Lucky #7 - Houston Marathon Race Report

Brief history to explain lucky #7...
#1, Austin, 2/15/04 - 5:21
#2, Houston, 1/05 - 5:23
#3, Austin, 2/05 - 5:55
#4, Houston, 1/06 - 5:16
#5, Houston, 1/07 - 5:12
#6, Chicago, 10/07 - 5:54

As I sit here to write my race report, I am having a hard time coming up with what to say. It is weird - I had a huge PR, yet do not feel (yet), like it was that memorable of an experience. Perhaps the most memorable part of it is that I was in a porta potty when the race started. Sadly, that isn't even the first time that has happened to me! Ok seriously, it is memorable. I kicked butt today. Several butts, actually, including my own. I did something that was once a far away dream. I made it happen.

I went into the race with a goal of 4:30 way in the back of my mind. I knew on paper, it was a decently realistic goal, but in my head, just the thought of it was scary. My previous 6 marathons were all between 5:12 and 5:55. I knew going into this one that I was significantly faster, but I had no idea by how much. I had taken 5 minutes off my 10k pr at Thanksgiving, and 1:15 off a 50k trail race in record high temps in December. Yet, running the pace required to run a 4:30 is something I had absolutely no experience with. Had I had a 1/2 marathon or something similar to run in the month or two before, I might have had a better idea. I did run a 25k in November, but again it was very hot, was my third race in three weeks, and I hadn't been eating the few weeks before it. I told myself that race experience was an outlier and to not let it shake my confidence.

So anyway, I arrived at the race this morning still unsure of what the day would bring. I knew the stage was set for me to have the best experience possible - great weather, good health, etc. I started off running between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups. My first 1-2 miles were a little stressful, but I calmed myself down after that. I settled into a pace just under 10:00 and had no idea if that was good or not (i.e. if I would blow up later on). Somewhere between mile 5 and 6, I turned the corner and a radio station had music playing super loud and it was playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin." That was song #1 on the marathon mix cd I had made for the car ride to the race in the morning and has generally been "my song" since a long lonely training ride for IMAZ last spring. I was on cloud 9 listening to that song and told myself it just had to be my day. I was still pretty happy with life through mile 8 or so. Being a local race, I saw several friends along the way spectating that I did not expect to see. It is always fun to call their name out when they aren't expecting to see you. I saw my parents close to mile 8 and told them I was ahead of schedule. Just past mile 9, I got a side stitch that slowed me down a bit. That was the first little crack in my head. By the time I got over that, my body was starting to hurt, more than it should before halfway into the race.

I saw my parents again close to mile 12 and told them I was still doing well. Here I traded my 20oz amphiphd handheld bottle that had had 300 calories of infinit and water in it for a 10oz fuel belt handheld bottle concentrated with 400 more calories in it. I had never used the smaller handheld before, but I really liked it! At the 20k mark, I was around 2:04 which is a 5 minute pr for that distance. I told myself to keep right at 10:00 pace so I would get to the halfway mark right at 2:11. I knew that probably wasn't the best race strategy because I knew I would not be able to keep that pace much longer, but I was in uncharted territory. I ended up at 2:11 at the half, which is a 10-11 minute pr for my half marathon. Between 13 and 14, my right IT band really started talking to me, and my left was chiming in from time to time. I had to stop and walk 20 seconds at a time here and there (in addition to my regularly scheduled 1 minute walk break for every 9 minutes of running). I was about to cry I was so upset because my IT bands had been so cooperative during my last few races. I was afraid my whole race, and any chance of a pr, were possibly slipping away right then. I wished I had advil at that point, but hadn't needed it in so long I left it with my parents figuring I wouldn't need it at all. I had also remembered last minute to throw a roll of coban tape into that bag that I used to use to tape my IT bands. I told myself to hang on to mile 16.5 because I could get both the advil and tape when I saw my parents again. The good news was that I knew my friends Melissa and Leigh would be at mile 14 and that Melissa was going to run a mile or 2 with me. I was very happy to see her, but might not have expressed it very well! I passed 25k somewhere around 2:36 which is at least an 8 minute pr for that distance. Melissa stayed with me until 16.5 where my parents were again. I stopped, took drugs, taped my knees, and was off.

At the beginning, I was vividly aware of my pace without even looking at my garmin because my other watch was beeping for my 9/1's. My walk breaks all come very close to the mile markers, which meant as soon as my minute of walking was over before I got to the mile mark, I was still exactly a 10:00 pace. I had to give that up after the 16.5 stop with my parents and decided to calm down a little bit about it. Then at mile 17, I changed my watch to do a 4/1 interval instead. The tape seemed to be helping my knees, but they still weren't interested in running 9 minutes at a time. They seemed ok going 4 at a time though. I pushed through the 4 minute parts, but my walks probably got slower and slower. I was still unsure around 18 as to how things were going to go. I still wasn't feeling hot, and I definitely was not having a magical day. I hurt, everywhere. I crossed the 30k at 3:10, which is a pr for me as well. Then somewhere around mile 19, I saw a few people crossing running traffic to shake some guys hand. Finally, after 4 years of running Houston, I saw him, and he happened to have the wife there with him...Big Bush. So I ran over and shook his hand too and said I was excited I finally didn't run right past him.

