I'M A MARATHONER!!!! It feel so good. I can't even describe. 2 years ago, or even last year, I never dreamed I would do a marathon this soon, if ever. I've never been a good runner and always did it just because it was part of the triathlon. But after all the training and all the misery of running 26.2 miles, I can finally say I'm a runner. And I actually like it. How odd.
So here is my race report! Which is something all triathletes do after a race so they can recap and learn how to do things better for next race. Also, other new triathletes look at them so they can learn about the race they might do next year. It's a really great idea - I love race reports!
The trip started off with triathlon team (David, Nick, Chris, Jamie and I) meeting at Espresso Royal (our normal meeting spot) at 8 am. We were all on time and ready to go! We had our shoes, our food, our coffee, our gallons of water and gatorade. Ready to hit the road before Colin started massively texting us all asking our estimated time of arrival. Then we locked the keys in the van.
So we got more coffee, read magazines in CVS, and sat around laughing at ourselves waiting for the AAA guy to show up. He popped it open in about 10 seconds and at 9:30 we were on the road!
Thanks to Dave we made impeccable timing.
We ate at Panera on the way down and all shared a huge sour dough bread circle - talk about carbing up!
We got to Philly around 3:30 and went to the convention - which was graded a B+ by runner'sworld magazine - but I thought it was awesome! And we met up with Olivia, Colin and Kristen! There were no long lines to register and pick up numbers and we got a lot of free water bottles and random stuff. I wanted to switch corrals and that took all of 5 minutes, the people were super helpful. And I got two tshirts - one from Chris' mom and one from myself. I had a really great time at the convention - top grade!
So then we drove to Colin's house where his parents made us an amazing dinner of lasagna, salad, Japanese salad, Pasta, bread, and cookies. And gave us all comfy beds. It was so appreciated, I absolutely love the team's parents. And they love taking care of us!
After dinner we tried on our marathon gear - Nick and Chris looked ridiculous in their spray painted wife beaters - then again so did I! And Chris looked like a male stripper in his short shorts and knee socks. So we had a good laugh, did some work, and wrapped it up.
We all were in bed and asleep by ten - or kind of asleep. I tossed and turned a lot all night because I was so nervous.
We woke up at 4 am to an awesome breakfast -most of which I did not eat because again I was nervous. Which ended up biting me in the but around mile 4 when I was starving. I only had a mini bagel and a bite of a banana.
So we were right on time and left the house at 5 am. The drive was really short back and Colin's dad knew all the roads of Philly so we made it in great time. We were at the race in time to warm up, go to the bathroom, and stretch. It was all so exciting! And the weather was perfect, 42 when we got there and about 45 when we started. It ended up being 50 so the underarmour and Nike spandex pants I wore was an awesome race outfit. I wasn't too hot or too cold the entire race.
After a near panic because Liv and i were in a bathroom line forever, missing the national anthem and making it to the start line 4 minutes before the race gun went off, I was in my corral and ready to start.
My heart was pounding and I was so nervous. But there were so many people around I was so happy! They announced the start at 7 am and a couple corrals went off before me.
I went off feeling REALLY good - a little bit too good I think. I clocked in my first 5 miles in less than 9 minutes - around 8:40 pace - and felt really strong. The first 7 miles FLEW by. The next 5 went by really fast too. I ran into my friend Chrisann and we ran together for a little bit. She ended up passing me in the end, which was awesome! She held a really steady pace the whole time and did a really great job. I had GUs 45 minutes in, and then about every 45 minutes after that. I drank a lot of gatorade and water - which really helped. I started getting really hungry at mile 5.
There were two big hills around mile 8 that really slowed me down but I quickly regained energy and kept going. I did my 10k at 55:00 ( a new record!) and my 13.1 at 2:05 (Another personal record!) So needless to say I felt awesome the first 13 miles, although I started losing energy at mile 14. My pace slowed a bit through the next 3 miles and I took a little longer at the water stations.
I started having really bad cramps (thanks mother nature) at mile 17 so I had to walk a little bit and I went to the bathroom. I got to see Nick sprinting his last 3 miles and he gave me a huge scream of encouragement. I also got to see Chris! He was looking really exhausted but was holding a strong pace. And then I saw Dave but he was so concentrated he didn't hear me yelling. I was so happy to see my teammates in the race.
