California International Marathon- A new kind of pain

December 8th 2019 I completed my first marathon. However, the race started 14 weeks when I was on my way back from Santa Cruz 70.3. I’ve been a distance runner for years, and in the past 3 years I’ve been competing at the professional level. I’ve done races all across the board between swimming, biking, and running at plenty of distances. Yet there were two distances that I deemed as too far, or not really my type because of the speed I still have in my legs. Something after Santa Cruz changed in regard to one of them. For years I had said I would do a marathon once I was under 1:10 in the half marathon, but after hitting time and time again I wasn’t pulling the trigger on actually doing one. I knew they would put me out of commission for a while due to the shear impact that occurs during, but ultimately I think I was scared it would be much harder than anticipated. That changed when I completed my first full 70.3 and had a decent run to finish up the day. I realized that I knew what it would feel like to an extent with the half-marathon at the end of a grueling swim-bike. Plus I would never know until I tried! So I told my running partner Blake to expect more running going forward and that I was finally tackling my first marathon. California International Marathon was my immediate choice because it fit well into my triathlon off-season, gave me enough time to get ready, and was known to be a fast course overall. With an end date in mind I set out to build what would be my first true run block since running in college. Yes I would keep swimming and biking, but this time around the hard work was to be saved for the run. Over the course of the 14 weeks I got up to some numbers I didn’t think I would see again, and even got that elusive half-marathon PR. Below is the basic breakdown of those 14 weeks, and more can be found on Strava. However, I don’t want to bog down the race report with my build up too much. I have not included my swim/bikes in the below build up, they were minimal and maxed out at 2-3 hours total per week. Also not shown is the strides that I would complete twice a week to keep up the speed! If you just want to get to the race report, scroll past the table!





The hours ticked away at work on Friday as I anxiously awaited the weekend. I had been packed for a week, and the weekend I had been building to was finally upon us. Ideally I would have more time between leaving Iowa and race start time, but sometimes with work I've had to make a few adjustments. Either way when that alarm went off Sunday morning I was ready to race. Only issue was I had to get there first! A bright and early morning pickup from Blake to the airport is how I kicked off the trip. The flight out of Des Moines? Easy. My connecting flight not so much. A mechanical with our plan delayed our departure and my 26 hours from landing to take off in California was dwindling. Finally, we got in the air and I was lucky enough to have Stan waiting for me at the airport to grab a run. (What a guy!)  We breezed through packet pickup despite the rain and me standing in the wrong line for 15 minutes before realizing the seeded runners had their own area. Next up was getting that run I promised Stan, so we set out to grab one at the American River Bike Trail. Even with the rain it was GORGEOUS. A must run for anyone in the area. I ran my usual pre-race 5 miles with 3x40 seconds on/20 seconds off, and felt really good considering my travels that day. Even better we caught a glimpse of a double rainbow post run, what a treat.

Double Rainbow!

After toweling off and heading back to get some dry clothes on it was finally dinner time. On the menu was The Old Spaghetti Factory and some delicious pesto fettuccine. The original plan was to pick it up and meet up with Julie and Barry at their hotel since they had a lineup of free food to go with our meals. Alas we couldn't find any parking (way tougher than I thought it would be despite being downtown Sacramento), so Stan being the man he is dropped me off so I could enjoy some company of other runners tackling the same course the next day. We talked course, strategy, how excited we were, and before we knew it was time to get to sleep. I Ubered back, set my gear up, and was ready to tackle my first marathon.

The race uniform!

Race morning came bright and early with my 4am alarm noting it was time for a quick shakeout. I made a perfect 1 mile loop and got back to the AirBnB to shower and eat. However, before I could do either I wanted to get my Uber ready to take me downtown to the bus stop. I checked and found one they could be there in 13 minutes, perfect! I ordered it right before getting in the shower. I hoped out to find out my driver had cancelled. Crap, so I tried again while gathering everything up to go. No luck, so I tried a third time as my time to get their dwindled. Well it was 3 strikes you are out at this point, luckily I had a backup plan to run to another pickup spot not too far away. A little over a mile and I was there! I was going to make it to the race at least.With a few small details missing though, I had an empty bottle and didn't eat yet. The food was an easy fix as I had the peanut butter packets in my bag. The water would have to wait until I arrived at the start location. At this point I should mention CIM is a point to point race from Folsom Prison to downtown Sacramento.This meant a long drive out without any fluids. Something was bound to happen, I'm just glad I found some free water and even bananas at the start line before warming up. Thank god I wasn't about to go in with only my 4 Cliff gels in my back pocket. Long story short I made it to the start line in one piece, fully ready to go.

The perfect 1 mile loop. Had to share.

