Rehoboth Marathon - 12/10/11

I had been looking forward to this race ever since Chris had to yank me from the comfortable Bellmoor sheets and drag me home from a wonderful race weekend last year. At the turnaround point of the half-marathon last year, I knew that this would be a great course for me to come back and try to PR on next year in the full marathon.

No heat issues this year, so we were able to leave Friday morning and get down there by the afternoon for some outlet shopping before checking in and relaxing at our hotel. We stayed in the same sweet room with a jacuzzi tub and had a great time overflowing the tub with bath bubbles, stealing snacks from the lounge, and partaking in afternoon cookie refreshments.

Race morning was chilly, but I still stuck to my plan of a short sleeves and a skirt for the long race ahead and telling myself that this was not nearly as cold as the start of the Marine Corps Marathon. I had to pee and contemplated skipping since the bathroom line was so long and I didn't think there was enough time before the race start, but decided to wait in line to pass the time anyways and made it out of there just minutes before the start.

The race took off a few minutes after 7:00 AM and the first 9 miles were familiar territory since it's the same course as the half-marathon up to that point. I got through those miles without any problem, keeping a comfortable pace between 7:50's to low 8:00's. At mile 3, I noticed the mile markers were off by 0.3 miles and sensed that something was wrong. Usually there is some variation between my watch and the miles markers, but never by this much. When the next few miles were consistently off by 0.3 miles, I sensed that something was definitely wrong but kept wondering if we were ever going to make up that distance. It turns out that the park ranger in the out-and-back portion through Cape Henlopen Park between miles 2 and 3 messed up the turnaround point and turned us around too early.

After we parted from the half-marathoners, the wind really started picking up in the next portion. I was trying my very hardest to draft off of people in front of me, but sometimes the wind would be blowing from the sides and drafting didn't help. I was also trying to run tangents, so staying directly behind someone and following their route was also not very effective. Someone from MCRRC's XMP recognized me and said as he was passing me, "I see you learned from XMP to run the tangents." I commented, "And also to draft people," looking towards the big guy in front of me I was running behind and telling the XMP guy, "Shhhh, don't tell him!" The wind was definitely affecting me and I was starting to feel moody. I also had the uncomfortable feeling of having to pee and was contemplating whether it was worth losing the time to feel better since the feeling was not going away, especially since I was still taking water at all the water stops. At mile 10, I was a little annoyed with the girls running the water stop because they were yelling they had Gatorade and I (as I do at every aid station) yelled out for water, so someone with water can hold their hand up and I can easily identify them. At this station, when I yelled out for water, the girls started shuffling around all confused and took way to long to go to the table and get water that I had to skip it and keep moving. At mile 10.5, I finally stopped to use the port-a-pot and lost about 45 seconds there. Because of that, I lost the pack of runners I was temporarily keeping pace with and had to face the winds alone. For the next mile or two, I was completely alone with the next persons about 20 seconds ahead of me and behind me.

After we crossed the bridge over into Lewes, the wind felt even worse. There were portions on the road where the sidewinds were blowing so hard that my leg in the air would blow into my planted leg and I would have to catch myself from tripping. The wind always seemed to be blowing into us from ahead or the sides, never from the back to help us out. Whenever it was a headwind, I kept thinking on the bright side that it would be a tailwind to help us out when we're heading back but that tailwind never came until the last 6 miles! Ugh, so annoying! The wind made it hard for me to hold even an 8:20 pace. But I kept struggling to stay in the low 8:00's, that the effort felt more like 7:30's. I was kind of surprised to have a few hills (or more like gentle bumps) to run through around mile 14 back in the dunes of Cape Henlopen, but was finally glad to have caught up to the person 20 seconds in front of me and pass him and be among other runners again. The course was definitely kind of weird in having us do a bunch of lollipops and loop-dee-loops and out-and-backs, but running in the park definitely brought back camping memories. At mile 16, we reached the end of one out-and-back portion that took us to a great view of the ocean from above. I took a second to soak in the gorgeous view before turning around and dealing with the annoying winds again.

During this somewhat quiet section, I could feel a woman behind me drafting off of me. In a way, I didn't blame her for using this strategy because I would have done the same, but I didn't like being that person being drafted off of! I started zigzagging to test if she would do the same and entertained myself with that for a bit. Finally she came up alongside me and asked what my goal time was. I told her I didn't really know, since I was trying to hold an overall 8:00 minute pace but the winds were making me struggle to hold even an 8:20 pace now. She told me about how desperately she wanted to qualify for Boston and I was thinking, "Oh great! Another one of those Boston-crazed runners that must qualify or else!" I had been there before and assured her she was on a great pace for breaking 3:35 with ease. She kept saying, "We can do this. We just need to find a big guy to draft off of." I didn't really want to stick with her and let her go on without me.

