The Wake

Autumn comes in cycles: cold, warm, windy, cold, hot, cool, cold. This cyclical nature strikes me as I hop off my bike, sweat running down my forehead. Wasn’t yesterday chilly? This sucks.

I lock my bike up and walk into Taraccino Coffee off Hennepin and University. I’m supposed to meet John Gaede here and interview him about the Twin Cities marathon. I walk to the front counter; two attractive women are waiting for my order.

“What can I get you?” a tall, twenty-something with long-brown hair asks.

“Actually,” I say softly, “I’m here to meet John for an interview.”

“Oh, he’s in a meeting. He’ll be up in a second. I’ll let him know you’re here.”

I take a seat in the middle of the room and go over my notes. A marathon is 26.2 miles. The world record for the fastest marathon is 2 hours, 4 minutes, 55 seconds, set by Paul Tergat of Kenya in 2003. A thought creeps over me: I’m not prepared for this interview at all. I remember reading about a doctoral dissertation that focused on how people approach tasks after their first marathon. I don’t remember anything else, though.

“Are you Lane?” John Gaede sits down across from me. We go over the standard questions. Where are you from? What kind of running have you done in the past? We get the bullshit out of the way. He’s 23 and running in the Twin Cities marathon. It’s his first marathon. What a coincidence, it’s my first time writing about a marathoner.

“Tell me about the training,” I say to John. He tells me that he and his roommate decided last February to run the marathon, and started training May 30.

And this whole training thing is pretty interesting. Apparently, you start out running only a few miles, and you slowly build and build until you eventually run 18 miles. And he says if you can run 18 miles, you can run 26, no problem.

I guess it makes sense, the whole incremental thing. I never considered running a marathon before, but this training business makes it sound doable.

“What sort of goals did you have when you started training?” I ask. He tells me his initial goal was just to finish. Then, after a few weeks, he decided he wanted to finish the marathon in less than four hours. In another few weeks, he thought 3:45:00 was an achievable goal. His latest goal is 3:30:00.

This peaks my interest. I always assumed that when a person runs in his or her first marathon, the only goal is to finish. I can hardly imagine what kind of confidence this guy has.

“I’d be disappointed if I didn’t finish under 3:45:00,” he says. Wow. Disappointed, that’s a strong word. How can anyone have the gall to say “fuck you” to his first marathon by not acknowledging the simple task of finishing it? This guy is good. Real good. I feel the need to push the envelope.

“Don’t you think you can do better than that?” I ask. “Can’t you crack three hours?”

“Maybe if someone was chasing me,” he laughs, “a dog maybe.” I see, so he’s not cocky. He’s just confident. He goes on to tell me about his training route, how hot it would get on Lake Calhoun by the early afternoon, and how he knows that when he does the race for real, the conditions will be much nicer.

The conversation dips and turns from a chat about an 86-year-old great-uncle who still runs half marathons, to John’s self-proclaimed “good bladder control.” We end up talking about his future.

“What’s next for John Gaede?” I ask.

“Well, I’d like to run in the Boston Marathon,” he says. “You have to have a three and half hour time to qualify, but hopefully I get that in the Twin Cities marathon.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I shake his hand and leave the store.

As I bike towards campus through the warm afternoon, I wonder if maybe I could run in a marathon. Sure I’m overweight and I could probably be in better shape, but after meeting John; it’s doable.

Advice for the first-time marathoner

Find a training program that works with your schedule and stick to it! If you miss too many days of training, it’s much easier to hurt yourself. Stay consistent.

Workout prior to starting your training program to get your body and lungs in shape.

Always start long runs early in the morning. Three hours of running in ninety degree heat is pretty terrible, if not dangerous.