2014 PRAIRIE FIRE WICHITA MARATHON RECAP Mixed Emotions! Not only a great Rolling Stones song. It also sums up my feelings about the 2014 Prairie Fire Wichita Marathon, along with the Aftermath(Awesome Stones album). The day started great. Weather was beautiful. Cool temps and clear skies. Robin drove me to the race. Helping me with my warmup and making sure I had all I needed. Did not meet up with any KMUW Street Team members unfortunately. I did see one teammate in the early part of the race. Looked like a big crowd gathered to run. In fact over 4000 runners competed in the different Prairie Fire races this fall. All but one of my marathons have been run in Wichita with the exception of the 1985 Chicago Marathon. This year marked the 10th Anniversary of the 1st marathon I ran in Wichita when we ran from Derby to Downtown DooDah! This year, of course, it would be a challenge. So much has happened in the year since last years race. And I approached this years edition with some trepidation. Thinking about so many things; work(or lack thereof), school, moving to a new location, and of course my mothers health. All this had been weighing in on me and I even considered foregoing this years race because the training time had been reduced quite a bit. Well, after praying with Robin, ready or not, my 7th Marathon was underway! Start Me Up!! With the reduced training, I decided to go with a pace for the 1st 5 miles at 13:00 per mile which would have put me at 1 hr. and 5 min. And thats where I was after said 5 mile mark. Saw some good banners along the way. One said Worst Parade Ever and my favorite, RUNNERS HAVE BALLS...ATHLETES IN OTHER SPORTS PLAY WITH THEM!!! To that I say, AMEN!!!!! So many times people would say to me, Youre just running. To that I say, Okay sunshine, Get your ass out of bed at 5AM and knock out 26 miles. Well see how youre just feeling after that. So as I rolled on I could hear Robins unmistakeable voice about a block and a half away. It wouldnt be the same without Robin greeting me near the 3 mile mark. I could hear her encouraging the runners. She is extremely supportive of me and I cant imagine a race without her. Same can be said for my mom too. I ran this race for her because I knew she couldnt be at the race. Hoping shell be at a race in the future. As for this race, I was moving right along when THAT feeling came up. A necessary pit stop. DAMN! Thankfully it wasnt like last year with the multiple stops and waits in line because of the course shareing between the Marathoners and the half marathoners. I was able to stay on the course until the Full Marathoners split from the half marathoners. Then at Mile 7 I was able to stop and take care of business. Fell behind pace a bit, but I was not worried. The crowds were supportive and the volunteers at the aid stations were fantastic as the race continued through a mainly residential area including where we actually run on someones front lawn complete with course arrow painted on the grass. Love this part of the course. After 9 miles I was at 1:53:00 which is a 5:39:00 race pace. At this point I thought, Thats unacceptable. Im better than that. Im feeling good. Lets pick it up a little. Reaching the 10 mile mark, I saw another great sign, Just a shitload of miles to go, 16 more in fact. Heard Phillip Phillips Home at Mile 11 on the Marathon course sponsored by American Family Insurance. Im pretty much out of touch with a lot of current music and I thought that song was just a jingle for American Family. As I approached the halfway point of the race I was starting to feel a little sore, but nothing out of the ordinary and I was at 2:42:00. Reached 2nd and Erie a half-block from the house at Mile 14 and there was Robin to greet me. And with the race reaching the 15 mile mark at 3:06:00 I was at 12:24 per mile. Despite the customary soreness I was feeling pretty damn good as the race continued through Mile 17. I took a moment to stretch a little and sauntered ahead because I knew a lonely part of the run was coming up as the course was about to head into Riverside Park. As I reached the Park I saw some overcast skies. Im singing Gimme Shelter to myself as I continue. Well as it turned out a storm was threatening but it was not from the sky. After passing the 19 mile mark, I started to feel a slight twinge in my left groin. Didnt think much of it. I told myself, BE TOUGH!! FIGHT THROUGH IT!! Well, like a fool, I started to kind of push myself a little bit. Maybe a little bit too much. I had to stop again to stretch it out. I did manage to get to Mile 20 at 4:06:00. I was hoping to get close to last years time of 4:58, but I knew that was unrealistic because of my groins condition. This really sucked because I consider myself somewhat flexible for my age, but when you dont keep up with your flexibility it can hurt you, and it really did. Over the next 3 miles I would get those damn twinges that were forcing me to stop, stretch, walk. I thought back to the 04 Marathon where I felt some groin twinges at the finish. Flash forward to 14 and the issues occured much earler. At times I would try a light jog after passing Mile 23, but that wasnt working. Nothing was really working at this point. At times the groin was twinging while I was walking. I was cussing and praying at the same time. Cussing at my groin(not out loud, but it was tempting), but asking the Lord to just let me finish! Just let me finish for my mom! For my family! For Robin! For Myself!! By this time I was well over 5 hours as I approached Mile 24. so I prayed for the Lord to be with me for the last mile and a quarter. I decidied to walk this mile and then when I got to Mile 25 just go ahead and try running. Big groin tweak at the start of Mile 25. I muttered, God Da---Whoa! Dude you just prayed to finish this shit and here you are cussing again. From cussing again to walking again, I just gathered myself one more time. Psyched myself up one more time. Prayed one more time. And with a half a mile left, I ran...One. More. Time. Sparse crowd cheered me and some of the other runners coming in to the finish. Didnt hear or see Robin at the finish. Maybe she took Franklin to his bowling. Hell, it was almost 2pm. I started running at 7:30 AM. Didnt feel good seeing 5:48:18 on the race clock at the finish. But I was at the finish. Then I heard, HUGBEEEE! Thats what Robin calls me. I struggled a hug and told her I had groin issues during the race. She said she drove up and down the course and checked with race officials regarding my location. Well my location was now past the finish line at the end of this teachable moment known as the 2014 Prairie Fire Wichita Marathon. I will have to really think things through before making the decision to run a race like this especially if I experienced the things I had been experiencing recently. Robin told me she was going to tell me to forego the race, but she did not want to get into an argument with me, and I probably would have argued. I felt I was ready because of the experience, and I felt that despite the reduction of training that I would have a good race. Mixed Emotions! Was it worth it. Sore groin? Still. 3 days after the race. No. How about the Finishers Medal which is in the shape of a clock on an historic building in Downtown Wichita? Yes! Mixed Emotions. youtube/watch?v=iZw3myIjJ2k
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 03:41:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015