MARATHON MAN?
Happy New Year!
I finally did a marathon. On Tuesday, the day after Christmas. I can’t say I trained as much as I would have liked or that I was excited to do it this week, but an unforeseen happening called for doing it now.
Just before midnight on December 4 we were awakened by a neighbor pounding on our front door and shouting, “Wake up! Fire! We all need to evacuate!” We jumped out of bed, looked out our bedroom window to a wall of fire coming down the hillside in back of our development—it was the first night of the Thomas Fire. We hurriedly dressed, grabbed the dog and the cat and computer hard drives, jumped in our truck and headed down the hill. As did everyone else in the neighborhood—all of us evacuating at the same time. It took us an hour to go 5 blocks to Ventura Avenue and then on to the freeway. We spent the night in the Four Points by Sheraton parking lot near the Ventura Harbor. All electricity in town was off but the motel had a generator and left their lobby open so those of us who were camped out in the lot could use their restrooms. The wind was howling at some 50+ miles an hour—it was a huge effort to just open the truck doors.
We could see the hills ablaze for miles clear across the top of the town, and the dog and the cat were both spooked. Still, we managed to sleep a bit. Come dawn we found out through watching news on our phones, that a hospital just a few blocks from our house had burned to the ground and that 100s of houses in Ventura were burning. We really didn’t think our house could have survived. Still, we drove our truck across town, went around a barricade and up a back way to our neighborhood and miracle—our house and everyone else’s in our development still stood. The fire had come within 200 yards of our place and right to the back yards of houses behind us but all the clearing we had done in the surrounding area this fall had paid off.
The brush fire that exploded on December 4 has burned over 440 square miles from Santa Paula to the hills above Santa Barbara, and eastward into the Los Padres National Forest. Unfortunately there were two deaths. And my heart goes out to the all the people who lost their homes. This week, several hundred firefighters remain on the scene working to extinguish all flames and mop up; containment is now at 90 percent.
The fire moved on, but smoke was blowing in for the next two weeks. Everyone in town donned masks when going outside and often inside too. We ran the air conditioner and an air purifier in our house. Local shopping centers and stores also ran huge air cleaners day and night.
Needless to say, I wasn’t able to run (or bike or swim) outdoors and even the Y was closed for days because of the smoke so I couldn’t use a treadmill either (which I don’t care much for anyway). I had run 20 miles on Sunday the 3rd, the day before the fire. That turned out to be my last long run. I’d planned to jog 23 miles the following Sunday and 26 the next Sunday, taper with shorter runs for a couple of weeks and enter the Carlsbad Marathon on January 14. Now that wasn’t going to work, so I thought I’d just call this period when I wasn’t running, my “tapering” and try a marathon that was fairly soon. On the 13th I drove south looking for a smokeless area and finally found one at Port Hueneme Beach and jogged 6 miles. The following Saturday I went back to Port Hueneme and got in a 12 mile jog. I had major hip pains from that last run—guess I wasn’t keeping good form.
In the meantime, I’d found out about the Operation Jack Marathon in Playa del Rey. This is a run that’s been held the day after Christmas annually for the past 8 years to benefit Talk About Curing Autism. This would be my event
JoAnne, my partner, and I stayed in a Manhattan Beach motel Christmas night and finally after some searching found an open restaurant, India’s Tandoori by name, and I had a curry dish instead of pasta for my pre-marathon dinner. Even taking a sleeping pill, I slept only so-so through the night. Next morning JoAnne dropped me off at Dockweiler State Beach. I was rather ill prepared, still with hip pain and drowsy but picked up my bib for my big event.
It began at a civilized 7:30 am with a time limit of 6 hours until 1:30 pm. For the first half I kept to my plan—9 minutes of jogging followed by 3 minutes of fast walking. Still I was 5 minutes off my goal of 2:50 for the 13.1 miles. I began tiring in the second half and couldn’t keep my pace (thus confirming my not putting in enough training). But I did stop at every aid station to drink a cup of water or Gatorade to stay hydrated. Plus I threw down a Power Bar gel every hour. For the last 5 miles, trying to speed up, I jogged for 10 minutes and walked for 2. The final 1.2 miles I ran as fast as I still could. I only made it in about 6 hours—the time limit. But I placed 3rd for my age bracket (70+). And heck, I’d finally done a marathon! In 2017, my original goal.
However, I’m not ready to call myself a marathoner quite yet. Maybe after the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon I’ve signed up for in late May after I put in an adequate amount of training and hopefully attain a more competitive time. Then I need to prepare for the event of my life—The Arizona Ironman next November. I’ll be 75 and figure this will be my last—and only—chance to do a full 140.6 triathlon.
I hope that 2018 will be one of the most physically active years of your life too. Cheers!
