Marathon Man

Last weekend Travis ran his first marathon! He ran it with his sister Megan (also her first) and his sister Angela got "pressured" into walking it.

Pre-race


I cannot understand what he's so happy about. They're just about to cross the starting line, not the finish line...


And off they go


And off we went to the other side of the park to a spot where we'd see them come back by after an almost 3 mile loop through some ocean-side hotel blocks of Newport.


The boys had a great view to watch for Daddy and Aunt Megan, until Emmett started running off, so they all had to park it on edge of the street at my feet.


There's Travis and Megan! There was a family cheering people on near us with a little girl who kept shouting, "Great job! You're almost there!" ALMOST THERE?! Talk about false advertising, they're not even 3 in yet!


Mile 4 official shot


Mile 10 was their official shot that you could buy right after the race


Free shuttle buses ran through the course. People could get on and off wherever to cheer on their runner(s). We just stayed on, and watched for them to pass. We saw them about mile 13-14.


Mile 14 official shot


Coming down the last hill to the finish!


WAHOO! Crossing the finish line! More about their time at the end of this post.


Official shots of them coming to the finish




And the photographer took a few of us too.


Angela walks it on in. Lookin' good!


Good thing they didn't have chairs in the runner's cool down area. I don't think Travis could have moved if he had sat in one.


And here's their fancy finisher's duds. Travis is in love with the shirt. He says it feels like nothing's on, and he's big on staying cool.




So here's the list of obstacles that were working against Travis finishing this marathon:
-He only had 2 months of training (typically training should be more like 18 weeks) due to a hip injury.
-Less weight to run with would have been easier
-He knew he had to hydrate more than the average guy to keep his extra large frame all hydrated, but he was unprepared for how much he really needed.
-The heat was out to kill them all. (and there were more than one who ended up with IV's in or taken to the hospital)

Travis and Megan thought they would finish between 4 hours and 4:30. Obviously the picture shows that didn't happen. The major issue on the day was the heat, but even without that, Travis thinks he probably still wouldn't have finished quite in that time due to his unwitting lack of proper hydration catching up with him.
The marathon started in Newport, but headed inland along the bay to Toledo. The cooler temperatures right at the coast rapidly disappear as you move inland, leaving a large chunk of the course to the mercy of the inland heat. And it was a HOT day. The high in Toledo was 87.5. Even Newport airport hit a high of 78, so for the coast it was smokin' hot. Unfortunately, we've had a horrible spring, so there has been zero chance for anyone to get any heat training. All the runners were really hit hard, and I heard over and over people lamenting not having any heat training yet this year. Travis even ran about 2 miles during which he had stopped sweating. That's a dangerous place to get to. Taking the boys to the beach later, we enjoyed the best weather I've ever experienced at the beach, but for all those poor marathoners, it was just bad.

I'm so proud of him accomplishing this feat. I think there are so many marathon runners out there that people generally have lost sight of what an amazing feat it really is. And considering all the conditions working against Travis, I'm all the more amazed by it.

As far as his weight, the good news for me is he'd like to loose 20 pounds before the next one, so finally I won't have him sabotaging my weight loss goals anymore!!!

Yes, I said "the next one." I knew he was going to keep going, but it gets worse. He and Megan saw several people with Marathon Maniacs shirts on and they had to find out what that was about. Turns out there's a club for psychos who are addicted to that much running. Now Travis and Megan want in. So instead of the ONE marathon I thought they would do this fall, they will be doing THREE marathons to meet Marathon Maniacs entry level criteria of either 2 marathons in 16 days or 3 in 90 days.Yeah, that's entry level, there are eight higher levels the top being 52+ marathons within 365 days! See, it's completely a club for psychos. Their "InSane AsyLum" page is full of thoroughly mentally deficient examples.

One of the fall marathons, the Columbia Gorge Marathon, I'm very excited about though because they have a "kids marathon" that Avery is going to run! The kids have to show up race day with their log of 25 accumulated miles and then they race the 1.2 miles that day to finish out the 26.2miles. Avery is super excited about getting to run a marathon with his Dad and the t-shirt and medal that come with it! Carson is devastated. He wants to too, but he'll have his first chance next year as kindergarten is the bottom end of the age requirement.

And so I'm sure this post is only the first in our new adventures as a running family. (Yes, I am running too, my piddly little amount that I can manage in the mornings. Maybe someday I can aspire to a measly 10k, which would still be a great feat for me!)