By mile 19, I just felt trashed from the wind. I stopped and walked through that aid station, which was around this building with sand all over the path and major gusting winds. The Gu temporarily made me feel refreshed again and I was able to hold miles 20 and 21 to 8:06 and 8:11, respectively. I took another Gu at 22, holding it would keep me from bonking, but as soon as we were back on the gravel trail portion, my legs slowed down significantly. During this portion, my pace dropped to 8:30's - 8:50's. I thought the gravel portion would be welcomed familiarization, but kicking off of loose pieces of tiny rocks proved to be a surprising challenge. By this point, I was half-trying to calculate whether I'd be under 3:35 (running the full course and not the short 0.3 course because I knew I'd definitely be under with the short course) and half not caring anymore. When I reached the road and the familiar streets of Rehoboth in the last mile, I was able to turn it up again and picked it up to 7:30 pace. I was still wondering if the course was ever going to lengthen out to the full 26.2 miles, but when I was told the finish line was just around the course and only had 25.8 miles, I finally knew it was going to come up short and that my time wouldn't be accurate. Then I started thinking, f@ck, if they extrapolate the times and adjust it according to what a full course would be, I really need to book it and give myself a window of time to work with to be under 3:35. I sprinted with every might through that last stretch to the finish line (no hamming for the finish line cameras) and was panting after I crossed the line.

I finished the 25.9 mile race in a time of 3:32:28. It would've been a PR if it was a full course, although whether or not it would've been under 3:35, I don't know. I probably would've kept booking it at full out force and made it merely seconds under. Unfortunately, I think my extrapolated time will put me just seconds over. But at this point, the Boston Athletic Association has pissed me off in more ways than one and I'm not even sure I care to run it anymore. Part of me is curious to see what the huge draw and awe is about this race people die to qualify for, but the other part of me is just indifferent about qualifying. I know with full confidence that I can run a 3:35 marathon now (unlike when I doubted my capabilities at LPRM of running a 3:40 marathon), so I don't really care anymore. I am still focused on my ultimate goal of trying to break 3:30, something I would've never dreamed possible the day I crossed the finish line of my very first marathon, so proud to have broken 4:30. Or even the day I broke 4:00 hours and was over the moon happy about that.

The post-race party lived up to last year's standards and did not disappoint in any way. Chris was there to greet me with a can of Diet Coke (my favorite after any long run/race) that he took from our hotel lounge. It turns out bringing my own soda wasn't even necessary because they had pitchers of soda in the tent unlike last year, but I was still happy that he answered my request and was also thrilled and proud of my race, probably even more so than I was myself because I felt like shit. I got a little food in me and went back to the room to clean up. I then came back to the post-race tent to witness the beer competition between Chad and Chris, eat more food and drink my own beers, mingle with familiar faces (so thrilled that so many people we knew came down for this race, especially people we talked the race up to), and claim my second in AG trophy.

Stone Mill 50 Miler

Since my 2009 JFK50 experience went so surprisingly well, I had to make sure it wasn't just a fluke and try another 50 miler. Unfortunately, injuries caused me to withdraw my 2010 Stone Mill registration and I had to wait until this year to give an ultra another go. I was actually pretty excited to run another 50 miler because unlike JFK where I didn't have a single loved one there for me as I accomplished such a huge feat, Chris not only fully supported me, he offered to drive me to/from the race and volunteer the whole entire day. Having him there at aid stations and the finish line really gave me something to look forward to as I ran for over half the day.

I was surprised that I was actually able to fall asleep at 8:30 PM and get a good night's rest before my 3:45 AM wake-up to get to the race at 5:00 AM. I felt bad that Chris had to get up just as early as me, but the thought of having to drive myself home after running 50 miles didn't appeal to me and he didn't seem to mind too much! Packet pickup and all the pre-race activities took place outside, but luckily the high school has outdoor bathroom facilities because it was cold and dark at that hour.

We took off at 6:00 AM and the race started with a half mile loop around the school. As we were making that loop, I was wondering why we were adding on extra mileage when we were already warned that the course was closer to 51.5 miles. The only justification I could come up with was to thin out the race field before we got on the single-person wide trails, but even so, the race field of 200 starters wasn't that big. I finally came to the conclusion that it was just for shits and giggles because that's just how the ultra world is.

