Richmond 2012 Marathon: The Recap

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About 3 hours after the race. I'd had one sip of beer but was so tired pretty sure I was drunk. This from my last blog post:  "Anything under 3:29:45 is a win." 

I like to cut it close. I finished Saturday's Richmond marathon with a time of 3:29:32, shaving off a whopping 13 seconds from my last marathon. 

In fact, I am THRILLED with that time. This was a challenging run for me. It's the the first marathon I've ever run where I struggled more mentally than I did physically. And let me tell you... I struggled physically as well. 

If you look at my mile splits, I was running pretty strong until mile 18. (I fell apart at mile 20, but we'll get to that in a minute.) But even before I got to mile 6, I was not in the game. I remember passing the mile 4 marker, picturing the 22 miles still in my future and thinking, "I don't want to do this."  

That's not good.

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Richmond Marathon This Saturday

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Alrighty friends, the time has arrived. The Richmond marathon is this Saturday and yours truly will be lining up at 8 a.m. on Saturday in Wave 1 under bib #915 for what will be my 9th marathon.

For most of my training I've been ambivalent about my goals for this race. Should I go for a PR? Pace a friend? Run for fun? (Ha ha ha -- totally kidding with that last one.) But now that the time is near and the weather appears to be cooperating (38 degrees at the start), I've decided. I'm going for it. Going for a PR. Therefore, anything under 3:29:45 is a win. Here are my goals from best to worst case scenario. 

  1. Run a 3:25:00 
  2. Boston Qualify - 3:45:00 
  3. Run under 4 hours
  4. Anything over 4 hours indicates I ran into serious trouble so the goal then just becomes "Don't die." 

I've been training at a 3:20:00 plan and while I've done well, my training has been sporadic with the trip to Italy, the 24-hour Hinson Lake Run, and I was sidelined two weeks ago with a pulled glute/hamstring and missed some runs. I don't think I can run a 3:20 and I'm not even going to try. I'm hoping a 3:25 is within range. My goal is to hold a 7:45 pace while not thinking about holding a 7:45 pace because even saying it aloud sounds damn fast and freaks me out. 

It seems every other runner in Greensboro is running Richmond this year which is AWESOME. Although it's a big race, it's surprising how often you can bump into people on the course. Seeing a familiar face can make you think you're just out for another long run back home, no worries, no pressure. 

As usual, the Sole Sisters will be forming a caravan. Everyone has killed their training plans this season and I'm betting a lot of PR's are going to be broken this weekend by my girls. 

As for me, I'm ready for this race to be over just so I can STOP EATING. You wouldn't believe the quantity of food I've consumed this week. This. Must. End. 

As for all of you, I'm concerned. What will you do when you no longer have my blog posts about my running times, my injuries (both real and imagined) and my whining about how I'm sooooo tired of marathon training to look forward to? 

Lucky for you, I've signed up for Crossfit Sessions. Blogs posts about how sore I am, how I think I hurt my shoulder, and how I'm sooooo tired of lifting heavy things, coming your way soon!

Cheers,

Dena

Running, Recovery, and Choosing A Race

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Facebook friends are aware of some recent race waffling on my part. I've been signed up to run the Richmond marathon, Saturday November 10th, since the early part of the year. All training this summer has been centered around prepping for the race. Although recent training has been sporadic with Italy and the Hinson Lake 24-hour run, I think I'm still on course to run a decent marathon. I may not PR, but I still have a good shot at coming in with a Boston Qualifying time. 

The waffling comes from discovering that many friends have signed up to run the Crooked Road 24-hour race. This is the 24-hour run I did last year, my first ultra. The run is the weekend AFTER the Richmond Marathon. I surprised myself with how much I wanted to run this race. I just love the whole feel/friendship of a 24-hour run. It's a completely different experience from a marathon and, in all honesty, I'm a bit burnt out running marathons. 

I briefly considered running both but reconsidered after reading the thinly veiled "What new breed of moron are you?" comments posted by loving and--one hopes--concerned friends. So it comes down to having to chose one race over another. 

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Hinson Lake 24-Hour Run: The Recap

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Number of hours on course: 16 hours, 33 minutes

Number of laps completed: 41

Total mileage: 62

I started crying around lap 37. 

Not an all out sobbing. More just a few silent tears streaking down my face combined with some sniffles. By this time it was around 11 pm and Blair was with me on the course, wearing the headlamp so I could see where I was going. My left ankle felt like it was broken and my right hip flexor, for which I'd received a massage around 7 pm when it locked on me, was acting up again. Soreness I could take, but my ankles felt... scary bad. Like maybe I was doing permanent damage to them. It had taken me 40 minutes to complete the last mile and a half lap. I was so done. 

Beside me in the dark, Blair either couldn't see that I was crying or--and this was brilliant on his part if he did know--he ignored it. "You're fine," he said, over and over. "You've got this. Keep going." 

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