David Taylor Gonzales

I wanted to dedicate a blog specifically to a full mile by mile breakdown to provide some context and talk about some of the lessons I learned throughout the training process. I’m writing today to give a full breakdown of the race. My brain has been scrambled in the couple of weeks since I ran, and I’ve finally found time to sit down and unpack different moments from the day.

I went into this race afraid of hitting “the wall”. Because of this, I asked ChatGPT how many carbs I should be eating per day leading up to the race. I overdid it. Because I did much of my training fasted, and even ran some of my long runs fasted (I did my 17 mile run with no gels, only the overnight oats I ate in the morning). Because of this, my body was very accustomed to burning fat for fuel.  My gut had no idea what to do with the extra carbs on race day. I was shooting for 500 grams on the Friday and Saturday before the race which was really difficult. I felt bloated and heavy over the weekend.
On Sunday morning, I woke up feeling fine, if not a bit heavy. It was 4:45 AM and I immediately ate my overnight oats. I went to the bathroom twice in the span of 90 minutes which I ascribed to race day nerves. However, with hindsight, I think it was foreshadowing of what was to come later.
When I got to Bass Pro, I did some light jogging around the parking lot. It was 28 degrees when the gun went off so I was wearing gloves and a long sleeve base layer over my singlet. Lane and I planned to meet at the 7 mile mark so I could toss my gloves and top layer to her.
I kissed her goodbye as the gun went off. The cold air was pierced with the sound of hooping and hollering from people around me as I started my watch and ran off into the front facing wind.

Mile 1: I took a gel within the first 5 minutes. Going back to my anxiety about bonking later in the race, ChatGPT advised me to take a gel early to top off my glycogen supply. I went out very conservatively, I ran the first mile in 9:02. I was getting passed by a lot of people, but I kept my eye on the prize: I wanted to pass people in the last 10K, not in the first 10K.
My shorts and left shoe came untied right before the first mile concluded. The gels were weighing them down and I had to hike them up every few strides. I tried tying my shorts as I ran but it was impossible with my gloves. There were aid stations every 2 miles so I decided to wait and re-tie everything then. I had to pee anyway, so I figured I’d knock all those things out and “reset” myself mentally.

Mile 2: I finished the second mile in 8:57. Both port-a-potties were taken so I stopped off, tied my shorts and shoes, and kept going. I knew I could hold it for a couple more miles. The shoes and shorts were not an issue again for the remainder of the race.

Mile 3-5: Mile 3 was right on pace, I was able to settle into my rhythm pretty easily after the short re-tie. I ran mile 4 somewhat quickly (8:56) because I knew the bathroom break was coming. The port-a-potties were occupied at the aid station but this was where I knew I had to stop. I had to wait in line for about 2 minutes which was frustrating. The anxiety of seeing dozens of people pass me as I hopelessly waited for a stall to open up was overwhelming. Mile 5 was 10:12, a full minute off pace. I resolved to make up the time lost over the next few miles.

Miles 6-8: These were strong miles: 8:55, 8:50, 8:50. As I said before, I was in “make up time” mode. More experienced marathoners might warn against this and advise someone in my position to hold back and make up for lost time in the back half of the race. Those people might be right but as a first timer, I was eager to get back to a solid pace as quickly as possible. At mile 7 I passed Lane and the kids and I gave her my top layer and gloves. As I passed by I told her, “we’re a little behind pace but we’ll make it up.”

Miles 9-10: I was running strong at this point but I settled back into race pace: mile 9 at 9:00 and mile 10 at 9:02. We were running down Jefferson and about to head east along the Greenway. This was the point where I picked up a stranger turned friend, a West Point graduate named Cody. We ran together for approximately 3 miles.

Mile 11: I noticed a rib stitch develop at this mile. I had become accustomed to running through pain like this so it wasn’t overwhelming, just something to monitor. I decided I might give myself an “off” mile if I needed it to let the pain subside before picking back up. This mile was still a solid 9:08.

Mile 12: This was my “off” mile. I ran it in 9:20. I thought the pain would go away here but it didn’t. I decided against giving my body more off time and picked back up to marathon pace.

