BREAKING A BARRIER : Marathoner Has the Will : But, McCormack Says, He Needs 4 Years to Be on Form
After nearly crawling to the finish line of the Twin Cities’ marathon Oct. 12 in St. Paul, Steve McCormack was rolled away in a wheelchair and taken to a medical tent where he was given glucose intravenously.
“I couldn’t even hold my head up in the wheelchair,” McCormack said. “It was a weird experience.”
And exciting in a way that only a marathon runner could imagine.
“It was probably the best high you’ll ever get,” said McCormack. “When you are that close to death, your endorphins are zooming.”
McCormack was in eighth place, at a 5:05 per-mile pace, when the 35-degree temperature got to him at the 22-mile mark.
“It was really cold and guys were dropping out right and left,” said McCormack, who has finished three marathons and was second and sixth in the 1983 and ’84 Honolulu Marathons.
“At 22 miles, boom, I hit the wall big time. I basically crawled to the finish line. I was in severe pain.”
And, as hard as it might be to believe, McCormack was more angry than hurt.
It has been barely more than two months since McCormack--one of the top area runners entered in Saturday morning’s Holiday Bowl Heart of San Diego Marathon--gutted his way to a 2:21 time while almost walking the final 4 1/2 miles of the Twin Cities’ race.
Running two competitive marathons within a couple of months is a strenuous task for any runner. For McCormack, 26, 6-feet and 152 pounds, overcoming his misadventure at Twin Cities has made the challenge even more difficult.
“My coach (Jim Peabody) and I have been worried about being able to train and recover from Twin Cities,” McCormack said. “There is no guarantee this weekend. I might run 2:11 or 2:30. But the recovery has gone really well. I haven’t trained like a fool.”
McCormack, a former Grossmont College and UCLA track star, has been averaging 90 miles per week rather than 125, the average he ran before last year’s race.
After winning the 10K portion of the Heart of San Diego Marathon in 1983 and ‘84, McCormack ran in the marathon last year.
While his finish was not nearly as scary as in Twin Cities, it was painful and disappointing.
McCormack was leading the race by about two minutes at the 20-mile mark when he was forced to drop out.
“The blisters at the bottom of my feet were pockets of blood,” said McCormack, who said the new polypropylene socks he wore may have caused the blisters. “The race was over. If I could have crawled, I would have. I was on a 2:11 pace to 20 miles. I was on that day. I would probably have run around a 2:13. But, by 20 miles, I was through. I was trying to do everything to relieve it.”
Getting past the 20-mile barrier is the biggest obstacle facing McCormack, who like many competitive marathoners, has made his mark running 10Ks and other distances short of marathons.
“I really don’t consider myself old enough and mature enough for marathons,” McCormack said. “I figure when I’m about 30, it will start paying off. . . . Now, the big problem is I can’t get my body to run the last six miles. I hit the wall at 20 or 22 miles.”
Why doesn’t McCormack give up his quest to conquer the marathon and concentrate on running 10Ks?
Money.
The winner of the Twin Cities marathon earned $20,000. The men’s and women’s winners of the Heart of San Diego Marathon will receive $4,000 each and a 1987 convertible.
By contrast, the 10K winner at San Diego will receive a trophy and a T-shirt. Last year, both the men’s and women’s winners received $1,000.
“The reason they (marathons) are so popular is that there is so much money,” McCormack said. “Why work 40 hours a week if you can win $20,000 a race for a couple of marathons a year?”
Working is a sensitive issue for McCormack, who has put in 40-50 hours a week at an area drug store, now that the Christmas rush is on. From 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., McCormack’s duties vary from general maintenance to keeping the beer cooler filled.
“I’m an all-round working dog,” said McCormack, who lives with his sister and niece in a house in Clairemont.
McCormack, who said he has never before worked this many hours, is happy to get five or six hours of sleep a night. He trains in the late afternoon during the week at Mission Bay and at 4 a.m. weekends at various locales.
“This schedule has been stupid,” McCormack said. “I just don’t have a choice. I’m kind of backed into a corner.”
Last summer, McCormack ran six races in three weeks in Europe. He wasn’t able to get money from his sponsor, so he used his savings.
“Running over there is like football over here,” McCormack said. “The trip set me back (financially), but it was great.”
McCormack rubbed his tired eyes repeatedly during an interview squeezed in during lunch at his sister’s house. It was the only time he wasn’t working or training.
“I’m so damn tired,” said McCormack, cooking some refried beans that are part of the concentrated protein diet he has recently adopted. “You get other guys in the field and all they do is run. I’ve done that before. That is the goal.”
Right now, making money is also a goal.
“Money doesn’t filter down a lot in track,” said McCormack, who graduated from UCLA with a sociology degree in 1984. “If you can be semi-successful, you can take care of yourself pretty well, but you have to be patient. Now I win $300 here and $500 there, while other guys are winning $3,000 here and $5,000 there.”
McCormack could use his degree to start a career, but right now, he wants to concentrate on running.
“The only reason I’m not using my degree is I don’t want to sit behind a desk,” said McCormack, who will take Friday off, but has to be back at work Sunday. “When I go to work now, I’m not thinking about work. I’m thinking about running.”
Race Notes The Holiday Bowl Heart of San Diego Marathon will get under way at 7 a.m. Saturday on a new course which starts in Balboa Park and finishes at Sea World. The 10K race, which features Steve Scott, will begin at about 7:30 at Crown Point Shores. For the first time, the entire three-hour race will be broadcast live by Channel 10, starting at 7 a.m. . . . Day-of-race registration is available for the marathon, 10K and 2-mile fun run at Balboa Park and the Crown Point area. . . . Top male marathoners scheduled to compete Saturday are defending champion Agapius Masong of Tanzania, Leodgard Martin of Tanzania (finished second last year) and world-class runner Sam Sitonik of Kenya. Top Americans include Tony Sandoval (1980 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon champion), Paul Cummings (1984 U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000-meter champion and winner of the Houston Marathon in a time of 2:11.34) and Benji Durden (his 2:09:58 ranks him as the sixth fastest American marathoner of all time). Thom Hunt, a former Patrick Henry High School star, is considered the favorite in the race. Terry Cotton of Lakeside (winner of the Rancho Bernardo Half Marathon, La Jolla 5K and Pacific Beach Ford/Toyota 10K), Rich Brownsberger (winner of the 1986 Mission Bay Marathon) and Ron Tabb, who recently moved to San Diego, also are entered. Los Angeles Marathon champion Ric Sayre withdrew because of a virus. . . . In the women’s field, Julie Brown of San Diego withdrew because she felt she was not ready to run the marathon under 2:30. Top female runners entered are Mindy Ireland of Alpine (two-time winner of the Heart of San Diego marathon), Liz Baker of Rancho Santa Fe, Leslie Watson of Scotland (winner of the Marseilles Marathon) and Maureen Hurst of Great Britain (winner of the 1985 Paris Marathon).