In the few days leading up to Sunmart, it was like I was having déjà vu all over again. Forecasts were 
predicting record highs for race day, just like Chicago had been. The last two years that I have done the race, the temps were in the 30s at the start and did not warm much from there. This year, however, it would be over 70 at the start and would quickly rise to a record high of 82, with 80-90% humidity. Despite the lovely outlook, I was still excited.
Robert, Shawn, and I all met up at Ruthie’s house early Saturday morning and rode up to Huntsville together.
We were questioning why in the world we were going, with the weather so bad, but then all decided we were going because we knew other people were going and we don’t like to miss out on things, however bad they may end up. We quickly found our Houston Fit group as well as a few people from Houston Racing. Turns out we had a pretty big group. Sissy, a friend who is doing IMAZ with us next April was also there. I talked her into the race two weeks earlier. She asked if it was ok to walk a lot if she had to, since her long run so far this season has only been 15 miles and I told her plenty people walk. She said “ok, sounds cool. I’ll sign up!” She’s my kind of girl! (She’s also my hero as a mother of five and one hell of a triathlete). Caitlin’s husband Peter was doing the 50 miler, so she was there to watch as well. It was fun having one of my oldest friends there. I saw Peter run by as the 50 milers started about 30 minutes before our race did, and was glad it was him, not me, heading out for 50 miles!
The 50k race course is composed of one 10k out and back and then two 20k loops, so you come back to the start/finish area at 10k and
30k before finishing, which is very nice. The 20k loops also begin and end on the same trail so there is an out and back there, and there is another ~3 mile out and back during the first half of the big loop, so you get to cross paths with people all the time.
Loop 1: 10k
Karen, Charmaine, Alaina, and I all lined up together and the race was off. Sissy was close by as well, but I knew she is a faster runner than I am so I kept trying to encourage her to go ahead before we got on the trail. The race starts off on about a mile of paved road and then goes directly into an out and back on a single-track trail. So, basically whatever order you enter the woods in is the order you will be in for the first 10k section. I was telling Sissy to go ahead because she’d get stuck with us slow people if she didn’t, but she stuck around. The first 10k is neat because you get to see every person (all ~600 of them) in the entire race. Once I got into the woods I knew I hadn’t put myself up far enough in the crowd during the first mile. It is really hard to gauge where you want to be, but apparently I didn’t pick the best spot. I started getting frustrated after a while because there was a big gap about 10 people ahead of me. I knew if I wanted to make any moves at all that I had to do it before the leaders started coming back because there wouldn’t be any room to move after that. So I finally went ahead and then settled into a much nicer pace. I turned around and Sissy was right with me. I kept wondering when she was going to go ahead. The lead guy came back not long after I passed mile 2 and it was really fun to watch all the people come back. There was a woman that was the 3rd or 4th person back, but I have no idea if she kept that position through the rest of the race.
The rest of the first 10k was uneventful. I was thankful though that it didn’t seem nearly as hot as it could. I guess the woods really did help shield us from all the heat. It didn’t protect us as much from the humidity though! I was soaking wet about a mile into the race. I saw that Tammy and Blake were just ahead of me and that Karen, Charmaine, and Alaina were just behind me. I made sure to yell at Caitlin when I came back into the start/finish area because I was worried she was going to be super bored throughout the day!
Time: 1:10 (10 minutes faster than last year)
Loop 2: 20k
After a quick change of hand-held bottles, we were ready to head back out. Sissy was still with me, although I kept expecting her to surge ahead at any point. It was nice having a new person with me so I could tell her about what was to come and talk about doing it the past 2 years. The whole day felt surreal though because it was so hot as opposed to the cold temps we had had there in the past. It was a great day for spectators though. The loop was pretty uneventful and once again very fun to see all the people on the short out and back that was part of this loop. I’m a social racer, so it works out great when I can see people heading in the opposite direction. You also get to keep check on all of your running buddies to make sure everyone is doing ok. The temps still weren’t that bad on this loop and I remained thankful for that. I told Sissy that she could go ahead after the first long loop if she wanted, because I know she is a faster runner than I am. She kept telling me the same thing though, that I could totally run my own race.
