The long road ahead

Around 15 hours from now I will be starting on the trail taking me from Point State Park in Pittsburgh where the Allegheny and Monongahela meet to form the Ohio to the beginning of the C&O canal in Georgetown. The trial covers a distance of approximately 335 miles (although a little over 10 in Pittsburgh in not completed yet so I have to ride in the car for this stretch).

Seven days of about 46 miles a day. Am I nervous? Yeah. Am I excited? Definitely. I've spent the last two days packing, getting maps ready, shopping and putting the final touches to our plans. This is the part of ultras I don't like, sometimes I just wish I would put my shoes on, run out the door and just go. But it's not that simple, I need to bring things with me and Gina needs to meet up with me at certain places so we have to be sure that we have things coordinated.

You can find my itinerary here: GAP Itinerary, or I've highlighted it below:

1. Pittsburgh --> Adelaide (46 miles)
2. Adelaide --> Rockwood (48 miles)
3. Rockwood --> Cumberland (44 miles)
4. Cumberland --> Little Orleans (43 miles)
5. Little Orleans --> Williamsport (41 miles)
6. Williamsport --> Brunswick (45 miles)
7. Brunswick --> Georgetown (55 miles)

"Don't you miss that?"

I came across a great passage in the current issue of Running Times (June 2010, issue 377) that I can really relate to, especially regarding my upcoming GAP run. It's a quote from a Q & A session with ultrarunning legend Charlie Engle.

Q: How do you inspire people about ultrarunning?

I spoke at a marathon recently and had people raise their hands based on how many they had run. It came down to one guy who had run 79. I asked him, "Is there any doubt in your mind you're going to finish tomorrow's race?" He said, "No, there's no doubt whatsoever." He said it with a certain amount of pride, and he should have. Then I asked him if he remebered his first marathon and if he was worried or concerned about being able to finish, and he said, "Absolutely. I was scared to death." And I asked, "Don't you miss that?" For me that feeling can only come from finding a new adventure, either from a longer distance or a course I'm intimidated by.

What are you missing?

Pittsburgh Marathon

Miles 0 - 3

With 16,000 of my closest friends, I awaited both the start of the race and the decision of mother nature regarding the weather. We had record highs the day before, with temperatures in the mid 80's and now at almost 7:30 AM it was in the mid 60's and humid. Yuck. The race started and even though people were assigned corrals according to projected finishing time, people just line up where ever they want to (I guess they have as much of a right as anyone else?) and I spent the first two miles running through the Strip District dodging slow runners and potholes in equal proportions. After the first mile, I kept passing the mile markers too soon. I was sweating already in the humidity. Somewhere around 15 minutes into the race I felt the first rain drop.

Mile 1: 7:00
Mile 2: 6:46 (13:45)
Mile 3: 6:42 (20:26)

Miles 4 - 8

16^th St. Bridge over the Allegheny River is the first of 5 bridges the marathon route crosses. As I ran over the bridge to the North Shore District, the rain started to pick up and by the time I got to the other side, the rain was coming down hard. Sweet. Well at least the humidity isn't such a factor anymore. Even though I was carrying a bottle and it was raining, I still grabbed a cup of water at the aid station to dump over my head. In hindsight I don't think I drank enough early on. Like swimming, it is so hard to tell how you are sweating in the rain. After about 10 minute though, the rain let up to a drizzle which continued for the remainder of the race.

A quick over and back across the Allegheny again on the Andy Warhol and Roberto Clemente Bridges at mile 6 then the course goes right next to Pittsburgh pride, PNC Park and Heinz Field. Somewhere here there was the first relay point for the relay runners and I think I passed the mile 7 marker without hitting my watch. At mile 8 we cross the Ohio River on the West End Bridge and great a great look back at ll the runners on the course behind us and a great look at Point State Park, my Mile 0 for my upcoming GAP run! I was still hitting these miles way too fast. I kept trying to slow down, but slowing down 10 seconds per mile is hard. Next time, I think I might walk after each mile to soak up the extra seconds.

Mile 4: 6:51 (27:17)
Mile 5: 6:43 (34:01)
Mile 6: 6:39 (40:39)
Mile 7&8: 13:31 (54:10)

Miles 9 - 12

Along the the south side of the river, the course has its first hill as we go under the mouth of the Fort Pitt Tunnel in front of the Duquesne Incline cars the ride the rails up Mt. Washington. For such a hilly city, the first 10 or so miles are pretty flat, they spoil (deprive of the fun?) the ½ marathoners. At mile 11, the ½ marathoners turn back to downtown, we pass another relay stop and turn to cross our final bridge, the Birmingham Bridge over the Monongahela River, and begin a mile and half long climb. Even up this climb I couldn't lower my splits. But that would soon change.

Mile 9: 6:44 (1:00:54)
Mile 10: 6:46 (1:07:39)
Mile 11: 6:50 (1:14:30)
Mile 12: 6:49 (1:21:19)

Miles 13 - 18

We topped out (or so I thought) in the Oakland area by the University of Pittsburgh. Finally, my mile split was slow enough. It only took a huge hill. This part of the course had my favorite scenery, but ever time I though the course was going to level out for a bit or start to descend, we'd climb another little riser. Awesome. I kept up with the splashing water on my head and by this time had needed to stop and refill my bottle a few times. Before the race started I don't think I was drinking enough and continued this for the first few miles, not wanting to have to stop and refill my bottle while there was a crowd of runners. We ran through a rich neighborhood, a little boy yelled out at me, "Go naked man!" (I was only wearing my red shorts, no t-shirt), then we ran through a not-so-rich neighborhood, a lady cat called my from her front porch. My splits started to fall off.

Mile 13: 7:12 (1:28:31)
Mile 14: 6:46 (1:35:17)
Mile 15: 6:55 (1:42:12)
Mile 16: 7:16 (1:49:28)
Mile 17: 7:15 (1:56:43)
Mile 18: 7:12 (2:03:55)

Miles 19 - 23

After I saw the Mile 18 sign, I took my first walk break, 20 seconds. I felt good and afterward I was able to resume my pace. But the wheels were starting to come off, I put the blinders on and got to work. Every mile I would calculate what I pace I needed to run to finish in under 3:10 (with the way I was feeling, even though a sub-3:00 was mathematically possible at this point, I didn't see it happening). Several runners and I leap frogged each other, they seemed to pass me on the uphills and I would pass them on the level and downhill sections. Just holding on...

Mile 19: 7:30 (2:11:24)
Mile 20: 7:33 (2:18:58)
Mile 21: 7:49 (2:26:47)
Mile 22: 7:30 (2:34:17)
Mile 23: 7:38 (2:41:54)

Miles 24 - 26.2

A huge downhill on Liberty Avenue and I could feel the end of the race. The race ends while 2 miles through the Strip District again, back along the road we ran almost 3 hours earlier. My pace picked up and I started feeling better. I was glad I was able to finish so strong after a few miles of drudgery.

Mile 24: 7:36 (2:49:30)
Mile 25: 7:02 (2:56:32)
Mile 26.2: 8:50 (3:05:22)

RESULTS