Got up, made strong coffee and ate breakfast: my standard ham and cheese sandwich and 2 strong lattes! Took care of things J. Important things before running 26.2 miles, if you know what I mean J. Pumped the girls completely empty and left a bottle for Tristan just in case he would want it (turns out: no). Took a shower, got dressed and got in the car!
5am arrived at the park, walked to the start area with Ben and hit the porta potties. Located the bag check and then Ben took off. 5:30am went to the porta potties one more time then dropped off my bag. 5:45 went into my corral and waited for the start! I was in corral B, knowing I could hold a pace of 8:45 min/mile comfortably. 6 am: start! First wave was off and I followed shortly after. Found a pacer for 3:45 marathon and stuck with her for the first 3 miles but started noticing her pace was much faster (more like 8:20/mile than 8:45/mile) than what I wanted to stick to. Stayed with her for a little bit but finally made the wise decision to stick to my own pace and slowed down a bit. Enjoyed next few miles along the creek through downtown Denver and got to run through a fire station! Then along the creek towards Mile High Stadium. Men were going into the bushes left and right to pee…sure convenient to be a guy! At the stadium I also took a quick pee break as a single porta potty was just opening up (turns out another good decision as I only saw ONE more porta potty along the entire course!). Then we ran through Mile Hile Stadium! Was looking out for some Bronco’s, but didn’t see any J. Back onto Colfax and running West towards the mountains. Took my first Gu around mile 6 and worked on that for a mile or so. I was carrying a small bottle of water and 4 Gu’s. Carrying my own Gu’s turned out another wise decision as I never saw them hand them out at mile 10 and I definitely already needed some before then. (Second spot they would hand out Gu was mile 20 and I did take one there.) Sipped from my water bottle and took water and/or gatorade at the aid stations which were every other mile on the even mile markers.
Miles 6-10 were through a neighborhood and around Sloan’s lake. Very nice, enjoyed the pace. Miles 10-16 first back onto Colfax where I got to cheer on some of the elite runners who were already on their way back!!! Then into neighborhoods and through the College of Art and Design campus where I passed the half way point (13.1 split: 1:54:24). Started on another Gu and kept taking water/Gatorade at aid stations. Bands played on campus for entertainment. Then ran through the hilly, but beautifully green Glens neighborhood. Many spectators cheering on and handing out oranges and candy J. But, this was a tough area and got a mild panic attack (tight chest, difficult to breathe!) on some of the hills: “Can I really do this?” Even during training runs, these 'middle miles' tend to be tough on me mentally: you feel like you've already been running for a long time, yet you have many (the hardest) miles ahead of you still! Time to recall on some of the mental training: “Yes, you can do this, you ran 22 all by yourself (my longest training run) carrying your own water and food, so you can do this with all the support!” and: "you gave birth twice, you can do this too!" “Take some deep, slow breaths and calm down!”. Thought of my smiling kids and my man at the finish line…my happy place J. I really do believe that a huge part of marathon training is the mental training!
Miles 16-20 Calmed down, ran out of that hilly neighborhood and back onto Colfax to head back East towards the city! Finally!! Great views of the city and downhill running for a while! More bands playing along the street, and got to see “cowbell guy” (a guy strangely dressed and enthusiastically banging on a cowbell for everyone’s entertainment who drove to 4-5 spots along the course to cheer everyone on!) again: indeed, entertaining J. I did start to feel the overall exhaustion of the race towards mile 18 and slowed down through an aid station there to take in more water and Gatorade. Took another Gu. "You are strong!"