I started to really slow down at mile 18 where I slacked off and did an 11:00 minute/mile. And then I started to completely lose it around mile 19. My calves and the bottoms of my feet KILLED. And my right clavicle was having issues too. I had a searing pain in my shoulder but kept moving.
For about 2 miles I did a lot of walking - which I was really disappointed in. My mile pace slowed to 12:30 and stayed that way for the last 3 miles. I literally had nothing left in me and only the finish line kept me going. At one point I was so exhausted I started running 4 cones and walking 1. That helped. At mile 24.5 I finally decided that no matter what I was going to run the rest of it. I was able to pull off running the last mile a half, which took every bit of energy from me.
The end of the race actually came really fast, and in retrospect the whole run went by faster than I thought. I think the worst part of it was the three turn-arounds. You had to run all the way down a road, go around a cone, and run all the way back, passing all the people behind you. It was kind of annoying to just run to the end of a street and turn around. I think mentally it would have been better to have one continuous loop where you didn't have to back track.
At the end of the race I finished with a HUGE smile on my face, I couldn't wipe it off. And the fans were amazing! They all had really funny signs and cheered your name really loud. They encouraged you and handed out food and beer - which was funny. I really, really enjoyed their enthusiasm. At time they were the only thing that kept me running. I had a HUGE crowd to run home to.
So I got my medal and my space blanket and Chris was waiting for me at the finish line - he was first person I wanted to see! I was so, so happy when I saw him. And then I got to see everyone else! Everyone waited for me to finish, and i was SO happy to see Nick, Dave, Olivia, Colin, Kristen, Jamie, and Colin's parents so proud of me. We got some food and I hobbled back to the van.
The best part was David's mom got a hotel so we could all shower after the race, which was the best feeling. It took us forever to walk to the hotel room but it felt so good to lay down and shower. After that the boys had to get Philly cheese steaks, so we did that and then we stopped by David's house in New York to eat more - his mom always provides the best food! Colin got us home really quick - by 9:30! it took me and Chris 20 minutes to walk 3 blocks to StuVi, we got a pint of ice cream, ate it, and went to bed.
Overall, I'd give this race an A. I had a blast with my favorite people in the world and fulfilled one of my life goals =)
Can't wait to run another one!
love love love,
me
So here is my race report! Which is something all triathletes do after a race so they can recap and learn how to do things better for next race. Also, other new triathletes look at them so they can learn about the race they might do next year. It's a really great idea - I love race reports!
The trip started off with triathlon team (David, Nick, Chris, Jamie and I) meeting at Espresso Royal (our normal meeting spot) at 8 am. We were all on time and ready to go! We had our shoes, our food, our coffee, our gallons of water and gatorade. Ready to hit the road before Colin started massively texting us all asking our estimated time of arrival. Then we locked the keys in the van.
So we got more coffee, read magazines in CVS, and sat around laughing at ourselves waiting for the AAA guy to show up. He popped it open in about 10 seconds and at 9:30 we were on the road!
Thanks to Dave we made impeccable timing.
We ate at Panera on the way down and all shared a huge sour dough bread circle - talk about carbing up!
We got to Philly around 3:30 and went to the convention - which was graded a B+ by runner'sworld magazine - but I thought it was awesome! And we met up with Olivia, Colin and Kristen! There were no long lines to register and pick up numbers and we got a lot of free water bottles and random stuff. I wanted to switch corrals and that took all of 5 minutes, the people were super helpful. And I got two tshirts - one from Chris' mom and one from myself. I had a really great time at the convention - top grade!
So then we drove to Colin's house where his parents made us an amazing dinner of lasagna, salad, Japanese salad, Pasta, bread, and cookies. And gave us all comfy beds. It was so appreciated, I absolutely love the team's parents. And they love taking care of us!
After dinner we tried on our marathon gear - Nick and Chris looked ridiculous in their spray painted wife beaters - then again so did I! And Chris looked like a male stripper in his short shorts and knee socks. So we had a good laugh, did some work, and wrapped it up.
We all were in bed and asleep by ten - or kind of asleep. I tossed and turned a lot all night because I was so nervous.
We woke up at 4 am to an awesome breakfast -most of which I did not eat because again I was nervous. Which ended up biting me in the but around mile 4 when I was starving. I only had a mini bagel and a bite of a banana.
