They don’t call it the best marathon in the world for nothing , and this year was no exception. The weather was near perfect and the spectators and volunteers outdid themselves.

The moment I entered athletes village and the disabled athletes staging area early Monday morning, my worries and stress about the race just melted away. I felt so privileged just to be part of all this for a 3rd time. This year there were only 12 of us in the mobility impaired division. It’s kinda like an exclusive club where the members get together once a year to show the world what they have accomplished.

Here’s some various scenes I captured before and during the first few miles of the race. I think they speak for themselves..

Strategy– Because I feared I would have problems with my left foot if I tried to racewalk the course, I decided at the last minute to keep my pace up by doing a combination of regular fast walking mixed with some very slow jogging. I would the walk the hills and jog the downhills and sometimes the flat areas. I tried my best to walk on the inside corners of the all curves, but sometimes it was difficult because of all the people on the course. The farthest I was able to jog at any one time (because of my breathing), was about 50 yards. For the most part the strategy was working and I was able to maintain a pretty constant 14:30-15:00 pace for most of the first 20kms. By mile 15 though, the jogging intervals were making me way too short of breath and I had to cut back. By mile 18 I was getting so short of breath, I couldn’t jog at all. I was using my inhaler and neb machine way too much, and my leg muscles were starting to cramp. I thought it best at that point to stick to plain old walking (on Heartbreak hill, even the runners were walking so I didn’t feel that bad). So anyways, I’m tooling along at a much slower pace now just trying to survive the hills (which never seem to end), when I figured I better hit the next pit stop, as my stomach was getting a little iffy. That’s when every thing changed!

The Curse —As I’m stepping out the porta potty at mile 21, I take about 3 steps forward back onto the course, when all of a sudden my left knee decides to totally give out. I mean boom… it just went limp and buckled. As I’m trying to keep myself upright, my “good” leg then decides to lock up on me. I then somehow manage to simultaneously slip on a paper cup and fly face first toward the pavement. I was able to brake the fall with my fingers and forearm, but as I hit the ground and rolled onto my back, both of my legs cramped up and I couldn’t move. (We’re talking full calve and quadriceps cramps…) There’s blood everywhere and my lower body is spasming…what a spectacle. Thankfully, some very cool, but slightly inebriated college students came to my rescue and helped me work the cramps out and made sure I was OK. By then however, the damage was done. I knew the moment I tried to stand up and put weight on my left leg, that my hopes for setting a new a PR went down the toilet. After limping a few yards on it, I was having serious doubts as to whether Id be able to finish the race at all. I was so devastated I just wanted to cry. Why did this have to happen? At that point I was experiencing so many emotions, my brain kinda shut down. I went into survival mode and decided that PR or not, there was no way I was going to quit after making it 21 miles.

The last 5 Miles —Every mile seemed like an eternity. The pain was so excruciating that I was actually moaning and grunting, but I knew that if I stopped, even for a moment, that my body would totally cramp up and that would be it. Frustrated as well, I think I was starting to make Jon ( my spotter) nervous. Here I am limping, blood dripping down my leg, I’m breathing really hard and we still have several miles to go, yet he totally gets how important it is for me to at least finish the race and he continues to encourage me. Heck, even the police, which were everywhere and could obviously see me limping and grimacing in pain, were acknowledging by their facial expressions that it was OK and not to give up …they cheered me on as well. Had this been any other race, I probably would have forced off the course. Anyway, as it turns out, I had made such good time during the previous 20 miles, that even with the injury and the subsequent slow down, I still managed to finish 12 minutes faster than last year.

Lessons learned–I put everything I had into this race and was on track for a 6:45 finish. Then wham…to have this happen just 5 miles from the finish was really disappointing. I guess I could blame it on having the worst luck in the world, but in reality what happened at mile 21 was just a freak accident made worse by some poor judgement on my part. You see, while bolusing with prednisone prior to a race can sometimes keep a post race asthma flare from escalating out of control, it can also cause some wicked muscle cramps. Add to that a group of muscles that are already over-worked from 6 hours of constant pounding, and you have a marathon disaster just waiting to happen. The bottom line, is that I didn’t stretch or hydrate enough, and most importantly, I didn’t do ANY speed training. You can’t train at a slow pace and then expect to race at a fast one. If you wanna be a fast walker, you have to train as a fast walker. But of course, therein lies the catch 22. In order to do any physical activity fast you have to have good lungs. There’s got to be a happy middle in there somewhere.