The first 10 or so miles was fairly uneventful. It was pretty dark and chilly out for the first few miles and I was a little inpatient waiting for the sun to rise already and I couldn't help thinking to myself to enjoy the sunlight while it's bright out because this is how dark it'll be when we're finishing up the race. Hai and I started together and stuck together for the whole duration of the race. We chatted it up with a few other people and eventually caught up to and hung with Grace for a while. It was hard to keep a conversation going on the narrow trails because we could never run beside each other, but it was so pretty out there and just nice to take it the awesome fall views. We ran through the Seneca Creek State Park, where the Turkey Burnoff would be taking place the following weekend and I noticed that the holiday lights were already up.

Miles 9-10ish had us running on Darnestown Road. It was such a different feeling running on the paved roads and I found myself running at a 9:20 pace, which still felt pretty easy and comfortable. We then got back onto the trails and I felt pretty good for this portion of the race, besides having the uncomfortable feeling of having to pee. I spent the next few miles trying to scope out a woodsy enough area with brush coverage to pop a squat. I remembered reading that miles 15, 17, and 19 would have water only spots and was a bit disappointed to pass those miles and not see any water. Luckily, I don't sweat that much and was not dehydrated, but having some water just to wet my dry mouth would have been nice. We had some stream crossings along this stretch that were impossible to get through without getting our shoes/socks wet. At first, I tried to cross over them gingerly, but once my shoes/socks were soaked, I decided to just plow through the streams and almost kinda enjoyed the cold wet feeling on my tired feet.

The next full aid station at Pennyfield Lock was stocked with Krispy Kreme pumpkin donuts and I enjoyed a few pieces along with a cup of Coke before taking off onto the C&O Canal Towpath. This portion was completely flat and easy to blaze through, and I was even more motivated to run fast to get to the next aid station at mile 24ish. The HCS Hero Friends were manning the Stone Mill aid station and I looked forward to seeing Chris and having a grilled cheese sandwich there. I took a little extra time at that aid station but knew not to stick around for too long or it'd get hard to start up again. Although it was sunny and warm out, I added on an extra shirt because I didn't think I'd see Chris again til the end and knew that it was gonna be pretty chilly by the time I finished. I comtemplated changing my shoes but decided not to because there was no sense in putting on clean shoes when we'd have to go back the way we came and cross those streams again.

The HCS aid station gave me a little boost as I continued on the trail, but mile 30 was where things started to go downhill. As anyone who's ever run a 50 miler will tell you, miles 30-40 is always the toughest stretch to get through and this proved to be the case for this race. I felt like we were moving at a pretty efficient pace, only to look at my watch and see that we were only at mile 32. The terrain had become hillier in this stretch and I could really start to feel the blisters forming on the bottom of my feet/toes from wearing wet socks/shoes. It eventually got to a point where every step, whether walking or running, was so painful because I was pushing on those blisters. I tried everything to distract myself from the pain, opening and closing my fists in hopes that contracting/relaxing my arm muscles would make me think less about my legs/feet. The aid stations were a welcomed relief during these miles. Most significantly, I remember peanut butter rice krispy treats that really hit the spot (I had like 10 pieces!) and warm chicken noodle soup. I also remembering being so delusional that I mistook a branch for a snake and started freaking out for a little bit.

Like clockwork, my watch died at exactly 8 hours, which is the advertised battery life of a Garmin 405. We were at mile 38 at that point and I wasn't sure whether not having a watch to gauge distance anymore was a good or bad thing. On the one hand, I could stop watching the clock and seeing how slowly we were moving, but on the other, I kind of lost a sense of where we were in the race. I at least had a second watch to just keep track of overall time. The big thing I remember about this portion of the race was seeing signs for "managed hunting area" and hearing shots off in the distance every few minutes. I couldn't help thinking "Oh my god! I'm gonna get mistaken for deer and get shot!" And I just kept looking forward to getting to the last 10 miles, so I could start counting down the miles in single digits. Although I was struggling significantly during this portion of the race, I never onced considered dropping out. In fact, the only thing I kept thinking about was wanting to see Chris again and be warm again wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets.

And lo and behold! As I get to Watkins Mill Road, I see a crazy orange afro guy standing in the middle of the road stopping traffic to help us cross over. I was so surprised and happy to see Chris and stop at an aid station. Hai was obsessed with tebowing and we decided to get down on our knees to do a tebow pose for the camera. My legs were so stiff at that point that they didn't want to bend, so I basically had to faceplant into the ground with my arms out in front of me to be able to get to my knees. After all the silliness, I find out the news from Chris that the course is actually closer to 53-54 miles. I was crushed. Just when I thought I finally made it to the single digits countdown, now I suddenly had a half-marathon or more to go. It was starting to get dark, so I wasted no more time chatting and just chugged on.

