Ernie Takahashi

It was an ideal morning for a 50K, cool, a little overcast and no wind at 8:00 AM March 9th, 2013.  I wish the race started earlier but there was a large field (about 900 registered runners) and a two wave start for an ultra!

The first loop is 8 miles and relatively flat but the single track portion gets slow at times in long Congo Lines.  But I probably spent too much energy trying to pass runners in this section.

After the Fire Station, the course is mostly down hill and again I probably ran too fast.  It was down hill but many runners passed me.

From Lower Quarry to Maine Bar is mostly up and down and my energy was fading and it wasn’t half way!  I walked the up hills and ran slowly on the down hills.

From Maine Bar the ALT is mostly flat and runable but I was getting very tired.  I took a long break at ALT and tried to eat as much as I could stomach to boost may energy level.

Again the course from ALT to beginning of Goat Hill is mostly flat and should be and easy run.  But not today.  Many runners passed me on this section.  The “walk” up Goat Hill was very slow but I knew if was basically down hill from there to Highway 49.
The soup at Goat Hill was tasty but did nothing for my tired body.

Goat Hill to Highway 49 was again very slow but I knew the “end” was in sight or so I thought.  I had to walk the slightest uphill and barely run the downhills.  As I got closer to Highway 49, I could hear the cars on the road which awakened my tired legs.

I stopped at Highway 49 to get more water to pour on my head as I made the last climb to the finish.  I walked some but I tried to run as much as possible.  Got to look good at the finish.  Fortunately the last quarter mile is flat and I was able to run to the finish line with a smile on my face.

My time was 45 minutes slower than last year!  I must be getting older but I will be back next year if I get picked in the lottery.

By Amy Cernicky

The day started out promising.  Although it had rained pretty steadily for the week leading up to the marathon, and the most intense of three storms was predicted to hit at about the same time the race was to start, it wasn’t raining at 5:00 AM as we waited for the bus.  After the hour long ride to the start area, however, any hope that the storm had blown through early evaporated when the door opened to a sheet of rain.

Knowing that I was going to be out on the course for close to five hours, I had little choice but to get in line for the port-o-let.  I pulled my garbage bag over my head and left the warm dry bus.  Even though the line moved quickly, my feet and legs were drenched by the time I returned to the bus to wait for the start of the marathon.

At 6:45, it was time to go.  I once again pulled my garbage bag over my head and ventured out into the elements.  Even though I was careful, I stepped in a puddle that came to the top of my shoe before even reaching the staging area.  The rain was hard and the wind was strong, but I wasn’t going to let the weather dampen my spirits.  I was still fairly dry from the waist up.  Starting at the back of the pack, I could see thousands of hearty souls in front of me, facing the exact same elements.  If they could do it, I certainly could.  I trained for this.   I was ready.  Despite the fact that I’d pulled my hamstring the day before on my last training run leading up to the event, I was going to run this, come hell or high water.

The gun went off and we started slowly moving forward.  It took about 4 minutes for me to cross the start line.  I found the 4:55 pace group and settled in.  The mood was festive.  A gust of wind came up and the rain fell even harder.  Everybody just laughed.  There was no point in complaining.  Somewhere between the third and fourth mile, I growled and ripped my garbage bag off in hulk-ess fashion.  An unavoidable river of water flowed across the street as we ran though Old Fair Oaks.  More rivers followed as we made our way through Carmichael.  At least my feet couldn’t get any wetter.  Where the rain had been invigorating at first, it was getting pretty old after about ten miles.  Every time I thought that I’d passed the last big puddle, I splashed though another one.  The conditions were absolutely brutal.  Somebody said, “Well at least it can’t rain any harder!”  They were wrong.

At the 15.5 mile aid station, I couldn’t take one more step without stopping to use the “facilities.” A co-worker, Tony happened to be there with his big umbrella, which really helped lift my spirits. Unfortunately, the stop took about ten minutes and I lost my pace group.  I ran harder than I should have for about five miles in a futile attempt to catch them, so by the time I hit 20 miles, I was pretty tired.  Luckily, about that time, the sky started to clear and it made me happy.  The rain had stopped for good.

I never hit “the wall,” but decided to run the last 6 miles at an easy pace.  Carol and Wayne were near Howe and gave me a GU energy replacement packet.  I really needed it because after using the port o let, I didn’t want to eat the power gels I carried as I would have had to touch them.

The worst part for me was right at the end.  I crossed the 26 mile mark.  There was only .2 miles to go!  I thought we turned on 10^th street, but we kept going.  When we passed 9^th, I said, out loud, “My god, how the hell far do we have to run?”  We turned on the next street and then just went a bit farther to cross the finish line.  And then, it was over.