Final thoughts –My hard luck story isn’t really unique. There were a lot of injuries that day and a lot of suffering going on ( you should have seen all the people who were limping through the airport when I left, it was almost comical.) Race officials later told me that they had never seen so many leg, knee and calve injuries. Weird huh?
Anyways, 72 hours later and different perspective, I’m now feeling a lot less sorry for myself or my race results. I may have lost 20 or 30 minutes with my little acrobatic stunt, but the fact that I was able to continue on despite my breathing, despite some significant injuries and despite some excruciating pain, proves once again ,that while I might be the slowest person on the course, I still am one tough cookie. My spotter Jon who works with lots of professional athletes, made these remarks…..he said “Steve, if it were easy, everybody with severe lung disease would do it. You are truly one of the great athletes that raced on Monday!” I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. Thank you Jon for tolerating me for 7 hours ( his neck was so sore from being on that bike all day) and Thank you to all my cheer-leading buddies for supporting me though my 8th marathon.

Speaking of race photos, almost forgot….A fellow Dave Alumnus and marathoner whom I had never met, heard that I was in the race and snapped this finish photo of me as I limped across the finish pad ( and later collapsed). Thanks Mary Ann!
(The rest of my race photos are so disturbing, I’m not even gonna buy them this year)

[Post Script] After being evaluated back home, turns out I tore a ligament near my knee and pulled 2 of the quad muscles in my left leg.Walking 5 miles with this injury probably didn’t help matters. They’ll have a better idea of the damage after they do an MRI , but hopefully I’ll be good as new in a few weeks and won’t need surgery.

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/boston-2011-race-report/feed/ 17 http://breathinstephen.com/more-images-from-the-2010-boston-marathon/ http://breathinstephen.com/more-images-from-the-2010-boston-marathon/#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:38:23 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=12732

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During this trip I took close to 500 still photos and about 20 different video clips, which I still haven’t sorted completely.
I’ll be adding more photos to these albums as I get them.

______SOME SCENES BEFORE THE RACE______

______SCENES DURING THE RACE______

Rather than bore you with a mile-by-mile account of everything that happened during this entire 7 hour-17 minute very fun but challenging, and at times a excruciatingly painful journey, this year I decided only to post what I can consider to be the highlights. The experience was a little overwhelming and with so many pictures , videos and texts to prepare and post, I’m gonna have to dole them out little by little over the coming days.

But, first let me start by acknowledging some wonderful people who helped make this a truly special day for me.

My walking partner in the race, Mike Mc Bride.
Our super cool spotters, Jon and Chris from the BAA
Our fantastic crew, Pete from Apria Health Care, and Tom and Brett from Caire Medical and Brett’s wife Shay.
The wonderful folks at the University of Pittsburgh’s Asthma Institute
And finally, our special course guide, the one and only Lis Shepard , who drove the spectators wild and who stuck by me the entire distance just so she could cross the finish line with me. A pretty awesome lady I’d say!

Introducing
“TEAM WHEEZY”

(hey…where’s Lis at? )

( Oh that’s…right, she’s yacking it up with the Boston Globe reporter dude)

So here’s a collection of unedited short clips that I took with my phone camera. Sorry, the video quality isn’t too good, but I wanted to give you a sense of what it’s like to be the first AND last people out on the Boston course. This pandemonium goes on goes on for 7 FULL hours!! See if you can hear my name being shouted during the middle and end portions of the clip. Every time my spotter John would see I was having problems with my breathing or my legs, he’s get the crowd cheering for me. It was like a magic potion that kept me going.

26 miles and 7 hours later , watch how Lizzy works the crowd and helps me make it to the finish line 6 minutes later. Again, this clip is a little long, but I wanted give you an idea of just how many die hard spectators waited for us to finish and how much fun it was to have Liz along for the ride.

Sorry, this race report is a little late in coming, but I didn’t want my little prison stint to over shadow all the good things about this race.

First let me say what a pleasure it was to finally meet the famous Miss Dizzy Lizzy and some of the other Mc Govern alumni who trekked in from all over the country to do this race. Talk about a ball of energy, Liz has enough enthusiasm for 100 racewalkers!

Liz and a friend of hers, Elizabeth and myself, all met up at the race Expo on Friday. Inside the Expo building they had this huge banner that actually had Lizzy’s photo on it, that they had captured at this very same Rock&Roll race 2 years ago. Naturally she had to take a picture of herself standing in front of the image of herself…..pretty cool.

We did a once through of the Expo, I didn’t buy anything, but Liz bought a pair of her favorite shoes .After that we all headed over to the hotel coffee shop and chit-chatted for a couple hours. It was great hearing everyones race stories.

On the morning of the race I managed to get to San Jose a little before 6:30 am. I parked over at the HP pavillion arena where there were already hundreds of people beginning to fill the parking lot. Good thing I got there an hour and a half early. From the parking lot, it was a full mile walk to the starting area of race.

