Previous PR: 4:17:43 (10/9/16)
Goals: Don't pay any attention to pace. Enjoy the journey. Run for fun. Walk when you feel like it.
Result: 5:02:59 (4:45:39, if you don't count bathroom breaks/waiting in bathroom lines)
Motivation:
I summed a lot of this up in my September entry: When Life Hands You Lemons.... Basically, 2018 hit me with three near back-to-back "whammies", leaving me feeling utterly out of control of things both personal and professional, and sending me in a bit of a downward spiral. Training for a marathon was a healthy way of coping and dealing with all of that. Becoming a runner has brought more happiness into my life than I could have ever imagined, mostly because it gave me confidence in myself. No matter what the next six months threw at me, I knew I'd be better off for what I got out of my training.
Training:
I came into this cycle incredibly well-trained, having gone from a Miler Method mile plan, to a Miler Method 10K plan, to Atlanta Track Club's Level 3 Half Marathon Plan (which earned me a beautiful PR) in the previous months. The morning of the half, I'd found out I was (finally) pregnant, which made a great finish line surprise for my husband, who'd run the entire race with me. We counted the weeks to the marathon, and discovered I'd be 21 weeks pregnant.
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| Hello, little bump! <3 |
Based on how running through my first pregnancy had gone, we figured the marathon had about a 50/50 chance of happening, and would likely be a run/walk interval thing if it happened at all. I opted to train "as usual", but eliminate any pressure for pace, and give myself full permission to adjust training on a week-by-week basis to suit whatever I was feeling.
We crafted a nice hybrid plan based on my past marathon trainings, friends' suggestions, and scheduling long runs around life events.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 10K to 8mi, with hill repeats for about half the weeks
Wednesday: easy 3 to 5mi
Thursday: speedwork at the track, varying repeats, tentative goal for 8:00/mi pace
Friday: strength/yoga, which became "another rest day" about two months into the training
Saturday: long runs, tentatively planned for (2) 20mi and (1) 22mi, fully expecting to only feel good enough to finish ONE of those three runs in full
Sunday: 5mi to 8mi with stroller, easy pace
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| CTSO: Cross That S--- Off |
In the end, I ended up exceeding all training expectations. I peaked at 50mpw (originally planned only 44), kept every single speedwork interval faster than an 8:00/mi pace, got every long run in (and felt good during them), and never wanted to change to run/walk during training.
The only "bad" part of training came at the end, when I had two bouts of illness, the last of which left me only running only once in the seven days prior to the marathon. I do NOT recommend that taper strategy. Beyond not running, I also didn't have an appetite for the week leading up to race day.
Pre-Race:
Today didn't feel like a marathon day. Every other time I've run a marathon, it's been a destination race, something I have to pick up and plan for, something that's outside my normal. Today, I woke up in my own home, got ready in my own room, and pulled something out of my pantry for breakfast. It just felt like I had a friend in town and we were going to do a long run together this morning. After the week I'd had, that was exactly the sort of attitude/expectations I needed to have.
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| flat friends |
Beth and I drove down, parked, and spent the next hour hopping from bathrooms to gear check to tents, taking pictures and getting excited about being able to do this thing together.
Race:
Part of me wants to recount the entire race in this entry, mile by mile, because it was so incredible. The other part doesn't even know how I'd begin to write all of those feelings down, so I'll do what I can with the amount of effort I'm willing to exert this morning. :P
When we started running, I was instantly at-ease with how comfortable running felt. Having run only once in the past seven days (I can't remember the last time that happened-- probably when I had a torn PF), I'd been incredibly nervous that I "wouldn't be able to run" or something similarly ridiculous. Nope. It was fine. Well, except for the fact that I already had to pee at mile 1.
Our first few miles were sub-10. Tooooooo fast. Oops. They were also mostly downhill, though, so we kind of let it slide. After all, there were no pace plans for the day, and we were just running whatever felt good to me at that particular instant.
