2008 Fox Cities Marathon

Appleton, Wisconsin
Sept. 21, 2008

I decided to run the Community First Fox Cities Marathon because I wanted the chance to run through the area in which I grew up and to have family and friends there to cheer me on. The event ended up exceeding my expectations on almost every level.

Sunday's race marked the 18th annual running of the Fox Cities Marathon. I participated (sort of) in the first edition in 1991, as my best friend and I ran alongside his father for a few miles late in the race. The race route has changed and its stature has grown over the years, but its main allure remains the small-community friendliness that's apparent from the time you register until you cross the finish line.

Patty, the boys and I arrived at my parents' house in Appleton on Friday evening. It had been a challenging week at work and I hadn't gotten much sleep. I was looking forward to getting some rest before Sunday.

My parents had some friends over for dinner on Friday evening. Once we arrived, the conversation focused on my upcoming transfer, the wacky week on Wall Street and, of course, the marathon. One of the guests - a man named Henry who is married to my mother's best friend and really is like a member of the family - had run a marathon about 25 years ago. Injuries prevented him from doing more, but he remembered the experience fondly, and was eager to hear about my training, what time I hoped to achieve, etc. I suggested to Henry that he come out Sunday to watch the race, since it promised to be a lovely day and a great atmosphere.

On Saturday morning, I went for an easy three-mile run to work off the cobwebs after two days of not running. The temperature was around 70 and it was humid, and I was more tired than I would have thought possible at the end of the run.

After a quick shower I headed to the expo to pick up my bib and see about finding ways to spend money carelessly. The perfect target for my profligacy turned out to be a pair of double-layered, blister-resistant socks for $8. I tacked on a few GU gel packs and some Jelly Belly sport beans for good measure, then wandered around the expo for another 15 minutes to soak in the atmosphere.

That evening we went to dinner with Dow Jones's Mara Lemos-Stein and her husband Gregg, who by coincidence had decided to run the Fox Cities race as a training run for the NYC marathon. (Gregg had run 18 marathons previously, in locations as disparate as Rio de Janeiro, Geneva and Carlsbad. He also qualified for and ran Boston)

We ate at a Latin restaurant in Appleton. I thought long and hard about what to order, remembering the ribbing I took from fellow runners for my choice of steak and potatoes before the Napa Marathon. My compromise was a risotto with chicken, fish and, yes, STEAK. I had one beer and as much water as I could stomach.

We made arrangements to have Mara and Gregg meet us at my parents' house the next morning at 7:15. Our house is located just five minutes away from the start line, so we'd make it in plenty of time before the 8:00 start.

I didn't make it to bed until after 11:00 as we tried to tend to the boys and get everything set for the morning. Most importantly, we needed to set Patty up with a map so she and Mara could navigate the unfamiliar terrain and road closures to meet us at various points along the course.

THE START LINE

I got up Sunday around 6:15. I had a Clif bar and a banana, and water and Gatorade. I normally would have had a cup of coffee, but I forgot.

Thankfully, it was significantly cooler Sunday morning, with temps in the low 50s. It was overcast but with no rain in the forecast, so conditions were quite nice for a 26.2-mile run around my hometown.

We made it to the start area just past 7:30, but the lines for the bathroom were ridiculously long. We were still in line when the national anthem was sung and when the wheelchair racers set off at 7:55. We did our business with just a couple minutes to spare, received good-luck kisses from our wives and managed to line up for the run about 30 seconds before the starting gun.

I planned go out at pace between 7:40 and 7:45. I had been going back and forth in the previous days on whether to go for a Boston-qualifying time, which would require a 7:37 pace for my age bracket. I decided that I would go slightly slower than that BQ pace for the first half and, if I felt good enough, see if I could run between 7:35 and 7:40 through mile 20, and then do whatever I needed to do to get 3:20:59. My more-realistic goal was 3:30, and my backup goal was to beat my Napa time of 3:39:57. (Gregg was planning to run a 9:00 minute pace, treating this completely as a training run)

The start of the race passes through some quiet residential streets for several miles. The highlight of the early part of the race occurred at the start of mile three outside a church. A pastor was stationed on the sidewalk with his congregation in tow, leading them in hymms. One of the runners ran over and gave him a high five, which thrilled the church goers and put smiles on the faces of the runners not yet burdened with exhausted bodies and spirits. I'm not very religious, but hearing the singing was oddly inspirational.

