The Kalamazoo Marathon

The Kalamazoo Marathon course map

*Note- I wrote a majority of this the day after the marathon…but have been busy and didn’t finish it until now. I must say, it is pretty awesome to say I’m just going to go for a light 8-mile run now!

The race seems surreal to me. In my mind it’s a huge landscape of memory. Much of it out of focus. But certain parts stick out with clarity:

- At the start, running down Gull Road surrounded by over 1,300 other marathoners and probably about 2,000 half-marathoners, well it was awesome. We all owned Gull Road like nothing ever before. We overwhelmed the orange traffic cones…to the point that they became dangerous. I never saw anyone fall. But I witnessed several last second dodges…and performed a couple myself. Actually this was a theme for me for the first 8 miles or so. Those damn cones just weren’t tall enough. I tend to stare at the horizon as I run and not at my feet. Good thing I had my peripheral vision in full order!

- I had initially started running with the 4:15 pace setters, but had quickly moved up with the 4 hour pace setters. I ran a 8.51 first mile which was good. My biggest fear was starting out with a 7 minutes mile. But I felt good and decided to advance up to the 3:45 group and see how long I could run with them for. Well turns out awhile.

- The first 8 miles flew by. Downtown, WMU’s campus, Stadium Drive. All blurry. I had great energy and was pain-free thus far. I remember running down from the bridge by Lawson Ice Arena to Howard and marveling that my ankle barely hurt at all despite the steep and winding-to-the-right decent. I still took my first minute walk around mile 7 at the water station as a precaution and change of pace.

- Oh Drake Road. I’ve driven this hill before, but looking at it from Stadium Drive. Big. It’s especially angering as you DESCEND sharply from Stadium just to make the climb that much higher. Here was another almost-disaster moment. Right as the decent started the guy I had been kind of drafting fell and tumbled, maybe 15 seconds or so after I decided to pass  him. I was that close to trampling someone.

- The run up Drake hill actually went really well. I had good pace, never slowed, and enjoyed all of the people lining the top cheering us on.

- We ran through the Tech Park on WMU’s Parkview Campus. I had no idea it was so big! Like a whole mile spent circling it. Also since you enter and exit at the same point, you see all of the runners ahead of you…which is really demoralizing at mile 10 when you realize how far you have to run just to catch up to where that random guy was.

- Mile 13ish was through some neighborhoods off of Parkview (Greg, remember walking these after the hockey game when we went to visit Michelle?). Lot of small up and down, but still felt good. Some old lady offered me a bowl full of swedish fish. I had to smile and take a couple, I cannot reiterate enough how awesome and helpful it was for the course to be surrounded with encouraging fans!

- Coming off of Oakland Drive, us runners briefly ran on Whites Road only to turn onto Bronson Boulevard. I have never been down this road. And literally I mean down. For over ONE mile the road goes downhill without flattening out. I think this staved off my pain for a good couple of miles. Bonus at the bottom right after the Girl Scout building I saw my first familiar faces of the day: my girlfriend Sarah, my friends Amy and Jenny, my Mom, my Dad, and my brothers Ty and Drew. Fantastic to see them!

- Less than 2 minutes after seeing them I run across my roommate Kyle, who had been walking to meet up with my friends and family. In flip flops and carrying a coffee he decides to run about half of a mile with me, chatting and making me laugh…and forgetting about running. I still think it was for the best I didn’t take him up on the offer to have some coffee…but I’m not sure.

- Alas the next time I would see my friends and family, the pain would have set in. I left Kyle and realized I had to pee. Badly. Actually I’d had to pee since around mile 10, but had thought maybe I would sweat it out. Sort of right. But now it was becoming a priority. Next port-a-potty. Naturally there weren’t any at the next water station, and it wasn’t until I crossed Riverview that I found a single one, but thankfully didn’t have to wait in line. This is also where my side started cramping a bit. I saw my friends moments later, and was still able to smile and wave to them. About 3 minutes later I saw my family on the bridge after going over the river. My Dad took my photo, then I was alone for a bit. I had to walk off and on while trying to fight off my side cramp. The next couple of miles from 20 on were brutal.

- Parchmount. May your hill burn in hell. I finally ditched my side cramps, only now my legs were in pain. Tired, and always wanting to walk. I gritted my teeth and turned off of a flat Riverview onto a at first flat Parchmount. Only a couple of hundred feet in was the 2nd biggest hill of the course. And at this point, looked insurmountable. I passed a lot of people walking on this hill. I hate walking up hills. I would rather walk at the top. So I ran up the whole stupid thing. In agony. At the top someone had a hose on the street. I went straight for them and got a brief shower that was bliss for my hot and overworked body. Run on.

- The last few miles were brutal. I was walking for a minute about every 6 minutes (down from every 10 or 11). I passed a guy who had passed out and was being worked on by EMT’s (scary! but he was fine). And mostly I thought about the finish, and how the minutes left were nothing compared to the hours I had already ran. Tough last 6 miles, more mental than physical.

- I can’t figure out what road I was on, but it ran out onto Brook (or maybe Fairfield) then connected with Gull Road for a hot second before the finish line. Whatever this road was, it was my last climb. And it was not that long, but wow was it steep. In my mind it is a cliff I ran up, but I know that is impossible. The first hill I couldn’t run all the way up. I ran the steep part, then walked the easier upper half. All pain.

- I turned into Borgess for the last tenth of a mile (or a little less) with two girls and a guy in front of me before the finish line. I am proud to say I passed them all. I finished strong, something I did not do for my half-marathon 2 years ago. It was nice to be able to stride out and run in. I even saw my friends and family on the side before the finish line. Cool!

- Finished! I got a standard medal and was offered what looked like a large sheet of aluminum foil (or like my emergency blanket I had used on an overnight where we couldn’t even bring a bag to sleep in the woods in Boy Scouts many years ago). I was told it would keep the wind off of me and keep me from getting chilled. It was warm out, I am a winter person, I ditched it pretty quickly.

Will I ever do a marathon again? I don’t know. The training took up so much time, there was the constant worry of injuries and just getting sick, and the race was pretty painful. Time will tell if I ever get the bug again for this kind of commitment. The race itself was really cool. Seeing Kalamazoo from a unique perspective (like running down Stadium Drive…sober) or new parts (Bronson Boulevard) and the thousands of people who lined the entire race course yelling encouragement. Nothing was more uplifting than a 6-year old reaching out to give you a high-five and it totally making his day. Painful, but a lot of fun!

Here are my mile splits:

1- 8.51
2- 8.13
3- 8.31
4- 8.34
5- 8.41
6 & 7 (A couple of laps got joined together when I forgot to mark the lap button on my watch)- 16.51
8- 8.42
9- 8.29
10 & 11- 18.58
12- 8.28
13- 8.39
14- 8.09
15- 8.28
15 & 16- 16.21
17- 8.34
18- 7.49
19- 9.08
20- 8.43
21 & 22- 18.13
23- 8.46
24- 9.46
25- 9.04
26- 1.4

Total: 3 hours 47 minutes 50 seconds. Good for 203rd place out of 1196 marathon finishers. And 30th out of 88 in my age division. Not shabby. Not sure I’ll ever run a full marathon again…but I am setting my eye on the Detroit Half-Marathon in October.