Race Report

So I did it, I finished the marathon. It took me longer than I had hoped but the weather and my hips were conspiring against me so it's not bad considering.

The race started out well. I stuck with the 4:45 group until the first water table where I lost them. Retrospectively I probably should have actually signed up to run with this group or at least tried harder to stick with them rather than thinking I could pick up the pace, but we live and learn and the marathon is nothing but a learning experience.

So the next few miles went well. Up to the 10k marker I was on pace for the 4:45, I had hoped for (and maybe even a little quicker), seeing Amanda, Susan and Sandra (Amanda's mother) really spurred me on to dig deep at mile 7 but then it all started to go wrong. The hip trouble I thought I had beaten with diligent yoga and stretching all week started to nag and being not even a third of the way through this was not a good sign. As the half-marathoners turned away from the marathon course half a mile later, I found myself wondering what on earth I'd done and questioning whether choosing to do the full over the half was such a wise decision after all. Still, there was no going back and I decided pull back a little and aim for an 11 minute pace which would still get me to the finish around 4:45.

Every mile marker I passed had a sign next to it telling me what I was on pace for and until Lake Hefner it always read "You are on pace for a 4h34m - 4h47m finish". At Lake Hefner the 4:45 group came up behind me and I knew I was in trouble. If they were coming up behind me, I must have slowed down significantly and I couldn't even contemplate moving any faster than I already was. I resolved to try and keep with them and though I managed to stick with them for several miles, beyond Lake Hefner and through Nichols Hills, it was futile.

Up to this point I'd eaten gummy bears for the first 10 miles, alternated water with Powerade at the aid stations and started taking energy gels every 4 or so miles from mile 10. I'd had 2 at this stage and really should have been taking another but the idea of squirting a whole packet of warm honey into my mouth made me queasy. I gave myself one more mile to steel myself for the gloop, thinking of a story Amanda's dad had told me about thinking he could get away without anymore energy gel in a marathon and winding up staggering into the crowd with 200y to go. That was not going to be me so I toughened up and took it. These things are disgusting, but they work. Although I felt like crap I don't think it was The Wall, from what I've heard the wall feels like literally running into a wall, what I had was more of a gradual deterioration and steadily increasing hip pain.

By mile 21 I was actually dying, or at least I thought I was. The sun was high in the sky by this point and the mercury must have been pushing 25C and rising. I thought if I could just keep the 4:45 group in my sights it would be OK and tried to play mind games with myself by mentally breaking up the last 6 miles into 2 5K races which at this stage should be a walk in the park.

It wasn't. The 4:45 group pulled away and I didn't even care. There was nothing I could have done to keep up. The finish time indicator ticked up into the next bracket 4h47m-5h00m and I didn't even care. Now I just wanted to finish.

Although one of my main goals was just to get to the end without walking outside of aid stations this was just not going to happen today so I instilled a new strategy for the last 5 miles. I had on my Garmin and worked out that if I could keep to a 14 minute pace for the last 5 miles I'd still get in under 5 hours. So I instigated a new strategy allowing myself to power walk until the lap pace read 14 and then run until it was back down to around 12.

At mile 23, Amanda, Susan and Sandra were there again cheering for me and I found the energy to run to them and stop long enough to stretch my hip and tell them I wanted to die. I ran enough until I was out of sight and went back to my walk run routine. Somewhere in this last 6 miles the hip pain was so overwhelming that I actually had to lie down on the grass verge and stretch my hips out which allowed me to run a little further. I don't remember where it's all a bit of a blur.

By mile 25 I was ready to call it quits and just stroll the rest of the way but I passed the final 25 mile marker and saw the time. It read somewhere around 4:48 and I knew that if I could just run the rest of the way I'd squeak in under 5 hours. So I did. I'm not sure how I managed it, but hearing the crowds at the finish line and finally turning the corner and seeing the finish line made me find that spurt of running left in me.

As I drew nearer to the finish I saw it tick over the 5 hour mark and was briefly despondent until I remembered that it had taken me 2 minutes to cross the start line and that my chip time would reflect this. Just then, I saw Amanda, Susan and Sandra again unexpectedly, yelling and cheering for me and telling me I could do it and then I really knew I could.

