The Weekend! Post Race Activities

Well, that's where the running part of the show ends. Keep in mind we still had a 40th birthday to celebrate!! Susan had planned for a chauffeur to take all of us to the local Irish Pub (Irish Lion) for a night of celebration. Along with my family, the Fraleys, long time friends Jan, Melissa and Jennifer were on hand from Lincoln, as well as Mary and Diane from Madison. From what I remember it was a HELL of a bash.

So, what's next??? Hmm, well see...

All the highlights from the weekend:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kmack.mack/TecumsehMarathon?authkey=pxbJwGJb1VQ#

The Weekend! THE DAY Saturday 12/6

6:15am: Whoooo hooooo its THE day! This was the text message I woke up to (after my alarm and back up alarm had not gone off...) Yes, it certainly was! There was a gentle snow starting and there was frantic activity going on in my head. But with relatively little commotion we got breakfast, ALL the required gear and piled in the RV for the days fun. After a 45 minute ride in the RV, Bridget, Mo and I piled in a school bus for another 50 minute ride to the start. By now the snow had been coming down for ~2 hours and no signs of stopping.

The race started at 10:20am (Eastern), and in a word it was INCREDIBLE. It started out very easy on a flat/straight dirt single lane road, but with in a couple miles it went to tight tree lined single track trail, which is what it would be for 90% of the marathon. The single track in itself was fine, but soon we realized that with the snow and the fact that of the 600 runners ~550 were in front of us, the single track became ice packed in various spots, especially on several down hill and up hill twists and turns. In those spots the runners would slow dramatically causing a traffic jam on the trail, but passing those areas slowly was in everyones best interest, and still didn't guarntee safe passage.

Looking back it seemed like the first 1/2 (~13.1 miles) went really fast, although clock time it had been > 3 hours. I was feeling good, but then we came upon Indian Hill, yeah I know it's just a hill! But cripes it's a BIG hill, one that as you keep turning corners, it's still going up, and after running 13 miles, it's a bit of an obstacle. Once we got over it though it was quickly forgotten, for one there would be other hills to climb!

There were also several ravines where you would have jump down 1-2 feet go through a small creek and then up the other side 2-3 feet. Again, this was after ~550 runners went first, making the ledges very icy. I would say with all the obstacles we were dealing with Mo and I actually did very well with staying up right. I will admit I did take my share of falls, but of course Mo still gets the award for the most memorable. Her's typically involved more of an audience and falls in immediate sequence when called for. Although I give her a lot of credit, after a couple down hill slick spots she just took the hill on her arse, before the hill put her on her arse. But seriously, we knew we were up against it when at one hill they strung rope up between the trees so that you could just pull yourself up ~30 yards of hill cause it was too slick/steep to take on foot.

But the moment I will remember most, is when we got to the aid station at mile 21, and although we had started 20 minutes late, per the "race rules" we needed to be to the 23 mile aid station by 4:30, else they would need to pull folks from the trail, since nightfall would be coming and the trails would become more treacherous. Up to that point we had been on a >16 minute mile pace, which would put us to the 23 mile cut off past 4:30. There was no conversation about the situation, and certainly no concern that after 21 miles on an icy trail that we wouldn't make it. With Mo in the lead we headed out for those two miles as if it was the first two miles of a 10K on a sunny afternoon. When we came through the trees at the 23 mile aid station, Mo asked the first volunteer we saw if we made the cut off, he responded it was 4:20, and the cut off would be at 5:00, so we were fine....

For all practical purposes at that moment we had done it, we still had a few miles ahead of us, but hell that was only a 5K we could knock that out as a wheel borrow race!

Mo and I crossed the finish line just under 7 hours to cheers from family and friends AND the volunteers at the finish line singing Happy Birthday to me.

Watch the FINISH for yourself (Note it was a bit icey and we were on the .2 of the 26.2 miles...)

Crossing the finish...

