Space
Coast Marathon
First off let me say that I took very little to no pictures of race day stuff. I took more videos and I'm debating on whether or not to put them up. But once I decide I'll let you know.
I didn't go to the expo to pick up my bib. I went to the running store that is a sponsor for the race because the day of the expo I wanted to take the family to the Kennedy Space Center. I knew that the little one would be exhausted (and a bit loopy) if we tried to do both things in one day. I know that the expo is a part of the experience but I plan on doing this race for the next two years, so I'll have two more chances.
I was surprised and excited to see my name on the bib. That was a treat! The t-shirt was pretty cool too.
The picture doesn't really do it justice but it is certainly a shirt that I will actually wear many, many times.
The weather for the race was great. The temperature was around the lower 60's and climbed to the mid 60's towards to end of the race. The skies were clear and there was a slight breeze. For me the temperature was pretty cold before the race started but once we got to the start line the shivering warmed me up. :) The course is along a body of water and people were saying that you could see dolphins in the water. I didn't see any dolphins but I did see some pelicans diving into the water which was pretty cool.
Okay, down to the nitty gritty. I kept my pace pretty easy in the beginning of the race and felt good. When we were getting together at the starting line I got into the 4:20 goal time group. I was right behind the pacer but once the race started and we opened up a bit I didn't see the pacer (or any pacer for that matter) around so I just tried to go by feel rather than time. Strangely enough I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad at the start of the race so around mile 5 or 6 I stopped for a potty break, which is something I have never done before. The course is flat but has a LOT of rolling hills. The hills aren't major when you're starting out and feeling good but towards the end of the race I was tired of the little hills that seemed to feel like mountains.
All in all I was feeling good and pacing with different people at various times to just get in a groove. I was right on track for my half marathon time and kept telling myself that as long as I kept moving I should be okay. During my training mile 18 was when fatigue started to rear it's ugly head. So during the race I decided to change up my pace so that I could keep running. For about four miles I would do one mile at a much slower pace than I had been doing, then for the next mile I would increase my speed. Essentially I did some fartleks. When I would initially increase my speed it took me a minute to get my body in gear but once everything was moving and I was pumping my arms I was alright.
But then it happened, the thing that I heard so many runners talk about but never experienced for myself...
The weather for the race was great. The temperature was around the lower 60's and climbed to the mid 60's towards to end of the race. The skies were clear and there was a slight breeze. For me the temperature was pretty cold before the race started but once we got to the start line the shivering warmed me up. :) The course is along a body of water and people were saying that you could see dolphins in the water. I didn't see any dolphins but I did see some pelicans diving into the water which was pretty cool.
Okay, down to the nitty gritty. I kept my pace pretty easy in the beginning of the race and felt good. When we were getting together at the starting line I got into the 4:20 goal time group. I was right behind the pacer but once the race started and we opened up a bit I didn't see the pacer (or any pacer for that matter) around so I just tried to go by feel rather than time. Strangely enough I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad at the start of the race so around mile 5 or 6 I stopped for a potty break, which is something I have never done before. The course is flat but has a LOT of rolling hills. The hills aren't major when you're starting out and feeling good but towards the end of the race I was tired of the little hills that seemed to feel like mountains.
All in all I was feeling good and pacing with different people at various times to just get in a groove. I was right on track for my half marathon time and kept telling myself that as long as I kept moving I should be okay. During my training mile 18 was when fatigue started to rear it's ugly head. So during the race I decided to change up my pace so that I could keep running. For about four miles I would do one mile at a much slower pace than I had been doing, then for the next mile I would increase my speed. Essentially I did some fartleks. When I would initially increase my speed it took me a minute to get my body in gear but once everything was moving and I was pumping my arms I was alright.
But then it happened, the thing that I heard so many runners talk about but never experienced for myself...
THE
WALL!
My training had gotten me up to 22 miles and sure enough when I got just past that point my legs were ready to clock out for the day. Right around that time I started pacing with a Jeff Galloway pacer that had just come up behind me. I figured that I would be able to keep up and pace with her till the end since she was doing a walk/run combination, but after about a mile and a half I had to tap out. While I was able to keep up for a bit, her overall running pace was faster than I was able to maintain at that point. My legs were on strike. Mentally I was telling myself that I could keep going and that as long as I kept a jog that I should be fine but my calves started to tense up and it was difficult to run. So I let the pacing group go and I started walking. As many of you know, once you stop it can be pretty hard to get back in gear and start up again. Stopping can sometimes be your worst enemy.
Once I got to 24 miles I decided that I needed to get at least a jog going so that I could get the tension out of my legs. My plan A of a 4:15 goal was out the door so I stayed focus on plan B of 4:30. I was able to go from a light jog to a slow run. Slowly but surely I was increasing my speed again. I made the decision to not stop since I had only two miles left and just tried to keep moving forward as best as I could. Once I got to the 26 mile marker it was simply about getting to the finish line. The cool thing about having your name on your bib is that the volunteers could yell out your name when you pass by. By this point perfect strangers yelling my name was the juice I needed to cross that finish line and before I knew it I was staring at the clock that read 4:29:07.
I felt so great and so happy but in so much pain. My legs felt like lead and trying to even stand was difficult. My family found me and brought over some drinks and food. I was anxious to go over to the massage booth so I crawled (not really) my way over. Unfortunately the waiting list was so long that they were no longer taking any new people. I wanted to cry. I thought my legs were going to explode from the inside out. If you know about those candies called Gushers and you saw the commercial for them when people would eat the candy and their head would explode, well that's what I thought my legs would do.
I rested on a bench and propped my feet up and just laid there trying to collect myself and let the blood recirculate through my body. As soon as I could feel some give in my legs I got up and massaged them. I grabbed a Coke to drink, ate some pizza, got my bag and slowly walked to the car with my family. We headed back to the hotel where I took a shower and then we collected all of our things and proceeded to head back home. We planned on staying until today but because our oldest daughter had already missed three days of school due to a cold, we didn't want her to miss any more days. Honestly I was relived to go back home because I couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed.
Being that this was my first marathon I must say that I was spoiled. The volunteers were beyond great. They were encouraging, helpful, and pleasant. The weather couldn't have been any better and the course was idyllic. The day of the race also turns out to be the one year anniversary that I started running. I couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate than run the Space Coast marathon.
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