I was running very smoothly at that point and feeling quite strong. I had completed mile 1 in 7:51 and mile 2 in 7:37. I completed that third mile in 7:38 and did mile 4 in 7:41.

At some point around mile 5, I started to feel some pain on the ball of my left foot. That had me thinking I was in the process of breaking some bones, ala Deena Kastor at the Olympics. But that worked itself out after a few miles. I did mile 5 in 7:44 and mile 6 in 7:48.

The Fox Cities Marathon made a more concerted effort this year to attract fans, creating party zones, with music, free pizza and beverages. In addition, each of the water stops had a TV show theme, with all the attendants dressed up as characters from the shows.

The first water stop had a Mash theme, which really would have been more appropriate later in the race. Others that I recall were Gilligan's Island, Grey's Anatomy, That 70s Show, The Flintstones and even Wheel of Fortune (with a wheel that runners were encouraged to spin).

Miles 7 though 10 took us through the towns of Kimberly, Little Chute and Kaukauna, and I was cruising. I did those four miles in 7:52, 7:42, 7:40 and 7:40.

WHERE'S MY WIFE?

I was looking forward to seeing Patty at a park in Little Chute at around the 9-mile marker, but she didn't make it in time. Apparently she underestimates how fleet of foot her husband is. I did, however, enjoy a guy playing guitar and singing a mean rendition of 'Lay Down Sally' in the park.

A mild stitch bothered me a bit in miles 11 and 12, but I was able to deal with it with some deep belly breathing. My pace actually picked up in this stretch, unintentionally. I did mile 11 in 7:34 and mile 12 in 7:41.

In the 12th mile there was a nice downhill stretch on a bridge near downtown Kaukauna. But that was followed by an even steeper uphill right around the 12-mile marker entering the town of Combined locks, just after that Wheel of Fortune water stop. When I got to the top, I felt a bit tired for the first time. But I got over that within about a quarter mile

I finished mile 13 in 7:46 and I was about a minute behind Boston-qualifying pace at the mid-point of the race. At that point I thought it was unlikely I'd be able to pick up the pace enough to qualify. So I set my sights on keeping up the pace I'd been running.

I did mile 14 in 7:47, and had the pleasant surprise of seeing Patty (at long last) just past the mile-14 marker. She was waiting there with Mara. Patty kissed me, handed me a bottle of Gatorade, and told me I looked great. With that I was on my way, with an extra spring in my step and feeling strong.

A short while later, I heard a man from behind me say, "looking strong, Steve". It was Henry, the family friend who had been at my parents' house a few nights earlier. He was on his bike with a fancy camera in tow. (He ended up taking 170 pictures that morning)

I felt great through mile 16. I didn't have any blisters or cramps, and I felt as though I'd been fueling properly. I'd walked through just about every aid station to drink full cups of water or Gatorade, and I had been eating gel and sport beans throughout the race. I completed mile 15 in 7:51 and mile 16 in 7:43.


GLORY DAYS

Around mile 17, I was pleased to come upon cheerleaders from Xavier High School, my alma mater. (There were cheerleading squads from all the local schools spread throughout the course.) I'm sure they cheered a bit louder for me as I ran by, as they no doubt remembered my glory days as shooting guard for the Xavier Hawks hoopsters during that magical 1985-1986 campaign.


I slowed somewhat in mile 17. I remember telling Henry, who was riding his bike alongside me, that a 7:45 pace seemed lightning fast at that point. I did mile 17 in 8:04.

By mile 20, I knew that the best finish I could hope for would be 3:30. Up until that point, my walks through aid stations hadn't lasted longer than 15 seconds or so. But now I was walking for at least 30 seconds through the aid stations, and my pace had slowed while I ran. I finished mile 19 in 8:21 and mile 20 in 8:26.

