Yup. I sure did earn that oval sticker! (which I actually haven't gotten yet - heck I still haven't even gotten the 13.1 yet!)
I achieved my goal of #1 finishing the race - holla! and #2 coming in under 5 hours - what up! And I actually ended up finishing in 4:51:31. As a long shot, I was hoping to maybe come in around 4:0/4:45, but like I said, that shit was hard! Here's a little race day recap for ya...
5am, my alarm goes off and I don't want to get out of bed, like at all, but I roll out and make myself some coffee and peanut butter toast with chia seeds with half a banana (my go-to race day breakfast).
I take my breakfast of champions into the bathroom and start getting dressed. I had laid everything out the night before (shorts to match the race bib of course). I knew I needed to leave around 6, but 6 o'clock came around I still hadn't "taken care of business" yet and was starting to get worried. Finally, I was able to TCB and headed out the door - whew, fingers crossed, there will be not shit-uations on the course today!
Around 6:10am I made my way downtown in the early morning fog. It was already 57 degrees and 90% humidity. Lovely. Oh I forgot to mention that I totes made myself a poor man's pace band! Yup - I straight up cut a strip of paper and wrote out my pace plan for the race and taped that shit to my wrist next to my watch! Kinda like this... but even more ghetto...
Ah - so funny, I wish I would have taken a pic of it! And the cheap-ass runner award goes to.... moi!
I always get anxious when driving and parking downtown, I'm always frazzled about the whole thing, I guess it's that whole, you can take the girl outta the country, but you can't take the country outta the girl thing?? I was freaking out afraid couldn't find the right parking garage (you know... the free one - ain't no shame in my game playa!) Anyway, it was all for nothing, I really should be more confident in myself, my directional skills have really come a long way, in the sense that I always end up taking the long way, but I digress. I found the parking garage and was rather amazed that I had managed to be so close to the start line, sweet! It was about 6:40 when I found the 4:40 pace group, and feeling optimistic, decided I'd start with them, knowing full well they would pass me up the second we passed the start line.
I had researched and planned out my pacing and obsessed over it for about a week, and was really praying that this would be the correct calculation for a successful marathon. I had it broken up into 6 manageable sections:
about 10 minutes before the start
Section 1 - SLOW the F Down is the theme for this section
Mile 1 - 11 min/mi SLOW
Mile 2-3 - 10:50 min/mi SLOW & CONTROLLED/DOWNHILL
Section 2 - Highest elevation gain/marathon effort NOT pace
Mile 3-6 - 10:35/10:40 pace
*goal is to be under 65 min at the 6 mile marker
Section 3 - form and control
Mile 6-9 - 10:30 pace (downhill)
Section 4 - Relax, conserve energy- let the hills be your guide
Mile 9-13 - 10:45/10:55 pace
*goal here was to be under 2:30 at the half
Section 5 - Rhythm, stay focused and be patient - ALL MENTAL
Mile 13-20 - 10:30/10:40 pace
*pull out all the motivational thoughts here
Section 6 - Home stretch, you've made it this far, you WILL finish
Mile 20-22 - 10:30 pace progressive tempo to the finish
Mile 22-26.2 - As fast as your legs will go all the way to the finish - try not to walk the hills at the very end!
The plan worked GREAT! Until.... around mile 19/20, then it all went downhill, literally and figuratively! Jason and the kids met me at mile 6 and then again at 12.5 and both times I felt fan-freakin-tastic, so I'm not sure what happened? Here's how it went down on my split times:
Mile 1 - 10:53
snapped this cute pic - a family that runs together, stays together!
Mile 2 - 10:49
Mile 3 - 10:46 (5K 34:08)
Mile 4 - 10:44
Mile 5 - 10:38 (54:26)
Mile 6 - 10:40
Mile 7 - 10:26
Mile 8 - 10:25
Mile 9 - 10:21
Mile 10 - 10:52 (1:47:23)
Mile 11 - 10:58
Mile 12 - 10:58 (stopped to switch out waters with J, stretch, and hug & kiss my babies)
Mile 13 - 11:56 (2:21:37 at the half)
Mile 14 - 10:39
Mile 15 - 10:38
Mile 16 - 10:59
Mile 17 - 11:01
Mile 18 - 10:58
Mile 19 - 11:11
Mile 20 - 12:08 (3:39:59 -and here's where I hit a big fat wall! All downhill from here on out)
Mile 21 - 10:55
Mile 22 - 11:58
Mile 23 - 11:31
Mile 24 - 11:24
Mile 25 - 11:19
Mile 26 - 11:09
Mile 26.2 - 11:13 (stopped to grab the twins so they could run the finish with me)
For whatever reason, absolutely nothing about that downhill felt like it was downhill! I kept thinking to myself, "if I can just keep my overall pace under 11 min/mi then I will be solid, and what do you know, at the end of it all, my avg pace was exactly an 11 min/mi pace - cray. I had to stop and walk just for a min here and there, but for the most part, I ran the whole thing, and I'm pretty proud of that. I'm also pretty darn proud of finishing this thing!
I'm also pretty sure it's one of only a handful of times in my life that my dad was truly proud of me, or at least proud enough to mention it to me! I was pretty bummed that the peeps at marathonfoto somehow did not get a pic of me crossing the finish line with Max and Emma :( I emailed them hoping that it was because they couldn't see my bib number and maybe they could find it for me, so we'll see?
People kept telling me that as soon as I was finished I would want to run another one, and I'm tellin' you right now... NOPE, NO WAY, NO THANK YOU VERY MUCH! One and done baby! Oh and can we just stop for a moment and talk about the total lack of swag?! WTH? Seriously, the only freebie I got was an Austin keychain! What's up with that?! This was my fourth race and I must say that as far as swag and expo's go, the Dallas Metro PCS Marathon & Half Marathon was def the best - just sayin! I may have never gotten to experience labor and giving birth naturally, but I sure did run 26 and half miles with NO DRUGS!
my sweet hubs made signs for me again - love that man!
I may be done with marathon training, and honestly running in general for a while, but I am still on the hunt chasing that sub 2! But for now... I just completed day 2 of the Jamie Eason LiveFit 12 week transformation plan - and whoa, my arms are Jell-O! I think I will plan to run another half or 2 in the fall, for now, my focus is on leaning out and dropping my body fat % (which is currently at 21.9%, according to the little handheld do-hicky at the gym). Anyhoo - that's where I'm at right now. I also have a little adoption update, but I'll give it it's own post, so stayed tuned.
-Candice
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