Phoenix Marathon Recap

I don't really know why I haven't posted this yet.  I wrote it the day after the marathon and maybe it was just too real or too much for me to publish at that time.  It still feels weird, actually.  I finished a marathon, and this is my story...

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Rewind with me for a minute to the following dates:

May 5, 2012: E-mail conversation with my friend, Jamie, regarding the possibility of signing up for a marathon in 2013.  Phoenix came up as a possibility because her dad has a place there.  I searched for a Phoenix race and up came the Phoenix Marathon . We agreed to register together so neither of us could back out.

May 18, 2012: Registration for the marathon.  Jamie and I conversed via gmail chat and registered at the same time.

Now back to the present:

March 2, 2013: Nearly 10 months after we decided we were going to register for the race, we finished it.  I really hoped I would finish in under 5 hours and I really thought I could do it.  That ended up not being the case at all.  But I did finish and that's all that really matters at this point in time. This is how it all went down...

Jamie and I got to the gathering area to travel up to Usery Mountain Park and were on the bus at 5:00 AM.  That means we were up SUPER early (I woke up before my alarm went off at 3:45) to get there on time.  Thank goodness we got there when we did because we found out later from Jamie's dad, Ed, that the traffic to get to the buses was backed up on the interstate and if we were any later we would have risked not getting on the bus at all.  Whew.

The starting area was pretty sweet.  They had several heaters set up and fires built for the folks not used to the weather (Jamie and I didn't worry about it; it was almost 50 degrees outside!). The port-a-potty situation seemed a little short in number but it didn't impact me at all.  The National Anthem played (complete with fireworks!) and suddenly we were being herded to the start line.  I'm pretty sure they started right at 6:30 but I was too busy setting my Garmin and maybe freaking out a little bit when the cannon went off to start the race.

Gathering area near the starting line

Jamie and I before the start of the race

The starting line!

Jamie and I decided on Friday night that we would start out running together at about 11:00/mile pace and if one of us wanted to go ahead or stay back, we would split up.  We took off running with the 4:55 pace group and ended up going ahead of them within the first few miles.  I didn't really mean to do that but the girl who was running right in front of us was kind of annoying and wasn't running very consistently or in a straight line, so we passed her and therefore passed the entire pace group.

My husband and Jamie's dad were waiting to cheer us on between miles 3 and 4 which was great!  We knew they were going to try to see us along the route but we had no idea exactly where they would be.  Jamie stopped at mile 5 to use the bathroom and that's where we split.  I kept my pace around 11:00/mile until the half mark but stopped to use the bathroom just before the timing mat so my half-marathon time was 2:27:32 - 11:16/mile.  I slowed a bit after that to 12 and 13 minute miles until mile 19.  I had really hoped to run the race in under 5 hours which meant I would need to keep my pace faster than 11:27/mile but with the way my Garmin works I can't see both my current pace and average pace on my watch at the same time so in order to know my average pace I needed to be able to do the math...and doing math when you're 19 miles into a run is kind of hard.

I was able to see Ed and Josh cheering a few more times along the way which was seriously great. I think it was right along mile 17 when I saw them and told Josh that if I ever talk about running a marathon again he should remind me of how much it sucked right at that moment.  Not too long after that I saw them drive past me which told me right away that Jamie must be pretty close behind me.  I continued on and eventually slowed to walk.  I turned around and saw Jamie right behind me!  I waved, she waved, and I kept walking until she caught up with me.

I don't think I've ever been so glad to see her face than I was at that very moment.

I have no idea if Jamie was hurting as much as I was or if she would have been able to go on ahead of me.  She never said a word about it; she just kept right by my side and ran when I said I wanted to run and walked when I said I needed to walk.

Ed and Josh appeared again at mile 17, this time with ice packs.  Have I mentioned it was the hottest day of the year so far in Phoenix on Saturday? The ice packs were a godsend. Seriously. They were there again at 20 with more and said they would see us at the finish line.  I think we got to mile 20 in about 4 hours.  On a good day I can run 6.2 miles in an hour, but there was no way that was going to happen.  I knew far before that moment in time that I wouldn't be making my goal of a sub-5 hour marathon, but I didn't care.  All I cared about was finishing.

