On Saturday night, after watching some inspirational
youtubes and reading some quotes to motivate me, I turned the light off and
closed my eyes around 10:00pm. I am not
one to have a restless night of sleep the night before a race, but Saturday
night was painful. I feel like I was
looking at the clock every hour until my alarm finally went off at 4:30am. After my usual race morning breakfast (wasas
w/ PB, honey, banana, and granola with a glass of water and coffee) and visiting
with my dad and Anthony (and getting lots of doggie kisses), we were in the car
headed downtown. I sipped on OSMO
Pre-load and jammed to some good music.
We arrived downtown around 6:15.
I was happy to have Anthony with me keeping me calm and making me
laugh.
We walked around a bit and took some pictures – it was nice
to be in familiar territory, I love Cleveland.
Around 6:45 or 6:50, I put my fuel belt on (which had two 10oz bottles
each with about 4.5 oz - 250calories - of INFINIT Napalm, topped off with H20). As I waited in my corral, I went over my race plan in my head.
The marathon, half marathon and 10k all started at the same time so I
knew a lot of people were going to be passing me (including the 3:25 and 3:30
marathon pacers) and I reminded myself that this was OK! I ran 100% by feel for the first mile or so, only
peeking at my watch to make sure the crowd of runners wasn’t causing me to go
out too fast. I am a fast finisher, not
a fast starter and I didn’t want to ruin my race because I got caught up in the
moment.
Miles 1-6 were great.
My watch had me averaging between 8:05 and 8:10 pretty much the entire
time. I felt spot on. My plan was to try to hold that pace until
the half way point and then pick it up to try to average closer to 7:40-7:50
for the latter half of the race. Aside
from the first water station I walked through them all, splashing water on
myself and then having a cup to drink.
Miles 6-13: By the half way point, my pace was still spot on - average pace was down to ~8:02 - 8:05/mi. I was feeling good about my plan and started
trying to pick up the pace a bit. No
problems! WOO HOO! I was definitely on track for a BQ and a PR. Life is good.
I kept thinking “Man, I love this distance.” Still walking through water stations as
planned. I was drenching myself in water
at each aid station at this point because the heat and humidity were coming on
strong.
Mile 13-16: The plan was still on track and I was feeling
good! My nutrition was spot on – a big
gulp of napalm every 15-20minutes and the heat and humidity didn’t seem to be
getting to me too much as long as I stayed up on my nutrition and continued my aid station strategy.
Approaching mile 17… my calf tried to cramp. I said no.
I started taking sports drink at the aid stations on top of H20 and my
nutrition in hopes that would prevent any more cramping. I assumed it was due to the heat. I continued chugging along.
Mile 17.5… I had a cheering section, yay! What a great pick me up after my first little
bit of pain.
Miles 17.5-22… UGH.
MY QUADS!! OUCH!! The cramping was full on. When I was running, it was at a decent clip,
but I had to stop a few times to walk and rub out my quads. Holy moly I’ve never had quad cramps –
yikes! I looked at my wrist and my hand
– I had two mantras. #1 was simple
“ATTITUDE” #2 was profound: “Just when
you want to give up, you are about to have a breakthrough.” Just the pick-me-up I needed. I continued on, but my average pace continued
to slow as I had to walk to rub out my quads.
Miles 22-24 I was really struggling physically, but mentally
I was just so grateful. Even through the
pain of the cramps, I was just thinking about how much I LOVE this
distance. I saw my PR slowly slipping
away. I hated that. I tried to run faster when I was running, but
the cramps kept coming back causing me to take more frequent short walk breaks. I gave myself a bit of a longer walk break
and really tried to rub out the cramps to see if I could just finish without
any more walking. My avg pace was no longer on track for a PR or a BQ. That’s ok, I thought. This has been an amazing day.
Miles 24-26 I pushed these as hard as I could. In the last two miles, two women who looked
so incredibly strong passed me as they ran to the finish. I love seeing strong women succeed in sport! At this point, part of me was upset, I was supposed to be
done by now, I was supposed to be passing people. But, part of me was just so grateful
that this is how my journey was ending. I didn’t BQ or PR. What I did do was learn that my body is
strong and resilient. My mind is even
stronger. I did not give up at any
point. I pushed hard through cramps that
would have sidelined many runners. I
smiled while I did it. I encouraged
others to find that strength to finish strong.
I fell deeper in love with 26.2 miles.
Miles 26-26.2 I saw Anthony cheering me into the finish and
yelling “YOU LOOK STRONG!” I finished
strong. I finished with a smile. I finished proud. I finished in 3:38:12. Then I had a beer (ok, I had three...they had Great Lakes on tap at the finish!).
At that start line of a marathon, you don’t know what the day is going to
present you with. You can train for a
3:25 marathon and run a 3:38 like I did.
Or you can train for a 3:35 marathon and run a 3:25. What I do know, is that I felt smarter, more
confident, and more capable running this race than I have ever felt. I can’t control whether my quads are going to
cramp, I can just do everything in my power to avoid that. So regardless of time, the Cleveland marathon
was a huge success because: a) I started which was questionable (see my previous blog) b) I stayed so mentally strong through all 26.2 miles and c) I could really taste that 3:25 finish. I ran smart and I felt strong. For me, that time on the clock is so much
less important than the mental breakthrough(s) that happened along that
course.
So, after 10 days of NO RUNNING, I will ease back into
training for the summer. I have plans to
race in a sprint tri in June and the Cleveland Olympic Tri in July, but the
real goal for this year has not changed.
I am ready to get after it and run another 26.2 for a PR and a BQ. So on Saturday, September 12, I will chase my
dreams again as I run the Abebe Bikila Day International Peace Marathon on the
C&O Towpath.
Never stop believing in yourself. Never stop chasing your dreams. And most importantly, never stop learning. Every time life knocks me down, I get up so
much stronger and smarter. The lessons I
learned training for and running the Cleveland marathon will stick with me
forever. Thank you body. Life is good.
Thank you to my family and support system - it was so special having all of you out there cheering! Mom, Dad, Mama Nelson & Bill, Aunt Sue, Grandma & Grandpa Amato, John H, and of course my amazing Coach/Hubby!!!
Thank you to my family and support system - it was so special having all of you out there cheering! Mom, Dad, Mama Nelson & Bill, Aunt Sue, Grandma & Grandpa Amato, John H, and of course my amazing Coach/Hubby!!!
Post Race Happiness