Well, sleeping last night wasn't very productive. Jet lag and resting earlier in the day had me wide awake at bed time. So, I laid there, relaxing, knowing that rest would be good. Sometime after one o'clock I fell asleep. And between 2 and 3, Paul called me. "Hey man, it's the middle of the night." "Dude, where are you?" "I'm in Beirut." "Oh, this phone call must be costing you a fortune. I got your Antarctica stuff. Look forward to seeing you in South America."
Two hours later, my alarm went off. As I walked out the door of my hotel to head over to the Radisson to catch the shuttle, a small bus with four runners saw me, stopped and asked where the Radisson was. "Come ride with us." They gave me a ride in exchange for the right directions. Good thing too, because the bus driver was going to turn right when he should have turned left if I hadn't been there.
Andy Kotulski was there, celebrating his 68th birthday by running his 590th marathon. We boarded the buses and as I was talking to a young couple behind me, someone lifted up my cap to see who I was. "I thought that was you!" Scott McIvor said. Scott is the only guy I know who has done a marathon on all seven continents AND summitted all seven summits. We ran the Inca Trail together in 2004 and met again in Luxor last February. His wife Suzette was there as well.
Race time! Still cool and comfortable for the start. The Lebanese national anthem played and we were off. The first 5K was a spectator-friendly run around a park, back past the starting line. Water every 2K or so, with separate Gatorade stations occasional as well. Several times we were fed bananas and dates as well. The dates were delicious. I ran back and forth with a young Lebanese guy until about 10K before going on ahead of him. By 16K, the field had stretched out to where I couldn't see anyone in front or behind me. (Note: While there were 18000 in the event, only about 340 of them were in the full marathon. About 13000 in the 10K and 5000 in the 5K.) Fortunately, with the blue line to follow there was no danger of getting lost. At around 18K, we would start a long out-and-back section. Just as I got there, the lead vehicle came through and I saw the leaders. They were about 11K ahead of me at that time. We continued on to Golden beach where we would make a 3.5K loop around the parking lot. On the way back, however, water suddenly got scarce, and the temperature climbed to 35C degrees by 10:30. I started picking up half-empty water and Gatorade bottles to make sure I stayed hydrated in the heat. The next time I would get a fresh bottle of Gatorade was around 32K. I had plenty, but was no longer throwing away bottles without using them all. Between 34 & 35K the course would take us within site of the finish line, then just past 35K we would head up an incline called "Horror Hill" on the map. It really wasn't that bad, and in fact it was kinda nice after running flat for so long. We then started down a street that was a 2K long party of sorts, lots of music and people. 35K and I picked up a kid doing his first marathon. He stuck with me for about 3K as we made the turn and followed the Mediterranean the rest of the way toward the finish line. At 40K I took a long swig from the Gatorade bottle I was carrying, then handed it to a fellow runner who looked like he needed it. At about 41K we finally passed a water station with WATER! I drained a bottle and headed for home.
A big Polish guy was just ahead of me and I worked to catch him. We ran together for a little bit, and I managed to find out that he spoke 4 languages, just that none of them were English. We made the turn for the finish line, and he took off like a shot, and in spite of the fact that he probably outweighed me by 50 pounds, there was no catching him. FINISH at 4:57, not bad for the heat. Marathon #1 is in the books.
Two hours later, my alarm went off. As I walked out the door of my hotel to head over to the Radisson to catch the shuttle, a small bus with four runners saw me, stopped and asked where the Radisson was. "Come ride with us." They gave me a ride in exchange for the right directions. Good thing too, because the bus driver was going to turn right when he should have turned left if I hadn't been there.
Andy Kotulski was there, celebrating his 68th birthday by running his 590th marathon. We boarded the buses and as I was talking to a young couple behind me, someone lifted up my cap to see who I was. "I thought that was you!" Scott McIvor said. Scott is the only guy I know who has done a marathon on all seven continents AND summitted all seven summits. We ran the Inca Trail together in 2004 and met again in Luxor last February. His wife Suzette was there as well.
Race time! Still cool and comfortable for the start. The Lebanese national anthem played and we were off. The first 5K was a spectator-friendly run around a park, back past the starting line. Water every 2K or so, with separate Gatorade stations occasional as well. Several times we were fed bananas and dates as well. The dates were delicious. I ran back and forth with a young Lebanese guy until about 10K before going on ahead of him. By 16K, the field had stretched out to where I couldn't see anyone in front or behind me. (Note: While there were 18000 in the event, only about 340 of them were in the full marathon. About 13000 in the 10K and 5000 in the 5K.) Fortunately, with the blue line to follow there was no danger of getting lost. At around 18K, we would start a long out-and-back section. Just as I got there, the lead vehicle came through and I saw the leaders. They were about 11K ahead of me at that time. We continued on to Golden beach where we would make a 3.5K loop around the parking lot. On the way back, however, water suddenly got scarce, and the temperature climbed to 35C degrees by 10:30. I started picking up half-empty water and Gatorade bottles to make sure I stayed hydrated in the heat. The next time I would get a fresh bottle of Gatorade was around 32K. I had plenty, but was no longer throwing away bottles without using them all. Between 34 & 35K the course would take us within site of the finish line, then just past 35K we would head up an incline called "Horror Hill" on the map. It really wasn't that bad, and in fact it was kinda nice after running flat for so long. We then started down a street that was a 2K long party of sorts, lots of music and people. 35K and I picked up a kid doing his first marathon. He stuck with me for about 3K as we made the turn and followed the Mediterranean the rest of the way toward the finish line. At 40K I took a long swig from the Gatorade bottle I was carrying, then handed it to a fellow runner who looked like he needed it. At about 41K we finally passed a water station with WATER! I drained a bottle and headed for home.
A big Polish guy was just ahead of me and I worked to catch him. We ran together for a little bit, and I managed to find out that he spoke 4 languages, just that none of them were English. We made the turn for the finish line, and he took off like a shot, and in spite of the fact that he probably outweighed me by 50 pounds, there was no catching him. FINISH at 4:57, not bad for the heat. Marathon #1 is in the books.
1 comment:
Hi Don,
I just wanted to say, "Good luck with your quest." I too thoroughly enjoyed my first GR Marathon in October. You are a great race director. I am looking forward to reading about your progress and world record breaking finish on December 12th, which happens to be my birthday.
Take care,
Lara
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