I used to say that deciding to have a child is the biggest leap of faith you can make.  That’s because you have to ignore all the odds of anything bad happening to you, the baby, the world, etc., and just do it.   Deciding to run a marathon is a similar feeling for me, on a much smaller scale of course.   Implicit in my decision are assumptions about my physical health, time to train and family stability.   And who knows what the world will be like in October?

I was recently reminded that running is truly contagious.  I talk about running all the time, and it’s part of any conversation when I’m “catching up” with old friends.  Recently a guy I knew in high school posted that he had started running again last fall and had lost 30 lbs.  He thanked me and his wife for inspiring him.  It totally made my day.   I like being an ambassador for running.

Workouts:

Wednesday:  Spinning – 1 hour (awesome class!)

Today:  6.0 miles at a 9:10 pace

I’m exercising more and eating less, but for a 45 year old woman like me, that’s not a surefire way to lose weight.  Especially when your body thinks running is not for burning calories, but for increasing your appetite.

Latest workouts:

Monday:  sort of a rest day.  Did some jump roping (15 minutes) and stretching.

Tuesday:  6.1 miles at a 9:20 pace.  That run felt really good.

• The full moon just before dawn.  No need for headlamps when there is one in the sky.
• Seeing the sunrise, while the fog hovered just a foot or two over the fields.
• The gardens at Village Homes; the artichokes are already so big and the sweet peas are climbing high.
• Running past the site of a banquet I attended last night at the university, last night in high heels, today in running shoes.

Workouts:

Friday:  Pilates, 1 hour

Saturday:  2-3 hours of gardening, including digging a hole for a tree

Sunday:  9 miles at a 9:25 pace

Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with 6 miles to go and you’re thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you’re already hurting more than you ever remember.  – George Sheehan

That’s what  I love about running, and sports in general.  We get the opportunity to be pushed to our limits on a regular basis.  We also get to be around others who have more guts than we ever will, and be inspired by them.  It’s great to feel like you have accomplished something by 7:00 in the morning, and it has lasting effects throughout the day.  I know running doesn’t equate to entering a burning building or performing brain surgery, but for many of us it’s our chance to see what we’re made of.

Today’s run:

6.2 miles at 9:40 pace.

Slowed by dense fog…we couldn’t see more than about a foot in front of us!

I haven’t reached the part in the book about who runs barefoot and why it is good for you so I can’t comment on that.  I am curious about whether this will become a craze around here when the weather warms up; I have yet to see anyone running barefoot or wearing those funny-looking shoes that protect your feet but offer no support.  After all the time I’ve spent trying different shoes, plus my tender metatarsal pads,  it will take a lot of evidence to convince me to try it.

Wednesday’s workout:

Spinning:  1 hour

I need to find my Weight Watchers lifetime membership card and see what weight is on there.   I think I’m about five pounds over, so I would have to pay for weigh-ins and I don’t want to do that.  This blog will be my public weigh-in, every Tuesday.

I don’t use the word diet.  I know what I need to do.  I have very little leeway in my calorie intake, especially at my age.  I get dizzy if I don’t eat often enough, so I just need to be careful about what I’m grazing on.  The reality is I have to eat less, but not so little that I’m short on fuel during exercise.  Or hard to live with.  I can’t use caffeine to fuel me, so it has to be food.

While I’m at it, I might as well track my exercise too.

1/26/10
Current weight:  H
Ran 5.0 miles (not sure of pace because I didn’t bring my Garmin.  Probably around 9:25 or so)

Here we go!

I was feeling lonely by now.  I rarely run alone, so I’m not used to the solitude.  I took out my Ipod and started listening to podcasts.  It was helpful to distract myself with someone’s else’s conversation.

