November 18, 2012
Marathon #2
Official Time: 5:02:57. 11:33 mm average pace.
(PR by over 18 minutes, first was 5:21:08 back in May)
OK, so there is the short version.
Here goes the long version. Grab a cup of coffee, or hop on the treadmill, because it's going to be too long, as usual.
Back Story Part 1: Summer of Sloth
After having a great time running for several weeks post-marathon in May, somehow I just stumbled away from running. Sometime around the end of June, I fell off the running wagon unexpectedly. For about six weeks, I only ran about three times, each time in a race I was previously committed to -- a work event, a team trail run, and some other run that I am forgetting.
Why? I don't know exactly -- but it had something to do with:
1) I hate running in the heat.
2) My mom was having some ongoing scary medical issues, which kept me busy helping with that, and absorbed a lot of my emotional energy, and also depressed me.
3) Over the preceding year, I had gotten more and more behind in "home making" stuff like painting the house, cleaning closets, etc. I did a lot of catching up on home projects.
4) I was feeling blue.
I am not sure which came first: not running or feeling blue, but I do know they feed off each other. And, of course, once that cycle starts, all the ordinary excuses not to run (travel, kids, family, painting the house, whatever) are much harder to resist. So, there went six weeks.
Nonetheless, as my already-registered-and-travel-plans-made-for November 18 marathon loomed closer, I finally jumped on the training bandwagon in late summer, about 14 weeks out from the marathon. I jumped into Week 5 of Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 Marathon Plan. I didn't really WANT to run yet, but I just decided to run anyway, and, sure enough, motivation came afterwards.
Lesson learned. Again. When in doubt, just RUN! Running feeds motivation.
Back Story Part 2: Hal Higdon Intermediate 1 Marathon Plan
Plan review: It was awesome for me! My legs were solid. NO INJURIES or close calls the whole plan. Rare use of ice and even rarer ibuprofen. I worked hard, but I didn't get hurt. This was AWESOME.
The five days a week of running was really great for me. The long runs on tired legs on Sundays after hard runs Saturdays definitely made for harder Sunday runs, especially at the beginning of the plan when getting used to it, but I know it was great for me, and I held up just fine.
I also started massage therapy with a truly awesome massage therapist, and I am pretty sure that has helped immensely as well.
In any event, I was super happy to complete training and approach the marathon injury free!
I'd been training with a 11:00 goal pace in mind. However, my primary time goal was to get sub-5 hours, so I figured I might start a little slower than 11:00, and either speed up at the end (yah, right?!) if I felt super strong, or slow down some more while still making my sub-5 hour goal. I didn't quite make the sub-5 hour goal, but I came close, followed my general plan well, and I am totally happy with my time and my race.
The Real Story: Race Report!
Race Day!!
Pre-Race Chaos
The race start time was
How exactly did a Type AAA, super-over-planner, get the start time off by 30 minutes? I have no f#$%^ing idea. Anyway, no harm, no foul, and I got an extra 30 min of sleep!
So, according to my minute-by-minute schedule, I woke up and started drinking and eating at 5:45, allowing 15 min to finish consuming stuff, 90 min to digest/dress/travel, and 30 spare min to get to the port-a-potty for a final time and get to the start. Of course, start time was at 7:00, so this was all a bit screwed up.
So, our hotel (Hyatt at Penn's Landing, which was AWESOME), was a short drive from the start, and Steve, my husband, gave me a ride, dropping me off at about 6:40, nearly
I had arranged to meet my friend, Ted, at this Iroquois statue near our corral. We've met online on my favorite running forum, and had never met IRL. I figured that since I had 45 minutes before the start, I'd get in the long port-a-potty lines before looking for Ted. I got in line, chatting with folks near me, and after a few minutes, I noticed that people were looking really tense and abandoning the line. I was rather confused by their anxiety, and I mentioned to the folks near me, "What's the big rush? It doesn't start until 7:30!" They looked at me funny, and giggled nervously at my joke.
Joke? Huh? What? You say it starts at 7:00? Like, in TEN MINUTES? Oh, well . . . Uh . . . Ooops.
So, I left my place in line, bumming about missing a chance to pee as I really already needed to go, as my timing of all that gatorade at 5:45 counted on me being about to pee now! But, I now only had ten minutes to find Ted (who I'd never met before) until folks started moving!
I hurried over to the corral, and cruised the length of it twice looking for the 5:00 pacer who we'd also talked about meeting near, and after not finding that pacer, I went to the statue and found Ted! Minutes before the start!! Way to plan, Stephanie! No harm, no foul, right?
In the Corral! Gun Goes Off!
