The Rock 'n' Roll Denver Marathon starts at Civic Center Park, near the Capitol building. It winds around the city on tree lined neighborhood streets and tours Denver's beautiful parks. I have ran the Inagural Denver Marathon (pregnant) in 2006 and then again in 2009. I have ran the half marathon twice. This was my first Rock 'n' Roll brand event.
I started official marathon training after the
Slacker Half on 6/23/12. I started with Hal Higdon's Advanced marathon plan, but had a bad injury to my left calf in July on the track doing 800's that caused me to reevaluate this plan. I missed one out of three 20 mile runs & almost 2 weeks of crutial training. I chose the
advanced plan by Coach Jenny Hadfield, designed for busy (or in my case, injured) people with just a sprinkling of speed work, plus 1-2 days of cross training. I tweaked it everyday depending on how I was feeling. I loved it and might follow it again for my next race in May. I've always trained to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but I've been riddled with injury and (life....pregnancy) and my BQ goal was never obtainable, so I decided to "backtrack" and reset my goals. My goals for this race were....
1. Make it to the start line!
2. Try to break 4 hours, setting a new PR!
3. If #2 fails, just try for a PR!
4. If #3 fails, just have fun!
I had a difficult taper (who doesn't?) - body aches, a slight head cold & congestion, mixed with self doubt, anxiety & apprehension about the marathon. I was still feeling some small injuries from my training & I worried that my body would not hold together for this 26.2 mile journey.
I planned to follow the
Smartpace split strategy - a slow start; faster than goal pace in the middle, and a little slower at the end. Also slowing for uphills & speeding up for downhills. I would walk swiftly through every aid station to drink, then speed up to get back to my planned pace. I had 6 gels - 2 stuffed in my bra and 4 pinned to my shorts to take at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 & 24 miles. I decided not to talk or make any extra movements, like hand slapping, waving, yelling, etc. for fear of bonking!
The morning of the race, I woke at 3:45 after a
very restless night. I had a very bizarre dream that Hugh Hefner told me
I couldn't run the race because I had an overdue balance in the
lunchroom at the kids school! OK, that was really weird! Once I got out of bed, I felt better than I had all week. I quickly ate my breakfast, drank my coffee and got all my clothes on. My daughter came downstairs and saw me in my race gear, she laid on the couch and asked me in her sweet voice, "momma, do you think 26.2 is a long way to run?" I started tearing up and said, "yes sweetie, it's a really long way to run." She responded, "well, why to you do it?" I choked up and said, "well, it's sort of a challenge for mommy, to see what I'm capable of." I kissed her and said goodbye. I pulled myself together in the car as I drove to my friend Stephne's house, who was also running the marathon. She is an experienced racer, coach and race director, so she was very low
key and relaxed, which helped with my anxiety.
Once we got to Civic Center Park, we
went to the bag check (our designated meeting spot) to see if we could find any friends. I
recognised Heather from Utah right away. She is so sweet, talkative
and calmed my pre-race nerves! We stood in line for a while for the potty, so I'm sorry to have missed my other friends
planning to meet.
We all parted ways :( and I lined up in
my coral (#5), just behind the 4:00 pace group, I was feeling very
nervous, but ready to get going! We moved up quickly and
we were off!
The first miles felt pedestrian with the help of adrenaline, which
was relaxing and reassuring, but I was still a little anxious anticipating the faster miles
ahead. The bands were terrible, so I put my music on.
Miles 1-5 Splits: 10:01, 9:37, 9:16,
9:02, 8:56
….......
Once we started running in the 8's, I
felt surprisingly good and thought that everything was falling into
place, as far as my training and taper. These miles were too fast though, based on my paceband. I had to decide if I was going to stay with the pace group
or run my own race. I decided to stay. I saw my friend Caolan (
Chronic Runner) racing the half...after just running a Boston Qualifying marathon last
weekend! I yelled out (oops), but I don't think she heard me!
