When I was a kid there was nothing more that I wanted be than an architect. More importantly I wanted to be Frank Lloyd Wright. I’d spend countless hours drawing houses and reading up on my idol. As anyone knows anything about Frank Lloyd Wright he amassed an impressive collection of Asian prints. His love of the art resonated in his designs throughout his career, but none more than his design for the Imperial Hotel in Japan. Through my studies of Wright it introduced me to whole new world that helped me immensely with my studies in fine arts in college. While I did not go on to become that architect I had wanted to be it was the young exposure of Asian art that still carries with me to this day as a graphic and interactive designer. I’d love to attend #GlimpsesofAsia to relive those young childhood memories and hear from experts in the field and become inspired for new projects.

Thanks.

4:30. I’m up. I’m scarfing down Wheaties, a Cliff Bar & a 5 hour energy drink. Clothes all set. 5:45 out the door. Rain forecast of 90% chance. Nervousness sets in on the car ride over to race start area. Sprinkles start as soon as I’m out of the car. Then rain starts to flow. The entry into the pace “pig pen” is a cluster. One entry on the side directly where portapots are. Rain increases. Ear buds in. Relief, my race start was under a bridge. Keeping my drier for a little longer. I down a pre endurance drink. Music is set. Running app on my iPhone is set. Now just minutes from the shotgun blast start.

Shotgun blast. It’s on. It takes several minutes till any movement. It’s poring rain. Music is flowing into my ears equally as the rain comes down. Slow movement for the first half mile. It’s really wet. I use the sidewalk to get around puddles and people. Up the street to the bridge which is in view. Finally getting up to a decent pace. Oops, earbuds are getting drenched with rain. App is losing sync already. Crap! People are cheering me on through Facebook & Twitter. The big hill climb is now coming up. Oh boy. Crowd has thinned out more. Moving fast. I’m on a great pace feeling good. Rain is tapering off. Goody. I reach the turn to Eden Park which is where the fam is waiting for me. I loved seeing them there. The hill climb wasn’t bad so far. Shoes are a little soggy, but not feeling like it will amount to any issue. The hill climb continues up through mile 8. Beautiful course even if the sun isn’t shining. The crowd is still awesome. Love this race.

Stupid running app is so out of wack. Saying I’m 2 miles ahead of where I really am. Just not happy with that. I’m hitting every water/Gatorade station. It is humid out, but I’m still doing well. No aches or pains. Feeling good. Hyde Park is just ahead. The crowds are just awesome. Keeping me going. I know I’m staying hydrated because I have to pee. First time I’ve experienced this running. Quick stop on this well setup course and back into my pace. Still getting cheers through my phone.

Then I hit a wall. Some really steep hills. Ugh. I slow down. I’m past 16 miles now. I decide to eat my energy chews. I’m feeling a little better. Another hill. This one I walk up. Now for the back stretch where there’s Gu. Chocolate Gu? Are you kidding me. I almost gag on it. Running app now has me 3 miles ahead. I stop it. I can’t have this. I see family at 19! Gives me a little boost. Then I need to walk a little for a breather.

21.5 miles I see Kate! Oh how I needed that. A tear formed in my eyes seeing her. I’m back to moving faster. I can do this. The city is way off in the distance. The crowds are getting thicker. I team up with another gentleman who had been struggling earlier and we boost each other to keep moving. 24 miles down. Slow moving, but still moving. I was right on pace with what I originally guessed for my finish of 4 and half hours. Mile 25 and I pick up the pace. The crowds are thick along the sides. I’m nearing the end. Last .2 of the marathon and I see Kate’s Aunt Gretchen & Cousin Carrie and then I see my wife! I did it. The finish line! 4 hours 21 minutes!

I completed my first marathon. All 26.2 miles. I’m relieved. No injuries. I’m still walking. I’m filled with joy. What a feeling. Luckily Kate’s aunt & cousin found me to head me back to Kate. They both are nurses which they gave me check up on the spot to make sure I was doing okay. I can’t thank them, Kate & Kate’s parents enough for being there and for helping out. I couldn’t have accomplished this without them.

A special thanks to all who cheered me on and also for your words of encouragement. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I finished completely in the middle of the pack out of 4,295 runners. I’ll take that any day. Not bad for less than a year of training if I do say so myself.

My race results.

I recently started receiving Runner’s World magazine and the January 2011 edition has an article listing the “first timer” marathon favorites. To my surprise Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon is listed as one of the top ten marathons for beginners. I kept going back to the page thinking about it more and more. It dawned on me that Kate has lots of relatives in the Cincy area and what better way to have a family gathering that didn’t involve a funeral or wedding than a marathon? That was that. I committed to running a full marathon a year earlier than planned.

I notified family and now on May 1st I will be torturing my feet and body for the greater good of bringing lots of extended family together in The Queen City. Training starts now. I sure hope I know what I’m getting myself into. No backing out now. I am officially registered to be one of the 16 thousand plus runners.

Stay tuned.

Go check it out.

After those two races I only planned on training through the winter and then run the Cleveland 10 Miler which I hear is a big deal around here. It never really crossed my mind that I could run a half marathon before this year came to a close, but then I started adding an extra mile or two to my runs to the point where I was just a 5K within running a half (13.1 miles). That is when the running bug dug in deep with its fierce mandibles and held on for dear life because just three weeks ago on November 1 I ran my first 13.1 mile distance. A week later on November 8 I registered to run the Fall Classic half marathon in Strongsville on November 21. Did you get that? After only running the distance once I registered to run a half marathon. All 13.1 miles of it in a Northeast Ohio November. What was I thinking?

