I had been looking forward to running the Shamrock Marathon since the moment that I finished the Outer Banks Marathon this fall. I was so determined to train for it, and I had planned on having a major PR and basking in the glory of all of my hard work. However, as you may have noticed from my last few posts, that simply didn't happen. For physical and psychological reasons, I was not able to get the training in that I needed to. So as the time approached for race weekend, I realized that I would need to make a decision. I could either forfeit my entry and stay home that weekend, or I could go rough it and see what happened. For reasons mostly unrelated to running, I decided that I needed to push myself and do what I could do, whether that meant finishing with a really slow time or not finishing at all. I had signed up for the Whale Challenge, which was going to be especially hard, because I was going to have to run 5 miles one day, and 26.2 the next! I basically walked into this race expecting to fail, but wanting to find out one way or the other.
My mom came down to hang out with me that weekend, and I think it really helped. I'm a grown-up, but I will always love my mom in the stands cheering me on, or there for me afterwards ready to kiss my boo-boos and give me a big hug. Worst case scenario (DNF), I would still get a fun girls' weekend out of it!
On Friday night we went to the race expo, checked into our hotel, and had a wonderful dinner filled with all of the seafood that we didn't have access to while living in the mainland. We were NOT about to pass up an opportunity to get truly fresh shrimp, oysters, scallops, and crab. It was awesome.
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| Expo goodies! |
The 8k took place on Saturday morning. Our hotel was gracious enough to provide a shuttle, so I took that to the starting line. When I got there, the sun coming up over the ocean was picturesque.
The race went pretty well. I ran at an average pace of 9:31/mile, which was frankly better than I had expected. I really wanted to treat that race as a warm up/shake out for the marathon the next day. It was a lovely day, I felt very fresh, It really was like a nice easy training run. Except that I got a medal at the end!
Later that day we were able to get our toes in the sand, and enjoy some mother/daughter relaxation time. I think we both really needed it.
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| See what I mean? |
The next morning was absolutely scary. I couldn't sleep the night before, I hadn't trained as much as I should have, and there was nothing I could do about it now. I pinned my bib, packed my GUs, and got on the shuttle.
I don't remember a lot between getting there and the race actually starting, except that it was sort of cool to see Mike Wardian starting off. He was participating in the King Neptune Challenge, which meant that he ran the 8k on Saturday, and the half marathon and full marathon on Sunday. After following him online it was pretty inspiring seeing him run in person.
Once the race started I felt ok for the most part, but around mile 6 I was thinking "oh crap. This is going to be the worst, longest, most failure-filled day ever. I cannot wait for this to be over so that I can sleep in the car on the way home." However, around mile 8 the course had wound its way through Camp Pendelton, and we were greeted and cheered on by lots of servicemen and women!! That was a huge pick-me up. By then the sun had come out, and the breeze was nice, so it really had turned into a lovely day to get out and run.
Around mile 13, my stomach started to feel really lousy. For the first time during any race EVER, I needed to stop and use the facilities. Also I'm a girl, and that thing that sometimes happens to you when you least expect it.... totally happened. Oh well. You move on. Thankfully, at about mile 13.5, the course ran by the hotel where my mom and I were staying, so I was able to see her! She gave me a big hug and it meant the whole world to me. I just kept chugging.
I'm not sure what I was thinking after that, but I remember waiting for it to get psychologically worse, and it just didn't. Looking back, miles 13 and 14 were probably the lowest points in the race, but after that I turned off my iPod and just soaked up the scenery.
We ran through the woods, and ran past a mile marker for the site of the first colonists landing! The history geek in me was really excited to see that.
After that, they lined the course with what can best be described as a huge number of leprechaun puns, one after another after another for at least a mile. The daddy's girl in me laughed at every single one of them.
Next we ran through Fort Story, past the lighthouse that Alexander Hamilton had built in 1792.
Then we ran past the community of military families, who had awesome signs and were cheering us on the whole way, even though at that point they had been outside for at least 2 hours watching people run by. That was awesome.
By then, we were looping back on the course that we had run before, I knew we were getting close. Every building was familiar, and a sign that I was getting closer to the finish. around mile 23 I just started booking it. I passed person after person. One runner said "Wow you've got a good run going!" and I replied "I'm really close to a PR, and I don't want to leave anything left on this course!"
I gave it everything I had until I reached the finish. That's right, I made it to the finish. I finished the marathon in 4:48:56, which is a 2-second PR from the marathon this fall. I took my medals, my packet of snacks, met my mom and we drove back home where my awesome fiance was waiting for me :)
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| Such bling. Much challenge. Need beer. Wow. |
Ok, now that I've documented how awesome it felt to do what I did, I need to clarify a few things. First of all, I do not endorse running with the amount of training that I put in for this race. I think it helped that I had run a marathon 4 months before, and was able to ride on that fitness. However, my recovery for this race has been significantly longer and more painful than recovering from the last race. I hurt much worse for longer, and I was, in general, more exhausted. Exhausted to the point that I needed to call home from work on Monday afternoon, which is simply don't do.
I went out for a 4 mile run today and felt like I was starting at square one. I honestly felt like I hit the wall during this run. WHO DOES THAT?! I just ran a marathon and more than a week later I'm bonking at mile 3.5? What!!!?! Honestly, these are the side effects from under training. I am now working significantly harder to resume training than I should have because of it. Thankfully I don't think that I'm injured, but I do think I've done temporary damage at the very least.
Time to start training for the next big thing. Anyone know of a good 50k training program?
