Faster than Expected!

I finished the 5k this morning in 25:27, which is 12 seconds faster than I ran it in 1999. I'm pretty happy with that, especially since I was thinking maybe 27 minutes at best! I think that the difficulty of this particular course adds a minute or so to my time, so it seems like I am still in 24:30 5k shape.

(Okay, let's me honest and state also that the other times I ran this race they held it in August, so we had the full benefit of sun and humidity, whereas today was good weather for running faster. But still, I am 13 years older...and that must count for something!)

I almost didn't make it there this morning. Wasn't too enthused about it from the get go, because it's a really dreary day outside (40s and rain). And the notes in my running logs from 1999 and 2003 about this race were disturbing. In 1999, I commented that my knee felt weird afterwards. In 2003, note that it was just a few months before I ended up having knee surgery! So, you have to wonder if the hilly course had anything to do with it.

I reminded myself about the residents of St. Joseph's Home. I felt it would be dishonorable not to at least show up.

Stuck with just one cup of coffee this morning. Didn't want a repeat of two weeks ago at the finish line. Left the house at 8 am for the 9 am start. Dressed in long-sleeve shirt from the Hartford Marathon and the trusty and increasingly threadbare CW-X capri tights. Really need to get some new ones. Also, water-repellant ballcap from Delaware Marathon. Tucked some gloves in my gear bag, along with a change of clothes for post-race.

All was well until a couple of miles before my exit off I-71. Traffic was at a standstill. I should have listened to the traffic report before leaving but it's Saturday so I didn't think it would be an issue. Anyway, they had the road blocked off completely at my planned exit and I had to get off one stop before. By the time I could get moving, it was looking like I was going to arrive with less than 15 minutes to race time, and I like to have a little more than that. Wondered if I would even make it in time. Never know with the GPS if it is telling me to do the right thing or not.

On the way home I found out that the little stretch of highway was closed because of an overturned semi. It was flipped over on the concrete divider, and at that point, it looked the cleanup crew had pried it open and were removing boxes from it for transport in another truck.

I did make it there about 15 minutes before the start, parked in a hurry and trotted up to pick up my number. Kept my fleece jacket on because it was so cold, and was almost starting to think about running with it on but came to my senses in time. Jogged back to the car and got the nylon coverup I had tucked in my bag at the last minute, and my gloves, and did my warmup wearing that. Didn't have time to go a full mile, but tried to get a little up and down hill in.

Looked around at groups of skinny women dressed in stylish, aerodynamic running attire and felt...dumpy. But I tried to tell myself that they must be new runners and that was why they were in new clothes.

And then it was time to line up. I took off the nylon coverup but didn't think I had enough time to go back to the car, so I just tied it around my waist. The good thing is that it has a zipper pocket so I could put my car key in there. The key was too big for the pocket of my tights. The other good thing about the coverup tied around my waist was that just in case my tights really were too threadbare or in just case a seam just suddenly ripped open, I was safe.

This is not a very big race, so I lined up right in front where the fast people are supposed to be. Not that I am fast, but the road is pretty wide, relative to the number of people, so I didn't think I would be blocking any real speedsters. There were just a few women there who looked competitive, despite the aforementioned clothing (like the woman who was just standing to my right), and honestly, I didn't see any men who looked real fast. So I didn't think I was going to impede anyone.

My plan was to run the first fast downhill mile "sensibly"---that is, I knew it would be faster than I am capable of on a flat course, and I wasn't going to hold myself back, but I also wasn't going to do anything stupid. I was going to be careful. The mantra was "flow."

For the second mile, I was going to try to run faster than usual for a flat second mile. The mantra was "attack."

For the third mile, well, there the plan was a little less developed. I wanted to attack that one also, but I also didn't want to trash my knee in the process. So, the mantra was a little more like "hang on."

The race director fired a starting pistol and we were off. As I thought, plenty of room. A few women took off ahead of me but I managed to catch a couple of them before we'd gone a half mile or so. The hill was not as steep as I remembered. That was a good thing. I stopped worrying about my knee. Hit the first mile marker in 6:58. Hey, that was just a few seconds slower than 1999, when I felt like I was running way outside my capabilities. So, for some "sensible" running, it was decent. I skipped the aid station but thanked the volunteers.