Just over 9 miles into the loop I saw Jen standing by the trail. She has been injured, but came out to run a few miles with different people. She jumped in and ran back to the start with us which was great. Fresh blood is always good, although I still felt awesome. We hit the last aid station and I ended up speeding up a bit for the 2.79 miles to the start area. Sissy and Jen were laughing at my increase in pace. I said I could smell the barn, but they reminded me that I had to run another 20k before I was allowed to really smell the barn!
Time: 2:35 (25 minutes faster than last year)
Loop 3: 20k
I was still shocked at how well I felt and how well I was doing. I didn’t necessarily have any sort of strategy, other than to just hold on as long as I could. I was still under a 12:00 min/mile pace by this point which was just awesome. I was a bit apprehensive thinking about what these last 12.4 miles would bring, but still optimistic. I knew I would still do better than the past even if I had to walk the entire last loop. Sissy and I kept each other company and continued to have a great time. On this loop I started changing the rules a bit, to keep things “exciting.” The only rule through the whole race was to walk the up-hills, but my definition of a hill changes drastically over the course of the race. One new rule after a while was to walk on the wood plank bridges as well, for fear I’d do something stupid and fall off. After we did the out and back on the second loop we had less than 8 miles to go and I just felt awesome. Ok, well I hurt, and lots of things hurt, but it was all a
“good” hurt and I knew I could keep going. I had never held it together this long in any race…ever. Sissy and I were not passed by a single person in the last 8 miles and were some of the only people still running. We started passing people that were at one point 3-4 miles ahead of us. I’m always the one getting passed, not doing the passing, so this was a whole new feeling for me. Every time I saw Ruthie (my trainer and a way faster runner than me), she was shocked to see me fairly close behind her. She was very encouraging and happy to see me doing so well (well, except for the one time I passed her and just got a grunt). The run was still pretty uneventful and Sissy and I were totally content just talking away to pass the time. The forever long 3.22 mile stretch without an aid station was forever long as always, but didn’t seem as bad as in the past. We were still running the flats and down-hills and walking the up-hills. Even at this point I could still run as long as I needed to. I was able to let the terrain dictate my pace instead of my body. At this point last year I could not run more than 2-3 minutes at a time and the year before I had walked the entire last loop. I had a few goals in my head but didn’t want to start doing the math until 6-8 miles from the end. My goals were looking more and more attainable as we went along. At one point, just past mile 25, I told Sissy we were going for 6:48 (an hour faster than last year). I said it out loud, with confidence. We made it up to the last aid station around 5:56 or so. I would have loved to say we could have run the last 2.8 in 34 minutes to make a 6:30, but the last miles are more up than down and I knew that would probably be asking a tiny bit too much. I was super excited leaving that station and told Sissy that this is where the fun begins. I also thanked her for sticking with me and told her there wasn’t any way I would have been doing nearly as well without her there. I reduced our goal from 6:48 to 6:35-6:40, and again announced it, as if that would make it more attainable. After a mile or so we saw a guy go down right in front of us. I asked if he was ok and needed help and he said he was just cramping really bad. I just blurted out “do you need me to rub anything?” and he said no. Only at mile 29 of a race would something like that happen. I then felt a sense of urgency to get help for him. I knew we had less than a mile to where race personnel would be and charged off to get help. I was selfishly thinking at the same time that it couldn’t have happened at a better time because it really helped me speed up a bit. Then we hit a hill and I said he was going to have to wait, and slowed to a walk again. I had been heroic enough and didn’t think my butt could handle running up any more hills! Thankfully a mountain biker support guy was not far away at all and we sent him down. Sissy and I continued to pass people in the last mile and I was just so excited. We still walked the super big hill and I kept saying we were almost there when we weren’t. I felt bad every time I said “oh, this is it, this is the last clearing we go through” only to find I was wrong. I should have just kept my mouth shut. Finally we saw the last opening that runs about 1/3 of a mile or so and knew we were home free. We walked a short distance between 2 telephone poles to make sure we would look cool and be able to run the rest of the way to the finish line.