With the pain in my feet still very apparent, the heart-crushing news of having to run 4-5 extra miles, and the sun setting, I probably struggled just as much, if not more, with this portion. Ken's aid station was only 1.5 miles from the Watkins Mill station, but it felt like I had run 3 miles before I finally got there. After we passed that station, we just kept pushing and chugging along to get to the turnaround point. It didn't help to see people coming back from this out-and-back portion and constantly have to use up energy to move over on the one-person wide trail. I actually started getting annoyed when runners were telling me how far I was from the turnaround, especially since each runner that passed told me a different number. We had one huge stream crossing that required holding onto rope to get through. The water was so ice cold that my feet felt a little numb after crossing it.

The mile "46" Watkins Rd. aid station was the turnaround point and had warm apple cider and miso soup to help us warm up. The volunteers at this aid station told us that they were hearing from runners that this was closer to mile 49 on the map and it was about 5-6 miles back to the finish from there. At this point, we were past the 12 hour cutoff time and I asked the volunteers about that and where in the pack of runners we stood. He told me only about 120 runners had passed through. I felt better about not being in the back of the pack, since that had been what it felt like with all the runners coming back the other way. It was now completely dark out and I was definitely starting to get chilly. I grabbed a pair of hand warmers to try to have a little warmth on my body for the trek back to the finish.
It might have been the fact that we were finally running towards and not away from the school that made me feel a little more motivated. Maybe the fear of the cold and dark also helped me speed up some. All I know is that my feet were finally numb enough to ignore those dang blisters and book it to the finish and call it a day. I moved through those trails relentlessly, not stopping to walk once. Chris's headlamp clip that I borrowed was bright enough to light the way, but not as bright as a traditional headlamp, so I just tried to focus on the few feet in front of me and keep moving. Hai's flashlight batteries ran out and he had no other source of light but me, so he clung to the back of me for dear life, until a guy named Mike came up from behind us. We asked him if he'd like to pass and he said, no, he was simply trying to keep pace with us. Hai told him that he was relying on me to lead the way because his flashlight died. Mike offered Hai his spare flashlight and in typical ultra fashion, we had formed a friendship/bond over this and vowed to stick together and push each other to the finish line.
Chatting with Mike helped make the last stretch of the race pass by quicker. I was completely focused on leading the way and safely getting the three of us out of there and Mike and Hai kept commending me on my good pacing. Every once in a while, we would hear the rustle of leaves under our feet get louder, pause, and realize we were off course and have to find our way back onto the quiet dirt trail. We finally made it back to the Watkins Mill Rd. aid station, where Chris told me it was barely even half a mile to the finish. Just through that trail and up the hill back to the school. A shot of adrenaline rushed through me to know that I was going to finally be done in a matter of minutes and I booked it through that last trail portion. A volunteer was at the end of the trail yelling up to the finish line "We got more runners coming in!" Another volunteer pointed to the 45 degree hill and told me "Just straight up the hill and turn right into the finish line." I looked up the hill and thought, "Seriously?" It was such a bizarre way to finish a race. Cresting a hill and turning the corner into the finish line. No flat straightaway for a sprint to the finish. I plowed up that hill and finished the 54.5 mile adventure in 13:03:23. Doug Sullivan, the race director, shook my hand after I crossed the finish line, congratulated me, and to my surprise (since Stone Mill was advertised as a cheap no frills race), handed me a finisher's medal. Hai, Mike, and I all posed at the finish line for some pics before making our way to the cafeteria for some finish line food.
I didn't expect myself to have much of an appetite after the race, but I came in just as an order was Ledo's pizza had arrived. The warm, gooey, cheesy pizza really hit the spot and I was downing the little square pieces as if there was no tomorrow. I chatted with Grace and Keith and Hai as I ate about half of a Ledo's pizza to myself, exchanging stories about the adventures we embarked on today, especially wrong-turn Keith's 71 mile adventure. As I made my way to the car, I finally decided it was time to ditch the shoes/socks and face the horror that was my blistered feet. My feet were so swollen that I looked like a giant and the blisters were so huge that I couldn't put flip flops on.
A coworker of mine asked me why I would run 50 miles, and I really had no answer for him besides "Because I can." And that really essentially sums it up. Throughout this experience, I was just grateful to have the health, endurance, and mental toughness to successfully make it through a 50 miler.

Marine Corps Marathon 2011 - Go Pink!

Marine Corps Marathon is a little too large scale of a race for my personal taste, yet there always seems to be someone every year that manages to convince me to sign up for it. I decided that if I was doing it this year, it would most definitely have to be in costume because that is the only way to draw attention to yourself in such a large crowd and I missed out on being ketchup last year when Chris ran as hotdog. However, I had no intentions of actually racing this event until a stress fracture set me back a month on training and caused me to skip out on the early October marathon than I was intending to race. With my other fall marathon not until December, I felt like I needed to put my Next Step training to good use while it was fresh and race MCM.

