Trip Report
Guernsey
08/22 – 9/17/12
Race Results:
Sun, Aug 26/12
St Peter Port
Isle of Guernsey
Guernsey Marathon
4:46:20
Marathon # 360 – Country # 115
Well here it is – more than 2 months since I ran the race
and I am just getting around to writing the report? I have lots of reasons but
no excuses. So best to get it over with while I can still remember some of the
details.
If you recall, my last ‘training’ marathon three weeks
earlier in Moses Lake, WA was a painful disaster that I was hoping not to repeat
in Guernsey. I was at least encouraged that I had not suffered symptoms of
fatigue and shortness of breath during the ML marathon but the optimism soon
faded. After only one week in Seattle the symptoms started to occur again – at Sea
level? It became a struggle to run 8 to 10 miles at Sea level. There was no
hope of running a few 15 mile long runs to prepare better for Guernsey. Then
with only 10 days left before the race I suffered a painful injury to my left
abductor on a simple 8-mile run. Fortunately I was able to get an emergency
session with a masseuse who helped to reduce the pain and I was forced to take
a few days rest. I figured I had better try a test run before leaving for
Europe to see what shape the leg was in and how ugly the marathon would be?
Much to my surprise I was able to complete a 10-mile run w/o any problems and
it felt good? At that point I figured rest provided a much bigger benefit than
running junk miles so I decided to rest until race day.
I had booked a ‘luxury’ one month trip around and
including the marathon for two main reasons:
1)
Guernsey would represent the completion of a
marathon in every country in Europe including the IOM & Channel Islands
2)
The marathon was actually on our anniversary day
– 45 years later! To entice the SM (Sports Manager) aka wife to join me on the
trip I booked a 2-week river cruise after the race.
We departed Aug 22 so that we would have a few days to
enjoy Guernsey and recover from jet lag before the race. Several friends and
members of the Country Club were planning to join us for the race and
anniversary celebrations.
After arriving in St Peter Port in the late afternoon and
checking into the Collinette Hotel we forced ourselves to stay awake for dinner
and then crashed for 12 hours. On Fri we completed the mandatory shopping for
souvenirs and located a few of our friends. Fri evening I noticed some cars with
the marathon logo at the hotel and soon learned that the ‘Colly’ was the
unofficial club house for the Running Club and I was able to meet several local
runners and Peter Head, Race Director for the race. I joined them for a few
beers which is usually taboo for me before a race but I figured that it couldn’t
hurt my expected performance on race day? On Sat our friend Edson (NYC) joined
us for a tour around the island. We drove most of the marathon course since it
used almost every mile of road on the island. Guernsey is a pretty and affluent
island. Sat night we joined other members of the Country club – Jaap, Netherlands;
Edson, USA, and Klaus, Germany; and a few other friends for a pasta dinner prepared
by the Guernsey Running Club.
Sun was M-day. The race started at 9 am. It was a bank
holiday weekend which meant there would be little traffic on the narrow winding
roads during the race but it also meant it was impossible to get a taxi.
Luckily Edson and I were offered a lift to the start by another runner but
Nicole had to get the hotel shuttle to take to her the start later. Thankfully
the weather had changed from strong winds and rain on Fri and Sat to nice sunny
weather with only a light breeze. In
fact many runners had not been able to make it to Guernsey because all ferries
to the island had been cancelled for the past two days due to high winds and
rough seas.
I had no idea how my body was going to react? I had no
confidence that I could run the entire race and figured there was going to be a
lot of pain –and walking involved to finish the race. Thus I decided to run a
smart race – start slow and walk often if needed. I started out at an 11-min
pace and was surprised when I made it through the hilly first 10K in 68 min.
That is one of the few splits I remember. Sadly I had worn only my heart monitor/watch
for the trip and forgot to download the splits after the race. And is the case
(and problem) with the Polar Heart Monitor it is easy to accidentally start the
stop watch and that erases all previous data. Yep – that’s what happened a few
days after the race! So I lost all the data for what may well be my last
marathon?
