I completed my second marathon in five years this past weekend in Tucson. I’ve been asked by many of my mountain biking cohorts and others “why a marathon?” Well, I’ve always enjoyed running and, after coming close in my first marathon, have long had the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Especially after seeing my mom qualify and go! Last year my mom and I decided to train for the Tucson Marathon with the goal of qualifying together. Unfortunately, I tried to do too many miles too quickly and ended up getting hurt and not able to do the race. I vowed to try again the following year!

So as my mountain biking season began to wind down, I plotted my marathon and Boston Qualification attempt. Not wanting to get injured again, I decided to just run 3-4 days a week and cross train the other days. I got most of my long runs in-some felt better than others, but I was healthy through them all. A month out, I decided to go for it and registered for the Tucson race. I was able to talk my mom into coming with me for support and company-which was awesome.

The week before the race, I started to get a tickle in the back of my throat… the tickle turned into a really ugly head and chest cold that kept me home from work for two days. I was still planning on racing though…I didn’t spend hours running by myself every weekend for nothing! Saturday by the time we got to our hotel, I was in bad shape. I don’t know if it was flying, or just congestion or what, but I had one of the worst headaches I’ve ever had and was feeling pretty nauseous. We decided to try and take a little nap and see if I woke up feeling better. I didn’t….instead I threw up. As my mom rubbed my back to comfort me as only moms can do, she offered me some words of encouragement “Well, it’s not optimal”. I just had to laugh. No, it wasn’t optimal! She talked me into putting my shoes on and trying to do a short run, and assured me I’d feel better. She was right- I didn’t feel great, but better than I was expecting!

Race morning, alarm went off at 4:30. My mom got up with me as I quickly got my stuff together and headed to the hotel lobby for breakfast. I ate my usual pre-race bowl of oatmeal with nuts, dried fruit, and honey while waiting for the last shuttle bus. The earlier shuttle buses had been large, comfy tour buses. Our bus drives up and it’s a school bus. My mom assured me this was a good omen as the Boston marathon uses school buses to shuttle the runners. 🙂 Before the bus left, I gave my mom my asthma inhaler and a quick hug.

The bus gets me to the start about an hour early. I used the bathroom a few times, got my watch set, stretched, blew my nose…decided to bring kleenex with me just in case. Due to the hot weather forecast (high of 81) and the unfamiliar race course drink mix, I decided to wear my running hip pack. I packed it full with extra sodium clif shot blocks, some salt tabs, some kleenex, an emergency immodium, an espresso clif shot, my ipod, and a large water bottle with my mix! Yeah, it was pretty heavy but I wasn’t taking any chances with dehydration or cramping issues. My strategy, given my less than optimal condition, is to run the first half conservatively in ~8:30min/miles and at the halfway point, pick it up to 8:20’s. I’d need to average 8:24 to safely get the 3:40 Boston qualifying time.

Start here!The gun went off, and we all surged forward. People started out pretty quick, and I had to focus on going a bit slower. I was pleased with how good I was feeling, but didn’t want to push my luck-lots can happen in 26 miles. At mile 5 or so, the bloated, sloshy feeling in my stomach forced me to take a quick bathroom stop. At least I was hydrated! The race course was mostly downhill with some hills at miles 10-13 and at mile 24-25. It was a very scenic route, and I enjoyed the desert vistas. Miles 10 through 13 were pretty tough, the hills weren’t easy and I was really nervous about blowing up so tried to keep my heart rate below my threshold. That meant I ended up doing a few ~9 minute miles. Oops. After mile 13, I picked it up and tried to hold 8:20s. It’s a good thing I brought those kleenex, because I had so much snot coming out of my nose my farmer’s blows weren’t doing the trick. People were definitely avoiding me because I was a blowing, spitting, coughing mess. Sorry!

At mile 16 I started having a harder time breathing, I wasn’t able to cough up the mucus that was rattling in my lungs and was starting to have some asthma issues. My quads were also starting to talk to me. My stomach was being a bit grumpy, so I decided to take my emergency Immodium. As I approached mile 19, there was my mom with her bright pink shirt waiting for me. Man, I was relieved to see her! I gave her the signal for my inhaler and she had it ready for me. She also traded a full bottle for my empty one. All right, now I was back in business;) My average pace was hovering around 8:27 which wasn’t going to cut it, so I picked it up a bit more. My quads were very displeased. I was able to do about 8:10s for the next few miles and my average pace moved down to 8:25. Yikes, too close! I knew there was a big hill coming so I picked up the pace to about 8:00…my Garmin clicked to 8:24 for average pace. Nice! But then I saw people walking up the hill that climbed up around the bend and out of view. Ok, this hill was twice as steep and long as I was expecting. I went as fast as I could up that stupid thing, but that wasn’t fast enough. My average pace jumped up to 8:26. Shit. Finally with one mile left to go, I had crested the hill and was trying to go as fast I could. I realized I was going to be really, really close, and the realization that I would closely miss out on qualifying again hit me. As I came within 600 meters of the finish, my mom was there. She was yelling at me that I could do it, it was close, but I HAD to go faster! I willed my legs to go faster and literally felt like they might fall off. I crossed the line and saw 3:41 something. Shit, shit, shit, shit! But then I looked at my watch which said 3:40:45. I knew I had to be under 3:40:59 to qualify. Shit. When my mom found me I was tearful with disappointment, and cringing in pain from my quads which decided to seize up. I also had to use the bathroom immediately-good thing I took that immodium which got me thru the race! As I came back from the bathroom, my mom greeted me with the news that my official race time was 3:40:46-A Boston Qualifier according to their current standards! I just hope they don’t change their standards for next year!!
So, in hindsight there are a few things I’d do differently. First, I don’t think 11 weeks was enough time to train for a marathon, or at least not for the time goal I had. I also think more than 3-4 runs a week would’ve been good. I got sick twice during my training, which is a lot for me, and I think could have been prevented if I’d have been more diligent about recovery and sleep. During the race, I feel like I could have gone a little bit harder during the first half of the race. But, that’s always a tough balance. Definitely was disappointed with the few 9 min/miles I did-should’ve gone faster for those. Otherwise, I feel very fortunate to have done as well as I did given how crappy I felt the day before. I wouldn’t have been able to pull it together without the help of my mom. She was really, really awesome. Thanks Mom!!

Running a marathon is such a different type of challenge than bike racing. I love mountain biking more than any other sport, but I also love the simplicity of running. And, since this marathon left me relatively unscathed-save for my two big toenails (RIP), I think I’d like to do a few more!