Columbus Marathon 2008

Alright, here we go. The start was great. The temps were in the mid 30's but standing around thousands of other people made it a little warmer. The start gun went off, and I kept thinking about how much I have missed this.

My race plan was on track until about mile 19. I ended up finishing in 5:03. My longest Marathon time ever. In a minute, you’ll know why.

Fast forward to Bexley. My pace was steady and on target. I had been keenly watching my pace on the Garmin. The 1st 10k was in 1:00:16. Good enough for my goal.

Between Bexley and German Village, I came out of an aid station and slipped on a cup that someone threw down. I was fine, but noticed my hamstring was tightening up from the slip. Fast forward to the halfway: My stomach had been giving me troubles. I was eating what I normally do, I took in my electrolytes. I drank water only. Thought I was doing everything as normal. Not sure on this one. My time at the half was 2:12:40. Good enough for my goal.

By this time, my hamstring was burning.

Drama time:

Mile 19 coming out of Ohio State Campus, I felt a pop in my left foot, and then searing pain. I hobbled off to the side, threw some dirt on it and kept on going. This was repeated a multitude of times over the remainder of the course.

The pain in my foot was severe and resulted in me stopping to walk. With 2 miles to go, the pain intensified to where I nearly fell 3 or 4 times.

At about mile 22, there was this girl that was running ahead of me, instantly doubled over and was screaming “Oh my god” She stumbled off to the side of the road, and I went on by her. I felt bad and turned around to see if she needed help. When I got to her, she fell backward into my arms, and I lowered her to the ground. Otherwise, we were both going down. She was crying and screaming. People yelled for a medic. I waited a little while until the medic arrived and then took off.

I hobbled off the finish line and a guy grabbed me and said: you need to see a medic. I was hurting too bad to argue. I went off to the med station and the doctor and podiatrist there thought it could be a stress fracture. I decided to make an appointment today and see what could be wrong. The pain never let up.

They took x-rays and determined that it is either a stress fracture or a ruptured Peroneus Brevis tendon. The doctor said he actually hopes it is a stress fracture. The latter requires surgery if it gets worse. A stress fracture doesn’t actually mean a “fracture”.

Had I not slipped on that damn cup I would have been fine. It hurts quite a bit and right now have it in a soft cast. I may be out for up to 8 weeks.

Other than that the race was great. The weather was perfect. The last half of the race was better than I thought it would be. I cannot figure out Picasa to save my life or I would up load more pictures. I have tons of them.