T always tells us to come up with a mantra or phrase to
repeat when we’re in our races. Most of
the time, I am stumped. On last Sunday, I was
‘unstoppable’.
If you couldn’t tell by
my last post, I have been riding a
bit of a low. There are a lot of
personal things that are not quite falling into place right now. One of which has been the fact that I felt
like my body was letting me down again.
Pre-race, Teresa was really straightforward about how well I could do in
this marathon. No, it wasn’t what I’d
been hoping for when I signed up for the race last year but it was better than I was
expecting given how much mileage I’d recently dropped due to my foot/ankle
issues. Not to mention, I spent
January/February attempting “life balance” (i.e. more social time), which
really only left ½ of February, all of March, and ½ of April for training. Though I wasn’t sure I could ‘stop’ running
if my ankle, foot, or knee acted up to the point of injury, I did decide to at
least toe to the line for this race – though even that decision was a bit
ho-hum.
The big game-changer for my mindset pre-race was actually
attending a talk by bada$$, Lauren Fleshman.
Nothing she said was rocket science (says the aerospace engineer ;-) but
it was her passion and her honesty that made EVERYTHING she said hit home.
 |
| Lauren Fleshman, answering questions for the crowd. |
Even knowing what my data predicted (the
not-horrible (in my mind) finish time T had mentioned), there was a ‘mystery’
column that represented ME and my essence.
As much as I hate the term ‘tenacious’, that is what is in my
essence. I hadn’t quite latched onto the
term because I have a deep-rooted aversion to it (ask me about it some time –
it’s both silly and fascinating), but I am made of tuff stuff – not the weak
sauce that my poor kinematics/build had been showcasing lately. The other concept that set the foundation for
how my race would go was a story she mentioned that changed her race career for
the better. There is going to be some “lost
in translation” if I attempt to retell it, but the jist was that you have to
get out and risk everything to get what you want in life. You see that on signs all the time, but
again, the honesty in which LF told of her revelation struck a note with me.
The night before the race, I still didn’t have a mantra.
As for the logistics, JC and I woke up at 4am. I had a bagel and cream cheese and decided to
have one terrible hotel coffee as well.
We were out the door by 4:40am and to the shuttle pick-up location by
5:20am. Shuttles started a little late
(though the running crowd is no where near as ON THE FAWKING ball as the tri
crowd) around 5:40am. We were to race
start by 5:50am w/a fair amount of time to kill till the 7am race start. We hung out, sipped on water, and cursed
ourselves for not putting on an extra layer of clothing (we both had on light jackets but would've grabbed a puffy jacket layer if we had to do it again). Eventually, JC and I
went through the standard pre-race routine.
Final port-o-john stop, bag check, enter corals, and a gel 15 mins b4 race start. All of this was extremely well organized, which is was the theme for this years event (seriously - killer job, race staff!!).
There was moment of silence for Boston before the start. When the National Anthem played, I couldn’t help but shout out with pride
alongside so many others with the line “land of the free, and the home of the
brave” (ironic how terrorism drives home patriotism).
Unlike my normal strategy, I buried myself in the middle of
the pack to help slow my traditional “I HATE crowds”-induced too fast of a
start. Unfortunately, that brought no
peace. My HR was nearly 10bpm too high
for my pace. I slowed my pace alllllll
the way down to 10min miles but my HR didn’t get any lower. I struggled to find my rhythm. I struggled not to panic while thinking of how
far I had to go w/out a rhythm. I struggled not to
visualize my first horrible marathon.
My 5K split showed an average pace 9:50 min/mile.
It was around 3-miles that someone yelled
“unstoppable”. I was like, “yeah… unstoppable”. T was the person who first planted the seed
in my head back before my IM last year that I didn’t have to walk in a race (this STILL
sticks out in my head as a huge turning point in my ‘racing ‘ career). I decided that was true this race as well.
My HR was too high, but I didn’t feel like I was working too
hard...so I just went w/it. I just ‘ran’
and knew it was worth the risk. Gel’s at 35min, 1:10, 1:40 - water at every
aid station. The weather stayed
overcast and I was happy for that.
My 10K split brought my average pace down to 9:42.
Through the half marathon point, I just tried to breathe
deep – something I haven’t done enough of lately.
I rejoiced when the halfers split from our course at mile
10. The crowd thinned down to just a
trickle of runners and I was able to fully retreat into my head, where I do my
best work.
My half marathon split stayed steady and kept my avg pace
right at 9:42.
At mile 16, I had flashbacks to my first marathon, when my
stomach started to cramp so painfully.
All was fine this time around. At
mile 18, where I nearly blacked out in my first marathon, I remembered how
defeated I felt. I was fine this time around. Heck, I decided I was more than fine and
really found my groove. I would pick out
ladies that had a pace slightly faster than mine and I would run just behind
them till they fell off…and I would pick a new set, catch them, and do the
same. I averaged 9:23 min miles till mile 21.
Somewhere in here I started pouring water over my head as well.
By my mile 20 split, I had brought my average race pace down
to 9:37.