Okay, here we are in mile two and it is time to "attack." Except, I did not feel much like attacking. Yes, things were going well, and I was glad I had come out for the race and made it there on time, but I didn't know if I had any "attack" in me. There weren't any women around for me to try to catch or pass, just some older, not especially fit looking, guys. Not much incentive to push real hard. But, I tried to focus on doing my best.

Hit the mile two marker with a 7:57. Hey, sub-15 minutes for two miles! That's probably my best in quite awhile. That was encouraging. Maybe there was some "attack" in me after all.

And then we turned off into a parking lot and around to the hill. Most of the last mile (except for a little bit at the beginning of it) is uphill, and it is quite a hill. Unlike the downhill first mile, it was just as steep as I remembered. The only good thing about it was that it was cool and overcast instead of hot and sunny.

There was another aid station in the parking lot and I skipped that one, too, but once again thanked the volunteers. Who thanked me right back.

I became aware of some very loud wheezing and grunting noises, and realized that it was me making those sounds. But it felt good to make those sounds, so I decided that I didn't care what they guys around me thought, I would just keep doing it. I passed one guy, for good, that I had been trading places with for much of the race.

I was in that no-man's (woman's?) land, where I often find myself in these small races, between the fast people in the front and the slow people in the back.

I wanted to run, however slowly, up the entire hill. I tried to keep remembering to pump my arms. At one point, I decided that maybe I could walk just as fast as I could run, so I admit that I did shift to a walk for a few steps. But I quickly realized that even my very slow running was faster than walking, so I went back to the "run."

At the turnoff into the access road to St. Joseph's, there were a few volunteers waiting on the side, with a couple of the residents in wheelchairs. All the residents who were outside for the race were bundled up in matching dark blue rain ponchos. The volunteers were all relentlessly cheery looking. It is difficult and important work that they are doing. I gave them a big smile and waved my arms broadly.

As I think about this race, I think it is maybe more for the families and the volunteers than it is for the residents. I could be wrong. The way I think about this race is that it is an opportunity for the families of the residents and the staff and the volunteers at the home to get together with the community, and share the day together with the residents of the home. And that is a nice thing to be a small part of.

I had been hoping that I was wrong about how much was left of the race, but just as I remembered, there was quite a bit more hill to go. I continued up the access road and passed my car. Where was that three mile marker? Agggh. There was one guy ahead of me. I wasn't going to catch him.

I hit the button on my watch at the three mile marker but didn't look at it. (Later I would see that this mile was a 9:48, actually 13 seconds slower than my 1999 time. So much for the benefits of shade.)

I tried to pick it up for that last .1, and I managed to, a little, covering it in 44 seconds (vs. 56 seconds in 1999). Final time was 25:27. I was twelve seconds faster than in 1999, and most of that improvement was in the second mile (attack!) and that last .1. And, since I was only expecting to finish in 27 minutes, this was very happy news. So, I guess you could say I did run the race according to plan, and the plan worked out even better than expected.

I stood along side the finish chute and cheered for some of the other runners, then I started to get cold so I walked to my car to get my dry clothes, then went inside the warm auditorium for waffles and sausages. Not bad post race food, not bad at all. People around me were talking about how happy they were with their finish times in the 32 minute range. I was pretty sure that I had won my age group. I didn't see anybody there I recognized.

They announced the overall winners and also the winners of the team competition. The men's winner didn't even break 20, and the woman ran a 22. I noted that I was faster than the winning team, which was a bunch of guys. They didn't announce the rest of the awards, but told you to just look on the wall where they had posted the results, and if you had won something, go up to a table where they would give you a medal. Maybe it was because in a race with just 149 runners and 78 walkers and multiple awards in the age groups, almost everybody goes home with something.

In the end, I was 1 of 4 in my age group, 8 of 84 women, and 22 of 149 runners overall (plus I beat the 78 walkers, but they started after us, and the guy who won the race walk would not have been too far behind me, as he was walking seriously fast).

Now if I could just find a way to get some 20 mile long runs in every other week, like I used to do in 1999, maybe I could break 4 hours in the marathon again after all.

Make a Prediction

Tomorrow I'm going to run the St. Joseph's Home 5k. The last time I ran this race may have been in 1999. Back then, it was in August, which was pretty brutal. And the course itself is bad enough without the heat. It's one mile straight downhill, one mile flat, one mile plus uphill. And it is quite the hill.