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| I never stop during races, but today seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally take a selfie at the most picturesque spot for running selfies in Atlanta :D |
We made our first potty stop around the 5K mark (and pretty much settled in to stopping about ever 5K throughout the first bit of the course), and felt much better after that. I knew my family and teammates would be around the 5.7mi mark, but was thrilled to see one of my training partners even earlier, closer to mile 4. Throughout the race, seeing the familiar faces of friends and supporters out there really made this the experience it was. I wasn't just doing something with the woman running next to me; this was bigger than just me or just us. This was a marathon, and we were part of it. :D
I had a few encouraging comments about running pregnant during this part of the race, including one from a guy who joked that, he, too, was carrying about an extra 20lbs and how hard it was to run with. That made me laugh.
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| HiiiiI! |
Around mile 5, I started to feel my hip tighten up, and cursed myself for not taking even five minutes this past week to stretch at all. Fortunately, it subsided about as quickly as it had come on. I felt it a few other times during the rest of the race, but it never turned into anything.
Every time we saw friends was special, but the first time I saw my husband and little one was probably my favorite. I called my little one's name as soon as I saw him, and the runners ahead of us literally moved out of my way so that he could see me. A few saw my "Baby on Board" back bib and "awwwed' as they saw the "rest" of my family on the sidelines cheering for us.
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pretty much every sighting went like this:
I would call my little one's name, and my husband would frantically point me out, shouting, "That's Mommy!" until he understood, then he'd get super excited to hold up his sign and cheer for me <3
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| The second time we saw them, they were camped out at the exact same spot I cheered for my husband when he ran the marathon back in 2015. :) Pretty cool. |
There were plenty of hills on the first half of the course, but I'd trained for them. Even the 10th Street/Juniper combo felt relatively easy! I was still feeling great throughout the Georgia Tech campus, and the Marietta Street hill on last stretch of the half course. "Alright," I thought, "Halfway there. Just do exactly what you just did one more time, and you're done."
It was amazing how quickly the mood changed after we passed the excitement of the half marathon finish line and turned off towards our fourteenth mile.
"It's so.... peaceful," Beth commented.
"Yeah."
More like depressing. We'd gone from having a ton of runners around us, with spectators cheering encouraging words, and music pumping to a handful of runners within sight, a handful of pedestrians walking along the sidewalks, and scuffing footfalls and breathing as our only background noise. I felt myself mentally go from "woooo, I'm running the marathon", to, "and now for thirteen more miles that must simply be endured".
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Post-bathroom stop at mile 14ish: getting all the "bump support" garments back on
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I'd been grateful for Beth for the first thirteen, but, man, was I grateful for the company on the back half of the course. We plodded along together, making light small talk about all the turns on the course, and how we were both pretty grateful we had no idea where we were so that every turn was a new surprise to look forward to, even if it were a hill.
At some point within this stretch, we passed one of the same guys we'd seen on the half course, who'd noted, at the time, I was pregnant, and encouraged me along.
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| rockin' the back bib |
"Shit," he said, almost to himself, as we passed. "You're running the FULL?!?!"
Beth and I smiled as we turned around.
"I guess so?" I replied.
"Wait, what?" Beth responded, jokingly. "Did we miss a turn?"
We all had a good laugh, and continued trudging on through the pretty colleges campus streets we found ourselves in. I mentally counted down to that beautiful 16mi mark, where we'd "only" have ten miles to go, and set a mini-goal for myself of making it that far before walking.
The 15.5mi cheer zone was amazing. They were blaring the Cupid Shuffle, handing out snacks and drinks, and, best of all, had no lines for the port-a-potties. Waiting for Beth, I got a little bit of a break, which gave me the energy to keep on running until mile 18, when I decided it was time for a short walk break and another snack.
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| I don't even remember where this was, but I remember being super glad to see friends! |
Coming into mile 20 was tough, and I had a moment of inner turmoil where I was debating whether or not I wanted to "give in" and start walking some of the larger hills instead of running them. Cardio-wise, I felt like I could go another five hours. I'd kept my pace much slower than usual, and wasn't pushing at all. My legs were tired, but that's pretty standard for a marathon. The biggest problem I was having was actually my feet, which felt incredibly constrained in my shoes. A few weeks ago, I'd made the decision to wear a new pair for the marathon, did my 20 and 22 milers in them, and noted that they felt a little harder to "break in" than my previous pairs (likely due to my feet being a little larger due to pregnancy), but fine enough.