Mile 20 -22 Grabbed a Gu from aid station at mile 20 but also dropped one of my own, so net number of Gu’s still 4 J.Got to run through the Stadium again! Still no Bronco’s J. Little boost with more spectators. Back along the creek things started getting rougher and I started getting nauseous. I think I was getting too dehydrated: too little to drink the first 2 hrs of the race. Walked through the aid station at mile 22 (away from the creek up into town) and took in a full cup of water and Gatorade…burst of energy! Then through downtown Denver past all the highrises! Pretty cool. But, my stomach was churning with nausea at this point and the smells of all the restaurants firing up their greasy grills for lunchtime was almost too overwhelming. Started feeling my left hamstring tightening up and tried to fight it off mentally: “no, you leg, you will NOT cramp up!!” . But, apparently that doesn’t really work because at mile 23ish my left leg completely cramped up…had to stop and stretch it out. For the next 3 miles it did that every ½ mile. I was pretty bummed about that, as I was still feeling strong and wanted to keep running and give a little final kick, but my leg wasn’t cooperating!! Grrr!!! Tried my HARDEST to force down my last gu and take more water and gatorate…still nauseous! Mile 24: “past downtown, almost there, you can do it!” “Please leg, cooperate!”. Looked at my watch and saw that even with pausing to stretch I would still be able to make it sub-4 hours. Possibly. Stop and stretch again L. Passed mile 25….almost there! Those last 3 miles really were a mental battle: all my body wanted to do was walk, but I sure kept telling it: “no, you keep running and finish strong!” “Plus, if you walk, the agony will only last longer!” haha. About 800 yards before I would turn the final corner I had to stop again to stretch out my left leg…so frustrating, I really lost a lot of time. I was trying to not let that get to me. Because really, what does it matter?!? Finally, turned the corner to the park where we started and the finish was in sight! “Please leg, please don’t seize up on me in the final finish shute!” J It didn’t J. Finished strong with my arms in the air and a smile on my face J! I did it! 3:57:19!!!
Looked around for Ben and the kids and Tom and Marilyn but never saw them at the finish L. Kind of a letdown, but they tried. They didn’t see me finish either, must have just missed me L. Hobbled over to bag check to get my bag and called Ben. Met up near finishers area and got a huge bouquet of yellow roses and hugs from my smiling kids J.
Walked to the car and saw that Ben got me a 26.2 bumper sticker! Yay! Pretty proud of having earned that! Got in the car to drive home but little Tristan was not having it after not nursing for 8 hrs J. Stopped at a gas station to nurse. Amazing how a body can run 26.2 miles and then can nurse a baby right after!
Lessons learned: 1) drink more, early on in the race. Risking a quick bathroom stop to pee is still better than 3 miles of leg cramps! 2) Still, after telling myself to pace myself, I started out to fast (see splits below). 3) Need some other form of energy besides just the sweet stuff: I couldn’t stomach the sweet Gu on top of the sweet Gatorade anymore towards the end! Maybe a baked potato with cheese in my fanny pack? ;)
Other than that: GREAT RACE! But, like labor: don’t want to think about going through that pain again in the near future J.
|
overall place:
| <><><><>
367 out of 1165
| <><><><>
|
division place:
| <><><><>
29 out of 157
| <><><><>
|
gender place:
| <><><><>
94 out of 500
| <><><><>
|
time:
| <><><><>
3:57:19
| <><><><>
|
pace:
| <><><><>
9:04
| <><><><>
|
13.1 split:
| <><><><>
1:54:24
| <><><><>
Garmin Summary
| Distance: | <><><><>
26.30 mi
| <><><><>
|
Time:
| <><><><>
3:57:23 (stopped it after the finish to smile for cameras :) )
| <><><><>
|
Avg Pace:
| <><><><>
9:02 min/mi
| <><><><>
|
Elevation Gain:
| <><><><>
2,749 ft
| <><><><>
|
Calories:
| <><><><>
3,125 C
| <><><><>
Elevation Gain: 2,749 ft Elevation Loss: 2,751 ft Min
Elevation: 5,174 ft Max Elevation: 6,110 ft
Split Time Distance Avg Pace
1 8:34.3 1.00 8:34
2 8:23.5 1.00 8:24
3 8:17.2 1.00 8:17
4 8:24.2 1.00 8:24
5 8:37.7 1.00 8:38
6 8:36.0 1.00 8:36
7 9:19.4 1.00 9:19
8 8:40.5 1.00 8:40
9 8:43.0 1.00 8:43
10 8:38.5 1.00 8:38
11 8:37.9 1.00 8:38
12 8:46.9 1.00 8:47
13 8:32.3 1.00 8:32
14 8:44.6 1.00 8:45
15 9:02.7 1.00 9:03
16 8:54.4 1.00 8:54
17 9:00.0 1.00 9:00
18 9:10.2 1.00 9:10
19 8:52.3 1.00 8:52
20 9:16.5 1.00 9:17
21 9:10.1 1.00 9:10
22 9:14.1 1.00 9:14
23 9:41.9 1.00 9:42
24 10:56.0 1.00 10:56
25 10:40.7 1.00 10:41
26 9:50.3 1.00 9:50
27 2:37.9 0.30 8:51
I DID IT!! WOHOOO!!!