We went back to the corral, where Ted's brother, Stephen, was waiting for us, and where a friend from my hometown, Amber, also found us. We now had a little pace group of the four of us! FUN TIMES!
Very soon, the starting gun went off, and we all slowly started walking forward. I knew we'd have a good bit of time (probably close to half an hour) before crossing the start line, and we were moving very slowly. I saw that the porta-potty lines had disappeared, so I jumped at the chance to get to the potty! Moments later, I was back in the corral with my friends, now with a blessedly empty bladder! Simple pleasures!! YAY! It turned out to be very fortuitous that I'd done that, as after leaving the start, the lines at all the porta potties the entire course were really ridiculously long. (That is the one complaint I have about the race -- and that is a major failing!) I would have lost several minutes had I needed to stop again. Thankfully, I did not! I will probably follow that plan in the future for a final pee break -- wait until the start gun goes off, jet out of the corral, pee, jet back to your corral. No harm, no foul, empty bladder!
So, here I was, walking towards the start line with Ted, Stephen, and Amber. Ted and Stephen were running the half, aiming for 2:30. Amber and I were each running the full, each aiming for sub-5, although I'd been intending to aim for 11:00 mm for the first 20 miles or so, allowing for a bit of a slow down in the last few, while still hoping to get solidly under 5. I had impulsively set my watch pace for 11:10 instead of 11:00, wanting to be conservative to help me be more sure of hitting my sub-5. (11:27 is the required pace for 4:59:59.) It took about 30 minutes before we crossed the starting line.
We're running!
Miles 1 was really slow! Garmin time was 11:52 that minute, and it felt even slower. The sea of people was difficult to maneuver through, especially in a little group instead of solo.
Mile 1 - 11:52*
* NOTE: Garmin times are likely on average 3 seconds faster than my actual time, given that the Garmin tracked 26.36 miles, with an avg pace of 11:30, whereas my actual average pace was 11:33
Mile 2.5 -- My first sighting of my family! At Mile 2.5, the course passed right by our hotel, and my family -- Mom, husband, and all three kids -- were all there cheering! I got a kiss, handed off my fleece and gloves and kept on running! It was SO awesome to be looking forward to seeing them, and then to actually get to see them cheering me!
Mile 2 - 11:19
Mile 3 - 11:09
Mile 4 - 11:18
Mile 5 - 11:17
Mile 5.0 -- Second family sighting and first sighting of another friend, Tim, who was also there to cheer me on! Wow, what a treat to see them again! Big hugs, high fives, and smiles miles wide.
Mile 6 - 11:01
Mile 7 - 11:06
Mile 8 - 11:17
Mile 9 - 11:15
Miles 0 through 9 were smooth sailing with my little gang of pals. It was delightful to chat with Ted, Amber, and Stephen. The miles were very evenly paced, easy peasey. I knew we were going a bit slower than I'd planned, but I really didn't care. It was acceptable, and it was FUN!
There were only two noticeable hills in the course -- mile 8 and mile 10. I knew they were there, but I wasn't worried as they weren't "real" hills in the mind of this WV runner, and, indeed, they were not significant to me.
I had prepared myself to lose Ted & Stephen sometime around mile 10, as I suspected that they might have enough juice left to speed up for their final 5k, whereas I knew I (and Amber) would need to stay steady and slow to get to our 26.2. Things sort of got wonky during the Mile 10 hill. I kept my steady pace up the hill, but I guess the others slowed down a bit, going more by effort than pace. So, I got a few yards on them by the top of the hill, and then Mile 11 was down hill for a while. It was actually a nice significant downhill, and I was not going to miss the chance to rake up a few "free" seconds by letting gravity do some work, so I allowed myself to accelerate down the hill a bit. I guess somewhere in that hill, I got enough distance on my friends that they let me go, and when I realized that had happened, I was too far ahead to give that time and distance up by waiting for them, so I was solo for the rest of the run.
Mile 10 - 11:21
Mile 11 - 10:43
I hit the play button on the iPod for the first time of the day and carried on.
Miles 11 to 15 were my cruise control miles. I was fresh and energized, enjoying my solitary run which wasn't "old" two hours into the run since the first two hours were so delightfully consumed by visiting with my friends! Now I was going to have a little two to three hour solo run. No trouble. I had tunes! By holding back those first ten miles, I had saved myself nice fresh legs.
Mile 12 - 10:56
Mile 13 - 11:08
Mile 14 - 11:07
Mile 15 - 10:57
Mile 16 - 11:16
I was also looking very forward to seeing my family again at Mile 16. They were supposed to be in a Cheer Zone where they would see me at Mile 16 and again at Mile 23. I had chosen this site for them, knowing those were critical miles, and knowing that seeing them would be very helpful in motivating me through those miles that had been so brutal last time.
