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Another marathon account
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Thursday, October 11, 2007 5:48 AM
From: "Eric Engdahl" <ericmaxengdahl@yahoo.com>
To: "Marc Damerjian" <mdamerjian@gmail.com>
Denise Meacham <denise@meacham.us> wrote:
From: "Denise Meacham" <denise@meacham.us>
To: <ericmaxengdahl@yahoo.com>
CC: "'Randy Meacham'" <rmeacham@riverstarsoftware.com>
Subject: RE: Re: Eric M Engdahl, 04:09:48 (net) @ Finish (unofficial). Pace 9:31. By The LaSalle
Bank Chicago Marathon
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 16:36:39 -0500
EricI’m amazed at how well you finished in the heat. I knew it was going to be hot, but it was so much
worst that I ever imagined. Right from the start I was feeling nauseous. I saw Danny & Kenny and mile
2 and I have never felt so hot in my life. Even when I think back to 20 mile runs in 90 degree weather,
never did I feel that hot. My intention was to run the first couple of miles around 9:00 minutes then reevaluate. Well I just kept hearing Randy telling me to just continue to slow my pace down if I needed
to in order to be able to run the final 10k. I quickly realized that this marathon would just be an
accomplishment to finish. I just kept drinking water at the aid stations and around mile 6 the nausea
subsided and I felt ok. I continued to run a bit slower every mile but maintained to feel ok. I had been
looking for Danny and Kenny for the entire 16the mile; this was the only thing that kept mind off the
heat. Once I reached mile 17 and realized that I wasn’t going to see them, I realized I was running
pretty labored. I started to feel nauseous again and a little funky. I thought I better walk for awhile and
maintained doing so until I got to a water stop which was a mile away. I started running again at Mile
18 and still didn’t feel right, so I walked that entire mile also. When I got to 19, I was just going to run
a little, walk a little. I actually felt ok, so I ran through Mile 21. That’s when they announced that the
race was canceled and that we were going to have to board a bus to get to the finish. I stopped my
stop watch thinking, well that’s it. My emotions were so mixed. I understood, but at the same time, I
just wanted to at least walk to the finish line. My body has not been kind to me the past 2 years and I
figured in all reality, this would probably be my last marathon (I’d at least reach my goal of running 10
consecutive Chicago Marathons). I was going to finish this thing. We were told shortly after that we
could continue on to the finish line if we chose to receive our finisher’s medal, but we had to walk.
People continued to run. I ran for a little while, but the cops kept yelling at us to stop running. I tend
to listen to the authorities, so I started walking. At one point, 3 squad cars drove down the center of
the street stating that it was now a felony if you continued to run. Yet people continued to run. I chose
not to. I just wanted my medal. A little token to say I survived. I have walked for miles in many
marathons, but ironically, it hurt my legs so much more to walk that day than to run slowly. It seemed
like an eternity by the time I would reach the finish line. I actually didn’t think I could make it walking.
At Mile 26 there was a Fire Truck with a huge canon looking device atop of it shooting water across
the line of runners dousing us all. I rounded the corner and ran the rest of the way in as did everyone
else. I finished in 5 hrs 17 min. I finished the first half in 2 hrs and 11 min. It took me 1 hr 6 min.
longer for the 2nd half. I have never run a marathon in which I did not enjoy one minute of it, until this
one. I thought that is definitely a sign that my marathon days are over, but the crazy voice in my head
spoke to me shortly after I finished….. “This is not how I’m going out”. Chalk this one up to nothing
other than a horribly hot day. I will run at least one more marathon. I need a better taste in my mouth.
And truth be known, I doubt that whatever marathon I decide to sign up for, it will in all likeliness, not
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be my last. I guess I’m just that insane.
Denise
From: Eric Engdahl [mailto: ericmaxengdahl@yahoo.com ]
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 5:49 AM
To: Randy Meacham; Denise Meacham
Subject: Fwd: Re: Eric M Engdahl, 04:09:48 (net) @ Finish (unofficial). Pace 9:31. By The LaSalle
Bank Chicago Marathon
Here's my little report.
Despite what I may have told Randy yesterday, I have been pretty darned sore (quads,
mostly). This has been a summer of remembering about the marathon experience.
