Monday, December 19, 2011

2011: The Year I Became a Marathoner

Last Christmas, my brother, Michael, gave me a series of running shirts, all featuring inspirational sayings to get me out the door every day.  But one of them had something extra: "26.2" emblazoned across the front.  I thought, "I can't wear this; that would be fraud!"  After a couple of days, that thought turned into, "Hmmmm... maybe I could... should... will do a marathon!"

And, that's exactly what I did this year. Not once, but twice!  This is a report on my second marathon of 2011 -- the year I became a marathoner.

On December 3, Jim and I dropped Oscar off at his Oma and Opa's house (my mom and stepdad), where he would be spoiled for the duration of the weekend.  Then, we headed off to Sacramento - about a 90-minute drive from the city.  We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into our lovely room at the Hyatt Regency.

Once we got settled, it was off to the expo!  I had warned Jim that since expos are full of dorky/committed/obsessed/crazy runners, he was free to stay at the hotel, but he summoned his courage and went with me.  The first dorky runner he had to deal with was me, asking to have my photo taken with the "running reindeer":


Going through packet pick-up was an early indication of how well-organized this race is.  Everything was clearly laid out and the process went quickly and smoothly.  I still needed to purchase a bus ticket, so I waited in the appropriate line, only to be told that I had already purchased the ticket when I registered.  Guess I had been more "on the ball" than I thought!

With "business" taken care of, it was time to roam around the convention center.  In an amazing coincidence (that a friend had made me aware of ahead of time!), one of my favorite stores was having their annual blowout sale right next door to the marathon expo.  Score!  Jim was incredibly patient as I dug through boxes of Title-9 sale merchandise and scored some serious discounts.

After that, it was back to the hotel, a quick change, and then out to dinner at Dawson's Steak House.  What a treat! The food was incredible, the staff was delightful and the atmosphere was relaxing -- just what we needed after a long week. 

Saturday was a chilly but beautiful day.  I went for a short 2-mile run, just so I wouldn't feel stiff on race morning.  As I got into the elevator to go back to my room, another hotel guest warned, "You'd better not be doing too much of that today!"  He was obviously speaking from experience.  Yes, the marathoners had started to descend on Sacramento!

Jim and I then spent a wonderful afternoon with his family's good friend, Bishop Francis Quinn, a.k.a. "Monsy."  He treated us to lunch at his home, and we spent the rest of the afternoon talking and laughing.  My favorite story was the one about Monsy wanting to plant a tree in Golden Gate Park before he left San Francisco to become Bishop of Sacramento.  He and Jim went over to the park, clandestinely dug a hole, and put the tree in.  Since I run in the park all the time, I asked them to tell me where the tree was so that I could see how it was doing, but neither of them could remember the exact location!


He may not remember where he planted the tree, but Monsy clearly remembers everything else, right down to the last detail!  At 90 years old, he is amazing.

After saying our good-byes, Jim and I returned to the hotel and started to research possible restaurants for dinner.  We settled on an Italian place two blocks away, and were treated to some delicious pasta and plenty of vino.  I do not belong to the school of running that abstains from alcohol before a race, and as far as I could tell, neither do most of the other marathoners who were dining there that evening!

We returned to the hotel and I placed a wake-up call for 3:45 a.m.  The operator said, "Bless your heart!  I'll ring a second time at 3:50 just to be sure you're up!"  Of course, there was no need, since I didn't sleep a wink.  By 3:30 a.m., I was up.  By 4:00 a.m., I was dressed and ready to get caffeinated.  Thank goodness Starbuck's opened at 4:00 a.m. that morning to accommodate the marathoners.

As instructed, I was in front of the Sheraton Grand at 5:00 a.m. to get on the bus that would take us to the start.  Like clockwork, the buses showed up and we started piling in.  On the way, I ended up conversing with a guy from Vancouver BC, whose wife was doing the sane thing that morning -- sleeping!  It was fun to share stories about how our spouses deal with our running.  We both concluded that we are very lucky that we have partners to whom we can say, "Hey, I'm going out for a run -- should be back in about 3 hours" and have them respond, "O.K., see you later!"

