National Marathon Race Recap

Before I begin, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who has joined me along this 18 week journey of training for my first marathon!  After the race yesterday, I definitely had a feeling of post-race disbelief, “it’s already over?”  It seemed such a long time coming and then the day came and went in a flash.

In the day and a half after I wrote my last post, I started preparing myself for the race.  I planned out my race outfit complete with long tights and gloves.  The forecast was calling for mid 30′s on Saturday morning and I was completely happy with that, because it was exactly what I had trained in the entire time.  My last long race, I felt unprepared because I’d trained in the heat and race day was cool.  So for me, this was perfect.

Over the 18 weeks of training, I became not only accustomed to running in the cold, but a huge fan of it.  I’d much rather bundle up and go out than feel like my inards are boiling because of the heat and humidity (which DC has lots of in July & August). 

The night before, my big carbo-loading meal was a half a loaf of french baguette with peanut butter.  Not interesting or special, but it was safe and I knew exactly how my body would react to it.  No worries of being up half the night with stomach upset because of foods I don’t typically eat.

On race day, I set 3 alarms… one for 4:30, one for 4:45 and one for 4:50, just in case.  I did snooze the first alarm out of habit but the second one got me up and moving quickly.  I managed to sleep pretty well minus a short awake period around 2:30.  I fell back asleep within a half an hour and dreamed typical marathon anxiety dreams “Oh no! I overslept!” and  “Oh no!  My contacts are a big as eggshells and I can’t put them in!”  Ok that’s not necessarily a “typical” dream…

I got up, drank a cup of coffee with soy creamer and ate a banana, got all my stuff together and Jeff and I were out the door at 5:25.  The start time was 7am, and we were about 30 minutes away.  Because the Metro wasn’t running early enough for the race, we expected traffic getting to the start.  There was lots of free parking available, but the lines just to get into the lot took us an extra 30 minutes.  We parked just around 6:30, hit up the “chemical toilets” as they were called in race literature (I usually say porta-potties) and went to meet Jen.

Jen and her boyfriend Rob came down from Baltimore for this race and I was super excited to see them! I didn’t actually get to see Rob because he was ushered off to the front of the start as an Elite runner.  He finished yesterday’s half-marathon in 1:16:52!  Thats a 5:52 pace!  I don’t think I could run that for one mile!  (If they ever get married and have kids they’re going to be bionic runner babies.)

It was early and cold, but I was so excited to see Jen.  She was running the half and we were in different corrals (I was all the way in the back!) but I (shhhhh) snuck into her corral with her so we could run together.  The nice thing about this race is that it’s small enough that both races start together and run together for pretty much the first 13 miles.  I was delighted to run with her because I thought it would help break up my race so it didn’t seem so long and lonely. 

And it did. 

The first thirteen miles flew by.  We chatted and caught up, we thanked all the crowds for their enthusiastic cheering, we slapped high-fives with the Howard University students and we just enjoyed ourselves.  The crowd support during the first thirteen miles was awesome.  Regrettably, I missed Emily and Caitlin and their sign reading “Run bloggers!” (I think because Jen and I were too engaged in conversation!) but the other signs we saw were awesome.

Hey!  You in the tights, Nice butt!

Your feet hurt because you’re kicking so much @$$!

Go Harder! Go Faster!  (guy holding next sign) That’s what she said!

You’re really good at exercising!

A lot of people cheered “Go Jen!” when they saw her shirt and then sometimes also yelled, “Go Jen’s running partner!”   Note to self: make shirt with my name on it for next race.

Jen did great around the hilly sections of mile 5 and 6 and really held her own.  She started to feel the pain around mile 11 and we trucked on through until we split just before mile 13.  We wished each other well and parted ways.  We would have hugged, but it was impractical with the crowds coming down the last half mile of the half marathon. 

I peeled off and continued the course to the full.  As I reached into my fuel belt to pull out my earbuds, a guy next to me said, “Here we go, huh?”

“Yep.  Let’s get this done.” 

I started up my iPod, the beats kicked in and I was off.  It almost felt like any other Sunday training run.

