Colin Mickow: ‘It was not a lot of fun’

Princeton’s marathon man falls, but finishes Worlds Championship

Princeton's Colin Mickow will run for the. U.S. National Teams in the Worlds Marathon Championships Sunday in Oregon. He is a 2008 PHS graduate.

Colin Mickow summed up his first experience in the Worlds Championship Marathon in six words: “I can’t say it was fun.

Mickow, a 2008 Princeton High School graduate, started off Sunday’s marathon in Eugene, Ore., running a good pace in the lead pack of the top 25.

He finished the day in a wheelchair.

“I started a perfect pace for me, maybe mid-2:09s. So things are going well at the beginning,” he said.

Then they went bad in a hurry.

Princeton's Colin Mickow will run for the. U.S. National Teams in the Worlds Marathon Championships Sunday in Oregon. He is a 2008 PHS graduate.

He wiped out at the second bottle station at the 7-mile mark, stepping on a dropped water bottle and took a tumble, crashing to the pavement.

“One of the (volunteers) dropped the bottle and then I stepped on it. Then wiped out. That obviously wasn’t great. Kind of slid across the pavement and got banged up pretty well,” he said.

He said he got up quickly and felt good for another couple miles.

“Probably the surge of adrenaline that helped me through that. And once the adrenaline wore off, things just started cramping in my hamstring pretty badly,” Mickow said. “Early in that loop I felt it starting to come on and then it got really bad. Everything in my body started to cramp up in me.”

Mickow, who is a financial analysis living in Oswego, credits the cramping to the fall rather than missing out on the water for hydration.

“It’s just one out of 8 (bottles). I got all the others. But it’s not a good one to miss, the second one,” he said. “It’s pretty important in the race to get that early bottle, but I don’t know if that’s exactly why. I think it was more going through all the ups and downs falling. My body’s just not comfortable.

“I knew I needed to stay relaxed and not let that bother me, but it’s tough coming back after a fall in a race.”

When asked what he learned from the incident, he said with a laugh, “Be more careful at the water station, I guess,” and “Just hope it doesn’t happen again.”

“I won’t say it was completely my fault, but maybe I should be more aware a little bit at the water stations,” he added.

Mickow said he strained his right hamstring and felt his left leg going, too. He stopped to stretch out his left leg, because he wanted to make sure he didn’t strain that one, too.

“I can limp with one bad leg, but two ... that would have been tough to finish. Might have been crawling (to the finish),” he said.

“It was really tough just to get to the line just to finish. It was a struggle. Everything was cramping up. Even my arms. I was having to shake my arms out.”

As unpleasant as the experience was for him, Mickow, the third of just three runners for the U.S. team, still placed 46th with a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, 37 seconds.

Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia won the race with a time of 2:05.36, setting a new championship record. The other two Americans, Galen Rupp (2:09.36) and Elkinah Tibut (2:11.20), placed 19th and 24th, respectively

After he finishes most races, Mickow said he’s pretty good to be able to just walk off. Sunday, he had to lay down on the asphalt and had water poured on him. He got up and made it to the bathroom, but needed a wheelchair to make it over to meet with the media.

“It was real quick. They don’t have many questions to a guy that ran a 2:16,” he said. “Right after they were done, my whole body cramped up. They had to carry me to the med tent and I spent two hours there.”

Mickow said he thinks it was tough for his wife, Melissa, to see him in such bad shape.

“I don’t think she was too thrilled. She didn’t like seeing the pictures (posted),” he said, noting all the comments he received were positive and supportive.

Mickow, 32, did learn one thing about himself - he never gave up.

“It is a kind of a thing marathoners do drop out when things aren’t going well,” he said. “This is only my fifth marathon and I have thought to myself would I be a guy that drops out or a guy that toughs it out even though it’s going to be a slow time and still finishes and gets to the line.

“I guess I learned I’m the latter. Even when everything’s cramping up, I’m still going to tough it out and get to the line. … Not really where I was hoping to finish, but I’m glad I toughed it out.”

Mickow qualified for the U.S. Worlds team as the second American finisher in last November’s Chicago Marathon behind Rupp, finishing sixth overall.

The former University of Illinois standout is already planning getting back on the horse and make his return once his hamstring heals.

“I will do a fall major (marathon), maybe Chicago or New York,” he said. “It’s about timing, how I come back after this. A strained hamstring’s going to take longer than normal. Don’t want to push that too much.

“I think at this point, I need a redemption marathon. I’ll definitely do a fall (race).”