Grandma’s Marathon Recap

Some of you may know that on June 19th, I completed my first marathon. I’ve tweeted and Facebooked about it, and even wrote a haiku about it yesterday:

Marathon complete. | I trained. I ran. I conquered. | Doubters: try again.

Since Saturday, I have had a few people ask for a recap and my insights to my training and during the race. Friends, enjoy:

If you follow my blog, you will know that it was my ‘New Years Goal/Resolution’ to run in and complete a marathon. I was aiming for the Twin Cities Marathon in October, but was convinced by a very persuasive friend named Kenny. During his birthday celebration in January, New Year’s resolutions were brought up. Upon mentioning my marathon goal, he states ‘you should run Grandma’s with me!’ After responding with ‘I want to take more time to train, knowing the next few months are sure to be busy.’, Kenny gives me ‘the look’ and states ‘c’mon, friend! You should run Grandma’s with me! It will count as your birthday present to me.’

I was guilted into signing up to do Grandma’s Marathon.

Training began soon after on the treadmills of L|A Fitness. One issue: I hate treadmill running. It is safe to say that I did not run for too long each time on a treadmill, or even get to L|A Fitness, as my life schedule prevented me from doing so.

Once the weather became accommodating, I started to run outside. While this was easier, I never logged the ‘long runs’ for marathon training. I am willing to admit that my longest run occurred the week of Grandma’s Marathon of 4.5 miles.

Yes, a marathon is 26.2 miles. I understand the math.

My thoughts on such a plan, called ‘plan A’: I was concerned with my pace, which is common for first time marathon runners. if you start too fast, you will burn out quicker and decrease your chances at a strong finish. Remember, it’s not a sprint… 🙂 I thought if I would get my pace down in 3-4 miles, I could replicate that throughout the race.

And that plan worked perfectly, until mile 11.

From the start to mile 11, I did not stop to walk once. I had my 10:15-10:30 minute pace going very well. I never felt winded, tired, or worried about finishing. I actually became more confident as I passed each mile marker. Inexplicably, I chose to walk through the 11th mile water stop. This is where trouble started to brew. I felt my legs be more wobbily than at any time during training, which sent me into a mental panic.

I walked through the water stop, killing time until I chose to run again, wondering if I could run to the halfway mark, let alone the finish. I had to switch to plan B: walk through each water stop, and run in-between. That worked until mile 14, which was the first time I chose to go to the bathroom. I sat down, mostly to get a break. Looking back, getting in a sitting position was the dumbest thing I could have done, other than choosing this particular bathroom, for there was no soap, or toilet paper. Bathroom break: cancelled.

I was running my little heart out crossing the 15th mile marker when something awful happened in my left quad. It felt like something blew up in there, causing the two quad heads by my knee to have little strength remaining. I stopped to do numerous stretches, thinking it was a cramp. Whatever it was, I was unable to run at length the rest of the race.

Hobbling my way through the next two miles, I was looking for a medical tent to get it inspected. I did not think I could continue; I was ready to quit. Lucky for me, there was no tent at that point.  There was no way I was going to disappoint those supporting me in Duluth or back home. There was no way I was going to make any doubter of mine correct. I had no choice but to continue; I can heal later.

I went to plan C: power-walking. I knew I could do that around 4 miles per hour, which put me (at the time of injury) around a 5 hour 30 minute finish. I did not have a serious time goal, I just wanted the medal. As long as I finished under 6 hours to qualify as a finisher, that’s all that mattered to me.

At mile 20, I clocked in at 4:14:15, which put me near the estimated time above. I kept power-walking and running when I could (usually downhill). One benefit of being injured was being able to enjoy the scenery that Duluth provides.

Mile 23 comes by, and my friend Britni was there to cheer people in our group on. She tells me one of the guys is only three blocks ahead of me. My mind said ‘go get him!’ My body said ‘don’t even try.’ It was disappointing, but my goal of finishing was still in tact, and still my priority.

Finally, after 5:42:11, I finish Grandma’s Marathon. Everyone else in our group had finished before me, which allowed for everyone to see me finish. It’s a surreal feeling to run down the final stretch, hear your name called, and hear the final beep from your chip over the timing pad on the finish line. Mission: accomplished.

Reflecting on the whole experience of training and the race, I know I can do more and do better. That’s why I will be running Grandma’s Marathon next year, and hopefully another marathon before then. Don’t assume I am addicted, but knowing that I can and will do better is too great of a draw for me to ignore.

Thanks to all who supported me, sent me good vibes, and had faith in me to do this my way. I brought home a medal, which a little piece goes to you. I hope I did not disappoint.

Next time, I’ll train harder, be stronger, healthier, faster, and will not disappoint.

J

Gussie Gallop 5K Recap

Yesterday was my first race since the Minneapolis half-marathon. It was a little 5K, but with new expectations and goals behind it.

Compared to my first ever 5K in April, I had a time in mind: sub 27 minute 5K, which would mean I am running sub 9 minute miles. I did not think this would be difficult, as I have been training harder to improve my pace, and recently ran my fastest mile ever at 5:51.

The race: Gussie Gallop in St. Augusta, MN. My friend Sarah, who was more than gracious to take pictures of me at the half-marathon, invited me up for a fun day of running, Mongo’s, and a favorite past time of mine: BINGO.

