Bill and Me (he ran a 3:10:16)
Thursday, June 7th - I drank tons of water and 2 bottles of pedialite (as per my coach), and we travelled to Provo, Utah that evening. 2 days out is supposedly the most important nutrition, hydration, and sleep day. I try to start avoiding the high fiber foods about this time as well to prevent the obvious bathroom issues that are associated with lots of fiber ;) Bill and I got into Provo about 8pm and went to a fabulous dinner at Texas roadhouse: baked potato, veggies, lots of rolls with cinnamon butter, and fillet medallions - delicious. I had been doing no sugar for the three weeks leading up to the race, just to see if it might help. I am a sugar-a-holic and it was not easy.
Friday, June 8th -slept in, went for a 5 mile easy pace run, picked up race packet, and drove the course. While the elevation shows mostly downhill, there are several pretty good hills. It is always good for me to drive the course to get an idea of where and when those hills will hit. I ate a great lunch at CPK, (thai chicken pizza and bread), and dinner at Malawis - (chicken pesto pasta) and drank water and more pedialite all day. I went to bed around 9pm.
Race Day, Saturday, June 9th
3am - alarm went off! very early! ate oatmeal and banana. We left at 3:30 to head to the bus pick up (to drive us to the starting area). I met Kari (coach) and Debbie (friend) at the bus pick up and we all loaded on the bus. I was drinking water and gatorade and ate a PB&H sandwich on the bus ride up. Kari, Debbie, and I were planning to run the marathon together, assuming everything went as planned (which we all knew, it never does). We sat by the fires they had set out to keep us warm and then about 5:30 started warming up with a bunch of dynamic stretches and drills. I hit the bathroom a couple of times while waiting for the start. At 5:58 we ran over to the start and dumped our morning clothes bag, and got near the starting line. The temperature at the start was in the high 50s and was supposed to be mid 60s by the time I finished - PERFECT!!!
START: The gun went off a little after 6 (probably about 6:03ish) and we jumped in right behind the first mass of runners. The road for the first 7 miles was somewhat narrow and I did not want to have to weave in and out of runners. We had some pass us, but not many. The first 7 miles went by quickly and were easy and fast. Mostly downhill and with a tailwind, my pace for those first 7 was just under an 8 min mile. I was holding back on those miles and kept my heart rate in my high zone 2 / low zone 3 area (155-165).
As soon as the course turned onto the main canyon road, we had a major headwind - ugh - and it kept blowing hard up the canyon (in our faces) for the next 13 miles!! About at mile 8 is the first of a couple of miles of hills, rolling really, but the first of the longer hills. None of the hills were nearly as bad as the only other open marathon I have done though and so it actually felt ok. Pace slowed to high 8's for 2 miles of hills but my HR stayed mid zone 3 and that was the goal. I recovered on the downs and flats and picked up pace again until mile 12, where the next hill was. Debbie, Kari, and I talked while we could (when we could hear each other, because of the wind). I was feeling really pretty good, and trying to not get too excited that I was going to accomplish my goal, but also trying to not get too anxious if it wasn't going to happen. I had been there before.
Miles 13-15 were faster than goal pace (which was 8:23minute/mile for the duration) and I was getting excited, but was also feeling the impact of each step in my legs more now. IT band and muscles were fine though, no major pains, thankfully! Mile 16 was another hill, probably the steepest one (or so it seemed, being at mile 16). My Garmin lost satellite at some point for about a 1/2 mile after going through one of the tunnels and when it picked up again it had the distance off. It showed that I had run .2 miles farther than I actually had (according to the mile markers on course). I adjusted my calculations in my head and still felt I was going to have a bit of a cushion to make it under 3:40. The next few miles were mostly downhill but my pace was slowing slightly. When I hit mile 20 and came out of the Canyon into Provo, my average for the 20 miles was 8:11 (at least that is what my watch showed). I tried to keep each mile under 8:30 and was mostly successful.
At mile 21 I had 45 minutes to finish and earn a Boston Marathon qualifying spot. 5.2 miles in 45 minutes - that's just under a 9 min pace. I was stoked, knowing I could easily do that. The last 6 miles are either flat, very slightly down, or slightly up - no major hills either way.
As I got to mile 24.2, I realized somewhere my calculations had been off, I had 16 minutes left to finish before 3 hours 40 minutes. That's 16 minutes to run 2 miles - that means I had to run an 8 min/mile for both of them. I racked my brain as to where I went wrong calculating, but sped up my pace while I was doing that! I feel very lucky that I was able to pick up the pace those last couple of miles. My lungs felt great throughout the race and my legs felt pretty darn good too, for running that distance. My Garmin was showing my pace at under an 8 minute mile for the last two miles and I sprinted (or felt like I was). My watch turned to 3:39 and I could see the finish, I gave it all I had and crossed the line while my watch still said 3:39. If I made it, it was going to be very close!
I was nervous to go check the official time, because it could very well be over 3:40 (no matter what my watch shows - it's the chip time that matters) and I'd be out of luck. I waited for Debbie and Kari to come across the line and we went and checked together. 3:39:49 My knees almost buckled right there as I realized I had actually done it! The 2 previous times I have run a marathon with hopes of a Boston qualifying time, I had 6 more minutes to do it in. But this year, Boston tightened the requirements for every age group, making each age group essentially 6 minutes faster. I used to be in the 3:45:59 qualifying time, now I am in the 3:40:00. This marathon time for me is 19 minutes faster than any other one I have ever run (old PR was 3:58:10 - 1st ever marathon in 2009).
RECOVERY
chocolate milk, compression pants and socks for 24 hrs afterwards, ice on my knees, trying to walk around as much as possible, and lots of yummy food and sleep! My quads were sore for 2-3 days afterwards, I swam and ran light on Monday and then had a monstrous ride on Wed following the race (100Miles) - that was the hardest 100 I've done - I was still pretty fatigued. Over a week out now and I feel mostly recovered. My run yesterday was 7 miles and still not super fast yet, but getting back to normal. I have an Olympic Distance Tri on Saturday, I hope it was not a mistake to plan these two races so close together.