But the good news at that point was that I had run (no
walking) the first 10K and felt good and the rest of the course was downhill
and flat. I decided to hold that pace as long as I could, expecting to crash
around 18/20 miles, due to the lack of any long training runs. I passed the
Half in 2:17. I knew the 2nd half would not be as fast or enjoyable!
I started to tire around 18 miles but got a brief surge of
energy when I met two friends along the course. Tony had travelled over from
England and Sue had joined him from the Isle of Jersey. They promised to meet
me at the finish line. I believe I reached Mile 20 around 3:40 since I remember
calculating in my fuzzy/tired mind that if I slowed down to a 12-min pace for
the final 10K I would finish around 4:55. I was amazed that I had made it that
far w/o walking? I decided to hand the race – maybe the final race – over to
Maddog. I had gotten us that far w/o walking. Now it was up to Maddog to get us
to the finish line – w/o walking- so we could finish our last race proudly!
Thank goodness for Maddog. The next three miles were
tough. By mile 22 I wanted/needed to walk. But Maddog refused! We struggled to
keep the old legs shuffling. Water stations were located every three miles and
I figured the next/last one was near 24 miles. I could use the water station as
an excuse to slow down. Shortly after passing mile 23 my legs had nothing left
and Maddog started playing mind games with me – “just one step at a time”, “slow
down for a few minutes and rest’. “Just finish this race and then you can have
a long rest”! Luckily I could see the final water station up ahead at 23.5
miles and I struggled to reach it and allowed myself a brief rest while I
swallowed a final carbo gel and washed it down. At that point Maddog and I were
determined that we would cross the finish line w/o walking! It got
tough/painful again at Mile 25 but finally I could see the sports stadium and
knew that I would finish the entire race w/o walking.
I crossed the finish line in 4:46:20. Needless to say I
was surprised and HAPPY. I had completed marathon #360 and country # 115 – and my
final (?) marathon w/o walking!
Nicole was waiting at the finish line (thanks to the
hotel bar manager who drove her to the stadium in the hotel shuttle). We waited for Edson to finish and then accepted
a kind offer from a local runner to drop us off at the hotel. Later that day
the members of the CC Club met with Peter (Race Dir) and discussed the possibility
of organizing official marathons in the Channel Islands of Sark and Alderney.
We discussed the logistics and feasibility of holding two
marathons in two countries in two days in Sept 2013. Peter thinks it is
feasible and will look into this winter. We promised to bring at least 12
runners from around the world so runners stay tuned and mark your 2013
calendars with that tentative event.
That evening Nicole and I were pleased to have Tony, Sue
and Edson join us for a great dinner to celebrate our 45th
Anniversary.
On Mon we caught a fast ferry from St Peter Port to St Malo,
France to begin a one-week train journey across Europe to Amsterdam where we
were scheduled to depart on a two week river cruise on the River Queen (rated #1
cruise ship in the world) on the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. I won’t bore you
with all the details but I will post photos of the trip to my photo website
(eventually).
As I said at the start of the report it is now two months
after the race and I am still wondering what to do with myself – regards running!
When I was suffering all the bad symptoms/problems during the summer w/o any
plausible explanation I came to the conclusion that my old bod needed a rest. I
promised myself that when I finished Guernsey I would take a Sabbatical for at
least 4 weeks. With all the travelling through Europe after the race and then a
long drive back to FL from WA, the Sabbatical was six weeks.
I started running again about three weeks ago – very slow
and low mileage but so far no symptoms of fatigue and no injuries. I plan to
build my long run back up to 13 miles before adding speed and intensity to my
program. Then and only then will I determine if Guernsey was truly my final
race. I must admit that I have not yet rekindled a ’fire in the belly’ or
burning desire to race or compete again.
Who Knows?
Stay tuned!