The course was said to be relatively flat; that ended up being a lie. I didn’t mind it, since I had struggled with hills in the half-marathon, and need to work on hills to improve. It was an interesting experience running through a small town, next to farms and small homes, and having traffic on the road with you. It was my first experience in a cemetery, as we had to run through part of one towards the finish. It was also the first 5K that had a water stop in the middle. I thought that was only for races longer than a 5K. Sarah and I ran together the whole time, which makes running much easier during both training and a race.

My previous best in a 5K race wsa 29:53, which was during the St. Thomas 5K. Yesterday, I ran 26:23, an improvement of 3:30. If my guess is right, I ran 8:49 miles, which is a big step in the right direction. Anytime you can improve your time by 3:30, that is a significant accomplishment; it’s something I am proud of. I struggled around mile 2; it was very muggy, and I wore a long sleeve shirt over my Nike Drifit shirt, which I had to take off and throw in someone’s yard. The last mile felt so much better than the previous two. Overall, I placed 45th out of 205 total runners, putting me in the top 25%. Never in my life would I have said that I would have run all these races, and be in the top 25% of any race. It feels pretty good.

My next race may be on July 4th, the Firecracker Run, which would be a 10K. Again, I am working on pace and speeting things up. With my height (6’4”) and the long legs that come with that, there is no reason why I can not keep improving my times, my distances, and become a respected runner/athlete.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

~Jason Douglas

twitter: @jasondouglas

facebook: www.facebook.com/jasondouglas

MLK Jr. Had A Dream In ’63; What Is Reality in ’09?

Below is the transcript from Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech given on August 28, 1963.  After the speech text will be my analysis of the speech in terms of where we are as a society on making this dream a reality.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Every year, people analyze whether or not the dream has been fulfilled.  In a recent cnn.com poll asking african-americans if they feel that King’s dream is fulfulled, over two-thirds (69%) feel that his dream has been fulfilled.  That figure is more than double the percentage of people that feel the dream has been fulfilled based on a similar poll taken last March.  The election of Barack Obama is likely the main contributor for the spike in approval.   Let’s take a deeper look into what has really changed in the last 46 years.

King looks back 100 years prior to his speech back to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, how the negro was not free in 1863, and still was not free in 1963.  King says they have come to Washington D.C. to cash their check from America for ‘a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ This is a check that he felt America had ‘given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.’

Are African-American people free?  Does America’s bank have sufficient funds so the check can be cashed in 2009? African-American people are more free than they were 46 years ago, but not completely.  The check has only been partially cashed; they’re owed plenty more, and the bank has the funds.

We’re not talking about putting more African-American people in places of power, not talking about the upper-class here; we are talking about the middle-class, the lower-class.  How far has Black-America come in 46 years?

In the 2000 census, African-American’s were overrepresented in the lowest and second lowest income quintiles, and underrepresented in the highest quintiles, having the lowest per thousand households in the top five percent of household incomes.  As I said, the check is being cashed, but African-American’s are still owed.

Race		All households	Lowest fifth	Second fifth	Middle fifth	Fourth fifth	Highest fifth	Top 5%
White alone	Number in 1000s	92,702	16,940	18,424	18,978	19,215	19,721	5,695
	Percentage	81.93%	74.87%	81.42%	83.87%	84.92%	87.16%	87.93%
Asian alone	Number in 1000s	4,140	624	593	786	871	1,265	366
	Percentage	3.65%	2.76%	2.26%	3.47%	3.84%	5.59%	6.46%
African American or Black	Number in 1000s	13,792	4,474	3,339	2,637	2,053	1,287	236
	Percentage	12.19%	19.77%	14.75%	11.65%	9.07%	5.69%	1.04%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	Number in 1000s	12,838	3,023	3,130	2,863	1,931	1,204	269
	Percentage	11.33%	13.56%	13.83%	12.20%	8.53%	5.89%	1.19%

I don’t think the issue is with the opportunities out there for African-Americans.  America is as close as ever in being truly equal in giving all races the equal opportunities.  What is the perception of the African-American?

Do you lock your car when you see an African-American walk by while you’re in traffic?

Do you make assumptions about an African-American if they’re dressed a certain way?

Do you assume that since the majority of violent crimes covered on television news involve African-American’s in a negative light, that’s how all African American’s are?

When you hear about a white athlete that is in trouble with the law, how do you react?

When you hear about an African American athlete in trouble with the law, how do you react?

Do you ever use the ‘N’ word in conversation with friends in a casual way?

Questions to seriously think about.  I’ll answer them from my point of view: I lock my car whenever I drive (fear of falling out somehow while driving); I have made assumptions about all people based on dress, including my close friends; I know better than to think that only African-American’s are criminals, white people also commit crime; white athlete = idiot, African-American athlete = idiot (remember, stupid does not have a race); the ‘N’ word is gross.

King later says ‘I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.’  What is the current American dream? Is it about racial equality?  Or is it about financial security?

Arguably the most famous quote from King’s speech: ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’  I don’t think that anyone is judged initially by the content of their character.  We live in a society that makes it easy to only look on the outside of someone; our society loves easy anything.

Overall, America is further along the process of achieving racial equality.  America is not where it can be, where it should be.  It would be stupid of me to say that it takes time for something like this to come to fruition; it has only been a few hundred years in the making.  January 20th will be a day in history, a day many Americans, including myself, did not think would happen so early into this millenium with the official inaguration of President-Elect Barack Obama.  The fact that he was elected as a partial African-American (he has more than just African-American heritage in him) shows that the American public, for at least one day, was able to see beyond race and elect who they thought was the right candidate.

Someday, we will all be equal.

That’s my two cents, but what do I really know?  I’m a 6’4” white male in marketing.