Due to an unexpected problem with the computer system and
the unforeseen hype about the Boston Marathon, registration closed within 8
hours of going live. This meant that the
pains that I had went through to qualify in Huntsville would not be eligible
for admission into Boston and so I must go through the process once again of
getting another BQ. The way I looked at
it, this would mean that I had two chances of getting another qualifier so I
registered for a marathon in Wynne Arkansas in the fall and the Washington D.C.
in the spring. I realize that Arkansas
is not really considered a vacation hot spot and I would fully agree with you. My job as a radiation consultant requires
that I do a lot of travel around the country and it just so happened that I
would be working 45 minutes away from this race spot. I had worked in the area before and knew that
this would be a very flat race in a small town.
I will not dive into details on the agony and pain of this 26.2 mile
endeavor and will let you know that I did indeed get my BQ and a PR in this
race with a time of 3:06:35 and finished 5th overall out of 157
other runners. This race for me was the
start of a new challenge. At the start
line, I met a long haired hippie looking individual with a race singlet that
said “50 state marathon club”. I struck
up a conversation with him about this club of his and he informed me that he
had almost completed this challenge. I
asked him why he decided to do this endeavor and he laughed and told me that
more people climbed Mount Everest last year than had ran a marathon in every
state. I started doing the math in my
head; since I this would be marathon #3 along with D.C. in the spring and
eventually Boston, I might as well and aim for this goal as well. I thought running the Boston Marathon would
be the end of this journey but it looks like its pursuit would only be a
significant thread in an even grander tapestry.
A visit to Wynne Arkansas may not be on many people’s list
of exotic places to see and I completely agree with you unless you happen to
run there. On this cold morning of
November 6, 2010 I actually began to enjoy being in Arkansas. This was a very small race through a small
back road town but the city seemed to take great pride in it. The local Baptist Church had a pancake
breakfast hot and ready to go before the race and water stations were run by
local residents who set up tables in the front yards. This was a small marathon with a big
heart. I was alone most of the race with
not many other runners within sight. It
was very peaceful to see only empty roads with farmland stretching into the
distance filled with crops of corn and cotton fields that had been harvested a
couple weeks before. I recall being
greeted at the finish line with loads of pizza from a local restaurant and
cheers from onlookers that greeted each runner as if they were some sort of
hero. After the finish I stumbled to the
car to call my wife and tell her how I did and explain the new challenge that I
had decided to take on.
No comments:
Post a Comment