A Busy July

Wow, was July a busy month.  Only now, half way through August, do I feel like I can finally catch my breath.  Several major events happened one after the other, namely the Gold Coast Marathon, my CISSP exam and our trip back to the US for Carol's cousin's wedding.

The marathon went like a dream.  In my last post I talked about how this new lifestyle has given me time to run.  My training regimen was actually not too rigorous, running about three days a week on average.  There are so many trails to choose from around our apartment, which helps keep it interesting.  For about the month before the marathon, my regular training consisted of two, maybe three weekday runs averaging somewhere around eight miles each and then a long weekend run anywhere from 10 miles to somewhere around 20 miles.  The training runs definitely got easier as my body got more accustomed to longer distances.  When I started training, my average run was probably about 5 miles at 8:00min/mile.  I thought that was good.  It's amazing how much you can accomplish if you go just a little further and little faster each week.  By the time the marathon came around, a 13 mile run at 7:30 pace seemed simple.

When I first committed to run the marathon, my target finishing time was four hours.  Anything in the ball park of a four hour marathon is something to be proud of.  I stand by that now, having done one.  As my training went on and I started to get more comfortable with a quicker pace and longer distance, I decided it would be good to shoot for 3:30.

Traditionally, two weekends before a marathon is the 'test run' where you go out for your longest training run.  For first time marathoners the recommendation is somewhere around 80-90% of the full marathon distance.  I decided to set my watch for three hours and see what happens.  Well, at about the two hour mark I had to start walking.  This was only two weeks til the big day.  Not good.

I racked my brain, talked to my Mom and did plenty of reading to figure out exactly what was wrong and decided it was nutrition.  I wasn't eating during my training runs and the body only has so much glucose available until it has to start burning fat directly, which is much more difficult to burn.  This is what it means to 'hit the wall'.  The body simply doesn't have the energy to keep going.  On top of that, drinking more water seemed to actually slow me down.  It felt like it would just sit in my stomach rather than rehydrating me.

That led me to put together a race day water and nutrition strategy, which turned out to be a saving grace.  I did a few test runs with Goo packs (little gooey glucose squeeze tubes that pretty much taste like Gatorade flavored toothpaste) and had pretty good success.  I also figured that drinking sports drinks rather than water would help with faster, smoother absorption.  For the marathon (42.2k, 26.1mi), I decided to have one Goo pack every 10k and drink a half cup of Gatorade every 5k.

The marathon started at 7:00am Sunday, so Carol and I went down to the Gold Coast a day early to relax and see some friends.  We had a great, and very relaxing evening.  The race was on the 4th of July, so I drew some American flags on my bib with the help of our friends four year old daughter.  Marathon runners were given the opportunity to put a nickname on their bib, so naturally I chose 'Happy B-Day USA'.  That night, the last thing I wanted to do was to introduce any unknown variables into race day, so I brought my own food for dinner and breakfast the next morning.  I had an early breakfast (just cereal and some juice) and we headed off for the starting line.

July is the middle of winter here, so it was relatively cold that morning.  Getting to the starting line involved plenty of muscle rubbing and jumping up and down to keep warm.  I thought I would be nervous at the starting line, but I wasn't.  I knew I was prepared and I was ready to go.  The gun went off, I crossed the start line, and the race was on.

There were about 5,000 participants, so there were plenty of people to pick through at the start.  Pace runners with balloons were set up at the 4:00, 3:45, 3:30, 3:15, and 3:00 marks.  I started somewhere in the 4-4:30 area and had some catching up to do.  The first 5k was shoulder to shoulder with other runners but I managed to get past the 4hr balloon pretty quickly.  The 3:45 balloon took more effort.  That one went down around the 10k mark.  After that, things started to loosen up and I could really run at my own pace.  That's when the fun started.  I really felt great for the first half of the marathon, chasing down one balloon at a time.  I love to set little goals when I'm running - catching certain runners, speeding up to a certain point on the horizon, picking up pace for one song on the mp3 player - all these keep me entertained and help my overall time.