Miles 6-10 Splits: 8:39, 8:42, 8:50,
8:57, 9:01
….......
I had to pee sooo badly from miles
2-12, but I didn't want to have to run faster to catch up... I was getting tired. I knew I just had to go when all I could think about was finding a good tree! Obviously there was no privacy, so I found a convenient potty and was amazed at my ability to make it quick, literally running out of there while pulling my shorts up! I lost 13
seconds that mile.
Miles 11-15 Splits: 9:08, 8:52, 9:12
(potty stop & half way!), 8:50, 8:50
….......
These next miles were HARD, both physically
and mentally. I slowed on miles 18 & 20 because, well... I just
HURT....ALOT! My feet were burning and my legs and pelvis were
starting to feel really sore. On the upside, I passed the 4:00 pace
group leader, but I think he was slowing. I just wanted to collapse on the grass at the side of the road, and have the sag wagon pick me up! I felt my sub 4 slipping away, but I was OK with it. My new goal was just to finish as fast as I possibly could.
I played some mental games to try to make the miles pass. I
pretended that the trees were my friends and family, I named a tree
and ran to it, once I got to the tree, I named another one and ran to
that one. This lasted for a while before I started to count over and over again, then I
repeated some various mantras! I thought of all the people that were pulling for me and wanting me to reach my goals. I thought about those that can't run. I was TIRED!
Miles 16-20 Splits: 9:10, 9:03, 9:14,
9:04, 9:23
….......
With this new goal, I felt relief and started to feel better after the 20th mile. I
stopped constantly looking at my Garmin and just tried to focus on catching the
runner in front of me, pass them and catch another one. I saw LOTS of walkers and shufflers at this
point, most of them were men! I passed TONS of runners and started to
have a glimpse of hope that I would break 4:00, or at least get a PR.
My previous PR is 4:08. I felt really bad and was hurting even
worse! My lungs ached, my neck was sore, my feet were a mess and my
legs felt like lead and were on fire! I finally started to see the
city in the distance, which was a welcomed sight....this insanity would soon be over!
I wanted that medal so badly! There was a ridiculous uphill at mile
25, which lasted for about a half a mile. I power walked some of it
and ran some, I prayed for a downhill to ease the pain!
Miles 21-26 Splits: 9:19, 9:10, 9:37,
9:46, 9:32, 9:33
..........
The last ¾ mile was all downhill to the finish. It was an amazing feeling and I felt like I was flying! I felt like I was going to fall over a couple of times, but tried to run strong through the shoot. I was oblivious to the hundreds of cheering people on both sides of me while I focused on just-one-thing...FINISHING! I did however smile at the cameras (this was just for show!)
0.2 (I forgot to turn off my GPS!)
..........
As soon as I crossed the finish line I started crying because I was so relieved to walk and that this was all over! I couldn't breathe and I was hyperventilating. The medics asked if I needed help, but this soon passed and I was OK! I hobbled over to get my medal, then hobbled over to get some ice on my knee. I loaded up on food and started eating right away.
I found my friend Stephne, we hugged and laughed at how
much we were hurting and hobbling! She qualified for Boston in 3:38! We got our
bags and sat in pain for a while while we texted family that we'd made it. We posed
for a few photos and decided to head home. We got lost in the city looking for the
parking garage, it was a very painful endeavour. We finally found my
car, and stopped to pick up a couple of bags of ice on the way home!
Final thoughts....a very beautiful day,
not too hot, with a slight cool breeze. A very challenging run, but lots of
interesting sights and happy cheering people. I am very sore, but very happy and grateful for the opportunity to run another marathon. Even though I didn't break 4 hours, I was extremely happy with my finishing time of
4:01:08! Next up....The Colorado Marathon, May 2013!
5K-00:30:15
10K-00:58:07
13.1M-01:59:47
20M-03:02:35
FINISH-04:01:08
This is me, posing with my hard earned medal!
This is me trying to get up off the ground....after posing with my hard earned medal! I am NOT posing!