So we were right on time and left the house at 5 am. The drive was really short back and Colin's dad knew all the roads of Philly so we made it in great time. We were at the race in time to warm up, go to the bathroom, and stretch. It was all so exciting! And the weather was perfect, 42 when we got there and about 45 when we started. It ended up being 50 so the underarmour and Nike spandex pants I wore was an awesome race outfit. I wasn't too hot or too cold the entire race.
After a near panic because Liv and i were in a bathroom line forever, missing the national anthem and making it to the start line 4 minutes before the race gun went off, I was in my corral and ready to start.
My heart was pounding and I was so nervous. But there were so many people around I was so happy! They announced the start at 7 am and a couple corrals went off before me.
I went off feeling REALLY good - a little bit too good I think. I clocked in my first 5 miles in less than 9 minutes - around 8:40 pace - and felt really strong. The first 7 miles FLEW by. The next 5 went by really fast too. I ran into my friend Chrisann and we ran together for a little bit. She ended up passing me in the end, which was awesome! She held a really steady pace the whole time and did a really great job. I had GUs 45 minutes in, and then about every 45 minutes after that. I drank a lot of gatorade and water - which really helped. I started getting really hungry at mile 5.
There were two big hills around mile 8 that really slowed me down but I quickly regained energy and kept going. I did my 10k at 55:00 ( a new record!) and my 13.1 at 2:05 (Another personal record!) So needless to say I felt awesome the first 13 miles, although I started losing energy at mile 14. My pace slowed a bit through the next 3 miles and I took a little longer at the water stations.
I started having really bad cramps (thanks mother nature) at mile 17 so I had to walk a little bit and I went to the bathroom. I got to see Nick sprinting his last 3 miles and he gave me a huge scream of encouragement. I also got to see Chris! He was looking really exhausted but was holding a strong pace. And then I saw Dave but he was so concentrated he didn't hear me yelling. I was so happy to see my teammates in the race.
I started to really slow down at mile 18 where I slacked off and did an 11:00 minute/mile. And then I started to completely lose it around mile 19. My calves and the bottoms of my feet KILLED. And my right clavicle was having issues too. I had a searing pain in my shoulder but kept moving.
For about 2 miles I did a lot of walking - which I was really disappointed in. My mile pace slowed to 12:30 and stayed that way for the last 3 miles. I literally had nothing left in me and only the finish line kept me going. At one point I was so exhausted I started running 4 cones and walking 1. That helped. At mile 24.5 I finally decided that no matter what I was going to run the rest of it. I was able to pull off running the last mile a half, which took every bit of energy from me.
The end of the race actually came really fast, and in retrospect the whole run went by faster than I thought. I think the worst part of it was the three turn-arounds. You had to run all the way down a road, go around a cone, and run all the way back, passing all the people behind you. It was kind of annoying to just run to the end of a street and turn around. I think mentally it would have been better to have one continuous loop where you didn't have to back track.
At the end of the race I finished with a HUGE smile on my face, I couldn't wipe it off. And the fans were amazing! They all had really funny signs and cheered your name really loud. They encouraged you and handed out food and beer - which was funny. I really, really enjoyed their enthusiasm. At time they were the only thing that kept me running. I had a HUGE crowd to run home to.
So I got my medal and my space blanket and Chris was waiting for me at the finish line - he was first person I wanted to see! I was so, so happy when I saw him. And then I got to see everyone else! Everyone waited for me to finish, and i was SO happy to see Nick, Dave, Olivia, Colin, Kristen, Jamie, and Colin's parents so proud of me. We got some food and I hobbled back to the van.
The best part was David's mom got a hotel so we could all shower after the race, which was the best feeling. It took us forever to walk to the hotel room but it felt so good to lay down and shower. After that the boys had to get Philly cheese steaks, so we did that and then we stopped by David's house in New York to eat more - his mom always provides the best food! Colin got us home really quick - by 9:30! it took me and Chris 20 minutes to walk 3 blocks to StuVi, we got a pint of ice cream, ate it, and went to bed.
Overall, I'd give this race an A. I had a blast with my favorite people in the world and fulfilled one of my life goals =)
Can't wait to run another one!
love love love,
me
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