I must have run an 8m30s pace in that last .22 miles and it felt much faster!! I did it though, I got my sub 5 with a grand chip-time of 4:58:20.

I'll speed up next time!

Placings, Split Times and Chip Times, Oh My!

Summary

number of finishers:	1255
number of females:	545
number of males:	710
average time:	04:39:25

overall place:	901 out of 1281
division place:	62 out of 101
time:	5:00:40
pace:	11:29
chiptime:	4:58:20
10k:	1:07:21
15k:	1:41:33
half:	2:23:10
25k:	3:02:13
30k:	3:40:56

Race for the Prize

Sprint finish! I realized I'd really have to pull my finger out to make sub-5 hours and just made it. I'd hoped for a little faster but my hips weren't playing ball from miles 10ish onwards. The 27°C temp didn't help much either.

23 Miles

I actually wanted to die at this point. Even the mind games that there's only a little 5k left did me no good.

Mile seven and going strong!

Let's Get Ready to Rumble

I'm at the Expo and have my number. I suppose there really is no going back now.

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UPDATE

OK. So I'm back from the Expo, trying to drink water, eat things with salt in, rest my legs and generally take things easy.

It was an exciting day, I had to pick up my number and the chip for my shoe so that I can know the exact time it took me between crossing the start and finish line. Then we looked around at the numerous running booths that you can see set up in the background of the photo of me looking everso excited/nervous above. I wanted new socks but none of these stores had the very specific pair I was looking for (Wrights, double-layer, quarter-length black) so we wondered around and looked at the fun marathon related stuff that can be bought. I wasn't really feeling 1) rich enough and 2) confident enough to buy anything that proclaimed any marathon runner status just yet.

Then we sat and listened to Joan Benoit Samuelson give a talk about her running. She was the first woman to win gold in the marathon at the Olympics back in 1984 (yes, it really did take them that long to accept that women were tough enough for the distance). It was great to hear an Olympian talk about her running and voice lots of the same things that we all feel (jealousy when we see other people out running when we're not and grumpiness when we've missed a run) and amazing to hear someone speak that had done so much for women in this sport.

We met theatremom from the Runner's World discussion board and had a lovely lunch, eating seafood and talking about running and our anticipation of tomorrow's race.

Now we're back at home and I'm trying to relax. I'll lay out my clothes for the morning soon and line up my energy gels and Vaseline; I'll set up the coffee pot to make me coffee at 4am and put out my bowl and porridge. Everything tomorrow needs to run as smoothly as possible so that the only thing I'm nervous about is the run itself and not being late or being able to find my socks. Right now I'm feeling nervous and excited but quietly confident that I'll make it to the end. The question is, just what kind of shape will I be in?


You may be able to track me during the race. As you can see, my bib number is 1970 and you should know my name. Try going here and putting in my details to see how I'm doing. The race starts at 6:30am CST (-6 BST).

Weather Watch

8 days to go?! Dagnammit that ticker at the top of this page is making me nervous!

Right now I have two concerns:
1) My hip has a dull ache
2) The weather

Fortunately I think that issue #1 might go away with a strict regime of yoga and the reduced mileage that my taper has me doing anyway. Tomorrow is nice easy 10 miler (whoever thought that those words would come out of my fingers?!) and my schedule only has me doing a couple of shortish runs next week. I'll probably sit in some ice and hope for the best and hopefully that will be enough.

The weather I have little control over and all I can do it watch and wait. Yesterday the forecast was for 26ºC and partial cloud. Today it's saying about the same temperature but with 68% humidity and showers - ouch!

Long-range forecasts are notoriously inaccurate but the thought of running in that humidity fills me with dread. For someone who's (half) English I'm dealing remarkably well with the heat (must be the Portuguese half - thanks dad!) For my first 20 miler I was one of few in my marathon class to have made it to the end with an even pace, no walking and feeling strong and that was with a later start on a day not much cooler than the 26ºC predicted for the day - but humidity?! I haven't really had to practice that yet. My biggest concern is chafing. Will my beloved Vaseline be able to hold out for 26.22 miles in 68% humidity?!

