So a friend reminded me that I’m overdue for a marathon race report. I’m actually long overdue for MANY race reports. Sorry, I’m not going to get completely caught up. Most of them, at this point, have been SSDR for me…my times are consistent, blah blah blah.
But a first marathon? Now that’s another story.
Friday afternoon my boyfriend and I left for Ohio. We were headed to my hometown for the night to see my best friend and her husband. Kelly made dinner and it was excellent. Got a decent night’s sleep and some puppy snuggles with the lovely Aruba.
Saturday morning we had breakfast, then headed off to Columbus for the expo, hotel check-in and some time with friends. Traffic was wicked between construction and accidents (because it was raining a little and heaven forbid people manage to drive in rain) but we finally made it to Cbus. The expo was pretty good. Got some sweet pint glasses, one commemorating the race, some new bondi bands, more salted caramel gu, and an official race t-shirt in addition to picking up my packet. One thing I could not get over was how HUGE the medal was. When I saw it in person at the expo I started salivating. It’s gorgeous. The pics did not do it justice.
The medal, actual size, next to a folded 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper for reference. HUGE!
After the expo, Andy and I met up with some friends for lunch, and then headed back to the hotel to check in. We relaxed until it was time for dinner and we met up with friends again. Of course, since we were in Columbus, we made the requisite stop at the Book Loft because it is the Book Loft and it is amazing. Then after a late-ish dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Sunday and head to bed.
I slept okay. Sort of. Glad I checked my phone in the middle of the night as it wasn’t charging, so I changed outlets. And then I kept waking up, paranoid that I would oversleep. Finally the alarm went off. And I got up and started to get ready. I did not want to eat my breakfast, but I made myself because I knew I needed to. Andy took me to my corral…or at least as close as he could get with security. And then I had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. But they started each wave with a fireworks send off, so that was kind of cool. Worth a little slower start.
My friends and boyfriend booked it all over town to pop up and surprise me. I didn’t tear up at the start like I expected to, I didn’t cry at the finish either, remarkably. When I started to get choked up was when the half marathon split off. That’s when it hit me that I was really doing the full. I stuck to my plan—run 25, walk 5—all the way through mile 20. At mile 20 I started to fall apart. I was starting to hurt. The combo of gels and Gatorade was starting to get to my stomach. I had to keep stopping to stretch. And blessed relief finally came with solid food at mile 23. I walked more than I wanted to, but managed to cross the finish line running. It was awesome. Columbus was a great first experience—it’s a fun town to run through. It’s got different neighborhoods the way Pittsburgh does and crowd support was decent, even in residential areas. They had shuttles to help facilitate spectators getting through town to see people. Very well done race, I recommend it. I’d run it again.
But wait…There’s more!
So then…I ran another marathon. Which was probably not my smartest or best idea, but I had to give it a go.
This past Sunday I did the Marshall Marathon in Huntington, West Virginia. My second marathon, Andy’s first (in fact, his first race EVER). This is a much smaller race. And they made a huge deal over not using headphones (and that ended up not being a big deal at all, just a lot of Facebook drama, really). So I decided to treat it like a grand experiment. I was going to use a watch for my timing (instead of audio cues) and no music. I figured I won’t be using these things when I head into ultra territory, I might as well see how it goes. So with that decision made, I packed up, and we headed down south to hit the packet pick-up, spaghetti dinner and hear Bart Yasso.
Packet pick up was chaotic at best. They’ve been doing this race for 10 years, and while it could’ve been worse, I expected it to run a little more smoothly. The venue, specifically chosen to accommodate the crowd, really couldn’t. Though our line moved quickly, it was a little confusing because everything was happening in the same place, so it was crowded, and difficult to tell where things were happening. We got our packets and escaped outside. Until we realized the dinner that was supposed to start at 4 had already started. So we went in. It was supposed to be free for runners, but there was a charge for non-runners. And no one was taking money or keeping track of who was eating. Bart Yasso was speaking in the same room where the dinner was happening, so there weren’t enough seats, and he started late to try to accommodate the people in line for food. A lot of little irritations for someone like me. Bart Yasso was great, though we didn’t stick around to meet him after as there was a crowd and we wanted to get back to the hotel.
Rest of the evening was smooth and uneventful. As was the morning. At least until the start. They said there would be a start mat, that we wouldn’t all be going off of gun time. This was a BIG DEAL. This was something they hadn’t done before and they were doing it this year, they made a BIG DEAL about it. And so we started…and there was no mat. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero. I was pissed. I wouldn’t have cared if there was no start mat if they hadn’t made a point of telling us there would be one. That is my single biggest pet peeve with races—do NOT lie to me. Do NOT tell me there’s a medal if there is no medal. Do NOT tell me there’s a starting mat if there is no start mat. If there’s a mat, I walk until I cross it. Which meant I walked for longer than I should’ve because I was waiting for something that didn’t exist. There has since been an apology, but the excuse was that it would’ve taken too long to put one down and thought it was better to start on time. On one hand I agree, given the time constraints of the race—road closures, volunteers, etc. However—shouldn’t they have figured out before race morning? Shouldn’t they have known how long it would take to set up and accounted for that? Isn’t that part of putting on a race?
Anyway, the race starts, I start my 25/5 splits. I’m feeling pretty good. Getting in the groove, forgetting about the crap start. Until mile 7, when my right knee starts to ache. Unusual. Usually my left knee is the weak one, but fine, sometimes my knees are wimpy, I run a bit and they get over it. So I kept on keeping on, figuring I’d take some IB around the half mark if I needed it. I took IB at mile 10. But I was still running my 25/5s. Continued through the half. Around mile 15 I slowed to 5/5. Around mile 17 it was 2/5. Around 19 I stopped trying to run and just walked. I was still making good time and damnit, I’d come that far I was going to finish. Then I started to get worried about getting swept. Around the 6 hour mark I was headed into campus for the finish so I felt confident I’d still get my medal. And I did. And it’s a really cool medal, I will give them that.
Front…
…and BACK!
So, not an excellent experience for me because of the pain. Maybe it was too soon given that my first marathon was three weeks prior (which is what some people definitely think). I’m not sure I believe that. I’d run, even raced, since the first one and was fine. I think a grueling race season took its toll. I think I didn’t do enough active recovery work, that I haven’t cross trained enough more than simply it was too soon after the first marathon. But it has given me pause as my season winds down to really think about how I’m going to approach my training going forward (especially since my knee is still tender and needs a little more time off before I launch back in). I will say that working without music and audio feedback was flawless. I stayed on track with ease (while my knee would allow me to) and didn’t miss the tunes, even on the later parts of the course when I was by myself. I feel good about going into an ultra without being wired that way.
Overall, it’s a decent little race, but one I won’t do again. I personally prefer bigger races. I love crowd energy. And it was a little chaotic and disorganized for my taste as well. I like things to run smoothly, even if not on time. I can forgive tardiness if the rest of it is done well.