So, back in 1999, when I was, according to my running log, approximately the same weight I am right now if not a pound or two heavier, I ran it in 25:38. Which, at the time, was over a minute slower than I was running flat 5ks that summer. But...I was also averaging 40 miles a week in contrast to less than 25 a week right now. And I was doing 20 mile long runs every other week. And I was doing mile repeats at 5k race pace. (I guess I mistaken about my not ever having done speedwork regularly before. I forgot. The way I used to train, which I thought was pretty lackadaisical at the time, actually makes my current efforts look very wimpy). Oh, and I was running 4:00 marathons without too much trouble.

I also ran the first mile of this race in 6:54, which at the time was my one mile PR. (I hadn't run many mile races.) Not just my PR for the first mile of a 5k, but my PR for one mile in any race. The splits were 6:54, 8:13, 9:35 and 56 seconds for the last bit.

I plan to go out a little more conservatively this time, and hope that I can push it more (relatively) in the second mile. I also think that I am maybe a little better at the uphill stuff than I used to be.

I'm not saying that I'm going to be faster than I was in 1999. That cannot be. But I'm thinking that maybe it won't be too far off my other current 5ks.

Which are, what? I haven't run a 5k since the fall, and then I was running 24:30s, same as I was in 1999. So, I guess that means at least last fall I had 24:30 speed for a 5k. But based on the recent 10ks, I'm probably closer to 26 minutes for an average 5k right now.

And this is far from the average 5k. So, what? I am thinking somewhere between 27 and 30. I have decided to be very satisfied with a 27, but not overly surprised if it ends up being closer to 30.

Oh, and try not to destroy my knee, which has been bothering me the past few days. And hope the weird ankle pain I have been having since yesterday is really nothing.

Run for the American Dream 10k

I did this one on Saturday, April 7. It was my third time competing in the race. I ran it four years ago, and again two years ago.

The race is a benefit for an organization called Working in Neighborhoods. The mission of the organization is to "harness the power of neighborhood leadership to build strong communities." What that means, apparently, is promoting home ownership, hence the name of the race---"Run for the American Dream." WIN provides assistance to first time home buyers through education, financial counseling, and downpayment assistance programs.

The race is held in Winton Woods Park, a 2500 acre park on the west side of Cincinnati. The course is composed entirely of a paved walking path. There's a 5k run and separate walk, 10k run, kids fun run, and this year, an Easter Egg Hunt (including an appearance by the Easter Bunny). For the 10k, you repeat the same course twice.

This is a tiny little race with relatively large and generous trophies. They give out big ones for the top three overall men and women in each of the events, plus medals to the age group winners in ten-year categories. Ordinarily I avoid those races with the ten-year splits but this is such a small race, so I make an exception. And the first year I ran it, I won a big trophy for third overall in the 10k. Last time I was slower and just won the age group.

I seemed to recall that they had slightly better than usual food at this one (unfortunately I did not remember correctly or it has changed), and the t-shirt is included in your entry fee.

This race was going to be the kick off for my spring 10k training program, in which I am going to try to get a little faster at that distance. My time in this race tells me where I am starting from.

I wanted to leave the house at 8 am on Saturday morning, but I was running a little late, trying to finish up that second cup of coffee, and when I got in the car, I realized I did not remember how to get to the park. I have not been there very many times, and the last time was for this race two years ago. My new friend, "Siri," was no help in this regard, as she was only able to suggest 11 parking lots near my house when I asked her for directions to Winton Woods Park.

Siri really is good for finding coffee shops and that is about it.

My old friend, "Garmina," had even more trouble than Siri. She got stuck in a loop and could not come up with anything. Maybe she is intimidated by Siri? She needn't be.

So I had to go back in the house and ask Tommy. The directions he gave me did not sound correct. So I went online and found an actual street address for the entrance closest to the race. That was enough for Garmina to get started, although I did have to ignore some of her advice.

By that point it was 8:15, and it's a 20 minute drive. This is a tad bit later than I like to leave for a race.

When I arrived, there was some confusion among the volunteers about where to park. I was directed into the lot across the street from the start/finish area, before realizing that I might be better off looking for a spot closer. So that cost me another five minutes. But I did get one of the last spots in the lot right by the start. I didn't have this year's park pass yet but there was nobody around to buy it from so I decided not to sweat it.

I got my shirt and bib and chip, and by the time I got my number pinned on and my chip attached to my shoe (yes, they have chip timing at this itty bitty race, which seems silly but probably does make it easier for the race director), I did not have enough time for my usual ten minute warmup. And I didn't have enough time to visit the bathroom, either. I had to choose, short warmup or bathroom. I felt okay, so I chose the warmup. Barely had enough time to get a half-mile in, jogging around the parking lot. It would have to do.