Before I knew it, the 3:15 balloon was in sight and I was closing.  I started to wonder if I wasn't getting out too hard, too early.  Most of the content I read before the marathon described the ideal first half as nothing more than 'an exercise in holding back'.  I decided my pace was within reason and kept going.  I passed the 3:15 balloon somewhere around the 25 or 30k mark.  My nutrition and hydration strategy seemed to be working well.  Two hours in, I felt hydrated, had good energy and the sun came up to give everyone a beautiful day looking out over the ocean.

Just as it was all coming together, I knew I had hit the hardest part of the race.  The same sages who warned me about holding back at the beginning of the race also told me that 'the real marathon begins at 30k'.  I believed them and I prepared for it.  Sure enough, the last 10k is the hardest.  The joints are starting to feel it, the feet are starting to feel it and it starts to be more work than fun.  Still, being prepared, I kept on pushing.  Towards the end, I passed fewer people and there seemed to be large gaps between runners.  I counted down each of the last 10k, mentally marking off one by one and getting that much closer to my goal.

The last kilometer flew by.  I wish every kilometer felt like that last kilometer.  I was tired, but I suddenly had energy.  All the work of the 41k before it was nearly forgotten.  People were everywhere, cheering loudly.  Kids were pushing to the front to get high fives.  The sun was shining, my heart was racing and I could see the finish line coming.

Sure enough, I bounded down the final straightaway beaming with excitement, fist pumping.  I caught Carol in the audience yelling her loudest.  Right on cue, the announcer rang out "Jason Porter - Happy Independence Day!", and I crossed the finish line.  What a feeling.  The few minutes after that were a bit awkward.  I felt quite nauseated at first but got a drink of water and had a seat to relax before taking off my timing chip.  A nice volunteer came over and actually offered to undo my laces and take off my chip for me!  I can't say there is any other occasion where I'd ask someone to untie my shoe laces for me but that was awesome.  My legs were pretty stiff for the next 24 hours and I felt pretty close to 100% in 48 hours.

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been so proud of myself in my whole life.  This was a competition with myself, something that I wanted really bad, just for me.  Looking back now, the whole thing just feels great.  I got amazing support from Carol - saw here once in the course and at the finish - and also had support from a few friends who came to watch.  It really meant a lot to have them there in my big moment. 

When it was all said and done, my net time (start to finish) was 3:07:22.  Here's proof! It was even good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2011!  I doubt I'll make it back to the US for it, but I hope someday things work out and I get the chance to do it.

I'm beginning to understand the connection between exercise and highly successful people.  Motivation and persistence are without a doubt the biggest factors behind success and it sure takes a lot of both to run a marathon.  It's all a matter of personal motivation.  If you enjoy running (and that may be a big if), there is nothing like the rush of race day and the feeling of accomplishment crossing the finish line.  I would estimate that some 95% of people in their 20's are physically capable of finishing a marathon, the question is simply a matter of motivation.

With that big accomplishment under my belt, it was time to switch from exercising the body to exercising the mind.  The next weekend was my CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) exam, for which I'd been studying for about three months.  I took study leave the day before the exam to get in a last bit of studying and then went to the exam on Saturday.  It was hard - probably harder than any exam I took in college.  Total scheduled exam time was 6 hours, I probably used all of 4:30.  I'd studied hard but many of the questions seemed to have more than one good answer.

This weekend, to my surprise, I got an email saying I passed!  I can't believe it - I'm so excited.  Now I just have some paperwork to finalize and I'll have my first major professional certification.

The day after the exam, Carol and I left for the US.  It was a whirlwind of a trip, stopping in Denver, then Bethlehem, then New Jersey in the space of a little over a week.  We had an amazing time, but I'll save that for another post.  Since then, we've been to the Ekka (basically the state fair of Queensland), did our first trip to Ikea and got new housewares and furniture, bought a used dresser and are re-staining it, saw an amazing Beatles cover show at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and there's lots going on at work.  Carol just signed a huge contract that will have her busy til February and there have been several changes at my job that could have an interesting downstream effect.

This has already been a busy winter, but I'm sure there's more to come.