I snidely replied, “I am now. Thanks…”
He apologized and I tried to get 30 more minutes of sleep. I started to get ready around 5 and ate a little oatmeal for breakfast just like I did before Lamesa in March. I didn’t want to try anything new because I knew this worked. We started walking from our hotel to the starting line around 6:30. I figured this would be a good warm up and should take too much energy out of me. According to MapMyRun.com, this is only a 1.6 mi walk. It never occurred to me that I’d have to walk back to the hotel after running the marathon.
I ran into one of my local running buddies as we were walking to the spot that my brother and I had talked about. He exchanged pleasantries, wished each other luck, and I turned to meet my brother but ran into a girl I went to undergrad with. What are the odds!! We also talked a little and then I went to find jon. He was set up in the AAC, which was very crowded. Ben spotted jon so we worked our way over to him. Another of my running buddies spotted me while jon was putting on his bib. This must be an omen. How many people just randomly run into 3 people they know out of a 20,000+ crowd?
jon got situated and we decided it was time to do our final preparations before the race. We waited in line for about 30 minutes before we were able to “finally be prepared” for the race. jon actually got walked in on while he was “preparing.”
With about 15 minutes left before the start, we decided it was time to get in our corrals. jon and I walked into the runner’s only area and Ben went to find a place for the spectators. jon had previously entertained the idea of running the first mile or so with me. I didn’t like this idea so much. I tried several times to tell him that it wasn’t very smart. I think eventually my advice sunk in because he told me he was going to go farther back to his pace group. We gave each other a hug. “Remember why you’re doing this. No matter what happens, you’re doing this because you love to run,” he told me. And then it was just me.
I had planned on starting with one of my running buddies that I had been training with. We would run together every Saturday and were shooting for the same goal of a 3:30 finish. How could I accidentally run into four people, but not find one that I’m looking for? Then, the sea of runners parted and I saw my friend. I yelled his name and he turned around. We were finally ready to get this race started.
It took us a little under 3 minutes to get to the start once the gun went off. We started the race and tried to keep sight of the 3:30 pace group that was about 30 feet in front of us. I was also looking for my husband on the side line. I finally spotted his orange toboggan and yelled, “Ben!” I waved and he shot an awesome picture:
We took the first turn and it looked like the 3:30 pace group was leaving us behind, but my Garmin said we were on pace. Epi and I just let them go. We could still see the sign, but we didn’t realize that the group leader would drop the sign after about the third mile. We never saw them again. We did, however, run into several runners who were confused as to where they were. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who wanted to follow the pace group from a distance.
My training consisted of work outs that split the long run into segments. For example, my 20 miler was a 5, 5, 5. This means a 2 mile warm up, 5 mi at 8:20 pace, 0.5 mi easy, 5 mi at pace, 0.5 mi easy, 5 mi at pace, and then a 2 mi cool down. Jerry had told me that I needed to think of the marathon like this. A 10, 5, 5, and then the last 10K would take care of itself.
This turned out to be a great strategy. The first ten miles were fairly easy. In fact, Epi and I went a little too fast. I was very concerned that I would die out at 20. We were just having too much fun though. We were flying up the hills and coasting down the other side. We were passed by two girls wearing matching shirts that said “Boston Bound” on the back. We thought they might be going a little too fast, but were excited because we were hoping to be Boston bound here as well. Epi needed a 3:35 and I needed a 3:40 to qualify.
There were a lot of signs. One that I remember in particular said, “Run as if Tiger were chasing you!”
I also started noticing that my mile splits on the Garmin were off by about 0.2 mi. I figured we were okay because we were going a little fast.
After we hit mile 10 I told Epi that I really needed to try to hit even 8s (8:00 is the pace for a 3:30 marathon) for the next ten miles. He agreed. So, we ran a high 7:50s for the next few miles and then got back down to the low 7:50s through mile 18. I’d say we stuck to our goal. . .
The first 5 mile segment of my race was around the lake. This was a natural place to mentally take a different look at the race. The lake was gorgeous. The day had started out overcast with some pretty heavy fog, and it had not lifted yet. There was some wind around the lake, but not too much. It did feel like we were running into the wind the whole time though. I kept telling Epi that he could speed up if he wanted to, that he didn’t have to stay with me. But we stayed together. We knew our pace was great.
We crossed the half right on pace and then the next thing I knew we were on the last 5 mile segment I had made for myself in this race. By this point I was starting to realize how fast we were going and that I still had 11 miles left. My right quad was stinging a little bit, but it was definitely not enough to slow down. I knew I’d be taking the elevator for the next several days.
Somewhere around the lake a man came up behind Epi and me and asked if this was the Lubbock group. We laughed and talked to him a little bit. He and I both went to the same college, but he graduated a few years before me. He’s also a member of the church of Christ. I had heard that a lot of people from his congregation were running this race. He told us he recognized us from the half marathon we ran in November. He wished us luck and we dittoed and then we were on our way.
