First Marathon
GRC member, Lyle Babberl, pushed the envelope and made the 31st Guam Marathon his first. Lyle shares his reflections on the experience with the rest of us.

TRAINING

One of the holy grails of distance running is to enter and complete a
marathon. There is something about the word "MARATHON" that evokes images of training, discipline, endurance, pain, and pride. Runners want to prove to themselves (and others) they can do it just once in their life. In my case, I wasn't getting any younger and I figured the window of opportunity was not too wide. "Do-able" is another descriptive term that can be applied to this 26.2 mile event; so armed with that attitude, I set out to achieve my goal.

Living in the age of the internet is a special advantage to the runner. On the net you can find information about any human endeavor you happen to have a passing or passionate interest in. This is certainly true about running of any style, and especially the marathon. I was able to find numerous training schedules offered for the prospective marathoner, beginners, intermediate, or advanced. In fact there is so much advice I found you can quickly become confused. Everyone has an opinion! So much to sift and weigh!

I decided to begin the training process in the last weeks of December. The GRC has a couple long runs early in the year known as the Alley Oop and the Cross Island Run. I figured these would be good beginnings for my long distance runs. I could build from there. In fact, I should have started a month or two earlier. I never did get my stamina solidified before I was adding another two or three miles on the next long run and it began wearing on me. Unfortunately, you can easily forget to take into consideration injury, illness, or personal life, and these events all interfere with the training process if you are trying to cram the miles in before the date.

Originally, I had foolishly set my sights on a 4-hour finish; however, I was amazed at how grueling the 20 milers were. I got discouraged about how much walking I had to do and the total time the long runs required. My goal changed to 4.5 hours. After a painful four and a half hour 20 mile run/walk, I thought about the prospect of another 6.2 miles and just shook my head. No way! My goal stretched to 5 hours. Later still I decided I just wanted to finish the race! In the final weeks, with some encouragement from Neil, I decided I had come too far to quit and even if I had to walk the last five miles I was going to go for it.

THE MARATHON

Luckily, my health held and I made it through the taper period. Despite my obsessing over every little ache and pain I was basically injury free. Four a.m. is an unholy time of day to start any endeavor but there we were smearing anti-chafing cream on intimate body parts, stretching tight muscles, chugging bottles of water, thinking about the call of nature, and just in general feeling anxious. I was a little awed to be in the same crowd as some of the known runners who had successfully competed in other marathons with outstanding finish times. Oh, well!

The start was announced and we headed out into the darkness, hoping we wouldn't twist an ankle or trip over some unseen obstacle. It wasn't too long before I found I was running alone in the dark like I had done so many times in the past months during my training runs. Most of the time though, I could see the blinking lights of other runners in the distance and I felt I was indeed part of a race. My second concern was to not run too fast in the first miles, conserve energy, and I consciously slowed down several times.

The new GRC mile markers gave me an opportunity to time each mile with the lap recorder on my watch so I was able to keep track of my minutes per mile. These road markers were a curse for me in the first half of the race. They seemed to pass by far too slowly. Each one reminded me of the fact I had only gone 7 miles, 19 to go! 10 miles, 16 to go!, etc. In the last third of the run they became my encouragers and I took pride in the fact that I had made it so far and only had another five or four miles to go.

I was glad to run with a young man by the name of Chris Obias for several miles and we were able to keep our minds occupied by conversing about our training, today's race strategy, and other trivia which all helped pass the time. Every few miles his sister would jump out of her car and take pictures of him as we ran by. He will have a good photographic record of his first marathon.

The water stops were frequent and welcome. It gave us the opportunity to walk while we re-hydrated our bodies without feeling too guilty. I had
decided early on I was not going to attempt to run the whole distance, so
walking at each of the 14 water stops was part of the plan. The first long
leg of the run was along route 15. Getting finished with this portion and
off the back road to Anderson was a relief since it was narrow, pot holed,
and lacked a shoulder. By that time the daylight was strong enough to see
where your feet were going and once out on marine drive I felt like maybe I was actually going to make it to the finish line. I got a mental boost as I passed the starting point for the GRC's half marathon race since I knew I had run this route successfully before.

My biggest concern for the latter part of the marathon was the likelihood of leg cramps. They had bothered me previously in some training runs and had reduced me to limping the rest of the way home. Fearing the worst, I tried to take in as much fluid and sport drink at each water stop as I could stomach. I also took time out to do some stretching of my Achilles and hamstring muscles. As a result the only cramping I suffered was in the stomach from so much sport drink.

At about mile 15 I ran a while with Lyle Cummings who had started two hours ahead of the rest of the pack. He was determined to finish the entire course this year after being disappointed last season. By the way, he did succeed! I really admire his stamina and determination. Around mile 19 I was able to run with Dr. Lou Klitzkie and we passed some of the painful miles talking and comparing notes. She encouraged me and assured me that I was going to make it to the finish in less than 5 hours. Unfortunately, I would have to walk at each aid station while Dr. Klitzkie would keep on going. I would struggle to catch up only to fall behind at the next water stop. Finally, I couldn't keep up her pace as she increased her speed and that was the last I saw of her at about mile 23. I admire the fact she had such a strong kick in the last few miles of the race.

FINISH LINE

Turning the corner and going down the hill onto San Vitores Road was one of the most painful ordeals I suffered on the whole 26.2 mile course. I just kept hoping I wouldn't collapse in mid-stride. My knees were really
buckling. Somehow I was able to keep on my feet and running the rest of the way along San Vitores until finally I could see my wife cheering for me up ahead. She was just as relieved to see me as I was to see her. Heading down the final stretch toward the finish line I could hear club members calling my name and yelling words of encouragement. It was music to my ears! I could see the time clock and the fact that five minutes were still left before five hours would pass. That also was a relief. Neil was there with a drink of Gatorade and the finisher's medal, congratulating me while others were shaking my hand. I felt good!

The pride of accomplishment and the congratulations offered by friends and family since the race are priceless. The medallion hangs in a place of honor at home and I still, a week later, feel good about myself. Now that the blisters have healed, the knees are on speaking terms with me again, and the muscles have quite protesting every time I stand up, I have to wonder what I will do now for a new challenge. Hmmm . . . Those bicycles at Hornet sure look interesting! Keep running . . .

Lyle (the other Lyle) Babberl 

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Our special thankyou to Lyle for taking time to craft such a fine account of his marathon experience. I will admit to many of the same feelings on my first. The first marathon is the one you will never forget no matter how many follow...the first is special.

The Editor