The remaining miles are all blurred together.  I have very little memory of the scenery in this section.  There were so many people walking at this point in the course, probably walkers doing the 21 mile walk option.  I appeared to be the only person running…or trying to run.   Another thing I remember is hearing a volunteer giving a pace update of “six hours, ten minutes”.  What?  How can that be?  My marathon-altered brain had misunderstood, but I wasn’t coherent enough to realize it had to be wrong.  It sent me into a “woe-is-me” spiral that made it harder to keep running.

I wish I could remember all the things that were going through my head at this point.   It wasn’t pleasant.  I never felt like I couldn’t finish, and I was always moving.  Just not at my normal pace!  On the uphills, I just couldn’t lift my legs.  I would run downhill and carry that momentum as long as I could.  I was also doing the “Just run to that rock”,  “Now just run to that aid station” mantras.   I felt like I had failed to run a good race.  My negative left brain had really taken over!

I was drinking a lot (water and Nuun electrolyte tablets) and eating as much as I could.  Because of the cold, it was hard to chew my gel blasts quickly enough.  I forced myself to finish the second bag, and I had brought four bags.  I question now whether I was fueled enough, but it’s a hard balance to achieve with my sensitive stomach.  I feel good about the liquids.  I had my Camelbak refilled at one of the aid stations, but didn’t put more Nuun in because it wasn’t quickly accessible.  Next time I’ll do that.

It started to warm up around mile 25 and I took the time to remove my jacket and gloves.  It’s hard to believe they were on for almost the whole race, but the wind really kept it cool.  The road was severely cambered at this stage, and I couldn’t find a flat place to run.  It was like running on the outside of a bowl and it was quite uncomfortable.  I knew there was just one more hill ahead, and it was a significant one.  I was starting to feel happy again and ran up the hill as far as I could.  Then it was down, down toward that still-elusive finish line.  I passed a female runner down on the ground, and there were emergency vehicles in my way that I had to run around.  She was so close to the end.  I was starting to hear cheering, and then I saw my friend Jenn!  She was probably very relieved to see me after so much time waiting.  She ran along beside me and said all the wonderful, encouraging things I really, really needed to hear.  I asked her how much further it was because I still couldn’t see a finish line.  That’s when she pointed out the balloons.  Soon there were people lining the road on both sides, and I could hear cheering.  And then I saw orange!  It was our running group (about 12 of them!) cheering VERY loudly and was a most welcome sound!  I was so happy to see them still there (I thought for sure everyone would be back showering!) and I smiled and accelerated  toward the finish line.  Finally there.  I passed just as the clock changed to 5:01.

Now, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would run a five hour marathon (not that there’s anything wrong with that :>) ).  My previous marathon time was 4:41, which I felt was longer than it should have been because my base wasn’t solid and I hadn’t resolved my eating issues.  This time, I felt like I had solved a lot of those issues.  However, the hills were relentless, and after Hurricane Point my legs never felt strong again.  The Big Sur website says to add 20 minutes to your average marathon time, to account for the difficulty of the course.  Well, that’s what happened!  I’m not going to let the time bother me; it just makes me more likely to do another marathon because gosh, it’s got to be easier than Big Sur!

One big difference with this marathon experience was my recovery.  At my last marathon (CIM 2007) I was absolutely exhausted.  It took everything I had to get to the end.  I felt sick afterwards and couldn’t wait to get home.   My IT band was overused to the point where I had to stop running and enter physical therapy for three months.

At the finish line at Big Sur, I felt fabulous.  I stayed on my feet until we were back in our cars.  I ate whatever was brought to me, and I had no nausea or upset stomach.  I felt alert, buzzed, and so happy.   Nothing hurt.  I ate a great lunch with all my friends and was able to stay awake until a normal bedtime that night.  So even though my training wasn’t enough to get me across the finish line in under five hours, it brought me a strong, in-control finish, a good recovery and no injuries.

There is another marathon in my future, probably the California International Marathon in December 2009.  And it’s flat!  I’m also doing the Nike Half Marathon in October, which is certainly not flat.  Those hills are crazy steep but it’s only 13 miles of hills instead of 26.