I had the number 3:20 at mile 20 in my head during the past week for some reason, but that is exactly 10:00 (4:22 finish time) pace. I came into 20 maybe 5 minutes behind that magic number but that was still ok. Every mile I kept plugging along, but did not look much at my garmin since it was a bit off. I just looked at my total time at each mile and evaluated. Just before mile 21, the 4:30 group approached. I had been fearing that for a while, afraid to look over my shoulder. Sure enough, they came, during my walk break, and went. Then I came and went. I know there would have been a lot of leapfrogging with the group with my walk breaks, but I tried to at least keep them in my sights. Then, lo and behold, Shellie comes up from behind. My first thought "oh gosh, how am I going to keep up with her?????" She is a VERY consistent runner and we had similar goals in mind. I think she reminded me of my goal and I know she was sure heading for it. Somehow she inspired me to keep going, strong, not at just normal pace. My parents were at 22 again and we gave advil to Shellie. Soon after, I knew Tri on the Run people would be out there. I had a walk break coming up and Shellie was ahead. I sped up to her and said she couldn't show me up in front of an audience. Of course as soon as we were out of sight I took a walk break again. A bit later, I run into Chau, who says she hadn't so much trained for this race my response was "I did, but it still hurts!!" She was very encouraging and supportive though!

I ran up the ramp to Shepherd, and the crowds here were pretty good. I knew Houston Fit and the Tri Club would both have stations just ahead. I do not remember much about mile 23, except maybe that was where the Houston Fit tent was - they were great (wherever I actually saw them)! Mile 22 was the first place I started doing math again towards a 4:30. It was somewhat doable, but I'd still have to run to close to 10:00 pace, which would be difficult. I saw Houston Racing just up a small hill and it was AWESOME to see them. I was on one side, but Doug was cheering on the other side and had a nice bottle of water in his hand. For some reason, I wanted that bottle from Doug. No other way. He yelled he liked my strides, or stripes or something totally not that, but whatever I got that he liked something I was doing, which was good enough for me. I was fired up after that, and ready to go. I was still doing my 4/1s and going as fast as I could during the 4 minutes of running. I thought maybe once I got into downtown, I would run the entire way, but no such luck. I was still more efficient running fast with walk breaks than trying to run slow. I made that fateful right turn onto Rusk and rolled my eyes at how far ahead that damn finish line is! My Garmin was off by this point (and about every part since I noticed it at mile 10) so I was searching desperately for that last 26 mile sign. Even then though, that one tenth of a mile between the 26 sign and the 13 sign was rough. Once I got to the 13 sign, I knew I only had .1 mile to go, and really tried to pick it up. This is how I know I left everything I had out there because I really did not have much of my normal kick at all. Even at the 50k, I had an awesome kick on the way in. I just had to settle for mediocre pace today! I was counting down my watch during the last .2 miles and knew that beating Oprah wasn't an option today. But I knew I would still get 4:30:xx and was 100% happy with that.

I want so bad to cry to someone afterwards. I just needed a big hug and to be able to let out the months of emotion that went into that race. Josh called my phone and got a little of the emotion, but it wasn't so much what I wanted. Sure enough Shellie came in just 2 minutes behind me and I got my hug and got to cry my snotty tears. It was great. We took a finisher picture together that I will definitely be paying the murderous prices they charge for them. Shellie and I walked together into the convention center and one by one, we found our buddies and they had all done awesome. I found my parents after a while and they were very proud of me. It was pretty neat. We hung around for a while, without really having a plan of any sort. We finally settle on just going to eat at Chilli's. I did eat the Chocolate Molten Cake that I have been lusting over for months, but I had to share it three ways...:-( I guess they did deserve their cake too!

Looking back, I'm still very undecided on the overall experience. It hurt, that is for sure. It definitely took a LOT of work. I would not call this a magical day, as I did at Ironstar, a 10k, and Sunmart this year. Those were all awesome days and my performance was almost effortless. Today included more effort than I have ever put into any 4.5 hours of my life. If you want to get technical, I guess it included more effort over the past 11 months.

I'm thankful to Doug and his track workouts. They are greatly responsible for my huge improvements over the last months. I am not sure what else I have done to get faster, but I have also run more long runs over the past 6 months. I had a pretty big base built up from training for Chicago. I'm also glad I went through some not-so-good times and lost 10lbs in the process. Dropping that bowling ball I was carrying around my butt while running certainly makes running a little easier. I'm thankful I'm even able to run at all, no matter how fast or slow.

Thanks to my parents for being my #1 fans. I really can't do it without them. Another big thanks to Doug for the track workouts and that awesome looking bottle of water at mile 24. Also thanks to all my friends who have been so supportive through the last few weeks and helped me to believe in myself. I am truly blessed to have these opportunities and blessed for the people I have to share them with.

Here is a brief breakdown of data for you data freaks (garmin was off by about .1 mile around mile 10 and ended up at 26.46 overall, so boo on that...and I swerve, but not that much).

Finish Time: 4:30:46
Pace: 10:19
Avg HR: 176 (uuggghhh...so fun)
10k: 1:01:31, 9:55 pace
13.1: 2:11:11, 10:05 pace (for segment)
30k: 3:10:49, 10:50 pace (for segment - not surprised...the most "lows" happened here)
Finish: 4:30:46, 10:30 pace (for segment, impressed I sped up a bit here)

To sum it all up - I rocked. It is just taking a while to realize this.