#35 Richmond Anthem

D. Eugene Thompson, Marathon Runner
Jan 14, 2019
2 min read

Happy birthday to me! My schedule has been crazy and I’ve been running all over…..unfortunately not running on my feet but rather work related. I did 1500 miles the previous weekend. Well here I am. In Richmond doing this race again. Last year I did a strong finish……last year I was healthier, weighed less, trained more. Different story this year. November 10, my 53rd birthday and I’m celebrating my 35th marathon. What a way to enjoy the day. It was a bit cold this morning. Not bad though. I started off really strong but fell short after about 10 miles. I began to struggle. That’s too early to struggle. In a short period of time I had to walk. My legs began tightening up, feet hurting, breathing wasn’t necessarily right. This wasn’t going to be pretty. I know everyone looks at me and says Eugene you’ve done thirty of these…..this is easy for you. Well, let me tell you…..ANY GIVEN…….MARATHON. They are all hard for us that are not elite runners. I may run a lot but I’m far from elite. I’m just a guy that runs to helps control his blood sugars and weight. Both of recently have been seemingly winning.

My routine on a marathon morning has traditionally been the same. I’m superstitious like that…..okay maybe I just know what has worked well for me in the past. I shut off my insulin pump about two hours before the race…..so you know what happens when I eat my heavy carb breakfast…..yep….it skyrockets. And then for the next five hours it steadily drops until I need to fuel it with gummy bears or GU gel packets. My stomach can only handle so much. Not to mention the legs, the sweat, the feet, the sweat, the breathing…..do I say the sweat? Yep…..that’s my birthday reward to myself! All in all I was glad to run. I saw several ladies in wheelchairs along the side of the road cheering us on. I bet they wish they could just walk it. Well that’s what the end of the race was like for me. I ran a little and walked a little. Nothing felt exactly right on this day. Again, Any Given Marathon.

I crossed the line with a smile….sort of. Grabbed my pizza, bagel, banana and headed to the car. Marathon number 35 was finished, Less than stellar, and now I had a three hour drive to run another one the following day in the Outer Banks. Was I crazy? Pretty sure of that. But I was going to attempt what I had achieved last year. The success was very doubtful. I had barely overcome the fight in this one…….tomorrow will tell a different story. But that is for another post……follow up on what I did in the OBX.