The week leading up to the marathon: I can eat whatever I want. I love both the taper and the carbo-loading. I miss coffee and several other foods that I eliminated from my diet.
Friday before race day - Dad came into town. Welcome to Minnesota and the best weather in the world. Friday was also race expo day.
Saturday - my day of rest. I had my pooky bear and Eric over for a pre-race pastafest (thanks Pooky Bear, for that word). Eric and Dad planned their cheering itinerary. I went to bed around 10pm.
Sunday morning, 5:20am - I am so happy I bought this sunrise alarm clock. I woke up and had a pre-race breakfast of yogurt mixed with a banana and some chocolate chips.
6:00am - Eric and Kalina came to get me. We parked at the light rail and took the train to the dome.
At the dome - Wow! there are a lot of people here. I found a bathroom that didn't have lines a mile long. Eventually I found the St Paul runners although I was baffled by the whole 'upper level' and 'lower level' entrances for a while.
On the way to the start line - "Liz, you don't have to pee, it's just nerves." Lies! And I know because I held it for 26.2 miles.
Starting gun - No freaking way is this pacer running a 12:36 mile (as the 5:30:00 pacer should be). The pacer took off like a rocket. It wasn't long after that I learned she was completely nuts and wouldn't be running even splits. (Even though that's what the website and race information promised.) We ran, we walked, we sang. Seriously, nuts. Here's how my Nike+ thing recorded my pace. (Ignore that part at the very beginning, I had to start it before I actually started running.) You can see how she would walk and then run all the freaking time. (Higher on the graph means faster, not up hill. Lower on the graph means slower.)
Mile 2 - I saw a former field instructor who promised to be out and cheering. The runners were still packed together at this point. I love all the people out here.
Miles - well, the first hill and the roads to Lake of the Isles are blur. Lake of the Isles was nowhere near as awful as it has been on my training runs.
Lake Calhoun was a blast with a particularly good water stop. I don't remember what made it so good, I just remember that I liked it. My friend Jenna was at Lake Calhoun and took my sweaty headband. Win for Jenna for being an awesome friend. Fail for me because I should've kept it.
Lake Harriet - all I remember is some guy saying "bike for sale" and our whole pace group thought it was hilarious.
The Parkway - First I saw a guy I work with who cheered for us. Then we went up this monstrous hill. It wasn't big, it was just bigger than it should have been. (Has it always been that much of a pain to get to Lyndale Ave? I don't think so.)
Second I saw Cheryl and her dog. Thanks for coming!
Third I saw Dad and Eric for the first time. The whole pace group waved.
Cedar Ave - I love Cedar Ave. This is where they started handing out Vaseline. Serious.
Lake Nokomis - My happy place is now the pit of despair. Oh, what? That crazy pacer is running like a 10:00 mile. No wonder I want to die. We did stop and walk a while here and then I felt much better. I saw Eric and Dad a second time just after half way. Dad got my awesome arm warmers at this point too.
Back on the Parkway - I love it here. We went through a couple of water stops that didn't have Powerade; just water. For the first 9 miles I had a serving of chomps every 3 miles. After that, I decided to eat when I was hungry so I got a little sporadic in here. I wanted the PowerAde more than I wanted food.
Mile 17 - Yeah for Bolder Options and their Gu station.
Lake Street - Why is this little hill so damn big?
Still on the Parkway - That bridge has got to be around here somewhere.
On the other side of the bridge, still on the Parkway - Our assistant director and her son came out to cheer for me. And waited 'till my slow ass got there. And had a banana for me. I feel like a million dollars!
Approaching Marshall Ave - Pit of despair. That 'wall' is not funny.
Up the hill we go - I made it up the hill to Cretin, still close to the pace group but sort of falling behind. I decided at this point that I wanted to run my race and not run the crazy pacer's race. At mile 21.5, sort of a flat in between the Parkway hill and the Summit Ave hill, I saw Dad and Eric cheering for the last time 'till I got to the finish.
I started walking once I was physically on Summit. Thank goodness I can walk quickly. Power walking needs to play a bigger role in my race training in the future. I met a girl named Sam who looked like she was hurting pretty bad. She walked with me for a while and the we ran/walked together some too.
Snelling Ave - Not the top of the hill. My stomach hurts so bad right now.
Hamline Ave - All I heard was "Move Lizzie!" Thanks, Amanda, for cheering me on. I swear, she had a whole goodie bag but the only thing I took was water. You are so lucky I didn't just take the bottle with me. Also, Amanda snapped what is so far my favorite race picture just before mile 24.
Lexington Ave and Summit - Ok, I'll run to the water stop. Then I have to run 'till I see Chris. I did run 'till I saw Chris, boss number two cheering for me on this route. Hilariously she didn't recognize me 'till I called her. My name is literally written on my shirt in big black letters. Chris walked with me for a while too.
Dale and Summit - Why is there another hill?
Around the corner - Liar! It's not all down hill from here. I was right too. I know that literally right before the cathedral there's a little hill. But at mile 25.7, it's the biggest hill ever.
Cathedral - Best sight ever.
Down the hill to the finish - I felt like I was running really fast. I kind of gunned it home. Best feeling in the world. I think you can watch it here. I felt like I was gunning it; it's not that impressive in the video. That's a long finish line too, with tons of people cheering.
At the finish line - I want someone to hug! No, wait, I want my medal, then I want someone to hug!
After the race - As I alluded to, immodium did prevent any delays in the race but even half a dose caused crazy stomach cramps and I couldn't really eat the rest of the day.
When I woke up the day after - I cannot move.
Other thoughts:
- This is the first year I trained without Gatorade. In retrospect, a sports drink on long runs may have helped alleviate some of my, um, symptoms.
- I still want to run a marathon without stopping for walks.
- Marathon's are a long race.
- I am much skinnier than last year when I did this.
- Perhaps I need to run without pharmaceutical intervention in the future. I couldn't eat after the race because my stomach was so upset. That was the drugs, I assure you, because I didn't feel like this last year.
- Muscle relaxers were part of my recovery strategy last year. I wish I still had them.
- Waaaaaay more 5:30:00 runners in the USA than in Amsterdam. So much fun to be out there with everyone.
- Being with a pace group lent a lot of legitimacy to my speed.
- Half marathons are too short. Full marathons are way the hell too long.
- The way to cheer on runners at multiple spots for Twin Cities is definitely on a bike; driving and parking along the course apparently sucks.
- I'm not planning on taking a month off like last year.
- I'm not sure I'm going to be able to move at Team:Work's run tomorrow. Uh oh.
- I took it as a good sign that I could come home and look at 'speed and endurance' workouts for runners and not want to die.
Future goals:
I really would like to run a marathon without stopping. But maybe next year I can have some time off from marathons. After the crazy-pacer, I realize it's even more crucial that I run my own race. I need to be somewhat ahead of the total back of the race pack or I get kind of panicky. An 11:45 to 12:00 mile would be ok, a 12:30 is not. So to set my own pace and run my own race, I need to be able to move a little faster than I do now.
My current goals are going to involve a lot of speed, hills, and improved pacing. I'm thinking about the next races already, to improve my speed. On the list of possibilities is the Securian Frozen Half (I cheered for it this year), the Flying Pig Half (which I will almost surely run), and City of Lakes 25k looks like a good A-Race for next year. Nothing is for sure until I'm financially committed.
My next race: The Dreidel Dash with Team:Work. Duh.
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