Once I hit the parking lots/pavements, I told Sissy “ok, here we go!!” and took off. The people cheering on were so awesome and encouraging. I had an awesome kick left in me and just felt great. I wanted to get rid of my water bottle and threw it off to Meghan - I think she caught it in mid air and I was impressed! I heard my Houston Fit group cheering and calling out my name and that just got me going even faster. I hear Ruthie yell for me and then I hear her say “Holy $hit Kathleen?!?!?” and I was so proud that I made her say that. We ended up finishing in 6:33, far faster than my wildest dreams. I had plugged a recent 25k trail race time into an online calculator and it said 6:30. I am never close to calculator times, so I didn’t expect that, especially considering the 25k was in 50 degree temps and it was over 80 for most of this race. Sissy and I hugged and took a few pictures together afterwards. She told me she didn’t know me well enough to cry in front of me or else she would have. I told her the hyperventilating thing she just heard me do was really crying, but still trying to catch my breath at the same time. I took 1:15 off my time from the year before, and 2:07 from the year before that (I guess you could say I had set the bar pretty low!).
Time: 2:48 (40 minutes faster than last year)
Total time: 6:33 (6/17 in age group, 64/248 women, 180/520 overall)
I am so thankful for the experience I had. Many of us were looking for some sort of redemption after the
Chicago Marathon and I think I found it yesterday; granted I still have big plans for the Houston Marathon (and PRAY this record heat thing ends in 2007). I said a few little prayers of thanks along the way for being able to be there in the first place, for my body doing what I asked of it, and for Sissy, my angel of the day. I needed a good long race to give me confidence in my training. I had an awesome 10k a few weeks ago, but it is hard to translate that distance to a marathon or longer, and it was also 42 degrees. The fact that I never hit a wall and that I was able to keep going with relative ease for an entire 31 miles is huge, and I realize that. I do see now that I am improving and that my hard work is paying off, not just in short races, or awesome weather, but in the long stuff, which is what I really care about.
Houston Marathon…here I come (I already started doing the cold front dance last night after the race).
predicting record highs for race day, just like Chicago had been. The last two years that I have done the race, the temps were in the 30s at the start and did not warm much from there. This year, however, it would be over 70 at the start and would quickly rise to a record high of 82, with 80-90% humidity. Despite the lovely outlook, I was still excited.Robert, Shawn, and I all met up at Ruthie’s house early Saturday morning and rode up to Huntsville together.
We were questioning why in the world we were going, with the weather so bad, but then all decided we were going because we knew other people were going and we don’t like to miss out on things, however bad they may end up. We quickly found our Houston Fit group as well as a few people from Houston Racing. Turns out we had a pretty big group. Sissy, a friend who is doing IMAZ with us next April was also there. I talked her into the race two weeks earlier. She asked if it was ok to walk a lot if she had to, since her long run so far this season has only been 15 miles and I told her plenty people walk. She said “ok, sounds cool. I’ll sign up!” She’s my kind of girl! (She’s also my hero as a mother of five and one hell of a triathlete). Caitlin’s husband Peter was doing the 50 miler, so she was there to watch as well. It was fun having one of my oldest friends there. I saw Peter run by as the 50 milers started about 30 minutes before our race did, and was glad it was him, not me, heading out for 50 miles!The 50k race course is composed of one 10k out and back and then two 20k loops, so you come back to the start/finish area at 10k and
30k before finishing, which is very nice. The 20k loops also begin and end on the same trail so there is an out and back there, and there is another ~3 mile out and back during the first half of the big loop, so you get to cross paths with people all the time.Loop 1: 10k
Karen, Charmaine, Alaina, and I all lined up together and the race was off. Sissy was close by as well, but I knew she is a faster runner than I am so I kept trying to encourage her to go ahead before we got on the trail. The race starts off on about a mile of paved road and then goes directly into an out and back on a single-track trail. So, basically whatever order you enter the woods in is the order you will be in for the first 10k section. I was telling Sissy to go ahead because she’d get stuck with us slow people if she didn’t, but she stuck around. The first 10k is neat because you get to see every person (all ~600 of them) in the entire race. Once I got into the woods I knew I hadn’t put myself up far enough in the crowd during the first mile. It is really hard to gauge where you want to be, but apparently I didn’t pick the best spot. I started getting frustrated after a while because there was a big gap about 10 people ahead of me. I knew if I wanted to make any moves at all that I had to do it before the leaders started coming back because there wouldn’t be any room to move after that. So I finally went ahead and then settled into a much nicer pace. I turned around and Sissy was right with me. I kept wondering when she was going to go ahead. The lead guy came back not long after I passed mile 2 and it was really fun to watch all the people come back. There was a woman that was the 3rd or 4th person back, but I have no idea if she kept that position through the rest of the race.