This was a much bigger event than I thought it would be. They had something like 12,500 participants doing this race and the streets were filling fast. They had 13 starting corrals extending out about 4 blocks from the actual start line.One thing I noticed right off the bat, was how many Porta potties they had set up. I kid you not, there were hundreds of them lined up side by side , on both sides of the main street and dozens more on the side streets. This is the first event of this size Ive been too , where there were NO lines to use the johns! . At an event this size , you can usually expect to wait 30 minutes to use the toilets. In fact, thats one of the reasons I wanted to get here early. Hats off to the promoters for that one.

At about 15 minutes before the start , Liz called me and we all somehow managed to find each other in this massive crowd. Liz made it easier by wearing her famous “Ears”. After some quick photo taking, we all went over to our respective corrals ( which they packed like sardines) and waited for this huge sea of people to start moving. Once the gun went off, it took about 10 minutes for the runners in the 12th corral to make it across the starting line.

And were OFF….. As always ,I waited till the pack thinned out , which happened pretty fast, and then I pulled over to the left side of the road. I didn’t really have a chance to stretch before the race, so for the first mile or so, my shins were killing me. I knew though, that as I warmed up, the pain would diminish. The next couple of miles would be my warm up mode. This is usually the part of a race where I try to find a comfortable pace and the easiest position on the road itself to walk, usually the center or the crest of the road where its more even. If theres a yellow or white dividing line on the road , I’ll usually hug that line and racewalk right down the middle of it. ( it’s a good way to practice your technique too).

The course itself had a very suburban feel. It was basically flat and meandered in and out of various neighborhoods, most of them tree lined , upscale and very beautiful….Lots of mansions too. I can see now why people pay so much to live here.

Somewhere around the mile and a half mark , I passed Elizabeth. I was going to walk with her for a while, but decided that I needed to bank some time while I still had my lung power. I told her that she would probably pass me up in the last miles of the race. Some how that never happened, and I didn’t see her again until after the race.

It was about mile 2 where we hit the first watering station and thats when it really hits me, of just how long a 13 mile race really is. I would have to pass 6 more of these aid stations before finishing the race. It was also about this time, that I got in the mood to racewalk more and more. With my headphones and music cranked up, I was pretty much oblivious to what was happening around me. The diversion of music also gives me the courage to racewalk in huge crowds without getting too embarrassed. One runner lady who did pass me, tapped me on my shoulder and told me what a nice butt I had , and how she had been been watching my hips for the last 1/2 miles. I just laughed and continued to racewalk. I had seen lots of other walkers on the course swinging there arms, power walking or speed walking (which is not real racewalking), so I felt totally comfortable doing my thing. Mind you, I might not be the best racewalker, but I am a real racewalker. I follow all the rules.

The next 10 miles were actually pretty boring. To break up the monotony I decided I would racewalk the rest of the race. I racewalked on and off as much as I could and even when I would slow to a snails pace to catch my breath, I would try my best to stay in legal form (that’s racewalking lingo for, maintaining technique…ie forward knee locked and one foot on the ground at all times).

Miles 10 through 13 were the toughest. It was starting to get really warm , the sun was shining right in my face and I could actually feel myself overheating. I forced myself to drink both the electrolyte and plain water that was offered at each aid station, but I could still feel my calf muscles and left IT band wanting to spasm and lock up. I was also starting to breath pretty heavily, which is not a good thing for me, because it means that Im gonna be trapping a lot of air in my lungs. The problem with breathing fast, is that I cant exhale fast enough to make room for the next incoming breath. The longer this goes on, the more air that gets trapped in the smaller airways of my lung .Eventually my lungs will blowup like a balloon.
For most of the race I was averaging an inhaler hit about once every half mile, but that increased to about 2 hits every half mile the further into the race I got. In total, I used my puffer about 20 times. It sounds like a lot ..I know, but not unusual for me.

There was nothing really special about the finish line, except that I was very happy to see it. I tried to pace myself through the last 1/10th mile of the race , so that I could racewalk through the finish chute and look good on camera, but I ran out of steam just a few feet short of the finish mat and ended up just walking across it. Oh…well, they didn’t take my finish line photo anyway.

I walked into the finish area, a little disoriented and trying to catch my breath. I got my medal and made my way to the Family reunion area where I spotted Lizzy’s Mouse ears poking up in the distance. She had finished about 10 minutes ahead of me and looked as fresh as she did before the race. I, on the other hand, looked like crap! Anyway, we rested a little and waited for the others to arrive. Elizabeth came in about 15 minutes after I did and looked good as well. Both Lizz’s and the rest of the gang walked with me to pick up my gear bag, we took one last picture as a group, said our goodbyes..and that was it. My 9th half marathon…completed!

Due to a glitch in the electronic timing system, my actually finish time has to be manually verified , which will take a few more days, but I think I finished somewhere between 3:00-3:10, which is much faster than I anticipated. Not a PR for me, not even close, but considering everything, I think it a respectable finish time. I performed well in this race and I’m proud of myself.