The bus ride took about 40 minutes, and, since the CIM is a point-to-point race, our anxiety increased in direct proportion to the distance we were traveling.  Finally, we arrived at the start in Folsom.  Whew!

I got off the bus and was shocked by how cold it was.  It was in the mid-30s, and despite my layers, I couldn't get warm.  I did not take this as a good omen.

Next, I went to find the porta-potties.  From past races, I figured that I would be standing in line right up until the starting gun, but here is where the CIM set itself apart from the pack again:


This photo doesn't even do the "fleet" justice!  This was the first race I have ever participated in in which there were actually MORE THAN ENOUGH porta-potties. There were no long lines, and the toilets were actually clean!

At 7:00, the gun went off, and although I had lined up in the back (as I always do), I was through the  gate within 3 minutes.


It was a tough start for me on the emotional level.  I was freezing (literally), and the thought that there was no way I could run 26.2 miles under these conditions ran through my head incessantly.  After reaching the first mile marker, I decided to keep my focus on only the current mile.  By mile 3, I was feeling a lot more confident, and thankfully, it was getting warmer!  That helped tremendously.

Despite the frequent pit stops I had to make during the first half of the race (damned coffee!), I was actually feeling really strong.  My mental strategy went something like this:  "If I can make it to mile 16, there are only 10 miles to go.  That's about the length of an average Saturday long run.  No sweat!" I wasn't totally convinced by this line of thinking, but it seemed to work.  I hit mile 16 feeling great and from this point on, I will let my photos do most of the explaining for me.

The 17-Mile Marker - Feeling strong, but still holding back on my pace, just in case!  I kept expecting to "hit the wall," but I never did.  One of the things that may have made a difference was that I decided to take a little bit of GU after every mile (rather than every/other mile), from miles 18-22.  It seemed to work, but then again, it may just have been the way the stars were aligned that day!


22 Miles - At this point, I sent the following text message to Jim:  "@ mile 22 and feeling great. WTF?!?!?  See you in about 45 minutes!"


After mile 22, I decided that it just might be O.K. to pick up the pace.  I glanced down at my Garmin from time to time and saw that I was averaging about a 10:00/min./mi. pace.  Again, WTF?!?!  I could not believe that I was able to hold that pace at 22+ miles into the race. 

At mile 25, we turned onto "L" Street to run the final stretch to the Capitol.  I decided to kick it and ran that last mile in about 9:40.  As I approached the finish line, the clock said 5:14.xx, and I was determined to cross before it hit 5:15:00.

My expression coming across the finish line pretty much says it all:


I couldn't believe it!  I mean, I was ready to have the race over with, but I felt incredible!  I went through the finishing chute in a haze:  Got my medal, wrapped myself up in my "blanket," grabbed a few goodies to eat later, and started to re-hydrate.  Jim and I finally found each other and exchanged a very sweaty hug.  He said, "I saw you running down the main street and you looked like you could have just kept going!"

Well, maybe I looked that way, but believe me, I was glad to be done.  Final results:
Gun time:  5:14:44
Chip time: 5:11:54
And -- a 36-minute PR!

We had arranged late checkout at the hotel, so we went back to the room and I cleaned up.  After that, we headed back to the city, where Oscar was eagerly waiting for us.  Being reunited with our pupper was probably the REAL highlight of the weekend; he was so, so happy to see us!


The CIM is the best race I have ever run, and I will definitely be back next year.  Every aspect of the marathon was well-organized; the participants and volunteers were great; the course was beautiful and just challenging enough.  And the medal is pretty cool, too.

 

2012 is just around the corner and I plan to continue my journey as a marathoner.  Next race?  Possibly the San Luis Obispo Marathon in April. Definitely the SFM in July and the CIM in December!

And, hey, Michael!  Thanks again for giving me that "26.2" tee shirt last Christmas.  But this year, please, stay away any that say "50K" or "Ultra-Marathoner" because those will be staying in the dresser drawer!

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