The rest of the first 10k was uneventful. I was thankful though that it didn’t seem nearly as hot as it could. I guess the woods really did help shield us from all the heat. It didn’t protect us as much from the humidity though! I was soaking wet about a mile into the race. I saw that Tammy and Blake were just ahead of me and that Karen, Charmaine, and Alaina were just behind me. I made sure to yell at Caitlin when I came back into the start/finish area because I was worried she was going to be super bored throughout the day!Time: 1:10 (10 minutes faster than last year)
Loop 2: 20k
After a quick change of hand-held bottles, we were ready to head back out. Sissy was still with me, although I kept expecting her to surge ahead at any point. It was nice having a new person with me so I could tell her about what was to come and talk about doing it the past 2 years. The whole day felt surreal though because it was so hot as opposed to the cold temps we had had there in the past. It was a great day for spectators though. The loop was pretty uneventful and once again very fun to see all the people on the short out and back that was part of this loop. I’m a social racer, so it works out great when I can see people heading in the opposite direction. You also get to keep check on all of your running buddies to make sure everyone is doing ok. The temps still weren’t that bad on this loop and I remained thankful for that. I told Sissy that she could go ahead after the first long loop if she wanted, because I know she is a faster runner than I am. She kept telling me the same thing though, that I could totally run my own race.
Just over 9 miles into the loop I saw Jen standing by the trail. She has been injured, but came out to run a few miles with different people. She jumped in and ran back to the start with us which was great. Fresh blood is always good, although I still felt awesome. We hit the last aid station and I ended up speeding up a bit for the 2.79 miles to the start area. Sissy and Jen were laughing at my increase in pace. I said I could smell the barn, but they reminded me that I had to run another 20k before I was allowed to really smell the barn!
Time: 2:35 (25 minutes faster than last year)
Loop 3: 20k
I was still shocked at how well I felt and how well I was doing. I didn’t necessarily have any sort of strategy, other than to just hold on as long as I could. I was still under a 12:00 min/mile pace by this point which was just awesome. I was a bit apprehensive thinking about what these last 12.4 miles would bring, but still optimistic. I knew I would still do better than the past even if I had to walk the entire last loop. Sissy and I kept each other company and continued to have a great time. On this loop I started changing the rules a bit, to keep things “exciting.” The only rule through the whole race was to walk the up-hills, but my definition of a hill changes drastically over the course of the race. One new rule after a while was to walk on the wood plank bridges as well, for fear I’d do something stupid and fall off. After we did the out and back on the second loop we had less than 8 miles to go and I just felt awesome. Ok, well I hurt, and lots of things hurt, but it was all a
“good” hurt and I knew I could keep going. I had never held it together this long in any race…ever. Sissy and I were not passed by a single person in the last 8 miles and were some of the only people still running. We started passing people that were at one point 3-4 miles ahead of us. I’m always the one getting passed, not doing the passing, so this was a whole new feeling for me. Every time I saw Ruthie (my trainer and a way faster runner than me), she was shocked to see me fairly close behind her. She was very encouraging and happy to see me doing so well (well, except for the one time I passed her and just got a grunt). The run was still pretty uneventful and Sissy and I were totally content just talking away to pass the time. The forever long 3.22 mile stretch without an aid station was forever long as always, but didn’t seem as bad as in the past. We were still running the flats and down-hills and walking the up-hills. Even at this point I could still run as long as I needed to. I was able to let the terrain dictate my pace instead of my body. At this point last year I could not run more than 2-3 minutes at a time and the year before I had walked the entire last loop. I had a few goals in my head but didn’t want to start doing the math until 6-8 miles from the end. My goals were looking more and more attainable as we