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| One of my Goals was to Smile at least once every Mile! |
Exactly a month and two days ago I completed my first marathon at Grandma’s
Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. It was amazing to represent Saucony and wear products that I love and truly believe in at this premier event. I think more accurately though I raced my first
marathon. Finishing was never one of my fears. I knew I could crawl to the end
if I had to. My biggest concern was running what I deemed a decent time and competing
against the other women in the race. What I deemed a decent time changed from
when I first discussed my marathon goals with my coach to what we discussed in
the middle of training and finally what we decided was reasonable in the weeks
before. Originally I had an ultimate goal of 2:43 a realistic goal of 2:46 or
so and a minimal goal of breaking 2:50. By the morning of the race the ultimate
goal was to break 2:50 and I was determined to be happy if I made it.
Seeing the clock with a 1.2miles to go at the 25 Mile marker I tried to
smile as I knew I could break 2:50. The pain in my quads was killing me, but by
the grimaces in my finishing photos I know I gave everything I had that day finishing in 2:49:25.
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| Fueling! |
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| Before the race when I could walk with ease! |
My splits reveal how I "raced" rather than ran this marathon. You
can see where my splits drop under 6:20 pace right after I decided I had been
running with a group that had settled on too slow of a pace or someone passed
me that I thought I should go run with. Putting those surges in at the time
seemed like a great idea. Why? Well I felt fine at 10 miles, 12miles, 13miles,
15miles, 16miles, and even 19miles, but I agree with my coach that those cost
me a faster time in the end. I still have a lot to learn about even pacing in
marathon racing and training.
Mile
|
Mile Splits
|
|
1
|
6:12
|
|
2
|
6:16
|
|
3
|
6:11
|
|
4
|
6:22
|
|
5
|
6:21
|
|
6
|
6:13
|
|
7
|
6:18
|
|
8
|
6:23
|
|
9
|
6:25
|
|
10
|
6:14
|
Surge
|
11
|
6:27
|
|
12
|
6:15
|
Surge
|
13
|
6:15
|
|
14
|
6:24
|
|
15
|
6:19
|
Surge
|
16
|
6:13
|
Surge
|
17
|
6:33
|
|
18
|
6:31
|
|
19
|
6:19
|
Surge
|
20
|
6:40
|
|
21
|
6:45
|
|
22
|
6:39
|
|
23
|
6:53
|
|
24
|
6:49
|
|
25
|
6:35
|
|
26
|
6:29
|
|
.2
|
(6:23pace last .39 on Garmin)
|
|
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| Post race with my awesome mom, Polly! |
The ultimate goal is still to break 2:43 and run the Olympic Trails B
Qualifying standard, but until then I am focused on making myself more prepared
for the next marathon cycle. This fall my top priority as always in my
athletes. I am really excited about the returners and newcomers we have and I
am ready to be in full "Cross Country mode." So in tune with that my
fun/big race this semester is the USATF Club Cross Country Championships in
December. I will be focusing on 5k, 10k, and half marathon training this fall
as I put in the best consistent weeks of training that I can and I am excited
for how those weeks will help me in the spring.
I foolishly ran a July 4
th 5k which prolonged my recovery, but
the past week I finally felt “Normal” again so I’m excited to be getting my
mileage back into the 60s this week.