Unfortunately, mile 21 had been a HUGE goal in my head. The type where you think you can do anything
if you make it to this point – just 5.2miles to go! I. Felt. Unstoppable! This resulted in an 8:59 min mile, which
brought me to my peak HR for the day and was my undoing.
In my marathon confusion, I brought my gels back to the ½
hour mark. Gels at 2:05, 2:30, 3:00, and my last one at 3:25. I still took water at every aid station but I
also took Gatorade AND threw a cup of water over my head.
By mile 23, I felt like death. I had to chant “unstoppable” to myself over
and over to keep moving. Despite feeling
horrid, I kept picking people off. Mile
23 was still a 9:23 and mile 24 somehow fell out as 9:28.
Mile 25 and 26 were the worst in the entire course. The sun was full on, the day had finally
heated up, the air was not moving, and there were so many people walking. Walking looked wonderful.
Unstoppable.
My pace fell back to a 9:47 min mile, then a 9:53 min mile -
but I kept running. I thought of our
team and how I didn’t want anyone to think I was weak. I thought back to my first marathon and how I
wanted to obliterate that memory from my mind.
I thought of sitting down on the side of Rainier just 400 vertical feet
from summit after I’d heaved my guts out for the second time.
Unstoppable.
Mile 26 jumped out at me.
People had been telling me just a ¼ mile till the finish but I called
them all ‘big fatty liar pants’ in my head till I saw the 26 mile sign. I wanted to sprint but my stomach wanted to
heave, so I just picked up my legs more.
Coming through the stadium was v.v.neat. At my pace for a marathon, there’s only a
trickle of people coming to the finish. I felt like I had the arch all to
myself so I threw one hand up w/the peace sign and put my right hand over my
heart for Boston. If my
first IM finishpicture is any omen for how this one turned out…well, at least it felt “right”.
 |
Not as bad as I was expecting...
but I totally don't remember taking this pose after crossing the line.. |
My final race time was 4:11:21 and I managed to bring my
overall race pace down to 9:36.
[
Garmin File]
 |
Shot of Crossing the Finish Line
Image Purchased from 'Action Sports Images' |
The Aftermath
My tenacity was not laid to rest right after the race. I cut immediately to the medical tent and acquired
two ice bags. One was quickly wrapped to
my right ankle/foot – the other bag I put over my right knee. They hadn’t felt bad on this day, but I have
a long 2013 ahead of me. I sat w/them in
place for 15mins and chugged water. Just in case she stumbles on this post, the
nurse in-training who helped me was v.nice - thank you for chatting w/me!
After this I started to think of my IM Canada conclusion –
the lesser-known version. After my IM
Canada, I felt like I was high on my migraine meds. Whereas drunk me will talk your ear off and
says ‘yes’ to any adventure, the version of me on my migraine meds says ‘no’ to
everything but is otherwise overwhelmed/silent. After my IM, I didn’t want pizza and
coke…but I didn’t tell people what I did want - so I just didn’t
eat. This resulted in my puking
uncontrollably. Since I still see this
as a zero hour fail, I determinedly got up and headed to the food area. Everything was so well organized and racers
were sitting on the ground close enough to make several trips to the food
area. We were allowed to eat at our own
pace, stretch and get back up to eat more.
There was no one yelling at us to move on and I wasn’t immediately enveloped
by well-wishers (after so many hours in my own head, I always feel so
overwhelmed at a finish line). I had
found post-marathon heaven, which was confirmed when I realized they had
tangerines (oranges and grapes are some of the only foods I can handle just
after a race outside of sports type drinks).
I snagged 5-tangerines and found my own area for peace. I rotated the ice bags, forced down the fruit
and officially felt like like I. Done.
Good.
After this, I braved the crowds to search for Joey…he
actually found me when I went to get my gear check bag and warm clothing. I stopped in a port-o-john to change out of
my drenched clothing and into my blissfully dry warm-ups (again, I felt like I
was SO winning).
One key I don’t mention above that needs to be addressed is
that my HR was OFF the charts during my race. The weeks leading up to this race had made me
a big ball of stress and race day was warmer than I was used to, but I am still
surprised my HR was 10bpm higher from the get-go. When I just switched to running in what felt
‘right’ my HR was actually up in my Z4.
By mile 21, my HR was over my Z4 max by 5bpm (my max HR of the day was
actually over my Z4 max by 8bpm). I
sustained low Z5/high Z4 for the last 10-miles of this race. I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed of
how out of hand I let my HR get – I’m more just mystified as to the fact that I
was able to pull this off.
In the end, I’m very proud of how this marathon fell
out. Even if I don't consider myself to beone of the genetically
blessed (kona-bound type) athletes out there, I am extremely grateful to be using this body to it’s
full potential. I’m also beyond thankful
for my
coach for getting me to this start line when I felt like one bad day
away from giving this lifestyle up. And, I'm always grateful for the
triathlon team I look forward to seeing every weekend. Mantras
and belief in a ‘mystery column’ are both powerful lessons I plan on
carrying with me from here on out.
Till next time,
Love,
This Little Engineer
 |
| Traditional Post-Race Meal, Chipotle!! |