I woke up with a bad sore throat and stuffy nose, which is never a good way to feel before a 26.2 mile run. I carpooled down to Crystal City with Bromley and Caroline and took the shuttle buses in. This worked out way better logistically than my 2009 metro experience and I even took advantage of the bathroom in the back of the bus. No lines (although the starting area was filled with so many porta-pots that lines weren't an issue at all)! With snow the day before, this was probably the coldest marathon race start I ever experienced and was thankful for the foil blanket I saved from Baltimore and brought with me because it blocked out the wind so well (thanks Chris Farmer for the tip of saving the foil blankets to use at the next race). While waiting for the race to start, so many photographers approached me to take my pre-race photo because of my crazy pink outfit and wig that I ended up turning a few down after 5 photos were taken already.

At 7:45 AM when they started the wheelchairs, I turned to my Garmin watch to lock it onto satellite, only to find that the screen was completely dead! After a few failed attempts to reset it, I began to panic. I have never run a marathon without a watch before. Even before my Garmin days, I at least had a stop watch to keep track of overall time. I considered the idea of running with the official pace group before deciding they were going to be too chatty for my personal quiet running nature. I decided I would just have to run the entire race on feel, relying on my internal pacing and whatever race clock splits were available.

I lined up in the 3:20-3:39 corral and was surprised to cross the start line only 36 seconds back from the clock. Unlike when I liked up in the 4:00 corral in 2009, there was no wall of people disrupting my pace. I ditched the foil blanket and hand warmers about 0.5 miles into the race but my hands did not stop feeling numb until mile 3. The whole first half of the race went off without a hitch. I was dead on 8:00 min pace at every mile marker where there was a marine shouting out the clock time and feeling good. I was able to jog through all the aid stations, practicing the water drinking technique Next Step taught me (who knew there was actually a skill to this?!). The crowd support was amazing and I heard some variation of "Go Pink/Pinky!," "Nice wig/outfit!," and just straight up chuckles every few feet (I only heard "Go Amanda!" once at mile 9 and knew that had to be my coworker because I told her to look out for a pink fro). I almost started feeling bad for the runners around me for having to be subjected to that, but it definitely brought a smile to my face because I didn't feel as ridiculous as I probably looked.

I passed the halfway point in a time of 1:44:46 feeling good, but then things started to go downhill from there. At mile 14, I started feeling nauseous and my mouth was dry. We were around Hains Point at this point in the race and the sun was beating down. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face and my hair was completely drenched under the pink fro. Although comfortable to run in, I didn't account for the fact that I would be sweating more and hadn't been hydrating enough. To make matters worse, there was a 3 mile stretch between miles 13 to 16 without a water stop, so I had to suffer through 2 more miles before getting any more water into my system.

When I got to mile 16, I slowed to a walk and made sure I got two full cups of water down. I continued running but didn't really start to feel better until around mile 19. By that point, my body was ready to push again but my legs were starting to feel dead. The marines at the beginning mile markers were really good about shouting out the times, but in the second half, I didn't see as many of them at the mile markers and some of them were slacking on calling out times when I passed, so I really had no idea what kind of pace I was running. Nor did I really care, I just wanted to get to the finish line safely and not be that girl in a pink fro passed out on the sideline. Since I was running in costume, I didn't have any serious time goals/expectations for this race and just wanted to have fun. I had planned to pace around a 3:35 time with my watch, but since that died on me minutes before the race, my plan B was just to run as fast as I could comfortably and see what would happen.

The 3:35 pace group passed me as we were crossing the bridge, but I honestly didn't really care cus I had already tossed all goals but to finish out the window. I was running the little out-and-back stretch in Crystal City lost in my own little world when my cousin yelled my name out from the other side of the street. I did not expect to see him at all during the race, especially only a mile behind me, but I was so proud of how strong he was looking in his first marathon. His longest run in preparation for the race had only been 12 miles but I guess he could get away with that and still kick ass being in the Naval Academy and only 21 years old.

As I was making my way through the final stretch to the finish line, the announcer called out my bib# and was asking to get a name. He then announced to the crowd "Here comes Amanda An from Ellicott City wearing all pink!" I was pumped and put my arms up in the air as the crowd cheered. I waited in line to have a marine put a medal around my neck and he joked that he wasn't sure he could get it around my big hair. The medal was the coolest one I've received from a race thus far. It was the Marine Corps logo (the eagle, anchor, and globe) with the globe part spinning and having the Iwo Jima Memorial in the back.