Patty and Mara were waiting late in mile 20. Patty could tell I was suffering. By that point I was really losing steam. My legs felt rubbery.

In mile 22, in one of the more-picturesque parts of the course at Jefferson Park in Menasha, the 3:30 pace group passed me. I had last seen them around mile 3. What seemed like a slow pace 20 miles earlier looked like a sprint to me now. I completed mile 21 in 8:50 and mile 22 in 8:40.

By this point my walks through the aid stations were lasting longer than a minute. I remember trying to tell myself that there were just four miles to go, and that my typical early-morning loop is four miles, so it should be easy. But it didn't work. I completed miles 23 through 25 in 9:48, 9:23 and 9:28.

During this stretch, it was great to have support from Henry, who was riding nearby and handed me the Gatorade bottle from time to time. He gave the occasional word of encouragement, but kept comments to a minimum realizing that I was in no position to carry on a conversation.

It was right around the mile-25 marker, near lovely Riverside Park in Neenah, that I saw my parents with Max and Leo. They were all cheering me on, and Max was standing in the road set to slap my hand as I went by.

That gave me some much-needed energy, but it didn't last long. I slowed to a walk a couple of times before finishing mile 26 in 9:51, my slowest mile of the race. That gave me more time to appreciate the hoopla, as well as the stately homes on Wisconsin Ave. and the beautiful waterfront in the second half of mile 26.

WIS-NEF-SKI

As we turned back toward Riverside park for the final stretch, I summoned the energy to speed up, and ran the last 2/10 of a mile at an 8:08 pace. Patty and Mara were there to cheer me on in about 100 yards from the finish, and my parents were at the finish line with the boys. Henry had managed to go inside the gates and start snapping pictures. I assume the race officials though he was one of the hired photographers or from a newspaper.

As I neared the finish line, for the second year in a row (I did the half marathon last year), the MC butchered my last name. ``Stephen WisNEWski finishes the marathon.’’ That’s inexplicable in an area with so many folks with Polish surnames.


I finished with a clock time of 3:35:32. The chip time was 3:35:11, far off a Boston-qualifying time but nearly a five-minute improvement over my first marathon. It was an 8:13 minutes per mile pace for the full race.

When I stopped moving at the finish, I immediately felt as though my legs would cramp up. One of the race volunteers put his arm around me to make sure I was o.k. and accompanied me to pick up the medal.

Then I noticed that three-year-old Leo was sobbing. He'd been cheering and smiling until he saw the volunteer help me. Apparently he thought I was hurt, and that set him off. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once.

Max and Leo followed me to the refreshment area. I drank about a gallon of Gatorade and forced down a small sandwich, while the boys munched on Oreos.

A short while later Gregg and Mara found us. Gregg had finished his "training run" in 3:49. It was all the more impressive given than he had endured a small surgery just a few weeks earlier and wasn’t able to train as much as he would have liked. His longest pre-race run had been 16 miles. Gregg later wrote to me that the Fox Cities Marathon was the friendliest small-town race he’d ever run.

I, too, thought the race was fantastic. The course is flat, it goes through some nice areas and the crowd support - while not as boisterous as it is at other big-city races, I'm sure - is excellent, and filled with genuine charm and kindness.

My only criticism of the event was that late in the race the course got crowded with walkers, who were doing the half marathon, and full marathoners who had been allowed to start two hours earlier because they anticipated finishing in more than 6 hours. I also found it a bit demoralizing when members of relay teams flew by me in the latter stages of the race.

I hope to run this race again. I doubt it will be doing that in 2009, but maybe I could make this an annual event for me and my family.

My finishing time of 3:35:11 was good for 177th out of 1026 finishers. I was 27th out of 88 in the 40-44 age group. My major splits were 10K in 47:22, half in 1:41:33 and 20 miles in 2:37:03. (Note: The miles splits listed throughout the write-up above are based on what my Garmin Forerunner said. The mile marks that registered on my watch didn’t correspond exactly with the mile markers on the course. According to my Garmin, I ran a 26.33-mile race.)