The scenery was beautiful with some nice color in the leaves in the park along the river, and that hour between losing my little team and looking forward to seeing my family at Mile 16 was flying by. Having the race broken up into chunks when I'd see my cheer squad was so awesome. It broke the race into five chunks -- mile 0-2.5, 2.5-5, 5-16, 16-23, and then the final 3.2. I knew each chunk was doable, and the only one that really scared me was 16-23, and I had my family there book-ending it to pull me through that one tough hour-ish run. I could do it. I had a plan.
Fuck my plan.
I got to Mile 16. I was looking. And looking. Maybe they are later in the mile. Maybe closer to Mile 17? Fuck. Fuuuuck. No family. They are not here. What about my kisses? And my high fives? And my signs? And? Fuuuuuck. Tears welled. Eyes filled. My feet slowed. I was saaaaddd. The emotional roller coaster had begun. Total mind fuck not having them where I expected them. Total.
Over several miles, I worked to keep my shit together, arguing with myself in my head for the entire miles 16 to 20 or so. I told myself that I couldn't get upset or let the race fall apart, because that would just make my husband feel bad. I knew in my head that something had happened, that he was going crazy trying to get there, and that he'd feel really bad for letting me down. He was corralling our three kids and my mom, which is no small feat, and he was an incredible trooper for everything this weekend and in my running altogether, and in life in general. He is the one. He is my anchor. I couldn't let him down. I had to keep my shit together. Run, run, just run. They might be around any corner . . .
Mile 17 - 11:37
Mile 18 - 11:55
Sometime around Mile 18 or 19, I passed Amber on an out-n-back and realized she was a mile or so behind me at that point.
Mile 19 - 11:24
Mile 20 - 11:57
Yeah, those miles were slow as I argued myself into keeping my shit together. They weren't really hard running wise. It was just mental. Between the mind fuck of not seeing my family at Mile 16 and the apprehension of hitting the infamous wall at Mile 20, I was struggling mentally, and it showed itself in my pace.
Mile 21 - 11:20
Did you know they give out beer on this course? There had been a few earlier beer stations, but I don't even like beer. Somehow, around Mile 21, a beer was sounding good. WTF, I am having fun, I am running well, I made it past Mile 20, and now I was cheering up. I just knew that my family would be there at Mile 23 for me, and I was getting excited to see them. I decided that Mom needed a hug from me, and I was planning for that. So, I had a beer. It was delicious. Mmmm. After having it, I figured that if I fell apart in the final 5 miles, I could always blame the beer. ;)
Mile 22 - 11:33
Mile 23 - 12:09
Yah, baby, my family was there at Mile 23! I got my hugs, and I saw their awesome signs for me, and I was able to tell my husband that it was OK that they weren't there at Mile 16, and all was well with the world. Just a little 5k to go. I knew I could do it now. It was getting hard, and I was getting slow, but I knew now that I was going to do this sucker without walking, and I was really happy about it.
The last few miles were hard, and they were slow, but I was doing it. I was OK with it. A couple miles short of the end, the 5:00 pace group passed me, and I knew I was a minute ahead of them, and I had been tracking my pace closely enough that I already knew that I'd need to pull out a couple miles faster than I could handle to get my 5:00, and I'd already sort-of let it go, but when they passed, I was actually relieved and happy to completely let go of that specific time goal, and just focus on continuing to do the best I could and avoid walking. I was actually 100% fine with it. Strange, but that was how it was.
Mile 24 - 12:25
Mile 25 - 12:33
Mile 26 - 13:02
I had asked Steve to run the last bit with me if he could, as I knew it'd be a huge help to me. Sure enough, he showed up around 3/10 of a mile from the end, and I grabbed his hand and never let it go, making him run every last step with me the rest of that race. I was squeezing so hard that I think I might have bruised him. I could feel that energy coming from him, and not a single one of those steps with him by my side was hard any longer. He was with me. I was OK. I was doing this. All was well with the world!
Mile 26.2 - Final 0.36 miles - 11:22 pace
Family, friends, and hugs. It was all good. Back to the hotel to crash.
That night, we went out for a truly divine dinner at Victor Cafe with Tim, Ted, and Ted's family and it was the perfect ending to a fabulous day.
I'm recovering beautifully, with strong legs, eager heart, and open eyes.
Running = good.
Next up?? Still deciding . . . Got a HM in January, and am thinking about another full in March. Last week I was saying I was done with full marathons, but I guess I am not. I love to run.
