To all that participated in the
2016 Cleveland Marathon, I apologize for the weather, it’s entirely my fault. You
can stop cursing Dick Goddard’s name and stop evoking the curse of Cleveland
and place the blame squarely on my shoulders. Here is the introduction to the
2015 Akron Marathon recap I wrote last year, just take a look:
Every race brings its own set of challenges. For
the 2015 Akron Marathon, it certainly wasn’t the weather. A runner
could not ask for a more perfect race day. At 60 degrees at the starting
line at 6:30am – it really was “no-excuses weather”, as Frank Shorter, a gold
medal winner in the 1972 Olympic marathon told the runners over the loud
speaker just before the race began. The weather may have offered
“no-excuses”, but I had plenty of them in the weeks leading up to the Akron
Marathon.
Now I do fancy myself a religious
man and I do believe that the good Lord reads my blog. Perhaps He
was upset at my last post, “Tales From the Men’s Locker Room”. I
wouldn’t blame Him, it was gross, even with all of His omniscience. My
guess is that He wanted the pendulum to swing the other way. “You
want excuses? Oh just wait for what I have dialed up for Cleveland”.
Wind. Snow. Sleet. Hail. Rain. Thunder. All
in that order. There wasn’t a form of precipitation that exists that
15,000 race participants didn’t run through. Even in mid-May,
Cleveland’s gonna Cleveland.
 |
| My sister in-law Sarah and brother in-law Phil at the starting line. We look much too happy for how cold we were. |
The morning started off with
temperatures in the low-to-mid 30s with crazy high winds. It’s hard
to dampen the spirit of any runner at the starting line, as adrenaline and a
little nervousness collide for a unique feeling. This wind was
trying it’s hardest though.
Once I started running, I didn’t even notice the weather. A
little snow at mile 2 was no big deal. “At least it wasn’t sleet”, I
told myself. Oops...that came during mile 3. As I passed
by Progressive Field and ran across the Ohio City Bridge the sleet was pounding so hard and starting to make the bridge a little slick.
Mr. Sleet and I actually
started to get used to one another. It started off as a rocky
relationship, but we grew quite fond of each other. I was already
cold and wet and there was nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other
until arriving back in downtown Cleveland. No amount of mental
bitching was going to stop the weather, so it was important to stay focused on
my goal pace.
My playlist was getting me
through the race. I’ve been on a huge Pearl Jam kick over the past
month, so when “Hail, Hail” came on the playlist I was pumped. No
joke, literally as soon as the song began at mile 7, it started hailing. I
fully embraced this crazy coincidence and ended up running my fastest mile of
the race at a 8:07 pace.
Speaking of my playlist, here
is the complete list of songs that got me through the race. I have an
uncanny ability to remember the smallest details of every race, including which
songs played during which miles. At home, I forget shit that my wife
tells me as soon as I walk upstairs. It's a quality that she loves about me, I'm sure. However, a week after a race is over; I
can remember that Sara Bareilles’ “Let The Rain” played during mile 7 right
after “Hail, Hail”. Don’t judge….love me some Sara B.
Miles 8 through 12 were just
more of the same. Wind. Sleet. Rain. Cold. It
was relentless. It was during this last third of the race that I was
pretty much guaranteed to beat my previous best time of 1 hour and 59 minutes. As
long as I didn’t hurt myself or stop at a café for a hot coffee, I was money.
I was in a great place both
physically and mentally and these last 5 miles were some of my favorite miles
of any race that I have run. I passed the Mile 12 flag on the side of the
Cleveland Shoreway and the city was in my sights. 1.1 miles to go. More
wind. More rain. And now some thunder. Fun!
1 hour and 53 minutes after
starting the race, I crossed the finish line with my arms raised in the air. It
was a 6 minute PR, in the most difficult of conditions. Shortly
after finishing the emotion of the moment got the best of me. Over
the loud speaker, I heard a race official say, “Runners, this is what you have
been training for, congratulations on beating this weather”.
I had a quick 5 second cry
standing over the chocolate milk table. It would have lasted longer, but
my body was saying "It's too damn cold to cry Ryan. Man up......get
a hold of yourself and let's get warm".
The emotion sets in at the finish
line because it is all over. The 6 am wake up calls in Vegas to run
the strip. The Saturday morning long runs down at Sand Run. The
discipline to control my diet throughout family parties during race week. The
May Thunder Hail. Once you cross the finish line with a personal best, it
was all worth it.
It sounds miserable, but I promise
that it’s not half as miserable as I felt before I started running in April of
2014. I think of all of the reasons why I started running: for my
health, for my family, for my mental state, and it’s all worth it. I
run to be the happiest and best version of me. When I started running it was the furthest thing from my comfort zone and looking back, I'm amazed at where it has taken me.
I’ll always remember those few
hours in Cleveland during May 2016 – they were some of the best I’ve had.
So thank you Cleveland. And
hey, Dick Goddard……you suck.
