Ever since I started training for marathons, I have dreamed of qualifying for Boston. Even during my first marathon, I had it in my head that I was going to qualify. I had the speed, but, not the experience. However, it quickly became apparent that my speed was what was causing all of the problems.....I was just going out WAY too fast and paying for it in the later miles of the race. Now, normally a runner would be grateful for speedy legs. However, when someone such as myself doesn't apply proper pacing strategies learned during practice, it spells disaster. I would usually run out of steam around mile 18-20 and those last miles would be complete torture, turning into a walk/run. After my first marathon turned out to be a disappointing experience ( a blog post for a later time!), my second still not what I expected, and my third turning into a disaster, it was time to take a different approach.
After bonking 3 times, marathon #4 had to be different. I was training with City Coach in NYC and almost everyone in the group was training for Boston in the spring of 2011. Since I missed qualifying during the NYC marathon that past fall, Coach Jonathan Cane suggested the Charlottesville marathon in Virginia for those of us not doing Boston. The race was also in April so I figured why not? It would give me a chance to train on the same schedule as everyone else and I'd never been to Charlottesville. Could be fun?!
I trained well for the race and felt prepared to run a fast time, however, due to my past history, Coach Cane suggested I throw any thoughts of Boston out the window and just have fun with this race. Don't worry about time, don't even wear a watch! After some coaxing, I decided to take his advice. In the back of my mind, I knew I'd probably always have that Boston qualifying time (3:40 for women in my age group) etched into my brain, however, I desperately needed that new approach.
RACE DAY:
My alarm sounded at 5:15am and I got up to force down some instant oatmeal. I paced around and did my whole morning race routine while calling to set up a cab ride. As the minutes ticked by and the cab driver still hadn't shown, I panicked a bit and stepped outside my door to notice some girls getting into a pick-up with marathon gear. Thinking this was a small town and I should be fine, I hopped in with them for the short ride over to the start. I chatted for a bit with these strangers and they informed me they were both running the half, while the one driving lit up a cigarette. I couldn't believe what I was seeing!
Anyway, we arrived, I jumped out, thanked them for the ride and immediately jumped into the bathroom line. While waiting, I ran into Hanna ( City Coach member) and her boyfriend, Michael( who graciously let me ride along with them from NYC to Charlottesville) who were also running the full marathon. After checking our bags and wishing each other good luck, we all headed out to the start line. It was a chilly start to the day...I dont' think it was even above 40 degrees. I was all prepared with my arm warmers, but wishing I had gloves. Nothing I could do about it now!
I surprisingly felt calm while chatting with a few other runners as we waited for the gun to go off. Most likely due to the fact that I wasn't feeling pressured to hit a certain time, I was here to have fun!
BANG! At 6:30am, the gun went off, and it was go time! I eased into the race and made sure to hold back. I checked my watch( oops, wore a watch!) at mile one just to gauge where I was at...clocked an 8:45. Mile 2: 8:35, Mile 3: 8:40....after about mile 4, I remembered Coach Cane's advice and stopped incessantly checking my time. I settled into the run and approached each mile solely by how I was feeling. Only at the 1/2 way point when we split off from the half-marathoners, did I finally glance down at my watch. Oh my gosh, I was within Boston range! I still had a chance!! I tried not to get too excited because Boston was NOT the reason I was running this race.
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| On my way to a BQ! |
Around mile 15, another runner latched on and started chatting with me. I stayed focused but politely responded to his questions. Another girl also paced off of us as well and it helped the miles go by a little quicker. The dude running with the girl and I kept making comments about another girl up ahead..." did you see the girl with the blond pigtails? Her boobs are huge...they have to be fake!" Well, "fake boobs mcgee" became my target and I slowly tried to catch up to her. In the midst of doing so, I noticed, I was feeling GOOD. A rarity for me! Meanwhile, while I was feeling good, others around me were not. I was slowly picking people off on each hill we approached. By mile 22, the double loop of hills was done and I was still picking people off. I felt awesome and started to increase the pace a little more as we were now heading back toward town. With less than 2 miles to go, I passed some screaming spectators yelling, "the finish line is near!" I glanced at my watch one last time and realized, holy crap!, this Boston thing is actually going to happen!!! I finished the marathon in a time of 3:27:43, a new PR by over 20mins! I never was able to catch "boobs mcgee" but keeping her within sight helped me focus on something other than the exhaustion I was feeling and helped pull me forward. Besides, I didn't care, I had just qualified for Boston! This race is proof that patience does pay off. I clearly just needed to take the pressure off and have fun!!
*To anyone looking for a fun, small-town race, this is it! I don't know if it's because I had such an awesome race or because I tend to enjoy the small race vibe more, but I would definitely recommend this one. The crowds are a bit sparse but the cheering sections come just when you need them the most. If you want to feel like a big fish in a small pond ( as JC said ), go run Charlottesville. I was #57 overall and ended up making it into the local paper :) *
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