Steven Quiring

Austin Motorola Marathon

February 17, 2002

I have been a runner for a few years, but mostly just 5k training.  Marathoners seemed to me to be the ultimate in self-indulgence.  It seemed to me that a marathon involves a lot of time, training, and discomfort all aimed at a very selfish goal.  Nonetheless I decided in mid-November to train for the marathon.  This gave me a little over twelve weeks to start doing long runs instead of my normal short, fast 3-4 milers. 

On Saturday I tried to load up on carbs and salts so I would be ready.  But I had a strange little twitch in my eyelid, so I was worried I was a little low on sodium or potassium or something.  I also got a massage.  It felt great but unfortunately left my hamstrings and calves feeling a little sore.  Oh well, my hamstrings always tighten up when I get nervous before a race.

The morning of the race I loaded up on carbs and Gatorade before the start.  I ran into Steph right after the start and stayed with her for the first slow mile.  Then, (Mistake #1) I thought to myself that if I wanted to run a good time, I would have to run every other mile faster than that first one.

A little past mile 3, I caught up with the 3:10 pace group.  My goal was 3:10 so I should have just tucked in behind them for the next 20 miles.  Instead, (Mistake #2) after a minute my momentum just kind of carried me past them. 

Three miles later I joined the 3:00 group.  This was overly optimistic.  I didn’t give myself much of a chance of staying with them, but I always like to start fast.  I was feeling good at this point, except that my bowels were not happy.  I still kept drinking water and Gatorade at most stops, but (Huge Mistake #3) I figured if my bowels were acting up I would just have to eat less than I had planned.

There was a long, gradual decline around mile 9 which carried me past the 3:00 pace group.  I figured they were probably right behind me, but I guess I was going faster than I thought.  I didn’t see them again until they (or about 1/4 of the original group) cruised past me around that nasty turnaround near mile 17.

I ran a good 30k.  But as I got into East Austin I was starting to fall apart.  Mile 23 seemed to take forever.  I was really hoping I had just missed the mile marker.  No such luck.  I was thinking of having my last gu pack around here, but thought I could make it to the end without it.  But by now I was too dehydrated and tired to make a wise choice.  I had to walk a little on the short hill on Pleasant Valley.  More brief walking breaks followed as I was being passed by a number of people, but I saw a couple of others struggling almost as badly as me.  So I focused on them and ignored the fresher runners.

My legs just wouldn’t work anymore on mile 26.  Steph came up behind me and tried to encourage me to finish with her.  My feeble efforts to keep up even for a few steps just left me in even more trouble.  Maybe 100 yards from the finish I had to walk a few more steps.  The crowd was yelling “Come on 3505!”  I managed to force some semblance of a run for a few more steps, but by now my legs were totally bent even as I tried to straighten them so I could just shuffle along.  Finally my left leg gave out, and down I went just feet from the finish.  A couple fellow-runners came up from behind, lifted me to my feet, and helped me across the finish line in around 3:12.  I hope I would be as helpful if the circumstances were reversed.

P.S. the medical tent and volunteers are nice.