THE RUN...26.2 MILES

So after swimming 2.4 miles and cycling 112 I will once again arrive in the transition area.  Here I will hand my bike off to some lovely volunteer while muttering how they should feel free to toss the damn thing off a cliff because I am pretty sure I am never getting back on it again.  Hopefully they will ignore me and chalk it up to delerium. I will then hobble into the change tent and ditch the bike shorts and shoes in exchange for compression shorts and my running shoes.  Just as an aside...why the hell do those things cost so much???? I mean really...$125.  They should run for me.  Anyhow....

I will then attempt to get moving while my legs try to figure out what the hell is going on.  The following line is right off the IMLP website describing the run course.  "This spectator-friendly, two-loop course passes by the downtown area four times.  This incredible route features some spectacular tree-lined scenery, coupled with lakeside running." Can't you just hear the birds chirping and violins playing as you read that.  They make it sound so peaceful, so inviting.  Umm what?  Ah no!! Let's be real here people.  I will NOT be admiring any tree-lined scenery.  The only tree I will even be looking at is one to throw up behind. Lakeside running.....yeah...more like "Oh look somewhere for me to jump in and end it all."  You see it has been said many times that an IM will reduce you to the most basic elements of yourself.  It will present you with unbelieveable difficult times.  Times when you fear you won't make it and times when you don't know how you can take just one more step.  A lot of IM finishers talk of focusing on simply getting to the next telephone pole or tree or aid station in order to keep moving.  Once there they just concentrate on getting to the next one and so on and so on and so on.  Of course the run course isn't exactly flat either.  It has it's own nasty elevation chart also.  So the weirdest thing about the run for me is that although I know

Lake Placid IM run course elevation profile

it will be by far the hardest and most painful part of the race, it is also the part that scares me the least.  I think there are two reasons for this.  First off the risk of bodily  harm here is relatively low compared to say drowning or getting kicked in the face on the swim or crashing on the bike.  The second is simply that it is the devil I know.  While I have never swum 2.4 miles or biked 112 I have run 26.2.  3 times.  Two out of three of those times were ugly and I was hoping and praying that any moment the world would end so I wouldn't have to finish the race.  So let's take a look back at my marathon adventures.  #1 2004 Boston Marathon.  After training in one of the coldest winters on record, race day arrived and it was 83 freakin degrees on April 19th when the race started.  I actually held up pretty well until Mile 15 when my left iliotibial band decided it didn't want to participate anymore.  This forced me into a run walk strategy for 11 miles.  I would run a long as I could till my leg gave out, then walk till it felt ok then run again.  At first I could run for 8 mins or so at a time but by the time I hit Mile 22 I could only run for a whopping 30 secs and then my leg would give out.  But I finished along with 16,742 other people. I would not be able to run for three months after this race and only after much physical therapy. The race that year had a 7% drop-out rate which is a bit more than twice the normal amount.  #2 Stonecat Trail Marathon.  Loved this race.  All in the woods, aid stations with M&M's, pretzels, potatoes, beer etc.  Trail races are the best.  This one was in November with temps in the 20's and I crushed my time goal by over 30 mins!!! Total of 158 finishers here.  #3 2010 Chicago Marathon.  October in Chicago...average temps in the 50's.  Ah no.  High 70's at the start of the race.  Somewhere around Mile 16 I started to get insane quad and calf cramps.  Somewhere around Mile 17 I passed a bank and the sign said 87 degrees.  As I went through the water stop here the race officials were yelling through their megaphones that we were at Hazard Level Red meaning potentially dangerous conditions.  No shit Sherlock.  Somewhere around Mile 18 I made the first of three trips to the Med Tent to get the cramps massaged out of my leg so I could continue to run. The ONLY thing that kept me moving forward to the finish line of this race was my family.  I knew they were waiting for me and there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to disappoint them. I was one of 38,132 finishers here.  So you see I have some

The best support crew EVER plus Quinn the picture taker

experience with those moments where you really have to crawl inside your own head and convince yourself that you can keep going while every fiber in your body is begging you to please please stop.  So yeah..it's gonna hurt, it's gonna be UNBELIEVEABLY difficult but I am going to do it because I have somewhere to be before midnight people.

Not stopping till I get here!!!

By the way I was watching the weather the other day and they said "meteorologically speaking" the hottest day of the year is generally July 22.  That would be race day!!!