I've been spotty with my training the last 16 weeks because of this and that. Extreme heat didn't stop me from running outside, but it did slow me down. The gorge fires in September made the air quality inhospitable, and I missed a few runs from that. Family obligations had me miss a few. Nothing too aggregious, but for someone who only runs 3 times a week, I felt like I could have been a little better trained. That said, I was really excited about this race. The website cornily brags "You'll get a PR - not for time, but for most pictures taken on course!" I laughed, but in reality, that is true.
I was feeling pretty ready, and not at all sure what to expect for time. My PR is 3:34 (Chicago 2014), and my slowest ever (non-trail) marathon was 4:10ish at the Portland Marathon last year, with the extra .75 miles they accidentally added (that's a whole other story, but when I saw that I was 3 miles behind at the half, I fell apart, only to realize that because of the extra mileage, I'd actually been 2 minutes ahead. Ultimately it was a disaster for me).
Anyway, suffice it to say, I had no idea what to expect for time on this one. I do run a lot of hills, and somewhat steep ones, too, so I wasn't daunted, but I've never raced a hilly road marathon, so couldn't really nail down an expected time. I told myself that if I came in somewhere between 4:00 and 4:15, I would be satisfied, and if I got a sub-4 hour, I would be delighted.
My taper went well, and although I would swear I was hungrier during the taper than usual, I'm pretty sure I always think that. The week before the race I was really sore, and I couldn't figure out why, as I hadn't worked out especially hard. By Wednesday night, I had a tight throat and sinuses, so went to bed early. Thursday morning I woke up sick as heck. I was able to cancel all my clients for the day, but had to go in and teach my yoga class. I spent the rest of the day in bed, and Friday, too. Saturday I still felt ill, and noticed that the cold had moved into my chest, which was not a good sign. I'd been taking sudafed to prevent it, but it was clear that I was going to run this race sick. I googled the effects of sudafed on marathoners, and found that in large concentrations it is a banned substance. Not an issue for me, as I stayed below the recommended dosage anyway, and there is no way I was in contention for a win. But it was enough to let me know that I probably wouldn't die if I took one before the race. I know that an antihistamine will make you thirsty, though, so I decided to run with my camelback. I've never raced with it before, because the extra weight and sloshiness of it, but it was a good call on Sunday. I put the full amount of water with 2 Hammer Nutrition Fizz tablets for extra electrolytes. I also packed Hammer's Endurolytes and Anti-Fatigue tabs for the road. I filled my vest with gels and a bag of mini pretzels, as after a few hours of running, salty and crunchy tend to sound a lot better than sweet and gooey. I also had a shot of Fully Charged right before the start for a little kick.
The flash flood warning of the day before was gone, as was the forecast of rain. There were light sprinkles the first few minutes, but we had a lovely rainbow overhead as the gun went off:
It was a small field of marathoners, and among them are a few that I know from the half marathon group I coach at Foot Traffic. Four of them were running their first marathon, so I was glad to have an out-and-back course so I could check on them while still running my own race. I was careful not to overrun the beginning, and was glad to have my Garmin reminding me to stay slow on the initial 5 miles, which were easy rolling hills with a bit more down than up. While I was reminding myself to slow down around mile 3, I fell in step with Brittney, a runner from eastern Oregon with a similar pace and goals, so we chatted and stayed together for several miles. Miles 5-10 were a pretty steady uphill, but that was as expected. What I didn't expect was the pummeling we got with the winds at mile 10. The turnaround was at mile 11 (the finish line was further down than the start), and while I had hoped for a little relief on the downhill miles, they were not as fun as I had hoped, as there was a strong headwind. I consoled myself with the amazing views:
(Brittney and me near the halfway point)
(One of many stunning views of the gorge)
At mile 12ish we hit the peak elevation and I was looking forward to five steady miles of downhill, but the strong headwinds took a little of that natural downhill momentum away. I felt pretty good, though, and thought that possibly I was headed for a sub-4:00 race, which would have been great for that course in my current condition. At around mile 14, though, I started to feel a familiar tremor in my calf, and stopped to take more Endurolytes, hoping it would stave off the cramping that usually hits me around mile 22. By mile 16, I fell behind Brittney, knowing I would have to do a little walk/run to keep my calves from getting destroyed.
By mile 17, I was still pretty happy but had definitely slowed. I was walking one minute every so often, and tried to take it easy on myself knowing that I'd rather finish slower and happy than gun for some unreasonable time and hurt myself. So I stopped a few times and took more pictures and sipped on my fizz and pulled out my headphones to take some musical encouragement.
At mile 23, my calf went into full spasm, so I stopped and stretched and didn't freak out about it or feel defeated as I had in previous races, and got back to business as soon as I could. At mile 24, I hit my second wind, and just felt great to the end. I think the last 2 miles were my fastest. They were largely downhill, but still. I felt great at the finish, and while I'd have loved to have gotten there 62 seconds faster, I was not disappointed with my 4:01:01 finish time.
I would absolutely do this race again. It was beautiful, and I think that with a little more of a visceral idea of what the course feels like (and without a chest cold) I could pull off a more satisfying finish time.
My stats: 56/186 total finishers, 26/90 women, 6/24 women 40-49
Next race: Holiday Half Marathon 12/10
