I can't even begin to tell you how satisfying it was for me to be able to break 5 hours! But, I have to say that it was NOT easy! The forecast called for temps to be in the low 80's. I knew that wouldn't be good, but there was no sense in being upset about something I had no control over. The only thing I knew I had to change was what I was wearing for the race. When it's hot & humid, I tend to have major chaffing issues in the thigh region so I opted to wear capris rather than shorts. I knew I would be hotter in the capris, but I'd rather be hot than bleeding!
The day before the race, we went to the expo and followed that by a yummy pasta dinner at my house..there were five of us running. It was a first marathon for one of the runners (Chris). I made homemade sauce & meatballs..which we are still eating by the way..I never know how much food to make! I was glad I offered to host the dinner because it gave me something to focus on other than the race.
I got a decent night of sleep thanks to 2 Tylenol PM's. I set my phone alarm for 4:55. Larry drove me to my brother's hotel and Gregg wanted to leave the hotel by 7:00. No problem. Everything was going perfectly.
The race started at 8:30..poor Brian couldn't get his Garmin to turn on for some reason so he ran the race without it. All of us (except Gregg) started in the back of the pack (it was chip timed so it didn't matter anyway). But, Gregg was looking to break 4 hours and he planned on starting and finishing fast so he was doing his own thing.
My plan was to do a run/walk of 4/1 right from the beginning. I wasn't going to worry what anyone thought when they saw me walking at 4 minutes, but what did I do when my beep to walk went off just 4 minutes into the race? I kept running! I said I wasn't going to do that and I did! After that first walk break came and went, I got a grip and decided I wasn't going to let that happen again. When it came time for the second walk break, I definitely took it. And from that point on, I took them all!
I did have a pace plan. I wanted to go 10-20 second slower than race pace for the first 3-5 miles. (In reality, I went a good 20 seconds faster). I kept trying to slow my pace, but I think the adrenaline got the best of me. From 5-8 miles, I wanted to be working toward my goal pace and from 8-18 be at goal pace. Then at 18 miles try to increase my pace, drop the walk breaks, or make whatever adjustments were needed. By the way, my goal pace was 11:24 and that was for 5 hours.
So, I guess my biggest problem was that I was running faster than what I should've been. There were a few people around me doing Galloway intervals also. I talked with a few of them. One guy was doing 5/1..a group of women were doing 9/1. One guy told me I was running too fast for my second marathon..we passed each other so much that we eventually introduced ourselves and shook hands while we were running (his name was Yuri). I probably talked with him the most. He was a little hard to understand because he had a very strong accent although I didn't really recognize the accent. Anyway, he said for every minute I gain in the beginning of the race by running faster than I should, I would lose 4-5 minutes at the end of the race. Well, that news went over like a lead balloon because I knew I had put at least a few minutes or more in the bank during the first half of the race. Uh-oh..if he was right, I was going to be in trouble. I thought about that little tidbit for awhile, but eventually I was able to put it out of my mind. When we got to around 16 miles, my friend Yuri said to me "you are going to finish first." And I did :) I never saw him again, but I was able to look up his finishing time later.
I was getting pretty tired by mile 18, but I knew Larry & Linda were meeting me at mile 21 to run the last 5 with me. I kept thinking, if I can just get to them I'm home free. But, in reality I still had a long way to go and it was real sunny and quite hot out. I was losing steam, but I knew my 5 hour goal was still within reach so I kept plugging along.
I was so happy to see them at mile 21! I had asked Larry to bring me a gatorade and pb & j sandwhich, but unfortunately I had no interest in eating it. I didn't even want to talk really. The only thing I said was "I could break 5 hours." He asked me if I wanted him to talk, tell stories, etc. I just shook my head (no). I didn't even say the word. I told him ahead of time what NOT to say to me and he listened. Other than me saying, "I'm so tired" or "I don't know how I'm going to do this" a few times, we practically ran in complete silence. I even started to accept in my head that it was okay to finish in 5:05..there's no big deal about breaking 5 hours anyway. But, every time I said I was tired, Larry would say "you can do this." He said "the next 15 minutes are going to suck, but you'll be so happy afterward." And, he was right about both..
Coming into the homestretch, I heard my family cheering me on (I say heard because I dn't remember actually seeing them! I had coomplete tunnel vision, focused on the finish line)..everyone was there..my parents, my kids. My kids jumped out in front of me right before the finish line and I had no idea what was going on. My son was in front of me holding this big sign and running backwards toward the finish line. My daughter was next to me. I was so out of it..I didn't get that they wanted to cross the finish line with me. I even told my son, "get out of my way"(nice, huh?)and that's when he said, "we're running with you." I was so exhausted and I think a little delirous!
I finished in 4:57:38 and I'm still ecstatic about it. I didn't really get a chance to celebrate too much because about 30 minutes after the race, I was extremely sick..huge gastrointestinal issues all day & night. Vomitting, diarreah, headache..I think I may have had a fever, too. It was horrible. I felt better the next day, but still not really able to eat very much. It took about 2 days before I was back to normal. I don't know if it was the heat or what, but I have never been so sick after running. I even started to wonder if I had a stomach bug, but that seemed like too much of a coincidence. Anyway, all is well now!
Congrats to all my fellow runners: Kathleen (4th marathon), Brian (2nd marathon), Chris (1st marathon), and especially my brother Gregg (3rd marathon) who broke 4 hours! I'm in awe of him!
Went on my first run this morning..I took 5 days off. I only did a 3 miler today. I felt really tired, but I am so glad to be running again. Not sure what's next..I'm going to enjoy running without a goal for awhile and see what's on the horizon :)
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