Some miles during the last 6.2 had far more walking than running and it took us awhile to finish them.  Finally, close to the 26 mile mark, I looked up and saw Bass Pro Drive - the finish line was just around the corner - and I started to get choked up.  I fought back the tears.  I was almost done.  I felt like hell but knew there was no way I was going to walk across the finish line.  Again, I have no idea how Jamie felt at this point, but she stuck by me!  We had been walking and decided to run with the final .2 or so remaining and we crossed the finish line together.

Final finishing time 5:25:36.

We got our medals and I finally turned to Jamie and hugged her and cried. 

I finished. 

WE finished. 

Together.

The celebration began almost immediately.  Ed and Josh found us and we stretched for a bit (although it seems like no amount of stretching could stop the amount of soreness I feel at this exact moment in time). We checked text messages and facebook, we took pictures, and eventually went to find beer.  And boy, did that beer taste good!

The celebration continued at Ed's place in the frigid swimming pool and delightful hot tub.  We napped and eventually continued the party at the Sandbar (Ed's local watering hole) for dinner and more drinks and then back to Ed's for even more celebrating at Ed's after that.  Holy smokes, that was a lot of partying!

Partaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!

My legs were sore.  And I mean really sore.  I wasn't walking anywhere close to normal and getting up and down stairs and in and out of chairs was extremely difficult.  But I'm glad I did it.  I finished a freaking marathon. 

One more week!

One week from today I'll be running my very first marathon.  Saying training has been easy would be a downright lie. Snow, ice, and wind forced me to run inside and I started feeling ridiculously fast.  Once I ran outside again things felt more difficult and I questioned just how fast I'd really be able to run this marathon and if I'd really be able to run it in under 5 hours (that's always been my main goal).  But who really cares?  I'm running a freaking marathon and I've been strict with my training plan.  I'm ready to do this, I really am.

I was supposed run a mid-week 6 miler this week but I didn't.  I turned my 3 miler into a 3.5 and briefly thought about running 6 on Friday, but that thought was ever-so-brief.  I had 8 on my plan today and set my alarm for 7am since I had to be to a baby shower later in the morning. I snoozed right through the alarm and decided against running in the morning.  I attended the shower and on the way home realized it was far too windy for my taste to run 8 miles outside.  Honestly, I really didn't feel like running at all but since I skipped my 6 miler earlier this week I really could skip out again today.  So I mixed up some Jack3d, downloaded a new audio book, and headed to the Y rather unsure of how it would all go.

Ummm, fast.  That's how it went.  For a girl who didn't feel like running, I finished 8 miles in 1:17:33 - 9:41/mile.  Sure, there were a few walking breaks but I didn't stop the clock.  My posture felt great and my stride, perfect. 

I think I can honestly say that I'm ready for next week.  Until then, 3 miles tomorrow, 4 miles on Monday, and hopefully 2 on Thursday in Phoenix. Bring it on!

Robie Registration and a windy 4 miler

Last year's Race to Robie Creek, despite being my slowest half marathon ever, ended up being one of my favorite races of the year so as registration drew near, I was anxious to secure a spot again.  The race is limited to just over 2436 participants and sold out last year in just over 9 minutes.  I slept in and put off my 4 mile run until after registration.  When noon hit, I quickly completed my registration form and had absolutely no difficulty getting registered which was a different story from last year.  My buddy, Mike, had a little trouble with the website but ended up with a confirmation for the race as well.  Yippee!

After my registration for Robie was complete, I really had no excuse to get out for my scheduled 4 mile run.  I was a bit nervous about how my knee would react, but geared up anyway.  I felt pretty good for most of the first 2 miles but then again, I had wind at my back.  Once I turned around to head back to the house, the wind hit me head on and I struggled to keep a regular pace.  Thankfully I wasn't out on a long run.  I snapped this photo of the flags near a subdivision to show how much the wind was blowing...but the photo really doesn't do it justice.  Weather.com indicated the wind was blowing 16 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.  Again, so glad I wasn't out for a long run in that today. 

I still finished my run in 41:49 today, so that's nice.  Plus, my knee held up for the duration of the run.  I made sure to stretch like crazy and rolled out my IT band on my foam roller for quite awhile when I got home.  I should have been doing more of that prior to today so hopefully the knee issue was just a quick reminder to stretch after ANY length of run, not just the long ones. 

Finally, a long run outdoors!

