R.I.P. 5 Hour Snickers Demon

If you are wondering about the title of this post, you do not know about my history of this race. It was four years ago I tried to run my 1st marathon. I had dreams of breaking a 5 hour race. I was so close but missed it by a few minutes. So I decided to run it again, again and again. Well no more. It has been broken. The demon shall be put to rest.

4:51:59

Overall 490/631

Pace 11:09

10 mile : 1:49:12

13 mile : 2:24:07

20 mile : 3:41:24

My time from last year was 5:10:34. I am still on cloud nine. I cant believe that I have finally beaten the demon. It has bothered my for years. I really started to think that I would never beat it. I started to believe that I was going to be just a runner that could run for a long distance and not for a specific pace. WRONG!!!!

The day before: well it was like any other pre-race day. Mandie and I got to the hotel and checked in and waited on the expo to start. We met up with Tommy and Carol from Peachsports.com and talked to them about the race photos. I will load some from the race soon. I loved them. I got a chance to see some old friends from different marathons and meet some new friends. Don and Karen decided to run this race together so we were going to met at the expo and go out to eat with our other friends from Macon. We met up at Outback for dinner and then it was back to room for some rest.

RACEDAY: The alarms are going off through out the motel starting at 3:45 a.m. and now I cant go back to sleep. WOW only about 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep. It is going to be a long day. I know that I could go into a lot of details but I wont. I will try and keep it interesting.

We lined up at 6:45 and waited on the pre-race music to start. It was slightly overcast at 54 degrees. We were talking to other marathon maniacs in the race cause we were all wearing our MM shirts.

This is a picture of Doc ( the official man who started the race ), Don ( my new coach ), Karen and myself. We were 3 of about 25 maniacs who had their shirts on for the race. This was at mile 4. It was funny but everytime we came up to someone taking photos that it was the same time for our walk break. I like using the Galloway method of running. I use a ratio of run/walk of run 1:30 and walk 45 sec. I had tried many ratios and this one works the best for me so far.

We ran together and talked with Doc and he was telling us about the race and supports along the way. He shouted at everyone. I think he knows everyone in Albany Ga.

At around mile 8, we ran into the St. Patty's. It was a group of 3 women wearing green outfits. They were running a ratio of 4:1 and we ran with them for about 5 miles before they started falling off pace. It was fun watching their husbands waving signs and getting into their truck and going down the road to met them again. It nice to see funny things along the way to get my mind off the pace. Don was pushing us pretty fast for the 1st 13 miles. We had several minutes built up for spare time. I kept telling Karen that we would use them later.

We hit the 1/2 point at 13.1 and I was about 6 minutes faster than any other marathon I had ever run before. I was nervous. I thought for sure that I had gone out way too fast and I would burn out. I kept pushing it while Karen said it was too fast and she would have to back off. She said that she didn't want to get hurt so we continued on. Pushing every mile and it seemed like we were getting faster. Don kept pushing me and telling me I was doing great.

Well we came to the dreaded mile 16 where the lake is at. This is the point of the race where I mentally have problems. Don did his best to get my mind off of it. He did. We pounced through the next 4 miles and before I knew it, we were at mile 20. YES, this is where I usually get my strength back.

I trekked on pushing with everything I had. Eating bananas, oranges, gu's along the way and slamming down water and Gatorade. Then it hit me at mile 24. My Gymboss, a device that keeps up with my walk/run breaks, went crazy and died. I was so mad. I had to rely totally on Don to tell me when to run and when to walk. I told him my body was getting tired and I needed to change to a 1:1 ratio. Well he set it to a 1 and 55 sec and didn't tell me. He is slow slick. It didn't matter cause I couldn't count at that point. I was getting tired and MAD. It seemed like my times were slipping. But they were not.

It might be hard to see the chart but Don told me if I kept my running below a 12 min/mile that I would have this won. Well I did. We hit mile 25 and I think the clock said 4:38. I knew that I had it but I had to keep my eye on the prize. I could not stop. I had to pull down from deep down and just go for it. We turned and headed for the train depot and I saw Carol taking pictures. I yelled at her and told her that " I've done it. I have beaten the demon". I was pumping my fist and shouting with joy. As we headed down the final approach, there was a woman walking with a beer and I jokingly acted like I was going to grab it. She stopped and handed it to me and said go ahead, you deserve it. I slammed it down and kept running. I turned to see the time and I started crying with joy. I have done. I have beaten the 5 hour demon. I can put this race in the books, once and for all. YES, thank you Lord. We did it. I crossed the finish line and see my wife and I hugged Tommy. I was so happy to be finished that I didn't feel any pain. I received my metal and went straight for the beer table. I needed some CARB reloading. Don and I went to the finish line area and waited and prayed for Karen to finish before 5 hours. She was able to finish around 5:05 which was a 5 minute improvement on her PR.

I don't remember any other marathon where I finished with a HUGE smile on my face. Thank you to Tommy, Carol and Mandie for capturing some great shots of me. Thank you to Don for PUSHING ME, thank you Karen for helping me and believing in me. But most of all a special huge thank you to my wife Amanda for being my best supporter. For listening to my groaning and complaining for the last 4 years and standing beside me through all of this.