Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Portland Marathon (Portland Oregon)

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Location:

Snoqualmie,WA,

Member Since:

Jan 31, 2008

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Marathon PR: 4:17 at Portland Marathon, Oct. 2007

5K PR 24:37 2009

10K PR 52:58 2010

Have run 22 marathons to date.

No injuries, ever.   :)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for Boston (4:05 for my age/gender) - or, perhaps, to use my desire for a BQ as a way to get in the hated speed work so I don't just get slower and slower over the years.  This goal is "under (re)construction" right now, until I figure out whether it is truly what I want. :) 


Long-Term Running Goals:

To continue learning about myself and about running, and to enjoy being a fit, happy runner for life.   To always know why I am running and the best way to get the most (both mentally and physically) out of my runs.  To keep a sense of humor and remain optimistic about myself as a runner.  To enjoy running more and more with every passing year. 

Personal:

Baby boomer generation.  Jogged a little in my 20's and 30's.  Started running seriously in 2002.  Low-carb runner since January 2010. 

I love long runs and cold, cloudy weather.  I don't believe in "junk miles."  I am an optimist.  I adore dark chocolate, fog, my family, and knitting -- not necessarily in that order.  

"As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are."  -- Joan Benoit Samuelson 


Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Brooks ST3 Lifetime Miles: 891.35
Vibram Five Fingers KSO Lifetime Miles: 23.77
Brooks ST3 II Lifetime Miles: 965.17
Lunaracers II Lifetime Miles: 198.23
Mizuno Wave Universe 3 Lifetime Miles: 104.14
Asics Piranha Lifetime Miles: 536.83
RunAmocs (Softstar) Lifetime Miles: 16.23
Piranha II Lifetime Miles: 219.53
Race: Portland Marathon (Portland Oregon) (26.2 Miles) 00:04:30
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.200.000.0026.20

For everyone on the blog who said they would still like me even if I had a bad race, here is your chance.  Executive summary: Just a hair under 4:30 finish time (hoped for 4:10), soaked by rain, painful abdominal cramps from mile 5 to finish.  

This was a very rough race for me.  I still feel like I was in at least 4:15 shape, if not the 4:10 I aimed for. I started to get crampy around mile 5 and was in pain for the entire remainder of the race.  I now believe it was a feminine issue, as evidence to support that has, er, come forth.  But yesterday during the race I really wasn't sure what was going on. I do not remember ever running a marathon where not even one mile of it was enjoyable, as this race turned out to be.  After “doing everything right” it was quite the shock to feel it all slipping away.

I do think I made two mistakes. The first was to neglect to bring Motrin with me.  I used to bring it on every long run and marathon, but it’s been a long time since I've needed it. The second mistake I made was running with a pace group before I had warmed up.  I believed I was doing the right thing by picking a pace group slower than my goal pace, but there is a big hill at about mile 2-3 and it may have cost me too much to stay with them at this point.

Here is how the race went.  I lined up with the 4:15 pacer before the start and felt fine at that point. We started out right on pace and, as always, I hated the first couple of miles.  I would do workouts with no warm-up if I thought that needing to run slowly for 2 miles was something you could train out of yourself. I kept telling myself, “you will warm up, you will feel better; you’re going out slower than you did last year so don’t worry.” (Last year was my 4:17 PR on this course.)  But on top of not feeling comfortable, staying with the pacer was extremely nerve racking: it was very crowded and all kinds of people who lined up in the wrong place (gr) were in the way and had to be run around.  Furthermore, one woman who was obviously going with the pacer kept pushing me over, like she wanted to be right behind him, but then she would weave away and I naturally took back the spot.  It was just too crowded.  

We came to the first real hill at mile 2 and were corralled into an even narrower lane of traffic. The word "sardines" comes to mind.  I sensed that the pace was too fast for me to run on an uphill before I had completed warming up, but I was so packed in I didn’t know how to slow down.  Looking back I should have just let the people behind me fend for themselves and get around me, but I stayed with my group.  Perhaps unwisely, since it was not long after that I began to feel unwell.  But who knows? It may not have made any difference.

