I entered 2017 with a steely resolve to qualify for Boston again. I ran it in 2013, and while I was lucky and fast enough to finish before the bombing, I really want to return to get the proper experience.
I chose the Capital City Marathon because it was close to home, looked like a nice course, and I'd never been to Olympia before, except to blow past it on my way to Seattle. The elevation profile gave me pause to wonder if it was a bad idea to try to get my BQ here (not any crazy aggressive hills, but constant rolling hills), but by the time I'd done my research, I was really looking forward to experiencing this race. I made other backup plans for an easier course in July if I needed it.
For my age and gender, I needed 3:55:00 or under to qualify for Boston. I was hoping for anything under 3:50 to get the 5 minutes of buffer.
Anyway, that's the back story.
My training went really well through this training cycle. I was kind of surprised, because I seemed to be holding on to a few extra pounds from winter that I was having a hard time shaking. I felt slow and heavy, and the back of my knee wouldn't so much hurt as let me know it was there, which is something that happens to me at a slightly higher weight. But, around the halfway point of my 16-week plan, I started to notice that my weight was getting back toward where I like it, and my speed work was coming closer to target. By the time I began my taper 3 weeks out, I had run a satisfying 24-miler, and my speed work was right on. I felt confident. I had been fueling with all my favorite Hammer Nutrition supplements throughout training - Recoverite and Tissue Rejuvenator are two of my go-tos, and added Race Day Boost for the 4 days leading up to the race. I booked my hotel room at the host hotel, and because apparently Olympia is very affordable, I sprang the extra $15 or $20 for a "city view suite". My husband had to work the day of the race, but my daughters both wanted to accompany me, despite warnings that it was going to be a lot of sitting around with my feet up and watching TV. (In retrospect, I guess I see the appeal).
Anyway, the hotel was old and interesting, and the room was very comfortable. At least at first. The girls and I went to packet pickup, and took a short walk around downtown Olympia, which is very cute and rustic. We had a very marginal pasta dinner and walked back to the hotel room to chill. Unfortunately the air conditioning was not working at the hotel, so despite having it on full-blast all night, I managed probably only about 2 hours of hot, fitful sleep. Disappointing, but I got up at 4:00, had breakfast, and hoped I wouldn't crash and burn. While I was getting ready, I peeked outside at our "city view" to find with delight that our room on the 7th floor was literally right in front of the finish line! I told the girls to look for me between 10:40 and 10:50, and headed outside.
I'm hit or miss with carrying fluids on course with me, but due to the predicted heat of the day, I carried my fuel belt with me, and had my flasks loaded with water and Grape Fizz electrolytes. I also had electrolyte capsules in my front pocket. Usually I'm good to take these once or maybe twice, but I resolved to take them on the hour, every hour. I'm not used to running in heat (to the point that the predicted 75-degree temps had me a bit worried), and I knew that Endurolytes would do me some good. As it happens, even though it was quite warm at the finish, I managed to completely avoid my usual mile-24 calf freak-out, and I credit the endurolytes with that success!
Anyway, the race started out downtown, and made a nice little loop through the charming and tourist-friendly locales. Around mile 6, we split from the half-marathon course (although the half'ers didn't start for 45-minutes after us, so we really only encountered them at the end). We headed up into the more rural neighborhoods. I'm pretty sure I can't remember any part of this race that was flat, nor do I remember any brutal hills. It seemed to be a nice, easy up and down the whole time. Even the long hills were under a half mile, or so it seems. My Garmin showed at the end just over 1000' of climb, and only one 9-minute mile on a longer hill.
They had pace groups, which was actually a source of stress for me. I was targeting 3:44 as an ideal finish time, so figured I should be just ahead of the 3:45 pacer. At around mile 2, that group passed me, and were it not for my Portland Marathon experience last year, I probably would have tried to keep up, but I learned my lesson: trust your devices. I kept my 8:30 pace, and watched that group go faster and faster away from me. It was a little unnerving, but I stuck to my plan. At mile 14, I passed the pacer who had been leading the 3:45 group, walking and looking rough. I assume that they swapped leaders at the half - I hope his replacement was ready! Over the next 4 miles, I passed what I believe to be every single person who was running with that group. I felt so bad for them - I've over-run the first half of a race a few times, and I could feel their pain. My friend who also ran the race said she saw that pace group come through roughly on time, so they must have just run a nice, chill second half. All the same, I'm glad I didn't stay with them.
Because it was a smaller race - just over 300 participants in the full marathon - there was never much jockeying for position, although I never felt alone. The volunteers were great. There were quite a few turns on the course, and I was never left wondering which way to go. The water stations were efficient, and offered Gu and gummy bears, although I brought my own Hammer Gel in my pack. I did hit them up for water, though, in the second half's heat.
We joined up with the half marathon around mile 19, which could be a bad thing, but I found the walkers in the CCM to be very courteous and not tending to walk six-abreast. Everyone shared the road (runners as well, many of whom I'm sure were feeling a bit brusque at this stage), and I heard a lot of supporting words exchanged between all the participants.
As we headed back toward the Capitol and the finish line, there was a nice, long, downhill stretch. I'd been pacing really well throughout the race (almost every single mile was within 4 or 5 seconds of my 8:30 target, save for the one long hill and a mile-16 bathroom stop), so I opened it up a bit at the end. Mile 26 was my fastest at 8:12. As I came up on the finish line, I looked up at the hotel to see my daughters cheering for me, which was the highlight of the run.
I ended up with a time of 3:47:39, which was just a couple minutes shorter than my 3:44 hopeful target, but well within my more reasonable 3:50-or-less goal, and good enough to give me a pretty good shot of getting into Boston for 2018. It turned out that I got second place for my age group, too. Officially third in my age group, but my fast friend Renee got second overall and first in Masters, so once they pulled out her stats, I fared a little better. LOL.
I would definitely recommend this race. It was a pretty course, well-organized, big enough to be fun and still small enough to be low-stress, and very enjoyable.
