Chapter 1 of the book 'The Cayman Islands Marathon Experience'
Posted on 10. Aug, 2009 by Malcolm in Book Shop
Chapter 1 – Introduction
This book is about the 2006 Cayman Islands Marathon experience. It’s a book built around the experiences and stories – the direct words – of the runners, family and friends, volunteers and race organizers.
The marathon distance is 26 miles and 385 yards (42.2 kilometres). That’s a long way. Especially at the End.
The Half Marathon distance is also a long distance. Don’t be fooled by the ‘half’ – it is still 13 miles and 192.5 yards (21.097.5 meters). For some runners the half-marathon is their favourite distance. It’s long enough to be a serious challenge if you haven’t run before, although it doesn’t require the same level of training as that for a full marathon.
In a marathon event there is sometimes another option – a relay race over the marathon distance. Here, teams of 4 runners run the marathon. There are less miles to cover for each runner, but still a lot of energy expended on the course.
Running a marathon is not something you just ‘decide to do’ the night before a race. It takes training, patience and commitment. It requires physical endurance and mental tenacity. It requires good shoes. To finish a marathon is a true accomplishment. For many people it is life changing. It’s an amazing feeling to complete a marathon and have a finishers medal placed over your head as you cross the line.
On the morning of Sunday 3rd December 2006, 48 runners completed the Cayman Islands marathon and another 214 finished the half-marathon. In addition, 31 Relay Teams competed with one another. Close to 400 people ran that day. There were runners from the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, United States, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Organizers worked around the clock to ensure everything was in place to create a memorable experience for everyone. Over 200 volunteers helped them make it happen.
It was a festive occasion celebrating friendships, achievements and the attainment of personal goals at many different levels.
Above all else it was a lot fun.
In 1896 the winner of the first modern day Olympic marathon finished in a time of just under 3 hours (2:58.50). The course was approximately 25 miles from the Village of Marathon into Athens, Greece. Hence the name of the race – ‘Marathon’.
One hundred and ten years later, over a distance of 26.2 miles (the now standard marathon distance), and on the other side of the world, the winner of the Cayman Islands marathon finished in a time of just over 3 hours (3:06:17).
Marathon running has come a long way in 110 years.
The Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands are located in the western Caribbean about 150 miles south of Cuba and 480 miles south of Maimi. The islands are low lying and surrounded by coral reefs.
Total land area of the islands is only 100 square miles. The largest island – Grand Cayman – is about 22 miles long and eight miles at its maximum width.
It’s a 70-minute flight to the Cayman Islands from Maimi. As one travel book notes “The Cayman Islands are a stress-free haven, framed by deep blue skies, twinkling sea and golden sandâ€.
It is a tropical paradise. And not a bad place to go for a run.
Thousands of people run marathons every year. Over 800 marathons are run somewhere around the world annually. What makes the Cayman Islands marathon attractive to many people is that they can combine a vacation with running. It’s a perfect example of a Destination Marathon. If you love travelling and enjoy running, the Cayman Islands marathon may be the experience for you.
But the weekend isn’t just about visitors coming to the Cayman Islands to run a marathon. There are many local runners also competing. There is, in fact, a vibrant running community in the Caymans.
Our story of the Cayman Islands marathon experience starts with information about marathons in general. What are they? Why do people run them? What do they do to us? And who runs marathons? It turns out – as we’ll see later in the book – that all sorts of people run marathons.
As context is always important, the book also devotes a few pages to the Cayman Islands – its history and current context. Most of the book, however, describes the Cayman Islands marathon experience – the race history, the organization and logistics involved in setting it up, and the experiences of the runners and volunteers on the day. The book finishes with a brief look at other attractions in the Cayman Islands. This is a Destination Marathon after all.
As author, I’ve tried to weave the weekend together based on interviews, and the stories and photographs sent to me by runners, friends and volunteers. I hope this integration of stories and narrative makes this an interesting book to read.
And so at 5am, filled with a range of emotions and preparedness, the runners set off in the humid Caribbean darkness from the Breezes by the Bay intersection in Georgetown. By the end of the morning it was all over, but the memories will remain for years to come.
What’s so special about running a marathon?
Our fuel for running is carbohydrates. The human body typically has enough carbohydrates to endure a distance of 32 kilometres. The marathon distance is 42 kilometres, leaving us with 10 kilometres (6 miles) of what Tim Noakes in The Lore of Running calls the ‘physical no-man’s-land’.
This is where the challenges come from the marathon distance. It’s where training is essential. Tim Noakes describes it this way:
“It is at that stage, as the limits to human running endurance are approached, that the marathon ceases to be a physical event. It is there that you, the runner, discover the basis for the ancient proverb: “When you have gone so far that you cannot manage one more step, then you have gone half the distance that you are capable of.â€It is there that you learn something about yourself and your view of life. Marathon runners have termed it the wall.â€
You will take somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 steps to run a marathon. Over that period carbohydrates, which are found as glycogen in the muscles and liver and as glucose in the blood, get used up. Your muscles get their energy from the glucose and the glycogen. You hit the wall, or ‘bonk’, when the glycogen levels become depleted. With no ‘fuel’ left the body then resorts to using slower-burning fats. You’ll notice a substantial change in your running speed and it is here that the mind faces the challenges. It is this that makes the marathon what it is.
But with proper training your body can improve the way it burns its fuel and it can push the wall further and further out – ideally enabling it to avoid hitting the wall completely.