I really wanted to finish in under 4:55, but ended up with a 5:02:06 finish.  I’m proud of that.  This was supposed to be my one and only marathon.  But I KNOW I could have done it a lot faster.  If I work on my diet so I don’t have to stop next year, I bet I could stay with the 4:40 pace group.  Maybe I can go even faster than that!

By Dan Weintraub
My fifth marathon actually went pretty well, all things considered.

As the weather forecast in the days before the race began calling for heavy rains and high winds, I seriously considered bailing on this year’s California International Marathon. It was not a big goal race for me, I was not in shape to set a personal best, and I had already benefited from the training I did to prepare for the race. Why risk injury and frustration by trying to slog through flooded streets for 26 miles?

But in the end I decided to do the race, and I am glad I did.

It was raining most of the way, sometimes pretty hard, and there was a lot of water on the course. But I got used to that pretty quickly. I wore very light shoes and super thin wool socks (icebreakers) and my feet never felt heavy. Other than when they were actually under water, I never even thought about my feet.

I also wore my triathlon shorts, a tight bathing suit, really, and the water rolled right off those. I did wear a clingy singlet, and it picked up the water right away. I probably should have worn a tight tri top and that would not have been as much of an issue. I wore arm warmers and cheap, thin gloves, which I probably didn’t need. I thought about taking them off from time to time but since things were going well I decided not to mess with them.

The winds were horrible at the start, almost a joke. Trash and discarded ponchos were flying through the air and the rain was falling sideways as we gathered for the start. But the gusts were coming out of the south, so once we turned right at the 1-mile mark things were much calmer. In a big change for me, I had decided not to wear a garmin, or any watch at all.  I wanted to just relax and run with the 3:00 group and not stress about every quarter-mile. Of course, the pace leaders were not carrying signs this year, due to the wind, and I couldn’t find Kevin Sawchuck at the start. That’s when I started to stress about running without a watch or a pace leader. Fortunately he announced himself just past the 1-mile mark and a couple dozen runners soon gathered around him.

I guess our pace ebbed and flowed quite a bit because of the conditions but I just kept plugging along to Kevin’s beat, sometimes a few steps behind him, sometimes a few in front, but never very far away. We tried to trade off taking the lead into the wind but every time someone other than the pace leader was in front, our pace slowed, and then he would get in front and surge to catch us up again. So that didn’t work out so well. The surges hurt.
Kevin told us we were 20 seconds behind our goal pace after about 10 miles and again at the half, but I just kept running and not stressing about it. I figured he knew what he was doing. My time at the half was 1:30:28, so I was going to have to negative split if I was going to break three hours. But I felt better after 18-20 miles than I have during any marathon, even after we picked up the pace. By mile 20 we were right on pace for three hours, and we were headed west while the wind was coming from the south. I thought I was in perfect position.

As we approached the H Street bridge I went out a little ahead of Kevin because I did not want him to gap me on the bridge and leave me behind. I didn’t do anything crazy, probably just 30 or 40 feet ahead. He caught back up as we crossed the bridge and I followed him down the other side. No harm done.

But over the next couple of miles, my hips and quads started to tighten up. I still felt strong, and I felt like I had plenty of energy, but my mechanics started to go with the tightness and I started to slow. Kevin slipped away around mile 23. He was wearing a flashing red tail light on his back, and I could see it blinking up ahead of me as we ran down J Street toward midtown. I kept trying to reel him back in but I couldn’t. I lost about 20-25 sec per mile over the final three miles and finished in 3:01.

I came very close to negative splitting, something I have never done in a marathon. My first half time was 1:30:28. My second half time was 1:30:46, for a 3:01:14. That was not my fastest marathon but it was one of the most satisfying. I really battled the elements and did ok. I was in 335th pace at the half and I finished in 234th place, so I passed a net of 100 people in the second half, nearly a third of those who were ahead of me. So even though I didn’t PR or negative split, I do feel as if I conserved my energy and gritted it out. Interestingly, of the 40 or so people who went through the half within about 5 seconds of the pace leader, only five broke three hours. And nobody who was behind us at the half broke that barrier. So it was not a great day for making up time.
I was never cold during the race, but after the finish my quads locked up on me. I walked home after the race and my legs were so tight it took me about an hour to go from 9th and L to 18th and L. Then I stepped into my apartment and suddenly got super cold. I started shaking and nearly hyperventilating. I wanted to take a hot bath but the power had been off and the water was tepid. So I wrapped up in a comforter, turned on a space heater and drank a cup of hot chai. After about a half hour I was warm and breathing normal again.

My quads, hammies and calves, however, were sore for days. It’s going to take me a while to recover from this one. But it was a real confidence builder in terms of my ability to battle through tough conditions. And best of all, it was fun!