I think it was either mile 18 or 19 where we saw one of the “Boston Bound” girls struggling. I hoped that the other girl was doing well and felt bad for this one. At least she had a 10 minute buffer for her qualifying time.
Mile 19 is where you come out of the lake. At White Rock they have different groups compete for the best water/aid stations. The only group that I remember is the mile 19ers. It was the Hooters girls. They had a “Starting Line” which I think should have been at mile 20 because that’s where the race begins. They were also handing out Clif Shots. I got a chocolate one. Gross. The Hooters girls were very fitting because right after you turn the corner to leave their station is the Dolly Parton Hills.
Now these men should get an award! There were about five men with nasty blonde wigs and balloons stuffed in their shirts handing out various beverages. They were placed in the valley between the two Dolly hills. Apparently people complain that these are pretty bad hills. I think they were more like mosquito bites.
Now we were in to mile 20! At this point my watch was about 0.4 mi off of the course’s markers. It must have been all the curves where we didn’t run the tangents and trying to get through all the people at the beginning of the race. If only we had tried harder to run the tangents! Oh well.
At some point early in this last part of the race, Epi and I saw another of our buddies. We knew Paul was going for a 3:30, so we were a little saddened to see him up ahead of us because we knew we were gaining on him. We eventually caught up with him and he ran with us for about 2 or 3 miles. It was here that Epi started to speed up. I ran my fastest mile in this portion, but I think that if I would have kept it up I would have hit the wall. I knocked on the wall’s door for a little bit. My chest started getting tight and I was almost wheezing/gasping for air. I slowed down by about 10 seconds/mile and the door opened and I busted through that wall. I couldn’t go any faster, but I was keeping my sub-8 minute pace.
In the last mile I had two relayers pass me. One of them said, “I feel like I’m cheating by passing all these people who ran the full.” I let her know (jokingly) that I felt like she was cheating too. One of the police officers at an intersection told me that I was smiling too much and made this look easy. I turned the last corner and was running down the same street I walked down just a few hours earlier. I knew I was going to make my 3:30 goal. I looked up and saw Ben cheering for me. I pushed as hard as I could to catch the people in front of me and I saw that the race clock had yet to pass 3:33 (I was about 3 minutes off of the gun time). I raised my arms and crossed the finish line! I did it! 3:30:12
Epi finished about 45 seconds ahead of me and Paul finished about 45 second after me. We were walking through the finisher’s chute and a woman handed me a hat. “Top 100 Finishers Marathon,” it said. I found out this was for women finishers. I got my Mylar blanket and started to walk toward the finisher’s shirts when I got stopped by a news reporter. I answered some questions and found out later that I got on the news . . . sort of. They put my name on another girl’s face. Oh well. I tried to find some food and water. This finisher’s area was not very well organized. I finally got some sustenance and went into the AAC to find my husband. I went down the stairs (not fun) only to find he was up the stairs on the other side (not fun). We met, I ate, cleaned up, took pictures, and then we went to watch for my brother. We cheered him on to his great finish. Somehow I was able to run to catch up with my brother because he didn’t see me at the corner where we were cheering. Then we walked the 1.6 miles to the hotel very quickly so we could check out before 2. I felt GREAT!
Boston Bound, April 2011!
Stats:
Bib 705
Final Time 3:30:12.0
415/4486 overall, 44/1613 women, 12/283 age group, 64.4% age grade
Clock Time: 3:32:54
Chip Time: 3:30:12
10K Rank: 715
10K Time: 50:34
Half Rank: 689
Half Time: 1:46:00
20 mi Rank: 540
20 mi Time: 2:42:06
24 mi Rank: 428
24 mi Time: 3:12:47
Mile – split (heart rate avg/HR max)
1 - 8:11.59 (185/209)
2 - 7:56.05 (174/185)
3 - 7:48.36 (175/183)
4 - 7:52.50 (177/186)
5 - 8:08.63 (182/186) (hill)
6 - 7:46.86 (181/187) (downhill)
7 - 7:57.60 (182/186)
8 - 7:45.32 (180/187)
9 - 7:43.74 (178/184)
10 - 7:47.0 (179/185)
11 - 7:54.27 (181/187)
12 - 7:58.69 (179/182)
13 - 7:54.32 (179/184)
14 - 7:54.83 (181/185)
15 - 7:56.71 (181/186)
16 - 7:52.26 (182/186)
17 - 7:53.38 (183/186)
18 - 7:58.29 (182/185)
19 - 7:49.93 (183/185)
20 - 8:15.37 (183/189) (hill)
21 - 7:59.96 (187/189) (downhill)
22 - 7:32.72 (187/189) (downhill)
23 - 7:41.07 (184/188)
24 - 7:54.60 (186/189)
25 - 7:54.22 (180/189)
26 - 7:35.87 (184/189)
0.2 - 5:11.36 (178/190)
GPS measured this course at 26.69 mi (7:53 pace)
