Guest Post - My First Marathon - Part 2: Race Report

Lisa's back with her marathon race report (read her last post on her training)- Lots of Congratulations on your first one!!

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Virginia Beach, watch-out!  Jersey girls are coming to town!   

Pre-race Day (Saturday):

We arrived in Virginia Beach late Friday night, excited for the weekend to begin, but very tired.  

I woke up in the morning feeling good and rested.  Jillian, Victoria and I decided to go down and check out the breakfast in hopes we would have stuff to help us prep for race morning.  Of course, we brought our own food for race morning.  Can’t change routine or food choices before a race!  We were excited to find that they had a toaster for us to use.  Yay!  We had breakfast while watching the 8k finishers run right by our hotel.   Have to say they had some great outfits!  

View from my hotel room of the finish line

After breakfast, I decided to go for my short run that was on my schedule.  2 mile run (Warm-up: 10 minutes easy pace, Main Set: 5 minutes at 9 minute mile pace, then 3-4 times 30sec pickups Cool Down: walk)
My plan was to go outside and just enjoy the sites and sounds of Virginia Beach.  The weather had other plans.  The second I went to step out the door, it started to downpour, so I turned around and headed for the treadmill.  I didn’t want to take any chances the day before the race. After my workout, I showered and Victoria, Jillian and I heading to the Shamrock Expo to meet up with Stephanie and Josh to pick up our bib and shirts.

My bib # and long sleeve tech shirt (it was official)

After we all picked up our stuff, we decided to walk around the expo and do some shopping.  It was fun just hanging out and having fun, but I didn’t want to be on my feet too much.  So, we decided to part ways, but before we did we took some photos. 

Support Crew (aka the best)

Victoria (1/2 mar) Me (mar) Stephanie (1/2 mar)

Jillian, Victoria and I heading back to the hotel for some rest and basketball until dinnertime.  We decided to go to a restaurant called Abbey Road, which had a great menu that meet all of our dietary needs.  Plus, it had the basketball games on…NCAA pre-rounds for the March Madness. 

My friends and I at dinner pre-race, look at all those waters on St. Patrick’s Day weekend.  haha

After dinner, was time for more relaxing and getting everything ready for race morning.  We were all set and ready for our races. 

Marathon Morning (Sunday):

I was not sure what to expect race morning; the forecast was calling for rain/clouds and wind.  We the weather turned out to be not bad at all, except for the wind.   It was cloudy, 45 degrees, and very windy. 

           
Surprisingly, I wasn't too nervous until I was walking to the starting line, but I had some great early morning surprises from friends and family.  My favorite one was: 

My niece and nephew cheering me on from NJ!!

My walk to the starting line took no time at all.  I could feel my nerves inside me, but once I saw my corral I was fine and the nervousness went away. I was ready to go!  

 I meet some great people in my corral and they were all first-timers.  I knew I won’t be staying with them due to my race plan of running a mile, walking a minute, but that was okay.  It was great chatting with them pre-start.  Once the buzzer sounded I was off and running.  I stuck to my training plan, which was hard at the beginning, but it was worth it in the end.   I was able to keep my friends updated throughout the run during my walk breaks I would text them. 

Mile 12 just ran past my friends feeling good and on target for 4:20:00 marathon.

  

I was so happy and felt great and was on target for a 4 hour and 20 minute marathon until I hit mile 15. At mile 15, the road was slanted and I couldn’t find a flat surface.  The slanted road kicked in my IT band and I was unable to keep my pace.  So, my pace slowed and I kept going.  I ran walked all the way to the finish.  It was tough, but not as tough as my 20-mile training run.  

As I headed into the last mile, I could feel the energy from the crowd and the excited was building.  The pain that I was feeling went numb.  I couldn’t wait to see my friends who I knew were waiting for me at the finish line and to run though the finish.   The crowd pushed me. And I spotted my friends just feet away from the finish.  Just passed them, they announced that I was a marathon finisher.  What a great feeling.  It was over and I had accomplished my goal!  My finishing time was 4hours 51mins 32seconds.  Not bad for someone who last year at this time was not allowed to run!!

