Here we are post-“goal A” race by 3 days now and I’m feeling pretty good. By pretty good I mean, pretty much all recovered. I’m not going to be running any time this week, but that leads me to my string of random thoughts – hmmm, did I push hard enough? No bruised toenails. No lingering injuries (which really is a good thing). I can still walk. I can do stairs. Am I just trying to hard to reach a goal that has passed me? These are all of the thoughts that pop up into my head when I miss a goal at a race. During the race, yes, I think I gave it my all. Yesterday I was quite bummed. I was mostly bummed about missing 4 hours by one stinking second. Stupid how happiness hinges on just one second sometimes!
With post race assessment, I take a look at my splits and try to analyze what could have gone better. Yep, I faded after mile 18. Not a big surprise there. Honestly, with the training cycle I had, it was actually a pretty good thing that I made it through 18 miles of goal marathon paces! Alan was using an app on his watch that would tell us the estimated finish time based on our pace. It was quite sophisticated and I HATED it. Back around mile 21 Alan reported that our expected finish time was 3:59. My response “No f%@^#&* way!” And by that I mean, our overall pace was still around 8:56 which would have got us in much closer to 3:53! I didn’t want to hear it. But the real truth was that our pace was slowing down and that’s where it expected us to be at 26.3 miles if we continued that way.
My friend told me after the race – “that’s supposed to motivate you to go faster!”. So, I ask you, Do you have enough motivation? Would that have motivated you? For me it was just a buzz kill. A very honest, technical, dream crusher. But hey, that’s just me 🙂
Here’s a fun thing that was motivating on the course… the water stops! Erie marathon is a loop so there are 13 waters stops. That means you get to see people cheering with refreshments every mile!! That’s really pretty awesome. The water stops have competitions for the most energy, best theme, etc. I gotta say, the one put on by the Allegheny College diving and swim team got my vote!! I mean, who was expecting to see half naked college dudes passing out water saying things like “I got your electrolytes right here!!!” OMG, it was a much needed comic relief. I’m sure Alan waiting to see the college women volleyball players or swim team, but sadly they did not appear.
Another funny along the course was Alan’s friend. He lives in the area so we were expecting him to pop up along the course like he had in the past years. He was even kind enough to jump in several times and run with us for a little bit. It was a nice break at first, but then he got in his car and drove along side of us for a bit. It’s a two lane road, with barely any traffic due to the race, so he wasn’t bothering anyone. Well, except me. I know he totally meant well, but, I was a tired miserable wreck in those later miles and it wasn’t motivating me any to have him chatting along side of us when he clearly wasn’t feeling the pain I was in. I eventually told him that we would see him at the finish line. What a b*tch, I know. No hurt feelings Biff 🙂
Other random race photos that I’m still deciding on purchasing…
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Q: So, are you motivated during a hard race?
Quite frankly, my brain and reasoning shuts off after 3 hours and I’m no fun. Just ask Alan! haha
Q: What is the best themed water stop you’ve seen?
Q: Have you met any new friends at a race that you still stay in touch with?
At the pasta dinner we sat with a guy that knew my Facebook friends, both in Toledo and in Louisiana. He had met them at races! Small world.
Sorry you missed your BQ. I have been there more times than not. In fact, I only have 1 BQ out of 21 attempts and it was at Erie. Great course. I am considering trying again next Fall when I can age up for 2019. Will probably go out to Seattle and run the Tunnel Marathon which is 26 miles downhill at a 2% grade. Ran it a couple of years ago and it is perfect for a BQ. I met a runner from Scotland in the 2005 Chicago Marathon. He and I were running the same pace, so we started to chat. One thing led to another and we ran together through Mile 19 when I started to fade. He and I have stayed in touch ever since. We have tried several times to meet up at races in Berlin, London, and Boston, but something always seems to happen and we miss each other. We are friends on FB and stay in touch regularly. Hope to see him in April in Boston. Are you going to Boston with Alan? Have you thought about volunteering?
I have not heard of the Tunnel marathon. The guy that I met from Texas had a group of runners there hoping all to BQ. With the difference in temperatures for them, I’m sure they were all pretty successful! Yes, the whole family will be going to Boston. We just booked our airfare because I thought it was a good deal ($200 a person!), and we have the hotel all set too. Since it’s Easter weekend, the kids are hoping they will be passing out the excellent Lindt chocolate bunnies again in the pasta dinner swag bag!! (me too!)
You know I love volunteering! I think that would be a great thing to do, but I wonder if there would be a position my kids could do with me. I will have to look into that in January when the program opens up. Glad you reminded me!
I usually fly Southwest from Chicago to Boston but a friend alerted me to a fare sale on Jet Blue so I booked with them for $161. I prefer Southwest because you can change or cancel your flight without penalty and if the price goes down, you can rebook, but I just didn’t think I could beat $161. Hope I don’t regret it. Look for you guys at Beer Works in Boston on Saturday night!
$161 is a great price!! Thanks for making me feel like I overspent. 🙂 Actually the original tickets out of Detroit were going to be $1,500 so driving a littler farther to Cleveland for $800 seemed like a deal! Beats 13 hrs in the car though, no matter what.
This will be our first time flying JetBlue too!! I liked their website, so I’m pretty confident they will be good flights!
I am flying with no checked luggage so I am sure that made my fare lower. I am also flying in Friday morning so I can run the 5K on Saturday. It’s all about timing when it comes to airfare. Since I am retired my schedule is much more flexible. Flights before and after mine were more expensive.
My kids just happen to have off on Friday (Good Friday), BUT, we didn’t realize that until after we booked the hotel and they didn’t have any more rooms. Another year I’ve missed the 5K!! One of these years I will make it there.
Since I am too slow to BQ, the 5K is the next best thing. You get to run the best part of the marathon course, turning right on Hereford and left on Boylston. Crossing the marathon finish line AND getting a cool tech shirt and medal. The winner usually finishes before my corral even gets to the start line!
I don’t know why I had tears in my eyes reading this but I did! I can just tell how hard you pushed, and it’s easy to second guess after the fact, but marathon runners aren’t wimps. I am sure you left it all out on the course! What a guy that Alan is. OOH LA LA HUNKY HUNKY SWIMMERS that is so hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Megan @ Meg Go Run recently posted…AN ACTUAL POST ABOUT RUNNING!!!
Thanks Meg! We are always so hard on ourselves, and those post race blues get to me. But, luckily, they don’t stick around too long as I’m on to something else. At least this whole year I won’t be making spiteful remarks about the BAA because I got cut. We can all be thankful for that!! ha!
What?! You noticed those guys in speedos? I ran by with my hand over my eyes telling them I can’t unsee that!
And really? You didn’t think that either me or the watch was correct in the finishing time? ha