Marathon Post #2

I can hear your motor humming so I’m covering some ground
Ooh, baby, you let me down
-Joel Plaskett
 

Off to part 2 of the marathon.  Through downtown and then up along the bay.  We ran through the party tunnel – and by that I mean there was about 100 yards of covered road as we ran under some roadway that had neon lights and industrial music.  It made me laugh a little.  It was at this point that I passed the 4:40 pace group.  I didn’t really think I would run a 4:40, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be slow and steady today.  I planned to walk through all the water stations and uphill sections, but when I ran, to cover some ground.  So when I passed the 4:40 group, I knew I would see them again.

At about mile 10, I could see the really fast people who were heading back as they passed mile 17.  I was really glad I wasn’t trying to run as fast as they were, but I did really want to be done with 17 miles.  I slogged ahead, vaguely aware of a little leg pain, but it seemed like it was going to be fine.

The route continued through a park by the bay.  It was really great scenery to run near, but the path narrowed and I felt like I didn’t have all the space I needed.  And I was running behind Adrian Monk.  For anyone that hasn’t seen the show, he is the defective detective.  He has about 1000 phobias and compulsions.  The guy in front of me kept touching the lightposts as he ran by them.  I don’t think he felt compelled to, because he didn’t get them all.  I think that was the part that was the most distracting.  If you are going to do something weird, you have to commit to it.  What was special about the ones he was touching?  I just had to move away from him.  It was about at this point that the 4:40 crowd dropped me.  Unceremoniously.  All of a sudden they were gone and almost immediately not visible.  Oh well.

I kept running and met up with the public-transit experts who had made their way to the Starbucks around mile 17.  I stopped, enjoyed a few pretzels, some water, and dropped off my iPod.  Why would I do that?  I don’t know if it has a defective battery, or if the earlier fall was a problem, or what, but my iPod was letting me down.  On this section of the run I had especially enjoyed Pushmonkey (Sorry), The Loved Ones (Jane), The Watchmen (Brighter Hell), and The Bouncing Souls (True Believers).  But from now on it was just me and my thoughts.  And I was heading into uncharted territory as my longest successful training run was 17 miles.  But I felt pretty good and was confident I could find a way to get to the finish line. But I was also pretty sure it wasn’t going to be easy.