The post-race amenities were an improvement from 2009. They had the standard bagels and bananas but also gave out these snack kits with hummus, pretzels, trail mix, edamame, and chocolate. I didn't see too many Hoco Striders after the race, but was able to find Hai pretty easily, who unfortunately had to miss out on the race but still came out to cheer.

I finished the race in a time of 3:37:17, which was a 1 min and 31 second PR, but I felt like crap the whole second half of the race. There are certainly a lot of things that I could/would have done better, like hydrate more and pace better with a watch, but I am happy with the way I handled the circumstances. It was definitely a great experience to run such a large-scale race in costume. If I ever do it again, I definitely don't think I'd wear a costume AND race it.

I definitely look forward to the Rehoboth Marathon in December, which I will be racing more seriously (the watch better not fail me then!). It's a much smaller race field with more personal attention, amazing post-race buffet food, and hotels within walking distance of the start/finish.

Winning

MARC Train 5 Miler
Saturday, June 25, 2011

I did it! I won a race! Something I would've never dreamed possible. After all, I've never considered myself fast. But I guess you could say my recent accumulation of race prizes has proven otherwise. Either that or I'm just not in a very competitive age group.

I had originally planned to give the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K another shot after having to walk a good portion of the course last year due to still recovering from food poisoning, but after looking at previous years' winning times of 40+ minutes for the MARC Train 5 Miler, I knew I had to give this race a shot because I would at least come away with an AG prize.

Looking around at the start, I didn't see many fast women out there, but as always, I still doubted myself and started thinking that some of these women might be faster than they look. I lined up at the front of the pack and found myself in first place right off the starting line with only a handful of guys in front of me. This made me slightly uncomfortable as I've always found myself in the position of the chaser, picking out women to catch up to and pass throughout a race, and didn't want to be the chasee. I fully expected several women to catch up to me at any moment and didn't enjoy the paranoia. Throughout the first two miles, I kept hearing footsteps behind me and thought one of them was the 2nd place woman getting ready to pass me. When the person did pass me, I turned my head and directly stared him in the face. Surprised by my reaction to him passing, he asked me if I was alright and I told him, "Yeah, I was just checking to see if you were female."

This course was an out-and-back, so it was nice to be able to gauge how far back the next woman was once I made it to the turnaround point and was heading back. When I calculated that she was about a minute behind me and would probably not catch up, I lost a little motivation to keep up the pace and eased up a bit. It also didn't help that the trail trended slightly uphill on the way back because it was so subtle on the way out that I didn't even realize I was going downhill.

It was extremely encouraging to hear people still running in the other direction cheer for me and tell me that I was in 1st place. Although I knew the second place woman was pretty far behind me at the turnaround, I was still paranoid that she had caught up to me on the way back, especially since I eased up on my pace. When I crossed Rt. 170 at the traffic light, I was able to get a glimpse of whether anyone was behind me and was overcome with excitement that I was about to actually WIN a race!

I would post pictures of my winning plaque, but it is still in the process of being made at the moment. They only had one overall winner plaque made and gave it to the overall male winner and were planning to just give me an AG plaque, but when I talked to the race directors after the awards were given out, they agreed that the overall female winner was just as deserving of a nice overall plaque as the male winner and planned to have one made for me.

Greene Turtle West 5K
Sunday, June 26, 2011

Chris and I decided to make Sunday a beach day, but found a quick 5K in Ocean City that we wanted to do before hitting the beach and bumming it up for the rest of the day. Since we had a blast with my cousins on our last day trip to the beach, I asked them if they cared to join us again and didn't mind getting up early and waiting/sleeping in the car while we ran. Much to my surprise, not only did Melissa agree to go, she wanted to attempt to run her very first race and signed up with us.

After a night of bad decisions and limited sleep, we were on the road at 5 AM. We got there with 45 min to sign up, get ready, and warm up a little. The weather wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze going through. I saw a girl with ponytail braids that looked very familiar and was trying to place where I'd seen her before. I thought that she might be the girl that beat me at Damien's with her finish line sprint, but couldn't get confirmation from neither Chris nor Hai and didn't get a chance to talk to her before the race started. She was lined up near the front and since I wanted to be the chaser and not the chasee today and Melissa was feeling a little nervous, we moved further back in the field.

We took off on the shoulder of Stephen Decatur Highway for about 1/2 mile before turning into some neighborhood streets. Chris and Hai were out of my sight in no time as well as what I thought was a handful of girls. Unlike yesterday's course, this course was completely flat, not subtly up or down at all and I found myself running closer to 7:00 min/miles than 7:30 and even saw my watch dip into 6:50 pace for a little bit. I knew I was on pace for a PR and would be able to break 23 minutes if I kept it up. After the turnaround, I set my sights on the familiar ponytail braids girl and spent the next half mile trying to catch up to her. I finally caught up and passed her around mile 2 and spent the next mile paranoid that she was on my toes. Right after turning off Stephen Decatur Highway and into the Greene Turtle parking lot where the finish line was, I spotted Chris with his camera and was preparing to give him my best ham face before realizing that ponytail braids girl was right over my shoulder and sprinting. I kicked it up a notch and sprinted to hold her off and beat her by 2 seconds. We both keeled over after crossing the finish line and were gasping for air. I complimented her on her excellent sprint at the end and she turned to me and said "You too!"