Some after thoughts While it’s obvious that pushing myself too hard during this race may have contributed to my asthma exacerbation and hospitalization that followed, I’d like to point out to the naysayers ( the people who criticize my involvement as an asthmatic in these types of events) that out of the 14 races Ive done in 3 years ( 5 of those being full marathons), Ive only gotten sick 2 times as a result of them. Id also like to that say, that even “healthy” people get sick after doing marathons and MANY of them end up in a hospital! I train very hard for every race I do, and if I get sick now and then from over- doing it… big deal. I’m not going to stop doing what I love and what keeps me alive.

Sadly, 2 young runners died during this half marathon. Both collapsed close to the finish line.

Well, this race definitely ranks up there as one of the strangest, yet one of the funnest Ive ever done. Too bad I was sick as a dog during 90% of it. Oh, my lungs were fine. The elevation didn’t bother me at all, it was the rest of my body that was going haywire.
I think the combination of lack of sleep, extremely hot temperatures, and lack of proper hydration did me in, and by race time, I was probably suffering from full blown heat stroke. Of course being the damn fool I am, I decided to go for it anyway, and as crazy as it sounds , I’m glad I did it.

More about me trying to kill myself a little later, but first, let me try to describe just how fabulous the event itself was. Actually, the word event doesn’t even do it justice….It was more like a great adventure!
If you’ve never been in the middle of a desert at night, let me just tell you that the scenery, though not very colorful, is absolutely incredible in scope! Kinda like the way I picture the surface of the moon. What made it even more surreal, is that there was a full moon that night that lit up the desert floor and the surrounding mountains, so even though it was way past midnight , it felt more like early dawn. Another thing that stuck me , was how quiet it was out there. Though there were nearly 400 runners and walkers out on the course, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. And because the road was still open to traffic, everyone was required to wear a glow necklace and form a single file line on the left side of the road, which gave the illusion of a long string of climbers scaling the side of a tall mountain. Oh yes, and along the course on a nearby mountain ridge , we saw one of those black SUV surveillance vehicles that the government uses to make sure civilians don’t get to close to “area 51″
I’m sure they were watching us with binoculars.

Getting there……
We set out on Saturday morning at 6 am from Fresno and arrived at the host hotel in Las Vegas around 12:30 in the afternoon. Man was it hot in Vegas. 107 degrees and windy that day. I was already exhausted from the long drive and lack of sleep from the night before, so by the time we checked in at the hotel and ventured outside on foot to find a place to eat lunch, I was already starting to to feel dehydrated and queasy. While my friends ate a huge pre-race meal, I had a couple french fries and a half a glass of water. I think, not eating or drinking in the hours before the race is what did me in. Going from the freezing cold air conditioned car and hotel rooms, to roasting in the outdoor heat, probably didn’t help either.

The plan for Saturday afternoon was to hang out in the hotel room and get some sleep until the Expo opened at 4pm , and then to return to the room afterwards for a couple more hours of sleep until the buses departed at 8pm. Well, by the time we got back to the hotel it was already 2:30 and I’m not one of those people who can fall asleep at will, so I just watched TV and put together the gear and outfit I was going to wear for the race.

The Expo ( if you want to call it that) consisted basically of two tables; one for the bib pick up and bus tickets, and one table for t-shirt pick up . I think there may have been one other small table with a few alien souvenirs type things for sale. The good bags contained one gel, one glow necklace and one advertisement for another race….that’s it.

Following the Expo, we went back to the room to get our racing clothes together and decide which stuff we wanted to bring ( or carry ) during the race. After that , we were supposed to take a short nap , get cleaned up and head out to the front of the hotel to catch the bus. Again, I was unable to get any sleep and by 8 pm , I was totally burnt out.

At 8pm sharp we head downstairs and out to where the buses were lined up. We exit through the side door ….and WHAM! …that heat hit me like a blast furnace. It’s amazing how much more sensitive to heat you become when you’re tired. I have never experienced heat like that before! To make things worse , they lined us along the sides of the buses which were idling and spewing out even more heat. Id say 20 more degrees to the already 105 degree it was outside. But the worse part of all was the waiting. We had to stand in that heat for almost an hour as they had to register and board each passenger one-by -one ( this is the only thing I can fault the organizers for). I got so over heated standing in line that I thought I was going to pass out. I kept on thinking to myself..” If I feel like this now, how on earth am I ever going to walk 13 miles up the side of a mountain 3 hours from now?” I was sweating so profusely , that my dri-fit shorts and singlet were soaked. I had already drank all the water that was in my bottle before I even boarded the bus!