 

Decision of Doing a Full Marathon & Some Motivation

After the half-ironman, I lost the desire to continue training right away. I knew by committing to a marathon meant my training needed to start right away in October. So I started stressing, do I do this thing or not? So I kept up with running 2-3 days a week making one my long run of at least 8-10 miles, just in case..Plus I didn't want to start at ground 0. I really just wanted to keep it stress-free and go with the flow until I made up my mind.

I was so swamped with work and traveling for work, I barely had time for anything besides running. I started losing my mojo big time. I would be home and do some weights two days a week. It felt really nice to do something different. I took a couple spin classes, rode outside with some new biking attire (see below motivation tools). Off-season wasn't so bad.

I thought I should be in the pool since I hadn't been in one since the last swim before the half-iron. But I couldn't even stomach the pool. I went to the pool once with Nicole and I felt like I forgot how to swim. I was so slow. Usually, I am a second behind her, but this was short on ridiculous. We decided to throw in some paddle work which at least I stayed up front, but as soon as we took them off to do a 200 interval set...gone. My analogy for Nicole was like the little wind up toy. She took off her paddles and just went, leaving me 15 meters behind...that bad...

And then it happened, I had one really good run of 9 miles, felt really, really good and decided I would weigh out the options here.

The positives:

• New Orleans meant vacation to see little brother.
  
• Christine would run the marathon and Nicole was running the half.
  
• My sister would come to see my brother and they both could hold up signs.
• Focus on running and getting better AND providing a great base for next year's half-ironman training.
• If we had another hard winter I could always drop down to the half. I was paying a $5 difference. That seemed like a pretty good deal to me.
  

The negatives:

• 26.2 miles....
• Jersey winter snow storms = possible dreadmill training.

I weighed out the options and decided to embark on my marathon journey.

I have a couple stipulations to this journey:

1. I was still considering this off-season which meant if I couldn't do a long run on a Sun you just make it up on a Monday which meant LOW STRESS...
   
2. Continue with cross-training - lots of strength training (finally got my P90x...), biking, field hockey, maybe swimming...
3. Have fun!
   

In order to kick this into gear, I needed some pick me ups (i.e. shopping) on www.teamestrogen.com.

Arm Warmers - for those bikes and runs when it is a little brisk. I love these SmartWool ones.

Long Bike Pants - I need to get outside and bike more when the weather is chilly. I love Sugui and got a good price on these. They are warm and have zippers on the bottom and nice cushion for the tush.

A new Wind Jacket - I love this....It's by Skirt Sports and it has a great pocket in the back for either riding or running that you can store some things. It worked great for a 40 degree bike!

I would like to close this post with a new quinoa recipe I got off of Gluten-Free Goddess and my Fall Beer Selection...

Maple Pear Quinoa Salad
(This is a slightly off-version of the goddess's recipe)

1/2 cup of dry quinoa
1 Ripe Pear,peeled and chopped
1/2 bag of baby spinach
1/2 cup chickpeas
some cubed Yancy Fancy Champagne Cheddar
1 bunch of fresh Italian Parsely chopped
Maple syrup
White balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil

After you cook your quinoa, mix the pear, spinach, cheese and chicken in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl mix 2 tbspn of maple syrup, 3 tablespoon of white vinegar and 4 tablespoon of olive oil. This should give you plenty to store the rest in the fridge. Great dressing. I poured about half on the salad and seasoned with salt and pepper. I served it with tilapia.


Fall Beer Selection

Weyerbacker Imperial Pumpkin Ale with a dollap (yup a dollap) of Southern Tier Creme Brulee - this is great because the Pumpkin Ale is not too pumpkin tasting, and the creme brulee adds a slight sweetness. A nice alternative to actual dessert.


Southern Tier Oat Stout - it's not sweet but has notes of vanilla, chocolate and oats...could it be healthy - just kidding...

Farnum Hill - Farmhouse Cider - I am not a big fan of cider beer but this tasted like a tart dry prosecco with a nice apple cider taste.

Mission Brewery Double IPA - it has an orange toffee flavor and is by far one of the better IPAs I have tasted in a while.


Happy Running!