Let the tapering begin!  Actually, it began as soon as my 20 miler was done last weekend, but I still had 5, 8, and 4 mile mid-week runs this week so it didn't exactly feel like I was tapering.  Honestly, today didn't really either, but whatever.

The weather today was slated to be 50 degrees and I was ecstatic!  Finally, a long run outdoors! 
I had 12 on the schedule today so I mapped out a good route and headed on my way a little after 11:00 am with the temp at about 40 degrees. I wore my Athleta capris, my short sleeve Portland half marathon shirt, and my Salomon running jacket. 

Within the first mile I saw this and couldn't help but snap a photo:

Shortly thereafter I knew my jacket would prove to be too hot and just after mile 2 I took it off and tied it around my waist.  With 10 miles left, I knew I wouldn't want the jacket with me the entire way so I decided to change my route and head back home...eventually...and then finish off the last few miles.  Just after mile 3 I realized I had hit a pretty big milestone for the year: 200 miles!  It took me until May last year to hit this mark, so the fact that I got there by mid-February this year was pretty huge.  

Here was my view: 

I got a bit of a reprieve from miles 4 to 5 with the downhill stretch but that quickly ended when I had to run uphill for mile 6ish.  Home happened shortly after mile 8 and I was SO glad to get rid of my jacket that had been swooshing behind me.  I got some water and headed back out on the road.  By then, it was 50 degrees outside!

Part of the path I took was still covered in ice and I witnessed some poor teenager eat $h!+ on her bike coming around a corner.  I don't think she knew I was right there and I didn't see another soul around, yet she triumphantly shouted out "I'm ok!" right before I came into view.  Poor kid!  I rounded a corner from a park setting to a main street with about .75 miles to go and for about 1/4 mile I thought about continuing to 13.1.

But something weird happened: my knee started hurting and I decided that going on to finish 13 would not be a good plan.  I finished off my 12 miles and stretched at home but as the night goes on, my knee continues to ache.  I'm icing now and I'm really not happy about it.  Hopefully my low mileage for this week and next will be good.  I'll cross-train and keep trucking along.  I am hopeful that this is a fluke and that tomorrow everything will be hunky dory.

9:05 miles (whaaaa?!)

I was really glad to have Sunday as a full rest day after running 20 on Saturday.  My body was absolutely exhausted and even getting out of bed on Monday morning to run was a chore.  Instead of running on the indoor track again I headed straight for the treadmill (even though I hate it) for change.  I had 5 miles on my plate that morning but I knew when I got up that there was no way I'd be running that distance.  I didn't keep track of any mile splits; I just wanted to get some miles done.  I slowly jogged my first mile (just over 11 minutes, I think) and then decided to do some speed work to keep myself from feeling too defeated.  3 miles done on Monday and I was spent.

This morning I had 8 miles to do but I slept a few minutes too late and knew it would be tough to get all of them done before I had to be to work.  I managed to get 5 miles done and took a different approach to my workout.  Rather than using my stopwatch app on my phone for the entire run, I tried to run each mile as fast as I could for miles 1,2, and 4 and stopped the clock while I walked.  I ran the 3rd mile with Lynn (still pretty fast for us) and finally ran an easy last mile. The result? 

9:05
9:26
9:38 (with Lynn)
9:05
9:59

Since when am I able to run a 9:05 mile not just once but TWICE in one day?!  And since when did 9:59 become an easy mile?!

I planned to run 3 miles during my lunch break today but that proved more difficult that I imagined.  A 30 minute meeting turned into an hour and with travel time between appointments and different offices I found myself with about 30 minutes to spare before my next meeting.  After a quick wardrobe change I set out for what I had hoped to be a 1.5 mile run.  Anything is better than nothing, right?  At 1.5 I realized I could run another 5 minutes and still have time to change and get to the afternoon meeting on time, so I did.  2 miles, approx 20 minutes. I'll take it. 

So far this week I haven't met my training plan goals and I don't plan to make them up.  I also don't think it's going to hurt me now.  I'll run my planned 4 miles tomorrow and 12 on Saturday and call it good for the week. 

PRs, long runs, sore muscles - Oh my!

This was a BIG week of running for me.  Not only was it a big mileage week for me at 40 miles (my longest ever and likely the most weekly mileage I'll have for a long, long time), but I also snagged some great PRs.