At the end of the half-marathon, as expected, there was a noticeable decrease in the field of runners.  Almost cruelly, the marathon course has you run past your car in the parking lot.  Can’t say I minded though because in my head, I thought to myself just how amazing I was that I wasn’t stopping at my car, stopping at a half-marathon, or stopping at all.  I was in this for good or bad. 

After the split, around mile 13.5, I saw a person cheering with a sign that said, “You’re no longer a runner, you’re a MARATHONER.”  I almost burst into happy tears.

Then I realized I couldn’t breathe when I cry, so I quickly pulled myself back together.

I settled into my pace and just started truckin’.  I passed the Capitol (for the third time).  I passed the Southwest waterfront.  I passed the industrial parks of Anacostia, an area that I would have never gone for any other reason.  I applauded the drum corps and baton twirlers at mile 22 (I think) because they were the only entertainment for miles.  I gave every person cheering a smile because I wanted them to know just how much I appreciated their support on what is certainly the hardest part of the race, both physically and mentally.

The miles ticked by.

Twenty.

Twenty-one.

Twenty-two.

I’d never run this far in my life.   And I was still running.  I  never stopped except for 2 quick refills of the fuel belt at water stations.  I didn’t linger at the water stops and I picked right back up again as soon as my water bottle was filled again.

At mile twenty-three, my brain kicked in: YOU HAVE A 5K TO GO.  GET YOUR @$$ ACROSS THAT FINISH LINE.

Twenty-four.

Twenty-five.

I can see the stadium.

Twenty-six.

Where is the finish line!?

Where is Jeff!?

There he is!  Hiyeee!!

Am I really doing this!?  Did I really just run a marathon?

BOOM.

I crossed that finish line in 4:21:07 with a huge smile across my face.

More importantly, I finished upright, which was my only goal from day one. 

My secondary goal was to not hate every minute of it the entire time and I consider that a complete success as well.  I credit Weight Watchers, smart training and smart fueling  for getting me through my first marathon.

I never hit a wall, I never prayed for it to be over.  I don’t think I had much more to give and I don’t think I started out too fast. 

My finish time was a 9:58 pace which was very much on par with how my training runs went. 

My splits: 

• Mile 1: 10:37 (slow across the start line)
• Mile 2: 10:03
• Mile 3: 9:55
• Mile 4: 9:22
• Mile 5: 10:14 (first hill)
• Mile 6: 10:01
• Mile 7: 10:21
• Mile 8: 10:10
• Mile 9: 9:55
• Mile 10: 10:04
• Mile 11: 9:16 (oooh downhill!)
• Mile 12: 10:08
• Mile 13: 10:11
• Mile 14: 8:48 (tunes kicked in!)
• Mile 15: 9:10
• Mile 16: 9:27 (truckin’ along that waterfront)
• Mile 17: 9:14
• Mile 18: 9:32
• Mile 19: 9:46
• Mile 20: 10:02
• Mile 21: 9:55
• Mile 22: 10:01
• Mile 23: 10:34
• Mile 24: 9:27 (GET YO’ @$$ ACROSS THAT FINISH LINE!)
• Mile 25: 9:51
• Mile 26: 9:26
• Mile 26.6: 5:42 (6.3 mph)

I took a Gu at miles 5, 11, 16, and 22 which was more frequent than I expected to, but it felt like the right thing to do… and it was!

At the end, I got my medal and finally reunited with Jeff.  I was so happy to see him!

I also finally caught up with Jess!

So, you might be wondering what Jess decided to do and how her race went…?  She decided to do the full because her shin/calf had improved quite a bit over the 3 weeks of physical therapy.  She felt as good as she felt during her last 22 mile long run, so she decided to go for it after having spent all this time training for the marathon.  And she successfully finished the entire 26.2! (yay!)  But it was a tough race which took all her mental endurance to get through. (boo) While we were chatting, she said she thinks she’ll stick with half marathons, knowing the leg issues that present themselves when she runs too much.  I’m proud of her for seeing it through and doing the best she could!  Go Jess!

Jen ran a 2:13:54 half-marathon which was not a PR for her, but she said it was her “most enjoyable race ever!”  I totally agreed!

At the very end, my friend Beth who is a seasoned marathoner asked me, ”So is it too soon to say if you’ll do another…?” 

Maybe so.  We’ll see.