So I did it. I ran a marathon! Yahoo! And boy are my quads screamin. All that downhill worked them.
How the day went- got down to Redding around 6:30 and picked up my race packet-then my mom and I drove up to Shasta Dam where the race start was. It was still dark when we arrived and the wind was bitter cold. Luckily they had a clothes drop off so we were all able to stay
warm until the start.
Speaking of the start- right as I was lining up I meet a woman named Kelly and we hit it off immediately. She and I ended up running the whole marathon together. It was awesome!
I had a good pace to start(didn't go out too fast) as I had 4 miles of serious downhill to begin. Kelly and I could see we where towards the tail end of the pack- but by mile 5 we began passing people.
The run was beautiful as it followed the Sacramento River the whole way. At times as I looked back I could see Mt Shasta majestically standing above the river.
The course was mostly downhill with some climbing from miles 12-14-then downhill to mostly flat the rest of the way.
I felt really great until mile 18-then the wall hit. I had a really hard time after that. It's like things just stopped working. It happened when I hit the bike trail which was mostly flat. I had the hardest time continuing to run and wanted to walk. It was such a mental thing. I just wanted to walk...and walk...and then my mind would be -no don't walk it makes it harder. I really struggled with finding a rythym. I could hit good rythym for a while then my mind would tell me I was tired...blah,blah,blah.....So with Kelly's encouragement and little things to focus on with my form- we were able to cross the finish line. My time- 5:07:50. That's an 11:25 pace. Need some work-yeah- but I finished! And at least I was under 12 min miles.
Fuel-I used the Carbo-Pro (finished only 2 servings-not enough), aminos,vo2max,thermolyte. I took one half espresso clif gel and after that is when I began to not feel good. Ummm.
One really fun part of running this is my mom was at all the spots where spectators could watch. I enjoyed looking into the crowd and spotting her as I ran into the area. She was so cute, dressed in pink and taking pictures. It helped so much to see her there and I found I was looking forward to seeing her each time. She was a rock star in her support of me!
At the finish my dad, mom and brother-in-law were there. What an awesome way to end my day- family and Olive Garden!
How the day went- got down to Redding around 6:30 and picked up my race packet-then my mom and I drove up to Shasta Dam where the race start was. It was still dark when we arrived and the wind was bitter cold. Luckily they had a clothes drop off so we were all able to stay
warm until the start.Speaking of the start- right as I was lining up I meet a woman named Kelly and we hit it off immediately. She and I ended up running the whole marathon together. It was awesome!
I had a good pace to start(didn't go out too fast) as I had 4 miles of serious downhill to begin. Kelly and I could see we where towards the tail end of the pack- but by mile 5 we began passing people.
The run was beautiful as it followed the Sacramento River the whole way. At times as I looked back I could see Mt Shasta majestically standing above the river.
The course was mostly downhill with some climbing from miles 12-14-then downhill to mostly flat the rest of the way.
I felt really great until mile 18-then the wall hit. I had a really hard time after that. It's like things just stopped working. It happened when I hit the bike trail which was mostly flat. I had the hardest time continuing to run and wanted to walk. It was such a mental thing. I just wanted to walk...and walk...and then my mind would be -no don't walk it makes it harder. I really struggled with finding a rythym. I could hit good rythym for a while then my mind would tell me I was tired...blah,blah,blah.....So with Kelly's encouragement and little things to focus on with my form- we were able to cross the finish line. My time- 5:07:50. That's an 11:25 pace. Need some work-yeah- but I finished! And at least I was under 12 min miles.
Fuel-I used the Carbo-Pro (finished only 2 servings-not enough), aminos,vo2max,thermolyte. I took one half espresso clif gel and after that is when I began to not feel good. Ummm.
One really fun part of running this is my mom was at all the spots where spectators could watch. I enjoyed looking into the crowd and spotting her as I ran into the area. She was so cute, dressed in pink and taking pictures. It helped so much to see her there and I found I was looking forward to seeing her each time. She was a rock star in her support of me!
At the finish my dad, mom and brother-in-law were there. What an awesome way to end my day- family and Olive Garden!
Congratulations in a big way on your first marathon! What a beautiful setting to run in. I have been up Shasta twice and I really enjoy the beauty in that area. Pushing through the hard spots is very admirable. Congratulations again!!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! Down hill course... oh, that's tuff. What a big accomplishment, especially going it thru the wall like that. Very happy for you! It was good to see ya on swim day.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your encouragment! I'm actually wanting to do another marathon now...is that sick or what :)
ReplyDelete