In that three weeks time I ran the 13.1 distance two other times for a grand total of three times of running this distance before the race. My fourth time would be the race! I was running this distance around the two hour mark so I thought piece of cake. No injuries. Piece of cake. My route has hills that gradual and some quick steep varieties. 13.1 miles is a piece of cake. I was all cocky and high on myself. The weather looked like it was going to hold out all week long. Score.

Race day. Sunday, November 21, 2010. It starts off great. I did not hear my alarm. I scramble to get out the door by 7 because I’m on the eastside having to drive all the way to Strongsville knowing that it’s at least 45 minutes away. I arrive at the designated parking location a quarter of a mile away from the starting point at 7:45 a.m. (that’s just cruel without a shuttle bus). Race starts at 9. It’s a lovely 37 degrees out with a breeze. A bit cold when you’re standing around roaring to run. Finally the time arrives to start so everyone is amassed at the starting line. We stand there impatiently for 10 minutes before someone with the all powerful bullhorn provides a simple message of “we’ll kick off soon.” Thanks. That was helpful.

Then we were off. I tried so hard to start off slow and steady. Well you kind of have to be slow otherwise you’re stepping on someone or bumping into one another a lot. It’s like a horse race jockeying for position on the first turn. You see people weaving everywhere. It’s chaos at the beginning of a race. Eventually it thins out and people can finally get into their pace. Again, I tried to be slow so I would have the final kick to finish strong. Nope. I was running 6:00 to 8:00 minute miles. I was burning too much too quickly. Damn you Army training for planting the seed to run fast at all times no matter what. The great thing about this race was that it was a relatively flat path and it was a back and forth loop. You got to see everyone that was behind you. I felt better when I saw pretty much half of the competition behind me through 95% of the race. I say 95% because on the last couple of miles I began to hit my wall which means the people that were smart to pace themselves started passing me. I’m not a very competitive person so it didn’t bother me that people were passing me. Sure I would have liked to stay in front of them, but I was smiling somewhere inside that I knew something they didn’t (any Princess Bride fans out there?) which is I’m not left handed — okay not that — it’s that this was only my fourth time ever running this distance. Yes I burned out too early and yes I hit a wall and yes I need to learn how to drink the water they hand you better  so I don’t look like moron throwing it all over my face, but dang it I finished a damn half marathon in 2:00:23 without ever stopping once and this was my FOURTH time running this distance. Okay I’ll stop with that now. I’m proud of myself for completing a half with only four weeks of training. I’m halfway there! I never thought I would get to this point so soon.

A big thanks goes out to my wife for being my support because without her I can’t do this. She stays at home with the kids worrying like crazy about me I’m sure, but she has NEVER complained about all of this time I take to do what is essentially a selfish thing. There is a lot of time that has to be invested in this and without the support I don’t know how anyone can accomplish something like a marathon. I love you Kate and thank you!

So what’s next? I have no idea. Might just continue running a few more 13.1 mile runs. Everyone is giving the opinion of run a full next year. I’m not sure yet honestly. I need a little time to let this one sink in. The bottom line is this. I’m half way there.

And now for the pics (taken by my awesome wife):

The cutest cheering group ever!

Running.

Can they just bring the finish line to me?

So close to passing out, but the kids prevented me from it.

update: Official results were finally released! I finished better than I originally thought. Under 2 hours! See here for complete convoluted results. Look for bib number 181. 36th out 50 in my age bracket and 332 overall.

Glad those fears went away. I worked my butt off to get back into 10k shape 2 weeks before the race. I even ran one time in the rain just so I was prepared for this kooky Cleveland, Ohio weather just in case.

I ran twice that week of the race, but then I rested for two days before the race. I’m so glad I did that. It helped. I usually have been going every other day for runs, but an extra day of rest helped in this case. Race day couldn’t have been anymore beautiful and perfect out. 55 and sunny. Flat course. Not many runners. I will certainly run this race again. Loved it. The scenery was awesome.

The most memorable thing about the run was that my four year old daughter had made the request to cross the finish line with me. Of course how could I resist that? I ran a couple of minutes above my usual pace and sure enough at the end I crossed that line with my daughter’s hand in mine. A moment I will always cherish.

The time: 55:36 with an average pace of 8:57/mile. 79th overall (out of 140) and 9th place out of 10 in my age group. (I was a full 5 minutes faster than the last place for my group.) I was also faster than several people almost ten years younger. I am very happy with the results. Especially since I had only been training for a 10k 6 weeks prior to the race.

Next up… Quite possibly it will be the Cleveland 10 Miler, but till then I will be out there building up to 13.1 mile runs.

P.S. About the title of this post. Since I started this goal of one day running a marathon I am now close to dropping 30 pounds of weight off this frame. I am stunned by that thought. Stunned. All of those early runs with carrying that additional weight just blows my mind.

Fast forward to 2006. Early in the year we discovered Kate was with child. Admittedly I was actually impressed that it was that easy, but on the other hand deftly scared! Me a dad? So as the months go by with Kate’s due date getting closer and closer it still had not sunk in at all that a child, that we chose not to know the sex of, would soon know me as “daddy.” September 23, 2006. Hospital. And action….

3:03 p.m. The first cries of our daughter arrive. Kate was an incredible trooper I might add since this was an all natural no drug childbirth. The first looks of my daughter froze me forever and all of those feelings of never wanting to be dad were quickly ancient memories to never return from an abyss. I’m forever wrapped around this 4 year old’s finger.

I couldn’t be a prouder dad to a girl who has the personality that is out of this world. She is one of my proudest achievements and it has been a great 4 years to get to know her. I love my little magpie. Happy birthday.

P.S. A super thank you to Kate for making all of this possible. We celebrate you too for making our girls 4th year possible!