Turns out that the all-out sprint between ponytail braids girl and me at the end was a race for 3rd place female overall, so I was happy to have barely won! I later talked to her inside the Greene Turtle and found out that she was at Damien's 5K a few weeks back and after looking at some photos from that race, I was able to confirm that she was indeed the girl that beat me at the finish line. Oh, redemption feels so good!

After catching my breath and a cup of ice water, I headed back out on the course to run Melissa in. It was so much fun to be there for her for her first race. I made sure to cheer for her extra loud when I saw her after the turnaround point. I prepared her to ham for Chris with his camera at the turn into the parking lot and told her to sprint when she saw the finish line and pass as many people as she could, which she did!

We were treated to unlimited wings and beer inside the restaurant after the race (in addition to bananas and yogurt, but who cares about that?). I can say wings is pretty high up on the list of the most random things I've had post-race. Hai came in 4th male overall (1st 25-29 AG), Chris got 2nd for the 30-34 AG, and I got 3rd female overall (1st 19-24 AG). We each got a Greene Turtle pint glass as an award. They were giving out random goodie bags that contained shirts, water bottles, and other goodies. I didn't want Melissa to be left out of prizes, so I pointed to her and told the race director that she should get something for finishing her first ever race and he handed her a goodie bag. Then, slightly peeved that they only went one deep in overall prizes, which included not only the pint glass the AG winners got, but a nice tote bag, lunch bag, and gift certificate to the Greene Turtle, I was able to con the race director into giving me a goodie bag too! Yay! We all left the Greene Turtle happy and vowed to make this an annual tradition before hitting the beach and cooling off in the ocean!

Lower Potomac River Marathon - 3/13/11

The Lower Potomac River Marathon appealed to me for a few reasons. First, it takes place on a very scenic course through Piney Point and St. George's Island in southern MD, right along the Potomac River and very close to St. Mary's College. Second, the course is very flat, which would be a nice welcomed change from the hilly training routes of Howard County and other previous marathons. And finally, with a limit of only 200 participants, the race is very low-key and crowd-free, offering a lot more personalized attention and a nice sit-down hot lunch for a very reasonable price of $50.

With DST annoyingly taking place the night before the marathon and a very early race start of 7:15 AM, Chris and I opted to drive down the day before to avoid being too sleep-deprived before the race. The drive down to southern MD brought back many memories of my college days and we even dropped by St. Mary's College for a quick visit. We also got to drive the whole course the day before and know exactly what to expect for the race. We stayed at the race's host hotel, St. George's Inn & Suites, which was only a few miles from the race start and offered a very beautiful view of the sunset over the Potomac River.

I had a very conservative goal of 3:50:00 +/- 10 minutes for the marathon, confident that I could finish under 4 hours and very hopeful about breaking 3:40. With the thoughts of BQing still tearing at my heart, I knew I was only kidding myself with that goal, but I seriously wanted to convince myself that I'd be happy with a 3:50 given the circumstances of winter training. Putting in only one 20 miler, I knew I wasn't much better trained for this marathon than National last year and I definitely burned out at the end of that. I was very afraid that I would burn out by starting out at an 8:20 pace, but I also feared the opposite happening. What if I started too conservatively, felt good, and picked it up, but wasn't able to make up the time I lost by running too slowly at the beginning? Therefore, I refused to commit to attempting 3:40 and resolved to just run based on feel.

Race morning consisted of a 5:30 AM wake-up (which was really 4:30 if it hadn't been for DST). I had my usual breakfast of a Panera cinnamon crunch bagel, but also had a free shortbread cookie from getting the MyPanera rewards card. I was beginning to regret the buttery goodness of the cookie as well as my dinner choice the night before of a turkey burger and fries, but I was able to clear myself of all gastrointestinal issues before the race and didn't suffer at all during.

The race started promptly at 7:15 AM and we were off onto the small, scenic roads of Piney Point. I ran comfortably for the first mile, refusing to look at my watch until I got to the mile marker. It beeped for the first mile with a time of 8:28 and I thought to myself, "Ok, 8:28 was comfortable. I can definitely do 8:20's." Still fearing the prospect of starting out too conservatively, I wasted no time in picking it up to 8:20, especially since I was feeling good.