I think the overall plan is going to have to be a slower pace, while until recently I'd hoped for a sub-4:30 I think I'm now shooting for a getting my rear end over the finish line in one piece. Preferably with as little walking as possible (though that excludes drinking - I just haven't got down that drinking from a cup while running thing yet).

Only time will tell. For now I will just have to watch the weather with anticipation while performing Warrior 1...

20 Miles

Will add more to this post later but I have to go and sit down with my legs on a bag of ice. This is the satellite image from my GPS of my run today with the OKC Landrunners along the marathon course in Oklahoma City just to prove I did it. This is my last really long run before the big day and was tough but doable. I just hope my legs can carry me that last 6 miles on the day!!

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UPDATE

OK, so here is the rest as promised. I woke up at 5am on Sunday in my usual style of having breakfast of porridge, a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of coffee a couple of hours before my run to make sure I have enough fuel in me. Then I got back into bed for an hour before getting up again to pull myself together.

So far I've been running my long runs around Norman and have gotten to know the back streets pretty well. Running is a great excuse to be nosey and look at houses around town but this week I had an opportunity to be nosey around the neighbourhoods of Oklahoma City. The OKC Landrunners have a long training run once a week and although I've been meaning to go almost every weekend throughout my training I never quite managed to rouse myself to get me there. This week the run was along the course so I roused myself to find a lift with someone in my marathon class who was also running and off we went.

When we got there there were maybe 200 other runners all preparing to run either 20 or 10 miles depending on whether they were training for a half or full marathon. We gathered around as they introduced various people of importance at the club and said a prayer (to which I sort of bowed my head a bit and made a vague "amen" grunt), took our photo at the "start line" and off we went.

My friend zipped off ahead, being much faster than I am, so I was left to my own plodding devices. The first couple of miles were tough (they usually are) and with the excitement of the crowd I took off far faster than I should have but it turned out alright in the end. Actually the whole run went pretty much without a hitch, I found some people running my pace and followed them around the course to avoid getting lost. The miles and time seemed to fly by, nothing really hurt, I never wanted to give up and my gummi bear and honey fuelling combination, along with the wonderful water stops provided by a local running shop, made sure I was well hydrated and fuelled. I think this means that I might actually be ready to do this thing!

The run was along the actual marathon course (although it cut off the extra 6 miles from the turnaround, which if you look at the satellite image goes kind of around that lake at the top) so it gave me a good idea of the course. It also gave me the opportunity to nosey around the posh parts of town with the giant houses.

The course is actually really nice, a little bit of winding around some fancy neighbourhoods with good houses to gawp at and enough hills to make it interesting but not enough to make it too hard. I imagine the lake will be very pleasant too although I'm hoping that there wont be too much wind whipping up around it. The water stations provided by the running club were also very nice as were the pretzels. I must learn to drive so that I can join the club and enjoy more of their events.

I came to the end, a block away from where we started to be greeted by a cheer from the running club people and a vast selection of snacks and sports drinks. What an awesome bunch of people although Amanda did have once fun little exchange with one of the runners...

Amanda arrived to pick me up, as arranged four hours after the start time, in the car park where our run ended, having spotted the crowd of runners and was trying to work out where I'd be when a runner man asked her if she was looking for someone and she said that yes "She should be here any minute now." When runnerman asked her if it was "Your husband?" and Amanda in some flight of fancy/momentary madness said "No my wife!" he apparently looked shocked and mumbled something about us all having our own maps and left her to her own devices. Amanda never actually calls me her wife but it elicited such an amusing response that perhaps she should more often!

That's it really. I have my 20 miler under my belt and didn't want to die and unless I have an attack of low-confidence this week and feel the urge to run another on Sunday that will be it until race day. There's not much else I can do now but fret.

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UPDATE #2

I just pilfered this photo of me from the OKC Landrunners website. Look at me looking all runnery. And yes, I am wearing the same outfit I wore for the half - I think I need more running clothes - the smell is becoming ingrained!