Thanks everyone for all your help and encouragement that got me to the day of the race.   It was an incredible weekend and I look forward to many more.

And if you want see some pictures and videos of the Big Sur Marathon course, go to these blogs:

http://www.runningandrambling.com/2009/04/big-sur-marathon-race-report.html

http://atomictime.blogspot.com/2006/05/big-sur-international-marathon-race.html

The day began early.  We had to catch the shuttle bus to the start line at 4:15, so we left our hotel at 3:50.  I was up at 3:00.  I had slept since about 11:00 pm, so that was about four hours of sleep.  I felt wide awake and the morning preparations were smooth.  Beth and I sat together for the one hour bus ride in the dark.  We approached Big Sur around dawn.  When we exited the bus it was like we were in Disneyland.  Solid masses of people and lines snaking every which way from the porta potties.  It took all the time we had to wait for an open bathroom and work our way back out to the road.  We quickly put our warm clothes in our sweat bags, tossed them in the open truck and parted ways.  She went to the front, because she’s fast, and I went further back with the slower runners.

Next we heard the race director’s voice telling everyone to be out on the road.  The national anthem was sung, the doves released into the sky, and then we were off! 

I couldn’t feel my feet because they had become so cold while I was waiting.  I ran slowly to warm them up.  I was wearing a short sleeve shirt with a running jacket and gloves, and capris.  I kept my jacket on until mile 25.  The temperature was in the high 40s.  The first four miles I ran moderately slow, just enjoying the forest and the happy runner chatter.  I heard someone say that if it was windy when we reached the coast, it was going to be a windy day.

We reached the coast at about five miles and guess what?  It was windy.  This was when the first of the hills began, but they were gentle and rolling.  The scenery was ocean and pasture.  At one point there were cows running along beside us on the hills.  This period from 5-9 miles was probably my favorite part of the course.  I felt strong and in control, and I was just past the 4:15 pacer group.  The wind started really picking up by mile 7, and many people around me were losing their hats. 

Near me at this point was a group of women from Texas wearing signs that said “On the other side of 50 and still hot!”  They were doing a run/walk interval and had a goal of 4:25.  I have no doubt they achieved it.  They were fun to run with because they sang and said funny things. 

At mile 10 we approached the hill to Hurricane Point.  You may recall in a previous post that I was worried about this 2 mile ascent to the steepest part of the course.  I wondered if I would be able to train enough to make it up this hill without walking, and I was right.  I made a quick bathroom stop before heading up, my only stop of the race (amazing).   The hill looms before you and you see a continuous line of runners moving at what seems to be an incredibly steep slant.   I felt like I was looking up at an Egyptian pyramid with the workers passing rocks up the line one at a time. 

At one point there’s sign that reads “Anaerobic hill” or something similar.  That’s when I couldn’t run and had to walk.  The eleventh mile seemed a little gentler but the wind, which had never gone away, really picked up as we reached the famous point.  It was gorgeous, and it felt great to be at the top.  Then came quite a long descent toward Bixby Bridge.  I saw the piano player, and listened briefly.  I kept my speed down because the downhill was hurting my knees, and I tried to stay as relaxed as possible.

After mile 13 I realized I had run the first half in 2:20, which was slower than I had planned.  My half marathon times are usually around two hours, so this meant a 4:40 marathon time at the very best!  I tried to keep my spirits up but I admit I was feeling a little discouraged.  I realized it was unlikely I was going to run into any of my friends who were doing the relay.

In no way do I compare a marathon to summiting Mount Everest.  But I do tend to be attracted to such books at times in my life when either (a) I’m working toward a challenging goal or (b) I don’t have enough challenge in my life and I need to motivate myself to go find some new challenges.  I think in this case it’s (a).  The book I’m reading now is Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest  by Lincoln Hall. 

I’m leaving early tomorrow morning so this is my last post!  I’m ready for Sunday and will hope for a little bit of luck!  It should be a fun weekend and I’ll give you a full update next week.