Hmmm, where to begin on this one? I’m sure you probably know that I went into this race feeling a bit unprepared due to injury, cutting back my training, and that freak foot issue that came up a week before the race. Still, I thought I had a chance. Game on marathon!
I’ll take you back to Saturday night – the pre-race pasta dinner. We were racing the clock to get to packet pickup before it ended, and to the pre-race pasta dinner we had signed up for. Wouldn’t you know it – it stared down pouring rain right when we arrived at the dinner with only 30 mins until it ended! NBD but the event was outside at a covered shelter at the park. We all huddled into the middle tables and luckily only got a little rained on – and a lot rained on when went back to our cars. Dinner was delicious and my belly was full of pasta!
All of that pasta made me super tired and we just chilled out at the hotel until lights out around 10 pm. Wake up time was 4:30am – even though the race started at 7am, they advised us to get to the park early because some of the parking lots were flooded. They were not kidding. We also followed the instructions to bring along a flashlight because we got to walk to the start area under the starry sky, with glow sticks giving us a clue where we needed to go. We were actually super EARLY for the race, which was great (and so unusual for us!) because we didn’t stress about the parking situation like last year. Here’s a picture of the parking lot which looks like the beach! Those ripples are the flood water!
The race was actually chilly feeling at the start – around 66 degrees. It was a bit spooky looking though because it was really windy. Not ideal, but really not too bad considering all of the rain the night before! At 7am the gun went off and we were racing!!
The goal was to keep the pace from going faster than 8:40 for the 10 miles, with 8:47 being the target. For the first 13 miles we were right on pace. I remember even seeing 8:43 average overall pace until around mile 17. Right around then my pace just kept getting slower. I cringed each time the miles clicked off and soon the mile split started with a “9”. Dang it. This was not going to happen. By mile 19 I would not see another pace with an “8” at the start, until the “sprint” at the finish.
We shifted the original plan of finishing in 3:52 to something a little more in line – sub 4 hours. No problem! Or was it?
Alan (my pacer, with 3 miles left): “You have to get each mile under 10 mins to get sub 4. You can do this!”
Me: “urugjalrlejs” (or something else unrecognizable)
It came down to the last mile. Gotta get sub 10 min mile. Huh. Why does it feel like I’m running with cement blocks on my feet? Come on body, you can do this. As you can see, this race did not have the magic of negative splits like last week!!
As I “sprinted” to the finish line, I hit the mat, stopped my watch, and for once it was the exact same time as my official results… 4:00:00. DANG IT!!!!!!! Well doesn’t that just stink. 🙁
After all was said and done, I wasn’t really bummed about my race. I mean, it sucks I didn’t get my goal – or either one of my goals!! – but still, another marathon has been completed. I got the medal to prove it 🙂 I just struggle with longer distances, at that pace. Go figure. Thanks to Alan, as always, for being my awesome pacer. I’m glad he puts up with the “cranky running Lisa”. PS, we are celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary tomorrow!
We got some nice race swag – a bag, socks, hat and long sleeve shirt. And interestingly – they took a ton of pictures, so hopefully something from the race will look good. In fact, each person was required to pick up their own bib/timing chip and they took our picture holding the bib at pickup. That was a measure for keeping people from cheating on qualifying for Boston and running with someone else’s bib. BQ’ing is a serious thing!
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Q: What is your favorite item from a race?
Q: Have you ever missed a goal time by just seconds? What was the time/distance?
Q: Married readers – how long have you been married?
OMG Congrats!! You did great! I saw you splits and i am nearly in tears… 4 hours is my goal as well but i dont know if I can do it… We ll see! Again awesome race! 😀
Ellen @ Tale of Two Runs recently posted…5 steps for beginners to start Yoga at home & the Hamswan diffuser GIVEAWAY winner!
Hopefully your splits will be more even for your 4 hour goal! Just keep that 9:00 mile in mind and you’ll get there. I can’t wait to see how your race goes. I hope it’s a great experience for you 🙂
I think you did AWESOME!!!!!!! A 4 hour marathon? That is GREAT!!!!! Yes, I know that you are bummed about not BQ’ing, but honestly, a 4 hour marathon is fantastic!!!!! I only hope to be able to do that one day!!!!!!!!!! You truly inspire me by you determination and motivation!!! You ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you are able to now rest up and get that foot better! PF stinks! I have to constantly roll my feet with a gold ball or tennis ball! UGH!
My husband and I have been married for 12 years come Oct 2nd!!! We have been together for a total of 13 years! Yes, if you did the math, we meet and married one year later!! 😀 Anddd, I had been married before for 7 years… and we had dated over 3 years prior to getting married!!! Just goes to show you, when it is meant to be, it just works out! Luckily, my first husband and I had no kids!!!! Which means, it was a clean break and I did not have to stay in touch with him!!! Ok, enough with the getting too personal… you asked how long one has been married and not a relationship history!! HA! HA! 😀
As far as coming close to a goal. As you know, I ran my first marathon last March. Goal was to finish under 5 hours. I finished in 4:30:39…. so, I met my goal, but dang…. sure wish I could have gotten under 4:30:00 since I was so close to doing so!!!!! I tried to speed up at the end to make it under 4:30:00, but honestly, I felt like i was in fast motion, but in reality, I was moving a bit slow….LOL!!!!! Oh well…. I was still happy with my first marathon time. I would LOVE to do one in 4 hours like you!!!!!!
Have a GREAT day! Rest up!!! So glad the rain came the day before and not the day of!!!!
39 seconds? You know what I felt like! It does stink when it’s down to seconds like that. Keep it up and I’m sure you will get to a 4 hr marathon. I hope to get to some speedier shorter distances like you!!
Freaking A Lisa I am so sorry you missed your two goals. It can get so frustrating! The past 3 races I ran I missed my goals and hell I didn’t even START Via yesterday so I am kind of Debby Downer about racing at this point. A 4 hour marathon with all your training struggles is freaking awesome though. I hope you feel accomplished! How is your body today?
Megan @ Meg Go Run recently posted…Weekend Wrap Up!
You are right. My race could have been a big failure, but it wasn’t. Still, a BQ would have been awesome! This morning it felt like a truck hit me, but after moving around today it’s just the normal post race soreness. And I’m very thankful for that, and not injuries!!
Oh dang, just barely missed your second goal of sub-4. That must really sting! I missed a goal time once by just 18 seconds and even though a few seconds really doesn’t mean much, it is just so frustrating to be so stinking close.
And also, even though your pace slipped a bit at the end, this marathon seemed liked a much better race than Glass City this spring. Congratulation on completing another marathon and happy anniversary!
Heather [is probably running] recently posted…Racing Weight + WIAW
Well, there certainly was less time spent walking and crying at this race than GCM 2016! Not an epic crash and burn, but rather a slow gradual decline in pace (or is it increase??). Anyhow, a second really did make the difference in my happiness level after the fact. Grrr.