Finally relief, we get to our seats on a nice cold bus, but now the sweat on my body is evaporating and I’m starting to shiver …This is not good. While almost everyone on the bus is talking and laughing and getting excited about starting the race, I was so nauseated from the heat, the cold and the motion of the bus, I just wanted to puke! But, we were already moving, so for better or worse, I’m stuck on this bus for the next 3 hours. Now I begin thinking..” how am I gonna break the news to my friends that I can’t do this race once we get there” I should’ve called it quits before I boarded.
Thankfully, it must have been becoming more apparent to my buddies that I wasn’t looking or feeling so good .They saved me the possible embarrassment by exclaiming ” You look like s**t !– Are you OK? –Maybe you better not do this race.” Those kind words took a little of the pressure off , but if I withdrew from the race now, where the heck would I go, what would I do for the next 7 hours while everyone is out on the course? The post race buses weren’t scheduled to leave until at least 5 am.
That means Id have to either wait on one of the buses, or sit inside the Little Ale inn cafe until the race was over. Either way , Id feel worse than I did now. For almost the entire bus ride, I was so exhausted , I couldn’t hold my head up. I just closed my eyes and tried to rest my brain as much as I could.

We’ve now been on the road for about 2 hours and the nausea was starting to subside and I was beginning to feel a little better. The women who was sitting next to me noticed that I was awake now and tried to start a conversation. Turns out , she was a nurse who worked the night shift at a Las Vegas hospital and was actually used to running at night. She was doing this half marathon as a prep for her first full marathon which was going to be the Nike Womens in October. The conversation eventually turned to asthma and I asked her what would happen if I were to get sick or have a severe attack while out on the course. She said the part of the desert we’re going was so remote that I would have to be air lifted back to Las Vegas ( 150 miles away) Boy.. hearing that really upped the ante . Now, on top of everything else , I’m stressed out.

Finally we arrive . Its midnight and buses are pulling over the the shoulder of the road at the infamous “Black Mailbox ” ( which is actually white now) where they were dropping off the full marathoners. We’re allowed to get off the bus stretch out legs and cheer the marathoners off. When I stepped off that bus, the first thing I noticed was the outside temperature had dropped significantly . It was now 74 degrees , pretty warm to start a marathon in , but a lot better than the 105 were standing in just a couple of hours ago. I wasn’t sweating or shivering anymore, but after sitting on the bus for 3 hours, my legs felt like jelly. I had a hard time standing up , let alone walking. Heck, even the healthy people were having a problems walking and stretch after such a long cramped ride. This is getting ridiculous. I need to bite the bullet and just admit that Im too sick to do this walk.

So, after cheering the full marathoners off, the rest of the people got back on the bus and we set off for the 1/2 marathon drop off point 13 mile UP the road. By this time, my heart is pounding. Am I going to withdraw or not? Finally I just said to myself…screw it. I’m gonna do it ! I knew that even under the toughest circumstances, I could walk 3 to 4 miles. And because I knew that there were aid station every 3 miles, I figured if I had to drop out ( which I had every intention of), I’d just have the SAG vehicle bring me back to the finish line and wait it out.

It’s Showtime

This is the moment of truth, we’re now at the drop off point for the half marathoners. I’m try to rationalize my predicament ……OK, you might be severely dehydrated and tired, BUT, you’re legs are very strong , you’re breathing is Ok. You can always get more electrolyte replacement fluids on the course , and you’ve done several half marathons…You can do this! So I got off the bus, pored some water over my head, turned my flash light on , waited for the starting signal…..and took off walking.
Within just matter of seconds , the crowd had thinned out to a single or double file line, and the loud cheers had diminished to barely a whisper. Moments after that, there was an erry silence. We were now walking through the one of the most majestic and serene places Ive ever been to in my life. The scenery was magnificent. The moon was giving up just enough light where you could see the grandness of the desert floor and the silhouette of the nearby mountain ranges. Your senses get overwhelmed by the sure vastness and nothingness of your surroundings, and soon you remember what drew you here in the first place. The beauty…the uniqueness ….the challenge ..the chance to see some weird stuff in the night sky.

The course itself was the toughest one Ive encountered so far, and although it only ascends 900 feet over 9 miles, it’s a constant climb for 9 solid miles straight up the side of a mountain, in a straight line… with no plateaus! From a runners vantage point, all you see are the white lines on the road disappearing up the grade. It’s like climbing a hill that never ends. I think that’s what makes this course so difficult for most people ( runners and walkers alike). In a way, the darkness make it a little easier to deal with the hill , because a lot of the reference points are hidden. I think if you attempted to do this course during the day, the sure monotony would get the best of you.

