I am (again) a marathoner! Yeah! Even though I ran one back in 2009, it was horrible. I had hurt my knee prior to the race and I ended up kind of crab-walking the whole back half. It wasn't pretty. But after yesterday, I am a proud marathoner...even though I didn't meet the time goal I had for myself.
After the times I had been getting on my half-marys and my 15K in January, I thought I might be able to go sub-5 hours. All the calculators said I should be able to. 5:12:21. Not sub-5. And even if you only count my running time (subtracting out the time I spent in lines waiting for porta-potties), I was still at 5:07. So that sucks. But even though I didn't get the time I wanted, I'm still proud of how I got the distance. I can say I've been there, I've done that, and I've got the medal to prove it!
A little bit of a race report...I was planning on staying with the 5:00 pace group - and I left the start line with them, but the pace wasn't really comfortable to me and the chitter-chatter isn't really my style, so I sped up a little and was running at a good clip, about 0:10-0:20 faster than the pace group. I took a quick potty break around mile 6 and lost a couple minutes there waiting, but got right back into my rhythm. The course took us through a reserve military base and that was pretty awesome. Nothing better than having service folk cheer for you (and cheering them right back). Entered back into town around 10 miles and then they sent us to the boardwalk where it was windy as all get out. I turned my baseball cap around somewhere at this point so it wouldn't blow away, so my race photos are going to look all punk. Ah, well - better than losing my hat.
Between miles 12-14 you run right back through the center of town, where all the half marathoners are leaving, so there's a good cheering section. In fact, let me just say, Shamrock is awesome for cheering pretty much the whole way. I don't think we ever went more than a half mile without some sort of fan support.
Anyway, around mile 13-14, I took a gu (per my training)...but then my stomach felt all icky, so I walked a good bit of mile 15 to get to the water station/bathrooms. Lost another couple minutes there, but my stomach felt better. I drank some water and as I was leaving the water station, my Masters coach came up to cheer me on. He asked if I had a goal; I told him 5:00, but that the pace group had already passed me. He said they had just walked through the water station and I could catch them easily. So I did. I ran just behind or just ahead of the pace group until mile 18, when I got a pretty bad cramp in my calf. Same calf that has given me problems all along. I was wearing my calf sleeves (neon yellow) but I need to be a lot more diligent about rolling and stretching even when I'm not feeling tight. By the way, at the expo I bought a cute pair of compression socks (full foot) - they're pink with butterflies. Cute, right?
From mile 18 to about mile 23, I ran/walked as best I could. This portion is also in a military base at the other end of town - and it's right along the ocean. WINDY as heck. I've done the half marathon here before and it also goes through this base. It's always windy, but yesterday seemed particularly so. Anyway, I ran until it hurt too much, then walked a bit. It always seemed to feel better running a little more than walking, so I kept at it. Finally we came out of the military base and there were only 4 miles to go. Yeah.
Except then my mind went south. Around mile 23 I realized there was no way in heck I was going sub-5. My calf hurt. My eyes were tired from the wind. I was bored. I wanted to quit, but that would be stupid. So I walked a lot of miles 24-25. Way slow. Once I hit mile 25, though...ONE MORE MILE. I could do this - and besides, I didn't know if anyone I knew would be at the finish area and I wasn't going to walk it in, so I ran (or more likely woggled) the rest of the way in, even hitting a sub-10minute mile pace for the last 0.2 miles. I am a marathoner!
I had bought myself a present at the expo - 26.2 magnet/stickers for my car and my office door, to celebrate going sub-5. And then I was a little bummed because I didn't and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with these stupid things. But then I gave myself an attitude adjustment and realized that I still got the distance. I beat 26.2 and I beat it standing up and strong. I earned those stickers. Here they are - they are totally going on my car/office door - right next to the 70.3 ones I bought after the HIM:
Now I get a couple days to recoup and it turns into time to seriously start training for Louisville (with pit stops in Raleigh and Muncie on the way). Bring it on!
No comments:
Post a Comment