The Weekend! Friday 12/5

Wow, where to start... I woke up Friday (12/5) to a bit of a hangover from Thursday's activities, but there was far too much adrenaline to worry about a hangover. Susan and I started the day with a breakfast feast at Hubbard Diner and then home in time for a house check, dog check, and running gear check. The MF (Majestic Flyer) captained by Gar (co-captained by Mo) pulled up promptly at 8:37, and then there was no turning back. The MF had been properly decked out with all the necessary 40 party paraphernalia (40 sucks suckers, beer sippy cup, various shot glasses...) all staged by my loving partner the previous night.

There was plenty of nervous energy to fill the air (all provided by yours' truly.) I had LOTS of well wishes through text messages through the RV ride down to IN. Most notably were the 15+ from Jan, and her favorite being "Did u hear snap,crackle,pop this morning & realize u were not eating cereal?"!

We arrived at the hotel in Bloomington IN, in good spirits and ready for spirits! We had time for a quick beverage and then off to the packet pick up. Much to my surprise, after giving my name to the packet person, he handed me my racing bib with the number 40 proudly displayed on it. AMAZING! Here I had turned forty on this day and I would have the race number 40 for the marathon. I'm still not sure the hoops Mo jumped through (I think there may have been GU exchanged for favors...) but I will not question the means, cause it was very cool.

It is worth noting, that I was not the only McCullough with a marathon race packet to pick up. Mary Bridget McCullough had also signed up for the race. Back when I first emailed folks on this topic I had gotten an email from Bridget and I quote "Most people would not pick a hilly/mountainous terrain for their first marathon." Hmm, guess the McCullough girls are NOT most people...

Safely back at the hotel the McCullough family arrived (Molly, Annie, Shawn, Dad, Bridget & Steve.) We left the MF nestled in the hotel parking lot, so it could get some rest for the big day ahead, but the McCulloughs and Fraleys headed off for carbo loading at the local Italian resturant. From this point on my better half took control of the event planning. We had a nice private room in the resturant where plenty of McCullough family stories were told, a few drinks were had, and a cake celebrating the run, my b-day and Bridget's, who turned FIFTY in October. The nights activities ended at a reasonable hour, so that the marathoners could get on to bed.

T-Day (Berbee Derby)

So, this posting is VERY delinquent, since most of you already know the end of the story, but I thought for prosperity I would post another pre-marthon moment...

The week before the marathon proved to be one of the most interesting. There is this thing called tapering, which allowed for all sorts of merriment making to celebrate my b-day week. Technically the tapering week "started" on Thanksgiving Day (11/27) which was the Berbee Derby (http://www.berbeederby.com/.) We polished off the 10K in 1:09:50 (11:15 pace.) Then it was off to watch football, eat turkey and partake in napping for the rest of the day!

As fate would have it the final weekend run would be what got me going back in June which is the trip from my house out around Pheasant Branch Conservatory (http://www.pheasantbranch.org/img/PBCmapLG.jpg) and back (~8 miles.) Back in June it about killed me. But with proper fueling (i.e. no Irish car bomb the night before) and having built up a few miles since, it was a relatively easy run.

The week included several shopping opportunities to make sure I had EVERYTHING I needed. I visited REI, Dicks Sporting Goods, Target... (just a few of my favorite stores.) There were to be a few ~5 mile runs (Mon, Tues and Wed) and starting Thursday would be rest. Tuesday's run got thwarted by a surprise B-day party which resorted in going to a drinking establishment. Who knew my running Master would also put me to shame with event planning! I knew nothing of the surprise party even though I saw Susan come into the office moments before. Although one lesson learned is when you put 40 candles on a small cake you risk FIRE. Note, no DBA's were harmed during this event!

The week's end came on Thursday for me with a short day at work, dinner with a few of the folks unable to attend the weekends event, and the highlight going to see a friend's band play in their first paying gig (http://www.myspace.com/ghosttowncouncil.)

All in all one hell of a week of celebrating and plenty of reasons to do so!