The 5k and 10k runs start together, and there's no way to tell from looking at people which race they are doing. It was written in black Sharpie on the front of our bibs but you had to look at someone from the front to see it. There were a couple of women who looked pretty fast. Tall, skinny, young woman. Shorter, athletically built woman in compression socks, also relatively young. Tall, skinny, youngish blonde woman in sunglasses. Little girl, looked to be about 12.

And at the start, there was a relatively fit woman in black just ahead of me.

It took me just a couple of seconds to get over the starting line. I almost ran into the dividers they have sticking up on the path to prevent cars from driving on it, because the people just ahead of me were blocking my view when we started running.

The woman in black was a little bit ahead. I could have run fast enough to keep up with her---if I was only going 5k. I wondered which race she was doing and if maybe she would come back to me.

The race course is a little bit confusing, because you cross the same point multiple times even if you are only doing the 5k. Fortunately they had volunteers at every point where you had to make a choice, so even I did not get lost.

Hit the first mile in 8:03. Maybe a little fast but we were only going 10k so I wasn't too concerned. There was an aid station near the two mile mark so I grabbed a cup of water and walked a few steps. Mile 2 was 8:29. Near the end of the third mile, I could see some of the faster 10k runners coming back towards me on their second lap. I counted at least three women, and I knew there may have been more even faster who passed by before I came through. Mile 3 was an 8:40. I guess I really am that slow, after all.

It was really hard to make that turn back out onto the course again. I did not see the woman in black so I guessed she must have been running the 5k. Mile 4 was an 8:34. Mile 5 was an 8:50 and I skipped the water stop this time. It was kind of empty out there the second time around, and I didn't have anybody to try to race against, so it was hard to keep pushing myself. When we made the little turn around just past mile 5 I didn't see anybody close behind me.

But, I reminded myself that I wanted to run as best as I was capable of running. Mile 6 was an 8:23. I was lapping some of the walkers doing the 5k, but fortunately the path was wide enough so they didn't get in my way. Ran the last .2 in 1:42, for an official time of 52:39.

Right at the finish line there was a volunteer who wanted to cut our shoe tags off. I said okay, but I apologize if I throw up on you. Those two cups of coffee with cream and sugar were not staying down. So I held up my shoe for her to remove the tag while I barfed off to the side. Then I walked over to the grass and barfed some more. People were asking me if I was okay and I just kept trying to indicate that it was not big deal, I (almost) always do this.

The race director came over and asked me for my tear off tag, which apparently they were not doing for everybody, but seemed to me to indicate that maybe I was winning something, so what the heck, I would stick around.

I keep hoping to discover that I really am faster than this but I think I have to face reality! This is all I've got right now. At least I was faster than I ran it in four years ago, and a lot faster than two years ago (which was kind of a low point in my life as a runner).

I didn't think I was getting one of those big trophies like I did four years ago, but I thought I had a good shot at the age group awards, especially after the race director took my tag. I was hoping there would be pancakes, but instead all they had were awful supermarket bagels (not made bearable by the addition of cream cheese), Gatorade and stuffed grape leaves (from Oasis Mediterranian Grill, one of the sponsors). There were lamb and veggie stuffed grape leaves. I tried a lamb one. It was way too salty for me and I had to throw it away.

Anyway, it turned out that the tall woman in black had run the 5k, and she was actually the 5k woman's overall winner. I was just a little amused to realize that based on her time, I probably would have beaten her if I had run the 5k---because if I was only going 5k I would have gone a lot faster per mile. The 2nd and 3rd place women in the 5k (who also got big trophies) ran even slower than my 10k pace.

The more competitive runners were in the 10k. The skinny, fast young woman I remembered from the start won in a time of 39 minutes and change. Second place was the blonde woman in the sunglasses, and third place was the 12 year old girl. I was the sixth place woman (of 17) and first of two in my age group, and I was 26 of 44 runners overall. I was also the second oldest woman there---the other woman in my age group was the oldest.

52:39, I have to keep reminding myself, is still faster than I was at this point a year ago. It's a place from which to start.

ORRRC Marathon, where I fail to qualify for Boston by a very large margin

I picked this race because I thought it would be a good place for me to try to get a Boston qualifier. Somehow I had managed to forget that I have had some really sucky races in Xenia doing the associated half-marathon, so there wasn’t a good reason to expect that the marathon would be any better. I guess I should have thought about it a little more carefully.