Getting back to my own experience; I basically set my walking switch to the on position and engaged the auto pilot. Once I got moving my legs felt surprising strong, and when we made it to the first aid station, I knew I had a good chance of completing the race ( albeit..very slow) The biggest problem I had during the walk, was brain fatigue, constant nausea and abdominal cramps. I think most of these were symptoms of dehydration. During the walk, I tried to drink as much water and electrolytes as possible to make up for what I had sweated out early in the day, but I couldn’t seem to catch up… the nausea was abdominal cramping was unrelenting. I brought along several gels with caffeine which seems to help, but at the same time acted weird on my stomach. I found myself constantly surveying the landscape along the side of the road with my flashlight, so I could pick out a place to either pee and/or vomit in semi privacy. Racewalking was definitely out of the question in this race, but in between my off road excursions to find a place to heave, I did my best to maintain a steady and even , albeit slow, walking pace. In fact, I don’t think I came to a complete stop even once to rest or stretch. I slowed down maybe, but I never really came to a total stop (except for a few brief moments where I had to relief myself). I even puked while in motion….How butch huh !
As far as my breathing goes, I was too distracted by my other aliments to really notice. I do remember however, my friend Brandon telling me that he could here me wheezing and to please use my inhaler.

Its difficult for me to give a mile by mile account of what happened , because in my mind , there we’re only two miles markers…. the uphill portion marker and the downhill portion. Everything else in between ( except the cow crossings) was kind of a blur, and sometimes I think I was actually sleep walking . I do remember however , that all the people on the course were very friendly, kind and courteous.There was none of that “attitude” you sometimes get as a walker from the elite runners. Everyone cheered everyone, regardless of where you were along the course or how fast or slow you were going. When we would pass each other, people would say things like ” Good morning! ” or ” Great Job! “. I guess being out in the middle of nowhere, its kinda nice knowing that you’re not alone out there. I also remember the occasional car full of teenagers passing by on the road cheering us on, and also an old ambulance that kept going back and forth with its flashing lights waiting for people to drop. Walking 9 miles straight up a hill is hard for anyone. Try doing it when you’re literally burned out from dehydration and exhaustion. Believe me, when you’re in a state like that, it takes everything you can muster to get through it. I cant even imagine what it must have been like for the full marathoners who ran( walked) 16 miles straight up. Many of them didn’t pass us up until the last 3 or 4 miles. They must have made their time up on the downhill.
Good thing I have strong conditioned legs, or there is no way on earth I could have gone half as far as I did.

We Made it…
After nearly 3 hours of walking non-stop uphill, we finally reached the summit and you could actually see the lights of the Little Ale inn ( finish line) 4 long miles below us. It felt so good to actually be walking downhill . As with even the easiest of races, the last 2 miles were hell. The little bit of pain I had in my legs and calves occurred during those two miles.
At exactly 4 hrs on the nose, my friends and I crossed the finish line together where I proceeded directly to the porta potties to puke my guts out…….repeatedly. After that , I joined the rest of finishers inside the Little Ale inn cafe for a spectacular breakfast feast they put on for us. There was hot eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy..fruits and cereals ..you name it..they had it, and there was plenty of it.
Unfortunately, I was so out of it all the vomiting , that just the smell of food made me sick to my stomach. Instead I forced myself to down as much water and recovery shake( muscle milk) as I could, bought a little alien gift for my other half in the gift shop, and then headed back outside to catch the 3 hour bus ride back to the hotel.
It would be another 12 before I would eventually collapse from sheer exhaustion into a deep sleep on a very comfortable bed at the Las Vegas Hilton. I slept 8 solid hours, got up and drove 612 miles home.

As tough as the journey was to get to the starting line of this race, it was an extraordinary event , and I would do it again in a heartbeat (but not while dehydrated). It’s unlike any other event Ive ever experienced. Forget the finish times, nobody PR’s on this course. You do it for the adventure, you do it for the challenge, you do it to see mothers natures best.

Oh….and the reason I think I suffered heat stroke and dehydration syndrome, is because within an 18 hour period, I lost 6 lbs. My friend Brandon says he’s going to tattoo a race checklist on my arm so that next time, I wont forget things like, drinking enough water, bringing extra inhalers, warm dry clothes to change into. etc etc.

Its now 3-4 days post race and Ive totally recovered, though my lungs are starting to act up a little. Im not sure, but I think its probably from over stressing my body. I will take a few more days off from heavy exercise and then it back to flat land walking, as I have a full marathon to walk in just 6 weeks.
Aint life grand!

Thanks Joyce for putting on a great race ! See ya next year!

A great time was had by all this past Sunday , as racewalkers of all ages and abilities merged on the town of Seaside California to compete in this prestigious and USATF sanctioned 10K racewalking event.

Though Kelly appears to be airborne, her front heel is actually touching the ground .To a racewalking fan, her racewalking form… is a thing of beauty!

