2009 Twin Cities Marathon
Great day overall!
Weather? Could hardly ask for anything better. Just about as good as it gets.
I had been saying that if the weather was good, then I'd push out at a Boston-qual (BQ) pace, and just see how it played out. Very honestly, I didn't have any illusions about actually getting a BQ. I'm an optimistic person (try anyways!), but through school-of-hard-knocks experience, I'm also pretty familiar with my body's race-readiness levels, and an overall BQ simply wasn't the level I was starting this race at.
The house-fire thing has been the biggest reason for that. Sure, it affected my actual training some, but it much more affected my focus and mental prep for this race. At any level, racing for an aggressive finish time is more of a mental challenge than a physical one (in my opinion), and my head just hasn't been in full go-get-'em mode for this one. Work was busier than usual the two weeks prior to the fire, and that affected training runs too. And I mishmashed in a lot of multisport-specific training there late in the season - none of that was in the original plan for 2009. But that had its own rewards - one duathlon and two triathlons under my belt now (including an oly), and I'm really pleased with how well those three races went.
Excuses, excuses ;) I don't mention any of that to rationalize away the BQ miss. I mention it because I knew all of those things were adding up to no BQ for this year, and that's A-OK. I've got plenty of time for that later!
Race prep went well, although I clearly screwed something up in my nutrition plan. More on that in a moment...
Have been blessed this week to "meet" Willie Tibbetts through Facebook - Willie is an amazingly talented lady, and a much-loved superstar in the local running scene & beyond. We bumped into each other in Corral One at the race, and started off together. I managed to stay with (correction: near ;) Willie for ~10 miles, and then started to slip back. Willie's strong pace helped get me a start that surprised me - I hit the halfway point at 1:32:51 - I've never had a pace close to that for 13.1 miles! At that point, I knew there was NO way I was going to sustain it for another 13.1, but I just decided to keep going and see how long I lasted.
Shortly thereafter, I got the worst sideache I ever remember having. WTF? A sideache?!? I haven't had one of those in years!!! For me, these are typically related to poor hydration, but I felt strongly that I was properly hydrated even at that point, so this is still a mystery to me. And I couldn't get rid of it either. It slowed me down a bit; every time I tried to push it back up, the stitch intensified, so I had to just find a level I could live with.
The sideache wasn't the end of the world, just frustrating - I got to around mile 20, and then it all fell apart... The legs cramped badly, and every muscle started to get really sore - even my arms. I was anticipating the legs giving out since my weekly mileage had not been where it needed to be in the last month prior to the race, but I had been hoping I could get to mile 23 or 24 before they rebelled. The whole time on Summit Ave was miserable. Run some, walk, jog, walk, run, walk. Ugh. But the unusual soreness in all of my muscles tells me something was not right with my pre-race nutrition plan. So, I've got some things to think about there for next time... Live & learn!
The spectators and volunteers were all fantastic - huge thanks to all of those folks!
Mom, Dad, Katie, B, and Margo - thanks for the wunderbar family support - your signs & cheers were great!
The Charities Challenge crew was fantastic as usual - thanks to Coach Gary, Coach Jeanne, Tom, and Roxann for the awesome support during & after the race. Cheryl - it was SO cool to see you there with Parker and Mark - you guys made my morning - the signs you made were so cool! I can't express enough how much it meant to me to see you guys there and have your support - thank you so much! :)
In no particular order, mad props to:
Rachel - first marathon ever - looked strong and finished strong - SO proud of you, Rae!!
Marcy, Hetvi, and Bridget - first marathons for them too - all finished strong & smilin'!
Tanya - great job rockin' another solid PR today - you are kickin' butt and takin' names!
Sandi, Amy, and Gary - so great to see you guys at the Dome - congrats on another rockin' TCM!
Willie - 3:03:51 - wow! What else can ya say? Congrats, Willie - and thanks again for the early push!
My friend Nicole Cueno - 2:49:37!! I'm embarrassed to admit that I had ZERO idea Nicole was such a marathon rockstar - big congrats to her!
Steve Stenzel - crushed the TC 10-Mile race with a 1:02:43 (95 out of 5797!!!). Awesome job, Steve!
My results. A 26.2 PR by 20 minutes (no, I'm not counting seconds here, lol), so I'm very pleased with that.
THANK YOU to my dear friends who have been so generous with your support & encouragement. I am so blessed these days to enjoy the wonderful circle of friends that I have today - I am so very grateful to all of you for your kind support today and always - thank you from the bottom of my heart!
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Now playing: gnarls barkley - run (i'm a natural disaster)
