Taper and The Nu Hartford Marathon

In the week leading up to the marathon, I wasn't feeling great.  Actually, I had a rough few weeks before.  First, about a month out, I had a really hard and long midweek workout (15 miles), which I nailed.  However I didn't feel so well about 20 minutes after.  I nearly passed out in Panera, which reminded me of my episode at MHM last fall.  I was nervous maybe the marathon was just too much for me at such a fast pace.  I eventually made it home and spent hours on the bathroom floor sick. My mother came over with gatorade and crackers to make sure sure I was ok.  Talk about training hard!

Then I went to IL for a 15k.  I was 3 weeks out from the marathon and the race just didn't go well.  It didn't help the course was full of non-stop hills, but I figured after the ADK Distance Run, the hills wouldn't matter.  Well they did.  I left questioning my marathon goal pace.

Once I came home from IL I came down with a nasty cold.  I stayed home from work, slept 9 hours during the day, drank an insane amount of fluids and took medication.  Surprisingly, this all worked!  I was thrilled.  Then Wednesday I had my last hard workout before the marathon, 6 x mile on 2 minutes rest, closing in 5:41.  I felt awesome.  I went home, drank a recovery shake and then BOOM, food poisoning!  It was terrible.  I lost 5-6 pounds overnight.  Not something I needed to happen.  A couple days later I went to the Fam 5k just to get my legs moving a little.  I still felt weak from being sick and went there with the plan of not racing full effort.  I was expecting to run around 18:10 and went out very conservatively.  I ran under 18 and felt extremely strong at the end, closing in 5:33.  Finally, a good sign.  The next day I had my final longish run, 16.5.  I ran an easy 9 with Janne before the Voorheesville 7.1 miler, then ran the race (plus a little more) at a harder effort.

Fam Fund 5k

Despite a good weekend, taper still messed with me.  In the final week my legs felt heavy and flat.  I was worried I was anemic.  I had every negative thought running through my head!  BUT I made it to the start line ready to go.

I normally get nervous before I race, however I was never nervous in Hartford.  It was like I was going out for another run.  The gun went off and I searched for Erica and Katie.  I started to get on Katie's shoulder, but then realized she was going out too fast for me and backed off about a half mile in.  First mile was 6:07.  This was a little fast, but OK.  The 5k split was fine, then something happened at mile 4 and 5.  The splits were way off and began clocking 6:30 miles.  I couldn't believe that was the case.  I missed mile 5 and was really thrown off.  Finally at mile 6, where I saw my mother, things seemed to be a little better, but mentally those miles were tough.  We went over a bridge and down an off ramp where I saw another girl that had been running with Katie.  I quickly caught her and thought about passing her.  Then I realized it was only mile 7 and we still had a long way to go.  I ran with her and we picked up another guy.  We hung together until mile 11 until the male and myself took off.  Then around mile 12 we had to take a left hand turn, that we almost missed.  I was mad.  Then I realized I never saw my water bottle!  I had taken my last gel that I was carrying at mile 11 and had missed my water bottle which had my gel.  At mile 13.1 I saw Emily and Vince (1:21:58), which was great because it started to feel a little isolated on the course.  Then I never saw the second table to get my gel!  I freaked out.  I couldn't possibly finish a marathon with no more gel.  I took it conservatively from 14-17 because I was scared I would crash and burn f I ran faster without taking in any calories.  FINALLY around mile 18.5 a guy on a bike was handing out gel.  I went to grab one and it fell on the ground.  I tried to pick it up and I missed.  My hands were numb from the rain and my fingers weren't fitting in my gloves.  I yelled to the guy on the bike to please come back.  And he did!  He made sure to get 2 gels in my hand before taking off.  I told him I loved him.  Although it had been drizzling all morning, the rain was starting to get heavy.  I saw Emily and Vince again at mile 20, as well as my friends Kelly and Dan who were running in the other direction of the out and back section.  I started to feel great after receiving my gel, but  then the course got lonely again.  I had dropped the guy I was running with and there was no one in sight.  The rain made it hard to see and I was convinced several times I was no longer on the course.  The last mile was by far my slowest.  We had an uphill section and a couple turns.  I crossed the line in 2:45:44 for third place.

Overall I was happy with my race.  Despite all the little mishaps, I still ran well and fairly even.  However, I know I have a couple more minutes in me to make the Olympic Trials.  Where and when I will do this is TBD!