I started the week with a 5 mile run on the indoor track at the YMCA thinking that I'd be doing 10 on Wednesday and another 5 on Thursday.  When I realized my work schedule wasn't going to allow me to run 10 miles before work any day this week, I decided to take my running gear to work and finish off another 5 miles at lunch.  My legs were a little tired from Saturday's 14 miler so I wasn't particularly fast, but I did get to run outside at lunch for the first time in weeks!  The sidewalks were clear, it was about 32 degrees outside, and did I mention the fact that I got to run outside?!

First 5 miles indoors - 10:21/mile avg
2nd 5 miles outside - 11:19/mile avg

Wednesday morning I got up and pounded out my fastest 5 miles EVER at an average pace of 9:31/mile.  That's a time of 47:44, people!

Thursday morning was sort of sluggish, but I did get to run with Lynn again.  She's been out of commission with a hip issue and hasn't been able to run but Thursday she ran a mile with me on the indoor track. It was nice to have some company!  Average pace?  10:10/mile.

And finally, yesterday's 20 miler.  I've been checking the weather forecast all week and yesterday was supposed to be clear with a high of 35.  I was super excited to run outside for my long run and mapped out a route from our house to Meridian, back to Boise near the mall, then finally back to our house. But when I went upstairs to throw on running gear, I could hear the wind howling outside. I think I paced around the bedroom for a solid 30 minutes checking the weather, listening to the wind, and trying to figure out if I should continue with my plan to run outside or if I should head to the indoor track yet again.  The wind wasn't expected to subside anytime soon and was blowing 20+ mph.  As much as I hated to do it, I made the decision to pack up some gear and run at the Y again.  Sigh.

I was really trying to slow my pace for the long run so I would still have some energy at the end of it is really difficult to control my pace without the ability to use my Garmin indoors.  I started out too fast and I knew it by mile ten (1:41:54), by far my fastest 10 mile run ever.  I finished (approx) 13.1 in 2:13:51 (new PR at 10:13/mile!)  and took a little break to eat 1/2 of a peanut butter sandwich and have some Honey Stinger Chews (I had some Jack3d before my run) and set out to finish the final 7 miles.  My first 13 miles were all under 11:00/mile but my last 7 were all over 11:00/mile, my fastest of the 7 being the 20th mile at 11:32.  One thing I've been focusing on is pushing myself the last lap or 2, like I will want to do at the marathon in 3 weeks (holy crap, THREE WEEKS!!!).  I finished 20 in 3:35:28 which is an average pace of 10:45/mile. 

My legs are sore but that's to be expected.  Now the taper begins...

Dare I say it? A fast 14 miles?

Well, once again my plans for outdoor running were foiled yesterday.  I was quite excited that the temps were above 22 degrees for my 14 mile training run but when I stepped outside I was once again greeted by an icy driveway, icy sidewalks, and icy roads which left me nowhere to run that morning.  We made plans to drive to McCall for the Winter Carnival that afternoon so I didn't really have the option of waiting until later in the day to run and I really like having Sunday as a rest day so I wasn't very interested in waiting another day.  Plus, I had already taken my Jack3d that morning and if I didn't go work out I would have exploded. 

So I trudged off to the Y for another indoor track run.  My first mile was surprisingly difficult.  My shins were screaming at me to stop, so I took a few minutes to stretch a little bit about 1/2 mile in and then continued on.  They still hurt a bit and I realized my form was terrible so I made a conscious effort to straighten up and correct my stride and that made all the difference.  Believe it or not, I was not trying to run this super fast. 

I tried to take it easy and slow things down a little bit since I've been really bad about slowing down my long runs.  They (whoever "they" are) say I should I should be running my long runs at a 12:30 pace or so but that feels so. damn. slow.  So I haven't been.  I just run them how I feel.  I walk when I need to walk and I run when I feel like running.  That method played out pretty well for me on this run.  I ran my fastest half-marathon ever during this little training run (2:16:57 - my previous PR was 2:21:13!) and in the end finished 14 miles in 2:27:18, faster than 2/3 of the half-marathons I've run over the past few years.  Say whaaaaaat?!

I stretched and got home to shower before Josh and I headed out the door for the ride to McCall.  Sitting in the car for a few hours after running that hard probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had, but the decision to stop at Gold Fork Hot Springs on the way back sure was!