Enter the Lehigh Valley Marathon. The race I never intended to sign up for but my running friends were doing. A memorial race on September 11th, that ended in Easton, PA, a town I spent several summers in as part of my CTY career. I knew I could run faster than my Disney pace fairly comfortably. I was pretty confident with proper training I could hit a sub four hour time without too much of a problem. So I signed up. And I started running more.
Running 12-20 miles on Saturday mornings isn't always super fun. Waking up at 3 am to get it in before a swim meet or before the sun comes up because it is forecasted to be 94 by 8 am is definitely not the best. But I did it. Week after week I got up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning to get my long miles in. One week we couldn't run Saturday due to vacation schedules so we ran 18 miles Friday night between 8 and 11 pm. Yes, we were dedicated. I hit the track many Tuesday's to do speed work. Other weeks I did treadmill speed intervals. I did some hill intervals. Overall I ran 2-3 times a week between 3-9 miles each in addition to my long weekend runs. It was a long, hot summer but I was feeling strong and ready.
And then came race day. It was hotter than I had hoped but overcast much of the morning. And the race was basically flat which was super different than our hilly town. I went out fast. I cruised through the first 6.2 miles and was just under an 8:30 pace, already 3 minutes under where I needed to be to hit the 4 hour mark. 13.5 miles in, I was still doing great, finishing slightly more than half the race in just over 1:55. I wasn't about to qualify for Boston but I was looking great to beat my goal. At about mile 16 the heat and the course started to do me in. I wasn't mentally prepared for running four hours on my own after training with others. We ran along the water for most of the run on crushed gravel and it was inaccessible to fans. There was little to keep me going but at 17.1 miles I was still averaging about 8:37 per mile. With less than 10 miles to go I had a decent amount of wiggle room to hit my goal but was starting to hurt.
While my left achilles tendon and foot have caused me issues off an on for the better part of three years, I haven't had knee, hip, or leg pain otherwise. Around mile 17.5 I could feel the whole upper part of my right leg starting to tighten. I began to do intervals where I ran about 5-10 minutes and walked 1-2. At mile 20, I had to stop running. I walked the entire mile. During this time, I was texting with Bryan. I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the end. He and the kids sent some encouraging words and I gingerly started running intervals again after a water stop a little in to mile 21. It hurt but didn't throb and I didn't think I was going to make anything worse. I could see my extra minutes ticking by and knew my goal of a sub-4 hour marathon had flown out the window but I was going to finish. My official time was 4:09:43, just over a 9:30 minute per mile pace. Considering it took me 15 minutes to complete mile 20, and about 12 minutes to complete several others towards the end, it was a pretty good average. And it was over 20 minutes faster than my Disney time, but it was still disappointing. With Disney I did a few long runs but otherwise followed no plan. For this race, I followed my plan as much to the T as I could, considering my job, my kids, etc. I did every single long run. Even when it meant doing 10 miles on the treadmill or in the middle of the night. I was ready but I guess with the weather and the course it just wasn't my day.
Will I ever do a marathon again? Not right now. I think about 16 miles is the most I can do without starting to hate running. I would love to qualify for Boston one day but after this race I am about 30 minutes away. If I had not started hurting I would have still been at least 10 away at the end of this race. I think when I am 40 and get 5 more minutes qualifying with some heavy training (that I would potentially have more time for with both kids in school all day Fridays) it might be something I'd do again. But I'm not doing another one right now. I downgraded to the Baltimore half and then am going to just run for fun for awhile. I still get up on Wednesdays at the crack of dawn to run 5.5 miles before work with friends. And on Saturdays I still plan to run 8-12 miles. For fun. But I need to get back to a healthier overall me. I have gotten back to the Y for strength training. Doing the glute elliptical workout and some stretching exercises has already helped my leg (which I realized soon after the race was my IT band yelling at me) feel better. My body isn't meant for HIIT workouts. But I do need to build muscle, tone, and make sure that I pay as much attention to being strong as being cardio fit. So that is where I am. I am sure my competitive self will be back for marathon redemption at some point. Just not right now. And never in September! Late fall is the way to go if I ever train like that again!
Special thanks to my many running friends for joining me for the miles. You made them bearable at all times and even fun many times. To my husband for getting the kids to every swim meet warm-up this summer so I could fly in right before it actually began and not start my runs even earlier. And my kids, for thinking that me being out running makes me awesome and fast and strong and not a bad mommy. Sub 4, I'll get you some day. But not super soon!
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