In addition to organizing this event, she also competes in it!
This women is amazing. She’ll be out there setting up tables, coning off streets and making sure everything gets done…then she’ll join the race herself!
As this that’s not enough, after the race… she cleans up the course and heads-off to a rented auditorium where she puts on an awards banquet….complete with hot lunch and desert! … it’s quite a production

But , alas.. all good things must come to an end. It was announced at the luncheon that this would be the last year for Megawalk.
As Hansi explains, ” As the years go by, fewer and fewer people remember my father, an continuing to put this elaborate event every year has just become to difficult”.

(Hansi, Rachel, Me, Brandon.)

Hansi will continue to compete in occasional racewalking events, as racewalking is in her blood. Hansi is also considered a world class runner and will continue to concentrate her efforts in that sport.

Thank You Hansi and the rest of the Walk Walk Walk club members for 25 years of MegaWalk.

Here’s a clip I put together at the finish line.

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/farewell-megawalk/feed/ 3 http://breathinstephen.com/sf-marathon-2007/ http://breathinstephen.com/sf-marathon-2007/#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:44:00 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=411

You might not know it by looking at these pictures, but this was not a good race for me.
I felt fine at the starting line and was even able to jog a little bit during the first mile, but all the moisture in the air from the dense morning fog really exacerbated my asthma, and the seemingly endless hills made my leg muscles cramp up almost instantly.. (You know, I’ve done this same race three times , and I swear ..they added a few more hills!)
By mile 3 , I was so short of breath, I pretty much walked the rest of the way. My legs and lungs just couldn’t handle it .

After only the first 6 miles, it was evident that this was going to be a torture race. Instead of racewalking parts of the course as I had cleverly planned, I ended up going into total survival mode , propelling myself forward any way I could without cramping up.

I think what saved me from dropping out of the race all together , was my fixation on the 3 hour pace runner and her big yellow sign . Hovering just above the pack and within constant eyesight , I could see the bouquet of balloons she was carrying– It gave me something positive to focus on. We had been passing each other on and off, and towards the end, she knew I was struggling. When we got to mile 12.9 ( mile 26) she slowed slowed down, reached out for my hand, and literally pulled me into the finishing chute.. What a sweetheart! She hit her target goal 2:48:45 to the second! and let me finish a few seconds ahead of her.

As for the event itself, in my opinion it’s a bit over rated. It was way too crowded(over 14,000). Runners were treated like cattle at the finish line, and as always… the post race food sucked. (c’mon, a bottle of hot lemonade and a dried- up biscuit? )
They need to take a few lessons from the Portland Marathon organizers and start treating all of their participants like winners, not just the ones who finish in 2 hours.
Hey I love San Francisco, but I don’t think I’ll do this race again.

What made all this torture worth while , was getting to spend the weekend with some very special people( you know who you are) and the kindness of that pace runner ( whoever you are) .

(me and my friend Ann who left me in the dust back at mile 15)

Next race is in eight weeks

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/sf-marathon-2007/feed/ 0 http://breathinstephen.com/little-pics/ http://breathinstephen.com/little-pics/#comments Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:06:00 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=279

Why the small pic? Because I was too cheap to buy the full size ones…lol

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/little-pics/feed/ 0 http://breathinstephen.com/25245/ http://breathinstephen.com/25245/#comments Mon, 31 Jul 2006 07:47:00 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=274

Without going into a detailed mile by mile re-play, let me just say that you couldn’t ask for a better day to hold a marathon or a better group of friends to share it with. It was a beautiful , slightly warm, fog-free day in the city by the bay and that I’m tickled pink (and partially in shock) that I finished in under 3 hours. Amazing ..when you consider that just two days ago I was in the yellow zone with my breathing, dealt with a major sunburn on my back and chest, topped by 3 days of total insomnia from the prednisone which I started when I was in the yellow zone.

For this race I did a combination of regular fitness paced walking mixed with some legal racewalking. I would basically walk a city block, then racewalked a city block or walk the uphills and then racewalk the downhills. etc etc. Surprisingly, I was able to maintain this 1:1 ratio until about the tenth mile when my lungs started to catch up with me. After that it was more like a 1:5 ratio. I won’t tell you how many times I used the albuterol , but it was way too much.

I think my body handled the walk well except for those darn leg cramps and my usual breathing problems …..Breath Stacking ( basically the inability to exhale completely)

It was a hectic but fun weekend. I think we all achieved our objectives. Now Im taking a week off.

Kudos to Brandon , Rachael, Ann, Vickie and Jim —- WELL DONE!

21st Century Mom, it was good talking with you.

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/25245/feed/ 5 http://breathinstephen.com/kaiser-permanente-half-marathon-and-5k/ http://breathinstephen.com/kaiser-permanente-half-marathon-and-5k/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:38:00 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=167

It was a perfect day for a race in San Francisco’s Ocean beach. This was a much bigger event than I thought.( 8,000 runners) Nevertheless, it seemed to be well organized and it started right on time

I’m not the best writer but, let me see if I can recap my day at the race.

