The idea of running a marathon had its genesis about 30 years ago but laid dormant until last November 2009 when I was watching the last show of the season of the Biggest Loser where the final four contestants had to run a marathon. I said to myself, "If they can do it, so can I." And then in the next breath I said "But I'm sure my running partner, Melodie, won't want to do it (so I'm safe)." The next day at our regular run I mentioned that I was thinking about doing the Cellcom Green Bay marathon next year and, much to my surprise, she said "Sounds good to me." Damn! Now I had to do it!
Fast forward to May 16, 2010 - race day. After many months of training, running in cold, snowy, crappy weather it all came down to today. I had been nursing a sore left leg since February and had taken a longer taper than my training schedule called for. I was feeling pretty good. Melodie and I did not meet up before the race so we didn't start together which wasn't all bad - she is a much better (read faster) runner than me so we would have only been together for a couple of miles anyway.
I lined up at the start line with Dave Elsen and right next to us was my good friend and fellow wino, Linda Jeske. The three of us ran the first 2 miles together at a pace faster than I wanted to go out but I enjoyed the company. At two miles Dave wanted to pick up the pace so he went ahead. We were running faster than Linda wanted but I kept encouraging her to keep up the pace. At a water stop about mile 4 I got ahead of her and ran the next several miles without a partner. At about mile 10 I caught up to Dave and we ran together until the half and full marathoners split at mile 11. At this point I was feeling great and I was not psychologically crushed by turning away from the finish line to run 15 more miles. Somewhere before the half way point I even thought to myself "I wonder how many miles I could do in a 24 hour period?" Wow, was that optimist thinking!
The half way point was manned by Schneider National associates, where I used to work and where Melodie still works. They advised me that Melodie was about 10 minutes ahead of me. Also got a kiss and hug from a friend.
Carl after just passing 20 miles
About mile 15 I began to run out of energy. By now we were on the Fox River Trail, a familiar running venue so I was comfortable with my pacing - it was just slowing down. Keeping me going was the knowledge that at mile 20 my wife was going to join me to run three miles.
After going through "The Wall" at mile 20 my wife, daughter, and husband were waiting for me. It was an incredible energy boost for her to run with me. I knew my per mile time was slipping but my main goal was to finish without walking - and to this point I hadn't even thought about walking. I was focused on trying to come in with a time under 4 hours and 45 minutes.The finish line - finally!
Mile 23, when my wife stopped running with me, was the first time I seriously considered walking. Shortly after that point I went through a water station and came up on a lady with her husband who I had ran the Dick Lytie Half Marathon with in April. There were walking so I started walking with them and encouraging them to start running again. Thankfully they did and that was the last time I walked. Mile 23 to Mile 26 were tough miles for me and I had to dig deep to keep going. I called myself a few choice names and reviewed the reasons I was doing the marathon to keep myself motivated.
The lap through Lambeau Field is was just a blur to me and I was running on auto pilot, just putting one foot in front of the other one. After coming out of Lambeau and making the final long stretch before turning the corner for the finish line it hit me that I was actually going to finish a full marathon. I was filled with emotion, tears came to my eyes, and a huge smile plastered my face. I even heard a bystander comment about my smile!My wife, Lori, me, Buddy and Megan
My final time was 4 hours and 54 minutes a time that I'm very happy with. I've been asked would I do it again. The answer is YES.Linda Jeske and me. Linda waited for 2 hours for me to finish.
