This past weekend would have been the Wausau Marathon, however, like most races this year, it was cancelled. I have a special place for this race, as it is in my home town and I’ve run my first full marathon there, and was already at three in a row. While I missed out on running it, these two amazing guys went ahead and accomplished their goals anyways.
Here’s the story of 2 runners, running a race that never happened.
Leroy and I were friends back in High School and College then lost touch for a few years, but when he set the goal of completing a 1/2 marathon, I was very happy he reached out for some advice. I put together an 8 week training plan and Leroy stuck to it really well. We had to work through some heart rate pacing issues, but he was more than ready to tackle the 13.1 on race day.
Eddie is an incredible guy. We have a group in town called My Team Triumph who are all about inclusion in the endurance sports world, Eddie has been with them for quite a while now, and last year even ran the Wausau Marathon while pushing a Captain in a chair. From finishing that first marathon, Eddie decided he was going to start training in December for the August 2020 race.
Friday, August 21st 2020
Leroy’s schedule worked out better to run his race on Friday morning instead of Saturday, so at 7am we set off from a make shift start finish line about where the actual one would be.
The weather was perfect, nice cool temps and the humidity was great compared to earlier in the week. I will say running off the start without the excitement of a ‘Race’ was rather strange. The course takes you through downtown and being Friday there was quite a bit of traffic. Not to bother, we stuck to the sidewalks only had to wait for traffic a few times throughout the entire run.
Throughout Leroy’s long runs in training, he kept to a pretty solid 10:15 pace in a decent heart rate range. For race day I knew he’d be able to get that down a bit, so we targeted a 9:30 pace and adjusted if he needed to. I ran along to help with pacing and food intake and so he’d have some company.
Around mile 9 Leroy was starting to push pretty hard. At this point, I was running ahead to ensure our traffic crossings were clear for him to continue running on through. Leroy was working hard, pushing right to the limit to get to his 2 hour goal. Ultimately, he ended up just over 2 hours, but looking back at his heart rate readings from the Garmin, he gave it absolutely everything he had. He was very happy with the end result and I believe the first thing he said was, “that’s one”. I love the spirit, push hard, run your heart out and get ready for the next one!
Saturday, August 22nd 2020
Eddie Arms started training for his Marathon in December of 2019. Nine months before race day he committed, may his goal concrete and worked tirelessly towards completing what he set out to do. Eddie, has been through corrective surgeries and has had many difficulties being an athlete, but he proved to himself and everybody just how capable he truly is.
As the Wausau Marathon course winds through the city, crossing many roads and taking a few paths that are only accessible via pedestrian traffic, Eddie and his marathon organizer Tracy Major decided to do the race on the Mount Bay trail instead. This provided for a very flat 13.1 out and back, with many opportunities to get spectators and aid stations setup for him along the way.
Eddie runs with a group called My Team Triumph, which is a great collection of extremely charitable people. The group also contains some incredible endurance athletes, two of whom ran the entire marathon to pace Eddie to his goal. Chad Esker and Chris Pollack did such and amazing job keeping him right on track to hit his goal.
Eddie was doing wonderfully up through mile 14 and beyond. The weather was quite mild, a perfect morning for nice long run. The sun started coming through the clouds more and more throughout the morning, and when it was out, it certainly seemed to raise the temperature drastically. Eddie was starting to sweat quite a bit, did a shirt change about 1/2 way through, but Tracy was a little concerned about his salt levels. Which led to ‘shots’ of base salt and gatorade. Eddie wasn’t much a fan of the flavor, but he made sure to get it down, in addition to some pretzels, granola bars, gummy blocks and chips.
As with every marathon, things get harder and harder. The added fatigue and wear on the body really starts to take its toll by mile 18, making the remaining 8 a mental game. Eddie pushed on, urged to continue by his pacers there was no stopping, no walking, he had a goal to hit. Last year Eddie finished his first marathon at about 7 hours. This year he was determined to break 5 hours. After pushing hard all morning, Eddie crossed his finish line just before noon in 4 hours 54 minutes meeting his goal!
I’m so happy for both of these guys running incredible races, even where there wasn’t a proper race to be had. Even though the Wausau Marathon was cancelled, these guys showed determination and commitment to go out and finish what they started. While I’m very much looking forward to next years race where things will be back to normal, hopefully, I was honored to be a part of both of these gentlemen’s big days.
Rob Hoehn 
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