So I just finished marathon #4 and have some mixed feelings about it. I trained a lot harder for this one. Ran 8 weeks straight over 40 miles, with 3 weeks 50+, peaking at 55. That was a huge improvement mileage wise for me over the last few.
Went down to DC Friday night with some friends, Paul, his wife Natacha, Olivia, and my sister Jaime. Jaime/Natacha ran the half. Driving was clear most of the way until we got closer to DC and then we were stuck in traffic for a while. Drove right to the expo, picked up our stuff and back to the hotel. Unpack, eat dinner and early bed time.
Woke up at 5am, had my usual PBJ and gatorade and off to the Metro at 6am. The Metro was so packed it was really unsafe. They kept stopping at stations to let more people on even though we were crammed in past capacity. Approached my coral getting a last minute pep talk from Paul. Jaime and Natacha went off to their corals. I find my pace group (3:30), they are wearing tutu's and bright yellow shirts so it shouldnt be too hard to follow them.
Race starts and the road is a bit crowded and narrow so it hard to run an 8 min pace, so the pace group manages an 8:24. The next few miles we normalize a bit to (7:57-8:03), not bad but then we slow down for really no reason again for the next 3 miles. So then miles 8-14 were 'catch up", we were running 7:42 7:32 7:47 7:58 7:55 7:45 7:48. That hurt a little especially since the BIG hill was in there.
I kept up with the pace group for a few more miles and then they started pulling away. The heat started hitting us, and there were very few water stops.. I think they knew there was very few water stops because it looked like they had added some small last minute ones with water bottles to get people through the next few miles. Or maybe it was technically a first aid station I got that water bottle from, but so glad I grabbed it! Luckily I kept my water bottle and had at least some sips of water for the whole race. But I think I was probably at least a little dehydrated, I was feeling a bit nauseous and had some stomach cramps on/off throughout the race, which is not the norm for me. I can run through leg pain, running through cramps/nausea is a bit tougher! The hills were NON stop, around every turn there was another hill. Each hill I felt my goal time slipping away. I kept thinking well, I still have a 3:35, I would be very happy with that, as I passed more hills I thought 3:39 would be great too, its still in the 3:30s.
Mile 23, the elevation started climbing again and I was hitting 9:30, 9:50's, and I just thought, well hopefully I beat my last time of 3:43:45. Mile 25, a bad spasm in my left thigh, tried to run through it but that was not happening, stopped for 30 seconds and stretched it out. Start running again and right calf starts spasming and I just ignore it and push through it. I start counting random objects to distract my mind (street drains, cones, street lines). Count 10 street drains and then you get to look at your watch again. Apparently Im not the only one who plays these types of mind games to get through. Ive heard others do the same thing.
Mile 26, I summon just enought energy to get below a 9min pace again (8:51), and managed to pull through the finish line just ahead of my last marathon time. So technically it still was a PR by a whopping 21 seconds, but when you add the hills (I HATE hills), and the heat (used to running these with a steady 50 degrees), not sunny 70s, and the poor pacing I cant be too disappointed in the time.
BUT it still bugs me a bit. When you put more time, more miles into training, you expect a better result. And yes there is a list of "excuses" of why I didnt run my best race, its still bugs me to see that same number on the clock at the end despite all that extra work. Now I know my time would have been much worse if I hadnt worked harder in training, since it really was a TOUGH course. And running 8 miles (including the BIG hill) at sub 8 min miles surprised even me. While I complain about the poor pacing, I actually felt calm and in control during that time. I was not struggling but it probably did play a part with me falling apart a little towards the end. So some lessons were learned.
I have my massage this evening and then back to work tonight for a couple days. Then of to Brazil to begin the recovery phase where surfing distracts me from not running. I know that sounds weird but if you run almost every day, when you dont run it just doesnt feel right. Even 2 days off from running can make me cranky. No running week 1, then some light slow runs week 2, and gradually build back up from there.
Next on the schedule:
Broad Street May 6th.
Down and Dirty Mud Run July 15th
and maybe Pocono Marathon May 20th....still thinking on that one!
And Jaime beat her time from Septembers Half by 15min 29secs.....thats impressive given the heat/hills! And thanks again to Paul/Olivia for the support/cheers along the way!
The GPS data for those that are interested. Click select metric to add elevation/mileage, etc. http://on.fb.me/FWv3z1
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