuse; I did my best and never took it easy, walking only briefly at water stops and up part of two short hills near the finish. Perhaps I should have discarded even the singlet, heaven knows it’s been through enough wars and looks disreputable, full of snags from safety pins and stains from gels and sunscreen. I considered discarding it, but didn’t do so because I hadn’t applied sunscreen on skin that the singlet covers.

My sweeties finished in a good time, friend Mary won her age group, friend Doug finished ahead of me despite foot trouble, and new friend Elizabeth finished her very first marathon. Congrats to all!

Prior to the race I had googled all of the men in my age group and found only one with a recent time that I might not be able to beat, a runner from Germany. He had recently run a 3:35 marathon, ten minutes faster than I was even attempting this time. I didn’t know him, but around mile 20 I came up behind him, identifiable by his gray hair (like mine) and a shirt with Duisburg, the name of his home town, on the back. As I passed by he seemed to be struggling a bit,and he finished about four minutes behind me. According to the Champion Chip results he was on pace for 3:35 or better at the half, then crashed in the second half. I saw him later at the awards and didn’t approach him because I didn’t want to seem to gloat, but now I’m kicking myself for not greeting him and asking him what happened. I suppose the heat got him too.

The course was interesting, two out-and-back legs of the same length on different roads, each leg almost exactly a quarter marathon on a side, half marathon round trip. Most runners got to see every other runner at least twice, once on each leg. Since the scenery was tall redwoods everywhere with a beautiful river here and there, there was no downside to seeing it twice, and in fact a big upside for me because I met my sweeties three times. I met them once, passed them once, and met them one more time. I like to know that they are doing okay.

The race allows slow runners to start an hour early. The problem with that is there are always a few fast runners who want to start early too. This gives race organizers fits. To dissuade them, all runners who use the early start are placed behind all regular starters for purposes of the three-deep age group awards, regardless of finish times. But if I heard correctly at the start line, Eagle Momma may still get an age group award because there were no regular starters in her age group, and certainly not three. I hope I heard that right! I think a 68 year old woman should get a special award for every marathon she finishes, more than just a kiss from her sweetie.

Twice now I have noticed an interesting visual phenomenon after a marathon, this time and last fall after TCM. The world suddenly appears in high contrast; whites are brighter than bright, darks are almost black, colors are brilliant. The effect is noticeable within two or three minutes after finishing, and lasts for at least ten minutes. I suppose that it has something to do with blood chemistry, low glycogen or something. As far as I know my cognitive brain function remains normal, although someone else might be a better judge of that. If you've had a similar experience, or know what causes this, I'd love to hear from you.

We're back home now, safe and sound.