I ran the Richmond Marathon 9 years ago (November 13, 2004), and I was so excited when it began because it was my life goal to run a full marathon. Of course I was "young and dumb" and thought that I could Boston Qualify in my first ever marathon and turn around and run the Boston Marathon a year and a half later... I started out running way too fast, and didn't listen to my body when my knees began to really hurt about halfway through. I also didn't take anything except water the whole time. I completely fell apart at mile 18 - hit the "wall" and hit it HARD. I tried to walk/run/hobble to about mile 20 where they had some power gel and powerade and then I got was able to run again a little but I would have honestly dropped out if I'd seen a race official at that point. I didn't, so I kept going and hobbled in at 4:17. When I finished, I felt horrible, and just jumped in the car and drove home and vowed to never, ever run another marathon ever again.
That was 9 years ago. Before life became crazy with two little kids and coaching and Steve interviewing all over the country.
I am so grateful to the people I have met in the Mebane Running Club. They helped me to find ways to keep running even in the craziest of times, and reignited the passion for running inside me (which I apparently was just reserving for the athletes I was coaching). I began to get up at 4:30am to be on the road running by 5:00am, and would finish just when the rest of my family was getting up. I began to see how much fun it was to enter a race as part of a group again, and that was when the idea formed for some of us to run a marathon together. If not for the MRC, I'd have never done it.
And now for the recount of my Richmond Marathon November 16, 2013...
I was so nervous/excited/scared at the start of the marathon I seriously cried for the first 2 miles of the race - although nobody could tell because it was raining! Then I got into the groove and really enjoyed using my new Garmin watch - but I still didn't trust it completely since it was the first time I really got to use it. Here are my splits according to my watch (keep in mind that I stopped the watch when I used the bathroom at mile 12 and after I threw up at mile 18 so the overall time on my Garmin was 4:03, not the 4:11 official time).
8:42, 8:35, 8:31, 8:27, 8:25, 8:29, 8:05 (BIG downhill here), 8:39, 8:28, 8:34, 9:00, 9:12, 9:12, 9:12, 9:10, 9:21, 9:32, 9:34, 10:24, 9:59, 9:41, 11:23 (stopped for a water refill here and didn't stop my watch and the people at the aid station weren't ready for me), 9:51, 10:12, 9:55, 8:53
I think you can look at the splits and realize I started too fast and slowed down quite a bit, but that doesn't tell the whole story. This story was much different from my first marathon! I was actually smiling at the end!
At the beginning my plan was to be in between the 3:45 pace group and the 4:00 pace group and to run consistent 8:45 minutes per mile for as long as I could. Well, I ran the first mile almost perfect, but the 3:45 pace group was right next to me, so I made the mistake of thinking I should just run with them the whole way. Plus, the pacers were FUN. They were making jokes and telling stories and I thought it would be worth it to run behind them the whole way just for the commentary. After the first 4 or 5 miles, the hills began - but the pacers let everyone in the group know what was coming up, and that was great. Still, they advertise this marathon as FLAT and it is NOT flat. It has some decent hills. I was doing fine until the 7th mile (see that 8:05 - WHOA!), where there was a pretty good downhill, but I knew the course was about to begin the slow gradual uphills that would last until about mile12. I had to slow it down, so I tried and let the pace group leave me in the 8th and 9th miles, but I still couldn't get my legs to slow down until about mile 11. That was when I began to really need a bathroom. So I stopped at the mile 12 water stop, refilled my water bottle, had to wait for a port-o-potty (grrr....), came out, stretched, restarted my watch and kept going. At this point both my knees were hurting, and my legs were starting to feel tired, but I was never really alone because there were people all around me. Still, I was missing my training buddies who helped pull me through many long miles - if I could have just started a conversation with someone those miles from about 12-16 wouldn't have felt so long.
The support along the course was amazing! I had just pushed past the last "Spectator Party Zone" when out of no where, right in between miles 18 & 19, I needed to "toss my cookies". With my horrible stomach acid problems, I knew this was a possibility, but never in a run have I had it come up on me this fast. I got over, did the job, realized my watch was still going so I stopped it, walked a few steps, took down some water and a Gu, then began running again very slowly. After a couple of minutes, the nausea subsided and I was able to keep going at a decent pace (here 10:00 mile pace seriously feels like 9:00 mile pace when you are getting close to the 20 mile marker and know you still have 6 miles to go).
At mile 22 I ran up on the water stop yelling refill with my water bottle top open, but to my dismay, I saw that the workers were not at all ready, so I had to stop and get it refilled. OMG... stopping at this point hurt worse than running!!! All the muscles in my legs began to cramp up so I stretched them out and then began running with a vow of not stopping again until the race was over. I focused on a girl in a green tank top just ahead of me and I seriously followed that green tank top all the way to the end. The downhill at the end REALLY hurt, but I was so happy to see the finish line I just kept it going. When I crossed the line, I remember smiling (much different from 9 years ago). I didn't even care if my time was 4:30 or 5:00. I did it, and I didn't feel horrible, so I was happy!
It's only been 2 days, and (shhhhh... don't tell my husband...) I'm ready to pick out my next one. :)
Monday, November 18, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
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