went along. At one point, just past mile 25, I told Sissy we were going for 6:48 (an hour faster than last year). I said it out loud, with confidence. We made it up to the last aid station around 5:56 or so. I would have loved to say we could have run the last 2.8 in 34 minutes to make a 6:30, but the last miles are more up than down and I knew that would probably be asking a tiny bit too much. I was super excited leaving that station and told Sissy that this is where the fun begins. I also thanked her for sticking with me and told her there wasn’t any way I would have been doing nearly as well without her there. I reduced our goal from 6:48 to 6:35-6:40, and again announced it, as if that would make it more attainable. After a mile or so we saw a guy go down right in front of us. I asked if he was ok and needed help and he said he was just cramping really bad. I just blurted out “do you need me to rub anything?” and he said no. Only at mile 29 of a race would something like that happen. I then felt a sense of urgency to get help for him. I knew we had less than a mile to where race personnel would be and charged off to get help. I was selfishly thinking at the same time that it couldn’t have happened at a better time because it really helped me speed up a bit. Then we hit a hill and I said he was going to have to wait, and slowed to a walk again. I had been heroic enough and didn’t think my butt could handle running up any more hills! Thankfully a mountain biker support guy was not far away at all and we sent him down. Sissy and I continued to pass people in the last mile and I was just so excited. We still walked the super big hill and I kept saying we were almost there when we weren’t. I felt bad every time I said “oh, this is it, this is the last clearing we go through” only to find I was wrong. I should have just kept my mouth shut. Finally we saw the last opening that runs about 1/3 of a mile or so and knew we were home free. We walked a short distance between 2 telephone poles to make sure we would look cool and be able to run the rest of the way to the finish line.Once I hit the parking lots/pavements, I told Sissy “ok, here we go!!” and took off. The people cheering on were so awesome and encouraging. I had an awesome kick left in me and just felt great. I wanted to get rid of my water bottle and threw it off to Meghan - I think she caught it in mid air and I was impressed! I heard my Houston Fit group cheering and calling out my name and that just got me going even faster. I hear Ruthie yell for me and then I hear her say “Holy $hit Kathleen?!?!?” and I was so proud that I made her say that. We ended up finishing in 6:33, far faster than my wildest dreams. I had plugged a recent 25k trail race time into an online calculator and it said 6:30. I am never close to calculator times, so I didn’t expect that, especially considering the 25k was in 50 degree temps and it was over 80 for most of this race. Sissy and I hugged and took a few pictures together afterwards. She told me she didn’t know me well enough to cry in front of me or else she would have. I told her the hyperventilating thing she just heard me do was really crying, but still trying to catch my breath at the same time. I took 1:15 off my time from the year before, and 2:07 from the year before that (I guess you could say I had set the bar pretty low!).
Time: 2:48 (40 minutes faster than last year)
Total time: 6:33 (6/17 in age group, 64/248 women, 180/520 overall)
I am so thankful for the experience I had. Many of us were looking for some sort of redemption after the
Chicago Marathon and I think I found it yesterday; granted I still have big plans for the Houston Marathon (and PRAY this record heat thing ends in 2007). I said a few little prayers of thanks along the way for being able to be there in the first place, for my body doing what I asked of it, and for Sissy, my angel of the day. I needed a good long race to give me confidence in my training. I had an awesome 10k a few weeks ago, but it is hard to translate that distance to a marathon or longer, and it was also 42 degrees. The fact that I never hit a wall and that I was able to keep going with relative ease for an entire 31 miles is huge, and I realize that. I do see now that I am improving and that my hard work is paying off, not just in short races, or awesome weather, but in the long stuff, which is what I really care about.Houston Marathon…here I come (I already started doing the cold front dance last night after the race).
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