Bang! The race was off, and I took my 13 seconds of light jogging to start line before hitting my stride. (That's what 15 rows back will do for ya) I wanted to take it out easy, so I let all the Olympic Trials Time Qualifier chasers go with ease. I just remained within myself, checking all the systems as we hit the first few hills. After I made sure I was good to go I started searching for like minded people. I.e. the ones who wanted to go out easy and work up. I found a group aiming for low 2:20s, exactly what I was looking for. As soon as I did and saw we were working well together I turned watch to the map screen and just let the race happen. Once the mind goes off, you don't see much to be honest. I would say over the course of 26.2 miles I got to see a lot of really cool signs, place, people, and so on. The reality is I remember the rooster on the back of a guys singlet for the most part. That and the 5k clocks as we rolled along. The first one came surprisingly fast and without too much strain despite the course being hilly than advertised. 16:53 came across and I did some quick math, it was bang on the 71 half-marathon pace I wanted to go through. A sign of relief came across me knowing I wouldn't get crap from the boys back home watching that told me I would go out way to fast. The next few miles were again, very boring. I guess the marathon isn't meant to be that entertaining for a while. Well other than the rooster on the back of that one guys singlet, wish I remembered his number so I can thank if for getting me through the monotonous early miles.

The 10k clock loomed on the horizon for our group and I began crunching numbers as I got closer. They weren't too hard as anything just under 17 minutes per 5k is what I was looking for. Nonetheless 33:49 was what we had as we crossed the line. I guess this marathon thing is easy, at least that is what started to cross my mind. However, in that exact moment I began to hear heavier breathing around me and people starting to fall off. Shoot, my group was beginning to struggle. I wasn't yet though, so I had to make the heart breaking choice to move up through a few groups to find a new one. I worried for a moment if it was the wrong choice, but as I crossed through 15k well ahead of the group I knew if I wanted to go through in 71 I had made the right choice. 50:48 Still right on. At this point I already taken my first gel 30 minutes in, but now I wanted to take the next one as close to liquid as possible because the first lingered in my mouth for a while. Next aid station I grabbed a water and put both down with surprising ease at 60 minutes in. I continued to move up at this point from the 161st place I crossed the 5k mark at to the 142nd place I crossed the 20k mark. 1:07:35 a damn near perfect split. Even better, I was back in a pack. We rolled through the California roadways as we got closer and closer to downtown and our halfway point. Nothing really hurt at this point and I even cracked a grin when I crossed at 71:16. My plan was falling into place.

The next 5k went without much change, but after I crossed that marker the early miles began to catch up with me. 25 kilometers went by in 1:24:57. I had another gel at 90 minutes and made the choice to stop and go the bathroom before my stomach began to disagree more than it was already. My pit stop clocked in 36 seconds long, and was well worth it because my stomach was back to working order. My legs began to disagree after about a mile from the stop. At first it was more of a "shoot this starting to hurt" kind of pain, and my next 5k split confirmed it. 30 kilometers in 1:43:16 and back to 161st (with my bathroom stop). Before this race I had done a few 22 milers, a single 24 miler, and a single 25 miler. Nothing was comparable effort wise though besides a 10 miler I did within a 20 mile run 4 weeks back. Even that pales in comparison to the effort it took to hold the 5:50s I was clinging onto from 30k to 35k. In my mind I thought this is it, I'm in so much pain. Surely it can't get worse. Miles 23, 24, 25, and 26 would beg to differ however. I was in some serious pain while keeping my 6 flats needed to break 2:30. A few times the thought even crept into my head to drop out, but I had already gone this far and you have to start some where right? Well my somewhere was like lifting 4 times my normal leg weight despite most likely being lighter than I started due to dehydration. The city and the finish line could not come faster. The downhill we were promised was of very little assistance to me at this point, as survive was on my mind and speed was no longer at the forefront. This may sound like an a bit of a stretch as 6 flats aren't a huge wall like people talk about. However, in the moment they were the absolute max that I could muster.

Rounding the final corner.

Finally, the finish line was close enough I could start to think about actually finishing. I pressed one step in front of the other until I could feel the crowds roaring and the announcer in the background. I crossed the finish line and leaned up against the barriers. 2:28:43 was far from my goal time, but in reality wasn't a terrible first marathon. I got through the chute, found some friends, chatted a bit before attempting to jog back to the hotel. My legs disagreed, so I just walked to the 6 blocks as my quads screamed. It wasn't glamorous, but it was worth it to finally knock one out after putting it off for some many years. A hot tub, some food, and a flight back to Iowa awaited me that afternoon. The journey was only two days on paper, but many years in the making. On to the next one.

Julie and I post race, thanks to her and Barry for all the help!

Thanks to everyone who helped me get to the race healthy, and who have supported me along the way. I could not do it without you!

Strava file!