Capital City Marathon was one of my goal races for the year.
I had done really well the past two years, and thought there was a good chance
I could shave off the few seconds per mile needed to get my time below 3:20. Then
the crud hit.
My training, which included some long speed workouts, was
going well, right up to my last really big long run the week Oly Trailrunners
put on the Capitol Peak 50. After
fulfilling my duties as the captain of the first full aid station, I went for a
run with my awesome aid station crew. Despite the beautiful weather and great
company, the run was a struggle. After a 20 mile loop, I attempted to head off
on my own (well, me plus the pups) for 8 extra miles and managed to just gut
through an extra 5 ½. I figured the suffering was due to being on my feet for
several hours that morning. While that probably had a bunch to do with it, the
next day, I came down with a lung crud. At first I thought it might just be a
my asthmas acting up due to a bad allergy day, but my lungs just kept getting
worse.
Okay, I told myself, I still had just under 3 weeks until
the race – my colds usually only last
about a week, I should be fine. A week passed and I was still hacking and
having a hard time breathing. After two weeks – and just 6 days before the
marathon, I finally started to feel like I was recovering. Sheesh. Well, at
least I was tapered?
The morning of the race, I woke up to cool temperatures, but
not cold temperatures, and a light drizzle – perfect for a marathon! An hour
before the race, I drove down to the start.
I sported the ever-stylish and high tech large trash bag poncho to stay
a bit warm and dry while waiting for things to get started. After an Oly
Trailrunners group photo, we sorted ourselves into the pack. I was still hoping I could go under 3:20 this year – I’d
been just over 3:21 the past two years, so figured it was possible. I put
myself near the 3:20 pace group, which was also near the front. There were a
LOT of fast looking people this year, I thought. I didn’t have too much time to
think about it, though, as soon enough we were off.
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As usual, it was a bit hard to not go too fast in the first
few miles. Several women were ahead of me, but I was already pushing myself and
didn’t think trying to get closer was a good thing. I lost a bit of contact
with the pace group, but they weren’t too far ahead, and I was sure I’d catch
them. Sure, that is, until mile 9 when we hit the first significant climb of
the race, and instead of feeling like I could power up the hill like I’d been
able to the past two years and I had practiced in training, I had difficulty
maintaining my effort. My legs, especially my hamstrings, had no spring in
them.
Oh…. crud. I immediately knew the cause. The day before the
race was sunny and warm and I rationalized that a good, “restful” activity would
be seeding my garden beds and transplanting some plants I’d started in the
house. Sure, I wasn’t moving fast, but I was on my feet for several hours, and
by the end of the day, I noticed my legs felt surprisingly tired. Russel, Craig,
and I had even had a conversation on a training run on the course – not too far
from this spot, actually – about how tired gardening can make your legs. Dumb. dumb.
dumb. A rookie mistake more than 20 years after my first marathon.
Well, not much I could do about it now. There’s not much to
say about the next several miles, really. I tried to maintain marathon effort,
but I couldn’t keep my place close to my 3:20 goal and the uphills were particularly
difficult. I passed one woman around mile 20 who commented that the earlier
hills had killed her. In the past, the hills were my strength – this day I
could only agree and sympathize.
I hit the big Eastside climb at mile 22 and knew I only had
4 miles left. Seeing Dave and John who had stationed themselves 2/3 the way up
the hill to cheer and cow-bell definitely helped buoy me to the top. I’d been
happy at how, despite my slower pace than planned, I’d manage to keep my mood
from getting too low, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I started struggling
a bit the last few miles. I knew I was close to the finish, but it felt so hard
to keep my pace up. Then, about 2 miles from the finish, my friend John came up
from behind, “I didn’t expect to see you!” he said. I smiled (or at least tried
to) and said I was struggling a bit, but would be fine and would see him at the
end. “Want to be pushed?” He asked. A very loud voice in my head said, “no”. I
was tired, and felt done. I was okay. But I sped up anyway. Together, John and
I wove through the half-marathon walkers – John about a half-step ahead of me.
Several times he looked over and it seemed to me that he was a bit frustrated
with my slow pace, so I tried to pick it up even more. Later, he’d say (whether
he was telling the truth or being kind is another thing) that he hadn’t
intended to run quite that fast.
I finished in 3:28:50. Definitely not my fastest, but it was
still good enough to win 1st Masters Woman (luckily, with the exception
of the woman who won over-all, the other women ahead of me were all under 40!)
It was so cool to have my award handed to me by none other than Joan
Benoit-Samuelson, who was there to commemorate the 35th Anniversary
of when she’d won the first every women’s Olympic Marathon Trials, held in
Olympia.
This is still one of my favorite races. Great course, great
aid stations, great community support, and so much fun cheering on all my friends at the finish. Huge thanks to
John for helping me finish strong, Coach Meghan for the great training, and
Squirrel’s Nut Butter for keeping my skin happy!
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