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| It was sunny too. Thank goodness for cool-ish temps, though, and wind. |
They were definitely NOT fine enough right then, though. I felt as if the lace clasps were pushing into the top of my feet and briefly considered taking them off and running the rest of the race barefoot. One glance at the Atlanta city streets shook that from my mind, though. I relented and decided I'd walk some of the hills, not trudge though, decidedly power walk them.
Beth and I enjoyed the company of one Luis Fonsi via her phone playlist for the next bit of the run/walk, singing together in Spanish as we plodded up hills, and then found ourselves treated to the Georgia State cheer station, captained by one of my teammates. Not only did we get the standard excited cheers from friends and volunteers, but she'd literally told all of her volunteers about me, and I think I had every single one of them shout for me by name.
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#team <3
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| "Hey, look, that sign says '#10KTuesday'!" |
Shortly after that spot, we saw "the gang" again, which was SUCH a huge help. It was our last bit of dedicated/expected spectator support until the end of the race. We only had about four miles to go, which didn't seem far, but my feet were definitely starting to get to me. By the time we got to the Cheney Track, I was ready to be done, and it showed in the pictures from that location.
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Uggghhhh, feeet.
Also, I think this may be the only time during the entire race where I wasn't smiling.
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We walked a good bit of the hills coming out of Cheney. I'd made the decision that I wanted to have a good last mile of the race, and that I was willing to walk until I felt like running again, at the very least. We ran some of the downhills, and the flats, then walked up the next incline, still smiling. I knew we would be incredibly close to the 5:00 mark and that each time I opted to walk, I might be making the choice to finish in 5:00:01 instead of 4:59:59, but I was at peace with that. Besides, if you didn't count the time we spent waiting in bathroom lines, we were well below the 4:45 mark... but I didn't have a time goal for this race, and so it didn't really matter.
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| Olympic Rings selfie |
The 26 miler mark was the most beautiful sign I'd seen all day. Since 24, I'd been counting the "laps on a track to go" aloud, reminding myself that another nine laps wasn't really that far. Soon enough, I'd get to see that finish line. Soon enough, I'd get to take these shoes off. Soon enough, I would be able to say "I did it".
As I made the turn into the finish chute (thanks to everyone who was there, pointing out the giant step in the curb that surely would have had me face plant on the concrete if I hadn't heard all the shouted warnings), I saw one of my 10KTuesday/Running Mamas teammates and her little girl. And then I heard the MC's voice talking about a pregnant marathoner over the loudspeaker.
That's me! That's me! He's talking about ME!
Running those last 26.2m to the line, I was filled with so much pride. Yeah, I ran a marathon pregnant, and I'm pretty proud of that. What I'm more proud of is how I've gotten through the last year of life. This marathon was a celebration of my entire support network, and my ability to admit when I need their help. I'm not "over" 2018 the way I'd hoped I be when I thought about crossing the finish line back in September, but I'm in a much better place than I was, thanks to all the people who've shared the miles with me.
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| Perfect finish shot |
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| ^thanks to this amazing mama right here |
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| and the perfect finisher selfie |
Post-Race:
- enjoyed Publix' runner goody-bag, complete with cold chocolate milk (mmmmm, calories!)
- reunited with some friends and got lots of tearful "you did it" hugs <3
- stopped by the Ultimate Peach tent for my super cozy blanket and opted to give my free food to my kiddo instead of eating it myself, because, well, I'm a mom :P
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| family <3 |
- reunited with teammates and thanked them profusely for their support
- somehow made it back to our car BEFORE taking my shoes off
- got burgers at my favorite burger place (and actually had the appetite to eat them!)
- showered (mmmmmm)
- legs up with ice on feet
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| yessssss |
- crawled around house for remainder of day
- felt like a total boss.
Reflections:
Stay tuned for another entry later.