Well, I ( we) got up at the usual 4:30 am , took off for the city at 6am and arrived at ocean beach just before 7am. It was then that I realized that this was a larger event than I had expected. There were thousands of people lining up to catch what seemed like an endless caravan of shuttle buses . Traffic was total chaos ,so my partner dropped me off and went to look for parking. I wanted to make sure I could get some warm up time in before the race, so rather than take one of those yellow school buses into the park, I decided to walk it. Little did I know that the starting point for the race was 2 miles away. Anyway, I made it to the staging area with 20 minutes to spare,though a little worn out. I met up with a couple of my friends and before I knew it the starting gun went off.

Since I was at the back of the pack, there was the usual bottle neck at the starting gate and it seemed like it took forever to get moving. According to my Garmin , which I set when the gun went off, it took me over 3 minutes to get from the back of the pack to the starting line. Since this race was not chip timed, that’s 3 minutes that I would have to make up on the course to break even. OK… so now we’re off! During the first half mile or so the course was still quite congested, even the runners were walking. Finally after mile 1 , people started to thin out. The runners doing the 5K had split off onto a side road, leaving even fewer people on the course that I was on.

The next few miles took us from the center of the park out to the center of the Haight Ashbury then back into the park. Unlike most of the days that I’ve walked this Golden Gate , today it was fairly warm and not too shaded. Miles 5-7 were mostly downhill. I think it was at this point that I got a pebble in my shoe and had pull over and get it out. Because it was downhill from there, it only took me a few seconds to catch up with the others whom Id been pacing with earlier. Mile 7 took us out of the park onto ocean beach. It was here that I began to get really short of breath. I was starting to breath-stack which was making me feel very uncomfortable and I had already used my inhaler 4 times during the first 6 miles and didn’t want to over do it. So, to compensate, I started to walk slower , it was either that or risk having a full out asthma attack. This slower pace seem to help for a while but, I still had to purse-lip constantly. At this point I decided I would ration out my albuterol to 2 puffs every mile. I knew that the last 6 miles of the course was completely flat and as long as I didn’t try to increase my pace, that I would make it. Well, as soon as I crossed mile 12, I could tell I was starting to get into real trouble. For one thing, I was getting way to tight and on top of that ,I didn’t drink enough earlier in the race. Then I got this bright idea that I would make up for it by gulping down the bottle of Gatorade that carried with me. Now, I’m not so sure if that was such a good idea. As I was approaching the last corner to the finishing area, I got really nauseated and diaphoretic. With less than 50 yard to the finish line, I nearly collapsed . I had to get down on my knees because I thought I was going to pass out. Then I started having the dry heaves. Talk about embarrassing. Here Im on my knees puking, while this lady pushing a baby stroller , is staring at me . (babystroller and dogs on the course, thats another story). Anyways, when I tried to stand up ,my feet and legs started to cramp big time. One of those roving paramedics on a bicycle saw that I was having problems and came over and helped me massage the cramps off. They asked me if I wanted some food or wanted to lay down. With the clock still ticking, I told em, I just want to cross the finish line. Appx 3 minutes after this incident…….I did just that.

Today, I’m suffering the usual post race aches & pains and blues . My asthma has also flared up and Im now back in the yellow zone. I’m not sure if this is due to the stress of yesterdays activities or just coincidence but, Im sure my immune system took a major hit. As far as the heat stroke incident, ( if that’s what is was?) I think that was my own fault. I was extremely dehydrated and had been hyperventilating for nearly 3 hours. I just wish I would I have collapsed on the OTHER side of the finish line. That would have shaved a few minutes off my finish time. Ironically, someone who had been observing me throughout the entire ,race made this statement ” You made it look so effortless” If they only knew……..

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/kaiser-permanente-half-marathon-and-5k/feed/ 2 http://breathinstephen.com/and-the-winner-is/ http://breathinstephen.com/and-the-winner-is/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:08:00 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=166

Certainly not me….

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/and-the-winner-is/feed/ 1 http://breathinstephen.com/we-did-it-but-someone-stole-the-medals/ http://breathinstephen.com/we-did-it-but-someone-stole-the-medals/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2005 20:54:00 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=74

My friends and I crossed the finish line at the US Half Marathon today but, didn’t get our medals because someone stole them! We got to the end of the rainbow and there was no pot of gold… (Actually, there were several hundred people that didn’t receive their medals). Can you believe it? Someone apparently took off with a box of finisher medals… Its not like they have any kind of street value. What kind of idiot would do something like that? Anyway, then we were told that we would have to” email the race director” and they would send us one . I’m sorry but receiving a medal in the mail isn’t quite the same. By then, the moment is long gone.

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