The first 12 miles of the course took place on 3 out and back portions. Although making U-turns was slightly annoying, it was cool to be able to see how far ahead the leaders were, especially Michael Wardian, who was wearing a Spiderman costume and trying to set the world record for fastest marathon dressed as a superhero (he looked pretty ridiculous out there, actually). The third turnaround was at the Piney Point lighthouse, which was so short and stubby that I disappointingly couldn't find it, even though I was looking out for it after driving to it yesterday and missing it.

The last portion of the course was an out and back on the shoulders of Rt. 249. I got to the halfway point with a time of 1:49 and felt good about giving myself a 1:51 window of time to break 3:40. But then the heat started kicking in, which was only exacerbated by the fact that there was hardly any shade on this portion and the morning breeze had died down. Bad memories of the end of National last year were flooding my mind and I wanted to give up and slow down so badly. I had to mentally slap myself in the face and say, "Self, you did not just endure 13.1 miles at an 8:20 pace to just give up like that! Get it together!" It didn't help that miles 15 to 18 involved a very gentle incline up. Compared to the hills that I climb on normal training runs, this was barely even a speedbump, but I definitely felt it on my overheating, fatigued body. I kept feeling like I was slowing down, only to look down at my watch and see 8:17 and below staring back at me. I might have still been running at the same pace as before, but it was definitely taking a lot more effort now. I took a Gu Roctane at mile 18 and that gave me a good jolt of energy and I stayed motivated by thinking about getting to the turnaround point and being able to run back towards the finish line.

I didn't feel much better once I turned around between miles 18 and 19, as the sun was now staring right at me and just completely draining me at that point. I was taking extra cups of water at each aid station to try to keep the dehydration at bay. At this point, I was seriously starting to notice the slantedness of the shoulder lanes and how it was messing up my gait, especially since there was a wrinkle in one of my socks and I could feel the bottom of my foot blistering from it. I contemplated stopping and fixing the wrinkle, but ultimately decided that (1) if I took my shoe off at this point, I wouldn't be able to get it back on and (2) there really was no sense in trying to fix the wrinkle when the blister was already formed. The only thing that kept me motivated to run at a fast pace now was knowing that if I put time in the bank now, I would take a lot of pressure off myself for the final miles and give myself a comfortable window of time to slow my pace down and still get a BQ. I also distracted myself with looking for Chris coming up the other side of the road. I saw him shortly before hitting the 20 mile mark and heard him yell "You rock!" from across the street.

Although I felt like dying at this point, I was beginning to feel more and more confident that I'd be able to break 3:40 at this point and was still passing people. As I ran past one lady, she remarked, "Okay, you're allowed to pass me because you're younger!" Once I had only 5K left to go, I slowed my pace down for miles 24 and 25 in order to finish strong. I caught up to a woman that was way ahead of me at the beginning of the race with about 3/4 of a mile left to go and she asked me if I was trying to BQ and whether this was my first attempt. I told her "Yes" and that "I'm dying right now" and she encouraged me with a "You got it in the bag already," told me about her two already successful BQ attempts, and pushed me for a little while before running ahead. Soon after, I saw Karsten (who finished in 2nd place) out on the course taking pics, but had no ham energy to do anything silly. My watch clicked 26.2 miles at the 26 mile marker and I was severely annoyed that I still had to run an extra .2 miles before finishing (everyone else's watches seemed to measure long as well). For once in my life, I really did put everything I had out on the course and didn't even have a sprint left in me for the finish line. Either that or there was no one to really chase since the person in front of me and behind me were too far away. I clocked in an official time of 3:38:48.

All of the runners and volunteers were very friendly and supportive at this race. The one woman who had encouraged me at the end and several other runners that I had passed in the final mile congratulated me on a very strong race. After rehydrating with several cups of ice cold water, I walked back out onto the course to cheer for Chris. We were then treated to very refreshing showers and hot buffet lunches in the Paul Hall Center. They had the awards ceremony during the luncheon, where I was presented with the 2nd place award for the female 20-29 age group.

24 Candles

Standard birthday candles come in boxes of 24 count. As a child, I remember counting out 7 candles to put on my cake for my 7th birthday, 8 for my 8th birthday, 9 for my 9th, and so on. And I remember thinking what happens when you turn 25? You will need TWO boxes of candles to have enough candles for your cake! (Of course, this was before I realized that people stop putting the amount of candles that equals your age on your cake or use number candles when you get to a certain age). For as long as I could count, I've had one very specific wish for my 24th birthday: to blow out a full box of standard birthday candles because it will be the last time I will be only one box's worth of candles in age. I am so random! =)