Marathon Me

I recently reunited with two friends of mine that I met in the Columbus Marathon mid-October in 2006. That was my 41st marathon, and part of my 7 marathons in 7 weeks streak. It was the fastest of the 7 in that time frame, and I owe that time I am 100% sure to my friends Mike Juppe and Lars Gronholm.

Marathon #	Marathon	Date	Time	Location
39	New Hampshire Marathon	September 30, 2006	3:32:18	Bristol, New Hampshire
40	Maine Marathon	October 1, 2006	3:48:47	Portland, Maine
41	Columbus Marathon	October 15, 2006	3:10:56	Columbus, Ohio
42	Lausanne Marathon	October 22, 2006	3:42:43	Lausanne, Switzerland
43	New York Marathon	November 5, 2006	3:11:25	New York City, New York
44	Oklahoma Marathon	November 17, 2006	3:23:24	Tulsa, Oklahoma
45	Route 66 Marathon	November 18, 2006	3:50:50	Tulsa, Oklahoma

We had never met before but met up somewhere around mile 4 or 5 and stayed together most of the race. I was pretty beat up for this race as I had run two marathons only two weeks ago and was only starting to ramp up into the marathon a month idea. I had yet to learn about people running 52 marathons in a year, so 7 in 7 weeks seemed pretty crazy to me. In 2005 I had run 11 marathons and I would finish 2006 with 15 and have been hooked ever since. But I really think this race was a turning point for me. When I hooked with with Mike and Lars we started talking about all kinds of craziness, the New York City Marathon came up as they had run it and I was hungry for information as I would take it on in 3 weeks after knocking out Switerzland the following week. I got lots of great advice on how to run it and what to watch out for. It’s probably not a coincidence that my two best races in this period involved these two guys.

By mile 6 I was ready to just phone it in and take another 3:30-3:45 marathon. But Mike and Lars wouldn’t let me, they said “hey, just hang with us for a little while and see how you feel”. Then we started talking about other marathons, and now I had something to give back in the discussions. The miles just flew by and Mike kept the pace very steady. When we got to the half way point I wanted to slow down again but Mike knew his wife was up ahead and proceeded to get the crowd pumped up as we cruised through downtown. He would run from side to side doing the Hulk Hogan wind up your arm and then hold it to your ear. The crowd went nuts and carried us for a few more miles. When he saw his wife he did an airplane over to her, got a quick kiss and then returned to lead our little band of runners.

Lars was from Indiana and kept my going with tales of running on the track (speedway?) for the Indianapolis 500 at a half marathon. I’ve haven’t yet traveled for a half-marathon, but if I ever do I think that will be first on the list.

One of the things I really enjoy about running is the different people you meet along the way. Mike, Lars and I trade emails it seems about once every six months or so. We start thinking about the upcoming marathons, what we’ve run, can we PR soon, etc, and somehow one of us usually remembers to drop the other two an email. We will continue with several messages in a day or two and then it will fall back off for another six months. But this is great, there is no pressure and the discussions over email are great ways to catch back up. I really hope that one day we can run another marathon together, because it was one of those races where I don’t think anyone felt super great, but the collective whole was able to achieve greater than we thought we could. I credit these guys with at least 20 minutes of my time that day.

We wound up staying together until about mile 20. I had been battling GI issues for the last 8-9 miles and when I saw a port-a-potty up at mile 20, I gave up the battle ducked in and took care of business. I encouraged Mike and Lars to continue on which thankfully they did.

I emerged barely 2-3 minutes later (yeah I know, but trust me if I could have left sooner I would have) and I felt really good. So I decided to see if there was anyway I could catch back up to those guys. I ran, which to this day, is probably my fastest last 10k out of any of my marathons for the final 10k. I dropped back under 7:00/M and just started ripping them off, I couldn’t believe it. I knew Mike wanted to qualify for Boston this race and I thought he had a great shot so I wanted to catch up and try to help him if at all possible, to return the favor of him carrying me 15 miles.

For Lars the wheels a had started to come off around mile 22 or so and I caught back up to him at mile 23. He would solider on to finish in 3:19, narrowly missing his Boston time. I’d like to think if we had all stayed together we could have defied the odds again and brought everyone in. Lars told me he was going to bring it home but to go try and catch up with Mike.

I saw Mike between 24 and 25 and he looked good, I told him he had Boston in the bag and bring home his PR (my memory is cloudy, but in my simple caveman mind, he did not only qualify for Boston (which I do know for a fact) but I think he got his PR). I looked at my watch and thought if I gave it everything I had left I might be able to slide through the back door into a Boston qualifier and I went as fast as my little legs could carry me. When I turned the final corner down the brick “runway” I saw the clock and knew it was going to be really close. As the time ticked ever closer towards 3:11 the announcer came on and said “Here he comes ladies and gentleman, the last person to qualify for the under 35 Boston Qualifying time and .. what? .. oh no! He is a Longhorn!”. By this point in my marathon career I had begun wearing what is now my trademark Texas Longhorn Jersey. The folks in Ohio were still bitter about losing to the Longhorns last in 2005 as Vince Young took the Horns to the National Championship Title. I don’t know why they were so mad though, as they had already won in 2006 against us.

I finished and then waited for Mike who I knew was right around the corner. I saw him fly down the straightaway and clock a 3:13, which just destroyed the 3:35 he needed to get the trip to Boston.

Lars came through and we all laughed about how much fun it was to run together and someone took the initiative to get each other’s email address and that’s how our story started.

So this year’s update came from Lars on Sunday giving us the incredible news that he is now the father of two kids (a 2.5 year old and a 3 month old) but he was getting ready to ramp up for his 7th attempt to qualify for Boston. This just made my day hearing from these guys. Mike had just set a 5 minute Boston PR with and I had also set a personal Boston PR. I wish I would have been on the ball to try and meet up with Mike while in Boston. When Lars qualifies this year for the ‘09 race, I suspect we will all try to get the band back together for a shot to rip up the Newton Hills.

Until then, here is to great friends you meet in far away places and the lasting impact they can have. Thanks again Lars and Mike, best of luck in ‘08. And if you want to find me, here is where I’ll be for the next month or two.

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Tags: General, Marathons //