Eric Engdahl < ericmaxengdahl@yahoo.com > wrote:
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2007 16:48:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Engdahl < ericmaxengdahl@yahoo.com >
Subject: Re: Eric M Engdahl, 04:09:48 (net) @ Finish (unofficial). Pace 9:31. By The
LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon
To: Keith Dudding <keithdudding@yahoo.com>
CC: Charles Holdefer <holdefer@yahoo.com>,
Timothy O'Brien <tobwriter@earthlink.net>
Keith,
Thanks for the kind words. I have to think you would have done much better than me
in the heat. This may not rise to the level of narration, but here are some facts and
observations.
It was the hottest weather I had run in, take away a few short GMR stints. Pretty
quickly my focus became reaching the finish without getting heatstroke, and then just
reaching the finish. At the end if degenerated to me running (?) a block, walking for
45 seconds or so, and then running another block. It wasn't a good day for a race and
in addition to the people who got carted off to the hospital there were a lot of unhappy
runners out there. "A lot of dreams died out there today," I heard someone say. I
didn't want to be as unhappy as I was over the final miles of St. Louis in 2005; I drank
an ocean (or at least a great lake) of water and ate a lot of "goo" and my spirits were
pretty good at the finish. Body not good.
I didn't have a seeded start but I positioned myself near the front of the 30+ thousand
open runners. Still, It took me 6:15 to get to the start line. (I think the seeded times
are for the folks with sub-4:00 times, so I didn't do anything to improve my prospects
for a cleaner start next year). I didn't press, push, weave or dash - just took what the
race gave me; I feel like I've wasted a lot of energy in past races doing that.. It took 7
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or 8 miles for things to open up, and by that time I realized (1) I had lost 4 or 5
minutes off my goal time, and (2) I didn't have the "go" to make up the gap. I made a
little run at it so see if I could whittle that down a bit, thinking that once it got even
hotter I wouldn't be able to run fast, but by mile 11 I was reconciled to having at best a
3:45 or so (I was passing the 3:50 pace group at the time; there were runners around
me with goal times pinned to their backs of 3:55, 3:45, 3:30, 3:20 and, I kid you not,
3:10).
In the first 12 miles there was some shade from the big buildings and after that it was
just nasty. the medics were active from the early going and there were also a lot of
amateur attempts to comfort people who had fallen beside the road. Perhaps you saw
that the course was actually closed at noon. When I passed mile 26 the cops at the
corner told us (ordered us?) to walk; the race had been cancelled, they said; "people
are dropping everywhere"). We of course ran on.
My mile times:
1. 8-22
2. 9:48 (these miles weren't marked correctly; the second mile was definitely faster
than the first)
3. 8:49
4. 8:31
5. 8:14 43:47
6. 8:31
7. 8.10
8. 8:04
9: 9:04 1:17:38 I stopped at the water stop to visit with friends; with this exception,
through mile 16 I drank on the run at every water stop.
10. 8:11 1:25.49
11 & 12 (8:30) 1:42.51
13 8:39
14. 8:58
15. 8:33 2:09:02
16. 9:25
17. 9:12
18. 10:42 the serious walking began
19. 9:36
20. 10:55 2:58:54 I knew I wasn't going to run a 10K in under an hour so 4 hours
was out of reach
21. 11:35
22. 11:02
23. 11:27
24. 11:32
25. 11:10
26.2 14:04
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I just looked at the progression of my mile pace 5K 8:58
10K 8:42
15K 8:36
1/2 marathon 8:34
25K 8:36
30K 8:48
40K 9:25 4:09:58
Marathon 9:31
I just checked my log and see that my time for first marathon, in Chicago in 1990, was
10 seconds slower than today. That was a good day for running, perhaps 30 degrees
cooler.
My Chicago marathons:
1990 4:09:58
1994 4:22
1997 4:24
1998 3:57
2002 3:25
2007 4:09:48
.
Eric
Keith Dudding <keithdudding@yahoo.com> wrote:
Congratulations. I wasn't there, but I have to think that a 4:09 is a very respectable
time given today's conditions. Shure, sneaking it in under 4:00 would have been
sweet, but that would have required maintaining a pace you probably didn't want to
run at today. I'm very happy for you. You did it! You're back! Next time, under more
favorable conditions, you'll be able to run the pace you trained for, not the one the
weather dictated. Good job. I'm looking forward to the narration, but I can imagine
how the day went: long, hot, slow. You did it. Way to go!
Kd
Eric Engdahl
680 N Lake Shore Drive #917 Chicago , IL 60611
Mobile: (312) 533-1226 / Fax: 866-490-9540
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680 N Lake Shore Drive #917 Chicago , IL 60611
Mobile: (312) 533-1226 / Fax: 866-490-9540
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Mobile: (312) 533-1226 / Fax: 866-490-9540
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