We finally came to the downhill at mile 3.5 and I decided to let myself have my “normal” downhill flight. I am particularly good at running downhill, with my short legs, my fast turnover, and my mid-foot strike style.  I pulled away from the pace group and waited for the relief of downhill running to bring my sense of comfort back. It never did.  At the bottom of the hill, I fell into the 4:10 pace, which may have been a mistake at that point, but it is the pace I’ve trained for. Somewhere between mile 5 and mile 6 I started to cramp up all through my lower abdomen.   Miles 6-16 are normally my favorite miles, even in marathons where I didn’t do very well. But yesterday, by mile 7, I was wishing I could call a cab. Still, without consciously pushing myself, my pace kept right on the speed I have been training for. (Yay for MP pace training.)  Every time I ran over a timing mat I thought, “well, this is bad, DH will see this on the internet and be out there in the rain waiting for me at 4:10.” (He did catch my fall from grace by mile 20, so at least that was saved.)  Oh yes, the rain.  Our forecast was for a 10 percent chance of light rain; it started to come down at mile 7 and never did stop (and heavy at times!).

Somewhere around mile 14 I decided to do some walking and see if I could make the pains stop. They were now shooting down my legs. I would have paid my only little $5 bill for a couple of Motrin by then.  During the walking,  I noticed the 4:15 pace group catching up with me and fell in with them again.   Even now, I believe I had the fitness to stay with them or overtake them even, but I lost my will to do so.  I was in so much pain, I just didn’t care. After weeks of caring about this race so much that I was getting nightmares, I felt I didn’t care at all.  The St. John’s bridge came up, and I ran most of the hill but walked parts of it too.  Running up the hill, I could feel my leg strength, still springy and fresh, I just couldn’t fight the pain.  The 4:15 runners drifted ahead.

The aid stations are not allowed to give out Motrin, I learned. Pride set aside, I actually asked several runners and volunteers for some as well, to no avail.  Walking brought no relief, so I ran most of the time, albeit slower and slower.  I was soaked through and in a lot of pain, but it was like I could feel the basic fitness underneath -- I just couldn't tap into it. There was nothing left to do but tough it out.  It’s a good thing I love running, and that I know how much more positive a marathon can be.  I'm used to the pain of the last miles, but this was ridiculous.

Not to end on such a depressing note, I’ll review whatever highlights I can think of and Lessons Learned.  Highlights: 1) At the expo, I got to meet and talk to Bart Yasso!  2) I had an almost totally positive experience with pre-race preparations – the “almost” referring to my lack of Motrin. But I was wearing and carrying all the right stuff.  3) I managed to force myself to eat the gels I brought. That has always been a challenge for me. 4) Two years ago I would have considered sub 4:30 to be a minor miracle.  Lessons Learned: 1) OK, needless to say, the Motrin thing.  2) Warm-up considerations may need to go further for me. This would mean that time goals may need 2-3 minutes added to allow for a slower and less nerve racking start. Although I've now complete 15 marathons, this was only my 4th attempt at a real time goal, so I'm still trying to figure out whose advice to take about pace and warm-up and whose to ignore, lol.  3) Nerves: My higher level of training this summer left me with some high expectations and I did not handle that well, especially during my taper. I don’t know how much my nerves affected me but it may have interfered with some overall well-being issues. I'd like to learn to relax before future races.   4) Rain has never been a big problem for me but I believe I should take its effects more seriously.  In some small part of my brain I may have known that the wetness was making me chafe badly though I didn’t feel it until later.  It may have been wise to abandon time goals once I was soaked with rain.

I can hardly wait to get my legs back and start training again for CIM in December. It's nice to know that this really is a fun sport and that yesterday's race was not typical.  I know I'll get to my goals eventually.  As long as I keep learning and getting stronger I have no regrets. Except forgetting the Motrin...

Comments
From Carolyn on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 23:34:47

Thanks for posting your race report. I think you did amazingly well considering what you were going through. I guess it was a tough weekend for marathons. Everyone struggled with St. George as well. With all these stories of struggle I'm thinking I need to try not to set myself up for a big disappointment when I try to run my first marathon next year, after training for it for almost a year.

I'm really proud of you for sticking it out and focusing on highlights and lessons learned.

By the way, what is CIM? I've seen references to that race before, but don't know what the acronym stands for.

