Monumental Marathon Race Report

Short version:
I finished my first marathon!

Beautiful weather - nice aid stations - people all around me encouraging me, as well as spectators.
I mentioned to some at the stations that I was celebrating my 60th birthday with my first marathon.
I was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" a number of times during the race - that was fun.

My "C" goal was 5:00 hours and I missed that by 47 minutes - a 5:47 first marathon at the age of 60.
I learned a LOT today. I started out trying hard - and it was not easy - to stay at an 11-minute-mile pace.
I wanted to warm up and then up the pace a little. I had this arbitrarily chosen pace goal of anything around of 10:18 - 10:40 - in hopes of getting done no later than 5 hours.

At 13.1 I was about 11 minutes slower than my Indy Mini HM time.
I was happy with that, but I soon realized I was being unrealistic due to how I trained.
In training, for the most part, I always ran about 11-12 minutes miles.
Then lately I started to try running my "goal pace" for multiple miles, but I simply did not do enough for today.
And I paid the price for it today for sure.

After 13.1, I started to slow down - first due to some tender AT issues, that went away rather quickly.
What got me was some tight hamstrings that would not let me keep going with the 11 minutes miles.
At the very end I realized that I would not be close to 5 hours and I walked some without really caring about pace.
I had nice folks to walk with and learned some things from them.
I did "run" at the end - where they announced my name and town.

A great experience for a first marathon.
I now know some things I need to do with my training plan.
I will be making a short video of the day when I get back from a couple of days of speaking engagements this week in northern Indiana.

Thanks for the encouragement from so many of you!
Oops = the medal is backwards!

Congratulations Charles! What a great birthday present to give yourself!

Always great to get the first one under your belt.

Congratulations, marathoner! What a great way to mark your 60th birthday.

You clearly gained a lot of experience training for and then running this race. Good luck putting those lessons to use for next time. (But only after you've reveled in the achievement and given your body a well-deserved break!)

Congrats Charles! The first one is special.

Congrats, and the medal looks just as well-deserved backwards or not!

Congratulations Charles, you're a marathoner now.

Congratulations, Charles!! After the half, I came home and was tracking you (with limited information online). We were clearly running the same pace for the first half. Glad you enjoyed your first marathon, and so you should. Looking forward to picking your brain a bit on your training as I'm going to sign up for Chicago in 2012. I've been so impressed with your mileage and your long runs.

Revel in the glory of your first marathon! Awesome!

Congrats Charles! You did it! No doubt you will learn from your experience here as that is the norm. Enjoy your recovery and look forward to the next steps in the process.

Congrats. That first one is always special!

Many Congrats. Very cool that it was on your birthday too!!!! I did the half in Indy last year. It is a nice race and very well organized.

Yay Charles, YOU DID IT!! Congratulations on your 1st marathon!!

My first marathon was on my 40th birthday. What a great way to mark a milestone birthday, MARATHONER!

Congratulations on your first marathon, Charles!

Congratulations marathoner! You have accomplished a lot in a very short time. I look forward to hearing more about this experience when we see you at Tecumseh.

Thank you everyone for your comments and encouragement.
Dot - once I got in line to run I completely forgot about you and the others that I might see.
Totally forgot. Sorry.

On Sunday, I played guitar and sang like usual at church and I was fine.
My achilles were sore, but that was it. So I know I had - for me - a decent running base or else I would still be suffering and limping around. I now know that I should have stuck with the 5 hour pacing group and I am confident that I would have finished with them. I thought 11 minute miles or so was conservative enough for me, but that was not a good decision. I was not in terrible pain with my tight hamstrings, but I knew it would be better to do more walking and just get the first one done. I know that an even 5 hours is quite possible with more training and base building and that I could get to 4:30, in time.

The last two days I have been in Ft. Wayne doing my composer/writer presentations to kids in K-8 at a large Catholic school. The kids were great and, as always, these are a lot of fun to do and the money is nice. I DID have to tell them that I had just run my first marathon and showed them my medal. One boy asked if I was 2nd in the race - because I had a medal. My wife - sitting in the back - answered that question by her hysterical laughing - thanks SO much Susie!

I told him that all finishers get a medal and whether I was first or last - I still had to do the entire 26.2 miles. All of the classes cheered for me and I jumped up and down to show that I was not now crippled for life.

BTW - my 60th birthday was on October 5 and I ran that day from Seymour to Columbus. At the marathon, I told people that I was celebrating my recent birthday, by running my first marathon. It will forever be a birthday gift to myself that I will never forget.

I had fun - I learned a lot - I was not wasted at the end - I have joined a small minority of people who have ever run a marathon - and I STILL want to run and do more marathons and longer events.

OK Charles - enough self-celebrating - recover smartly and get back on a training plan for the next one.
But I am proud of you!

Congratulations marathoner!!! Great accomplishment - I remember my last marathon like it was yesterday and probably always will. The pacing think is really difficult - I did something similar as well, but you learned a lot and had a good experience. I'm sure there are a LOT of people proud of you - good going!

Congrats. First one is a charm. Go buy that 26.1 sticker and display it proudly!! Welocme to the club.

It was on an soon as I got home!

Looks good, marathoner. Gratz!

Congratulations, Charles! You put in training over a hot summer and stuck with it and it looks like it all paid off. It's hard to pace yourself especially for the first marathon, I think. Now you can look at marathonguide.com or around here and get ideas for next year!

Woohoo, Charles! You are now a Marathoner! Congratulations! So when is the next one??

The next one is the Tecumseh Trail Marathon on December 3.
Maybe a bit too soon, but I will make it a "fun" day on the trail in the woods!
The Indy mini in May and maybe a full in June along with continued training for the 50 miler in August.
I am pretty sure I will do Chicago next fall.

Sounds like a great line up!

A video of my first marathon experience - sorry it is a bit long - about 9:30.
I make these for my family and former students.