OK, maybe it wasn't really a fiasco after all. I did finish, didn't get
injured, didn't have to be hauled to the medical station and did get an
age-group award. But my performance was way down; I just couldn't get up
my usual speed. I finished in a painfully slow 6:43:28, by far my worst
performance ever, and almost an hour slower than my PR, for my 30th
marathon finish. Bad as this result was, it got me a plaque for second
(out of 2) in M70+ racewalkers.
My bowels contributed to this debacle. I had planned to give myself an
enema the night before the marathon to empty out my colon and prevent any
urgencies. However, I would have had to do it on the porcelain floor of
the handicapped stall in the Fort Wilderness campground washroom. With the
weather as cold as it was, I decided to skip the enema and take my
chances. Big mistake! In the latter part of the race it was becoming
increasingly evident that my bowels needed to be emptied. I knew I was already too slow
to win first in my age group, since I had seen the other M70+ racewalker
well ahead of me on the out-and-back in mile 21. So I finally gave up,
went into the men's room in MGM Studios and had a massive bowel movement
that kept coming and coming, costing me 15 minutes.
When I saw the race results the next day, I observed that the noted running
coach Hal Higdon, who is the same age as I, had finished just eleven minutes
sooner. Thus, if I hadn't stopped, I would have been ahead of him. If I
had only known the situation, I would not have stopped, but would have
puckered up, pressed on and taken my chances. It would have been worth
losing it in my pants to have posted a faster time than Hal Higdon.
(In addition, in mile 23 a young woman asked me to take her picture with a
Disney character. I agreed to do it, since I was so slow I didn't think it
mattered. I would not have done so If I had known I was ahead of Hal Higdon.)
By the time I finished, I was leaning to the left. I must have looked
really bad, because the finish-line personnel asked me if I was OK and I
had to reassure them that I was. Today, four days post-marathon, I feel
fine and my recovery is going well. I was able to get in a bit of
racewalking this morning walking the dog of a friend whom we were visiting.
The weather was not helpful. Last Wednesday night, we started out for
Disney in a blowing snowstorm, with I-75 slippery and slow until we got
south of Macon. Throughout our stay, it was horribly cold. The
temperature moderated a bit on marathon day but I was hit with a drenching
rain for a few miles.
Anyway, I'll have another opportunity next year to do better. My hope is
that the raw and living foods lifestyle will help give me many more such
opportunities.
(We just got back from Florida tonight. This report is so late that I am
sending it before I read others' reports.)
Charles Cohn