From Snoqualmie on Tue, Oct 07, 2008 at 08:45:22

Thanks, Carolyn. I'm sure you'll do well on your first marathon, but my advice is to only post a goal of "finish happy." The joy of the experience is what I missed the most. Having trained for a time goal and having my dear friends tell me they knew I would do so well actually was an additional heartbreak to me. No fault of the friends of course! Just my nature to want to please those I care about. You'll notice I've revised my goals a little to try to avoid that problem in the future. :)

CIM is the California Int'l Marathon. It is a point to point race that goes from Folsom Dam to Sacramento. I believe the website is www.runcim.org. It is a net downhill race, with rolling hills in the first half. I ran it 2 years ago and really liked it. It is also the marathon where I am most likely to meet my idol, Helen Kline, someday because she usually runs it (in her mid 80's!). Now that I've met Bart Yasso, I want more celebrities!

From Dale on Tue, Oct 07, 2008 at 10:07:27

Good job in toughing out what was obviously a tough race for you. The marathon is such a tricky event....just about anything can (and will) happen that can really stymie your plans. This weekend appeared to be especially tough for marathoners on the blog so don't feel like you're alone.

Having said that, from the read, most of your issues seemed to be cramp related. That's just like getting "fill in the muscle here" cramps in a race....not much you can do other than bailout or gut it out. Kudos for toughing it out.

The whole marathon warmup thing is pretty much a mystery to me to. I know some folks run a 1 or 2 mile warmup, but I like to conserve all my energy. I tell myself not to worry about my first mile split, but then I always seem to have excited legs and run it fast anyway. I'm guessing your first miles felt hard because your body knew it was about to unleash some cramping on you and was giving you a heads up.

You've got a faster marathon in you....take your lessons learned, wad up the bad memories from this race and throw them away, and focus on your next race. Get some more wet weather training in (which shouldn't be a problem :) ) and look forward to a better race at CIM.

Good job! Truly!

From Marion on Tue, Oct 07, 2008 at 11:02:57

Great job! I think you did amazingly, even with the troubles. Not so sound silly, but the first runner to Marathon, DIED!!! :) What you did is a amazing feat of strenght and will. Congratualtions on a job well done!!

From Sean Sundwall on Tue, Oct 07, 2008 at 12:48:57

To my fellow Snoqualmie-ite...NICE JOB. It's amazing how much there is to learn from every marathon no matter how many you have done. I didn't see you with the ski poles this morning but I got to share in the wind-driven downpour that is so common around here. Enjoy your recovery...Decemeber is coming very quickly.

From JD on Tue, Oct 07, 2008 at 13:57:43

The fact that you finished, with a decent time even, under the conditions and the issues you were having almost from the start, says a lot about your strength of mind and body. From your report it sounds like the fitness is definately there, just need all the pieces (or at least some of the pieces) to fall into the right place on race day.

What a crazy weekend for the marathons, reading through all the race reports it sounds like just about everyone came away from the races with lessons they didn't expect to learn.

Congratulations! It's so cool to read about you rising above the challenges of the day.

From Kelli on Wed, Oct 08, 2008 at 13:04:35

I am so sorry to hear that you had such a bummer of a race---but just remember that you not only finished, but you did pretty darn great considering! No man will ever understand what that feminine thing can do to us women when we are running---it creates several issues that I will not even mention, but that surely slow us down!

Now, seriously, WHY can an aide station not give out Motrin? That seems ridiculous. What is the thinking behind that in a race???

From leslie on Thu, Oct 09, 2008 at 17:00:00

Oh, I was right with you reading your race entry. It felt alot like my St. George race. We had rain and I felt so crappy, St. George was also my 15th marathon, but I ended up quitting at mile 13. I had done a marathon 2 weeks ago and felt totally drained. I can not tell you how great it felt for me to quit! I just didn't care at that point, it wasn't fun, I was completely miserable and quitting was a beautiful thing. It felt actually very liberating to think I could quit and not feel quilty. I usually love marathons, the whole experience, but this marathon was terrible for me. I am excited to check out your Dec. marathon online. I enjoyed your report and admire your "stick with it" attitude! You are a tough cookie!!

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