Miles 13-16: These 4 miles were challenging with more hills than at any other point in the race up until now. We had several steep climbs, a couple downhills as we ran through the aptly named Southern Hills neighborhood. At mile 15 I started running with a new stranger turned friend named Justin. He’s a father of 3 who lives in Kansas. By mile 16, he left me behind. I was able to maintain marathon pace but that was no longer an easy task. The rib stitch was still present and I tried putting it out of my mind. I decided, “it’s not going away, find something else to focus on.”

Mile 17-18: Well, my brain responded and gave me something new to focus on. Bubble guts. Coupled with the rib stitch, my body went into full gastrointestinal failure. I was gingerly running with brief moments of walking at this point. By the time I arrived at the Mile 18 aid station, I was in full blown walk/run mode. I would fluctuate between moments of temporary stomach relief and overwhelming stomach pain that would cause me to double over and grind my stride to a screeching halt. Mile 17 was 10:37 and Mile 18 was even worse: 12:11.
I saw Lane and the kids at the aid station here. Seeing them cheer me on gave me some mental “juice” to keep going. As I passed her, I said, “if I can fart just one time, I know I can keep going.” I really felt like I had one bubble that just needed to pop so I could finish the race.

Miles 19-22: To my surprise, I rebounded. The pain subsided and I kept expecting it to come back, but it didn’t. These 4 miles put me back into the exact mental groove I needed. I didn’t feel good enough to make up for lost time, so after a brief moment to grieve what I knew would be a lost goal of breaking 4 hours, I settled back into my pace. Here are the splits: 9:06, 9:03, 9:09, 8:43.

Mile 23-24: Running mile 22 in 8:43 was a mistake born from a desire to make up time. I overplayed my hand and my body made me pay for it. I had to walk the majority of the next two miles. This was the second and final instance of total GI collapse in the race. Mile 23 was 10:44. Mile 24 was where the wheels completely fell off. At one point I had to lean up against a wall because of the stomach pain. I found myself getting emotional during this point, even shedding a tear as I felt my time slipping further. I kept repeating to myself, “Thankfulness, be thankful for this,” over and over. That helped me stay in it mentally. Mile 24 was completed in 15:30.

Mile 25: I was able to get back to running for this mile, I only had to walk for a couple seconds early in the mile but as we began our ascent up the final hill of the race, I was able to run, albeit cautiously for the rest of the race. I completed mile 25 in 9:30

Mile 26: I was proud to run this final full mile at race pace. I completed mile 26 at 9:11 pace.

Final kick: After two full running miles, it was time for the final push. I decided to go all out. I thought to myself, “the wheels have already fallen off twice, what does it matter if they fall off a third time?” I ran this final stretch at 7:10/mi pace, passing someone in the last 100 yards and proving to myself that this race was not lost due to lack of aerobic fitness, but due to fueling issues and overconsumption of carbs. I’m proud of how I finished this race and that’s something I will take with me into every race I run going forward.

There’s a lot of takeaways from this race. The main one is nutrition. I have to prioritize training my gut for the next race. I didn’t prioritize it during this block. I did most of my training fasted, I rarely ate beforehand except for my long runs. Even with the weekend runs, I only fueled beforehand once the long runs exceeded 12 miles. In fact, I even did my 17 mile run with no gels. My body was very accustomed to burning fat for fuel during training and my body didn’t know what to do with the extra glycogen available during the race. My heart rate hovered mostly in the low 140s which means much of the glycogen in my body was just fermenting in my gut, causing the GI distress. I could’ve probably loaded on carbs much more lightly (350g per day or so) and had plenty for race day. Assuming my heart rate is similar next time, I can go into that race confident that I don’t need to stuff my face with carbs.

Here’s an interesting statistic I saw: my bib was able to keep track of how many people I passed and how many people passed me at different splits from the race. In the first 10K, I passed 10 people and 97 people passed me (this was to be expected, given the bathroom stop). In the final 12.2 kilometers, I passed 26 people and was passed by 5 people. This race was far from perfect but I can hang my hat on having a really strong finish.

The biggest takeaway from this race is that I showed up to the starting line healthy and I crossed the finish line healthy. I am focusing on strength training this winter, lifting 3 days per week and running 3 days per week. I am looking forward to building muscle and running a strong half-marathon in Kansas City next April.

Keep Going!