2010 Grandma's Marathon

Hi!

Well, some races go well and some go like this one.

The 2010 Grandma's Marathon was my 5th marathon, the marathon for which I was the best trained and a Personal Worst by almost 30 minutes. Needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed. On the one hand, I truly believe that finishing any marathon is an accomplishment. Some days everything goes right and some days it doesn't. But, my training had gone well and I was running well and feeling primed for a PR, so coming home with a PW instead isn't a great feeling.

There was a homebrewing event that Joe wanted to go to in Minneapolis, so we headed over there on Wednesday. Basically it was a big party celebrating the 5 year anniversary of homebrewing podcasts/online community. We spent a few days there and headed up to Duluth on Friday.

Friday we went to the expo and packet pickup. We got to hear Kara Goucher and Dick Beardsley speak, which was great. I also picked up a purple Bondi Band that says "Run Like An Animal" on it. You can see it in some of the action shots below.

Me with my beautiful pink bib number at the expo:

We stayed at the University of Minnesota-Duluth dorms. It worked out great. It's no frills, but it was the cheapest option by far and was very convenient since the buses to the start picked up right outside.

Friday night we went out for sushi and then headed back to the dorms to relax, stretch, ice and play cribbage. I got to bed early and had a pretty decent night's sleep. I was able to hop right out of bed Saturday morning and get going. Everything went well with my normal morning routine. I only made one exception. I always drink coffee and regular water before long runs and races. For some reason, this time I was worried about hyponatremia (I drink A LOT of water), so I drank sports drink. Now, I've never had this issue before, so it was stupid to worry about it and to change my normal routine, but the pre-race crazies got to me.

The race started out smoothly. For the first several miles, I was clicking along at goal pace and everything was great. More than great, actually. My legs felt loose and strong and I felt like it was my day. Unfortunately, around mile 10 I could feel that something funny was going on with my stomach. By mile 12, the nausea was so bad that I couldn't tolerate fluids or nutrition. Basically at that point I was just surviving until the end. I finally got up the courage to take a look at my splits and they tell the story.

Mile 1: 8:18
Mile 2: 8:15
Mile 3: 8:32
Mile 4: 8:29
Mile 5: 8:16
Mile 6: 8:25
Mile 7: 8:21
Mile 8: 8:33
Mile 9: 8:55
Mile 10: 8:39
Mile 11: 10:43
Mile 12: 10:15
Mile 13: 9:34
Mile 14: 10:08
Mile 15: 11:32
Mile 16: 11:36
Mile 17: 12:56
Mile 18: 12:33
Mile 19: 10:25
Mile 20: 12:23
Mile 21: 12:57
Mile 22: 12:21
Mile 23: 12:56
Mile 24: 13:56
Mile 25: 11:57
Mile 26: 12:30
Chip time: 4:36:37

After I crossed the finish line, my first concern was getting to the curb to sit with my head between my knees to alleviate the nausea, so I forgot to stop my watch and missed the 0.2 at the end.

And for your viewing pleasure:

Gazelle-like elites:

I think that I was smiling-it just looks like a grimmace!

Luckily I have a great support group. Joe, my mom, my dad, Joe's dad, Joe's stepmom Ranei and his sister Emma Jo all had these bright orange shirts!

Trying not to look disappointed in my finisher's medal and tee shirt:

The only good thing about the race going so badly is that the slow pace prevented my legs from getting trashed. I ran last night and today and they are feeling very good already. Before the race, I had decided not to run a fall marathon and to focus on getting some leg speed and running shorter races in the fall. I'm feeling pretty sad at the prospect of no fall marathon, but I think focusing on speed will make me a better runner and I don't think we'll be able to afford to travel to a race anyway. The Boulder Marathon is too soon and I don't really want to run my next marathon at altitude, so that excludes Denver as well. With starting graduate school I'll have enough on my plate anyway, so it's probably all for the best. I can't resist looking into Philly though...

Assuming that I don't run a fall marathon, I hope to smash some 5k and 1/2 Marathon PRs in the fall and then focus on a spring marathon. The Shamrock Marathon falls during my spring break and is supposed to be a flat, fast course... For now I'm busying myself with researching 5k training plans and finding some target races!

Happy Running!

Jen