Recap of Mike Sayenko’s Marathon Run at the World Championships

The day of reckoning has come, Day 9 of the IAAF World Championships…Marathon day! Overall, I had a great experience at the Track and Field World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. This race was definitely a motivator for the future…to get back to this level and run better. There’s Moscow in 2013 and of course the Olympics in London 2012! The atmosphere for this meet was everything I imagined the Olympics to feel like.

The atmosphere for this meet was everything I imagined the Olympics to feel like. Every aspect was over-the-top organized, with a seemingly unlimited budget. There was the architecturally unreal stadium, a brand new Athlete’s Village, including two tracks next to each other, a 200m and 400m blue track, made exclusively for the event.

The Athlete’s Village had everything you could ask for, live performances from Korean taekwondo to traditional dancing, cultural experience projects like pottery, an all-you-can eat cafeteria, a place for currency exchange/ bank, a post office, a salon, you name it.. it was there. There was no need to leave the Village, everything you needed was right there. We were also given tons of souvenirs as gifts – a huge beach towel, an Adidas backpack, a World Championships Mascot Beanie Baby, postcards, comparative stamps, and a ton of print material.

The only thing I would have changed is that our race would be on the first day of competition. It would have been nice to be able to really explore all that Daegu had to offer, but I tried to remain low key in the days leading up, not wanting to wear myself out before the race. I went downtown a few times to the flee markets, a mall that went on for miles (think Time Square on steroids), and mostly to the track to watch the best athletes in the world! There were a few hikes in Daegu that looked fun but strenuous, including one to a temple on top of a mountain that was about a 2 hour hike. The marathon women, being completely finished, as they competed the first day, decided to go on Wednesday, with a 98º day. It sounded tempting until I stepped outside for two seconds. Overall Daegu was very warm, welcoming, and very organized… you were not going to get bored, stranded, or have a shortage of food.. but maybe a little shortage of English, as one out of five couldn’t say anything at all. That seemed to be the only challenge, well…and the extraordinarily bright lights/ colors that were everywhere.

On to the race, the weather on race day was as ideal as you could have in Daegu, Korea at this time of year. The temperature was 75º at the start with 60% humidity and 80º at the finish. Ideal conditions for a marathon are about 54º. Every 6º beyond that, you can expect to add one minute to your time from ideal conditions. I was prepared for anything, as most of the week was 85-90º and extremely humid at times. I prepared by training in long sleeves and running tights the entire month before the race. The USA guys all had cooling vests on pre-warm up, during the warm up, and all the way up to the race start. These same vests were used at the 2004 Olympics by Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor, who both medaled for USA in similar conditions. We were the only team out there with the vests, but I do feel like it helped cool my core body temperature.

In the weeks leading up, I went over the race countless times in my head, and I truly believed that 2:16-17 was doable on that day. My plan was to run 3:13 1k splits for the race, which would put me at 2:16:00 pace. The race went accordingly for 15k, but well before that mark, the all too familiar twinge began in my plantar fasica. Every step from the gun I could feel the pain in my left foot. The thought of stopping lingered in my mind. Fortunately, the pain subsided after 8k or so and never got worse so I ran through it. I had no intentions of dropping out, as I didn’t come this far to represent USA and not finish.

From 15k to the half- way point, I started to drop off the pack significantly. Negative thoughts came pouring in. I was able to push through, remembering all the hard training I had put in and those supporting me. Eventually, I got in a groove and was able to click off a nice rhythm. Through the course of the race, I made an effort to continuously pour water from the aid stations over my head and shoulders to cool me down. This helped significantly to ease the heat and humidity that I’m not used to, training in Seattle. One possible effect of the heat, was my inability to completely relax for the first half of the race. Of course, I’m not sure if it was because of the heat or because of the lost fitness in the last month prior. Leading up to the race, training didn’t go according to plan due to my plantar fascia. This was particularly true during the last month, where I didn’t do any runs at marathon pace longer than 6 miles.

Nevertheless, back to the race: after 15k I was running solo, but I was able to pick off a few people. Unfortunately, I was never mixing it up with the front guys like I envisioned. My hope was that I would be in the top 25 or so at the finish. Time is definitely secondary in a championship race, such as this. However, I know that had my foot felt better the month leading up to the race, I would have been better prepared and run faster. I ran 2:22:49 which is over 2 min slower than I have ever run at the distance.

Despite the setbacks, of injuries and weather conditions, I regained a fundamental cornerstone to being a professional runner, simply that I really do love running, in itself. Sometimes you have to go back to where it started to realize why you’re doing what you’re doing. This means to love dreaming big, running with the best, and stretching to the edge of my limits. However, there is something to be said for living in the moment, and taking in what God gives you. The World Championships has rejuvenated my training by reminding me of the simple joy in running. That running is not a chore or a job, but something I take pleasure in doing. Injuries will not weigh me down, learning from your trials is what life is about. Trials push you to discover something inside yourself, your deep desires. It forces you to examine your life. It’s up to you to see the positive!

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