Because, I had a really sucky day in Xenia. I am trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. Was I really so badly trained? Was I really still sick? Or is it just a place where I am doomed to run poorly?

For Those of You Who Don't Live Here, a Bit about Xenia

Xenia, a place I go to only when I enter this race, is about an hour's drive north of me. One of its nicknames is "city of hospitality." The website says that Xenia is "rich in traditional values." The main thing Xenia is known for, however, is tornados. The tornado of April 1974 killed 33 people and destroyed about half the town.

The Friday night before the race I was watching the weather report on TV and sure enough it looked like a little bit of a twister was touching down in the area near Xenia. I asked someone during the race why they schedule it for tornado season, and we joked about how it is always tornado season in Xenia.

Wikipedia says that Xenia was known to the Shaunee Indians as "the land of the crazy winds," which wouldn't be so bad if it was at our backs the whole way. Unfortunately, on an out and back course, it doesn't work that way, and the wind was blowing in our faces on the way back.

They used to hold this a bit earlier in the year. I recall the first time I went up there for the half-marathon, I think it was in early March. And it was like 20 degrees and windy. It was horrible. So maybe tornado season is an improvement!

Comedian Dave Chappelle owns several houses in Xenia, and the city is mentioned in a "They Might Be Giants" song. But I think if you played word association with most people around here and you said "Xenia" they would say "tornado." Sorry Xenia!

The other thing Xenia is a little famous for is being the residence of the author of the novel "And Ladies of the Club," which I personally have never read. I found a bed and breakfast that claims to be the setting of the novel. It seems to be really close to the start/finish of the race and looks like it would be a great place to stay if you were coming from out of town for this race. The other place you can stay is a Ramada, that is supposed to be nasty now, but was at one time the start/finish/staging area of the race.

Xenia is close to the town of Yellow Springs, home of Antioch University, which contributes a little bit of funkiness to balance out the traditional values (IMHO). Truly, it is hard to find a place that is more small town, midwest than Xenia (said this Jersey Girl). Unless, maybe, Pawnee, IN.

What’s Good About This Race

There are a lot of good things about this race. Let’s start with the value. It is an amazing value. The pre-registration fee is just $25. This makes it one of the cheapest marathons in the world. It is cheaper than a lot of the 5ks are around here.

From my perspective, the race delivers on a lot of the necessities:

•  Accurate mile markers
• Adequate aid stations, fully stocked with water and Gatorade
• Volunteers to point you in the right direction so you don’t get lost (become more of an issue for me recently!)
• Parking at the start/finish
• Plenty of food at the finish, including a variety of hot soups and cookies
• Showers at the finish
• Scenic course, relatively flat
• It’s just an hour’s drive away for me

What’s Not So Good about this Race

Weather can be unpredictable. Can be windy. Will definitely be windy somewhere along the course. No shade on the road portion. Can get hot if the sun is out.

Hmmm, that may be the only negative thing. But since I have never had a good race here, I probably won’t be trying it again. At least not the full marathon.

If you are a racer who needs a lot of crowd support and people cheering and music playing and other forms of entertainment along the way, well, you won’t get that here. But I don’t need that stuff.

So, I signed up for this months ago and focused my training (to the extent that I ever focus my training) on it. Although I was, as always, a bit short on the long runs, I did more speed work, and I did it more regularly, than I ever have before. I didn’t do as many build-up races as usual, but because my fall races had gone so well, and that was before all the speed work, I was optimistic on this front. And although I didn’t do as many long runs as I was supposed to, I did more than usual. And I felt great after them. And I wasn’t having any particular biomechanical problems, unlike other times.

I figured if I could jog through a 4:36 with no specific training at all, I really shouldn’t have a problem going sub-4:00 with the training I did this time. Right?

Wrong, apparently.

Before the Race

I did a 20 mile run about 3 ½ weeks before the race and it went great. I had not done a training run that long since the last time I qualified for Boston, ten years ago. The week after that long run, I came down with a nasty head cold. I had a lot of nasal congestion and some coughing, but it did not develop into anything worse or get bad enough to make me go to the doctor in search of antibiotics.

I did go down to Louisville with Zen for two days of agility while in the thick of the cold, and I skipped the Heart Mini-Marathon that Sunday because I was still a bit sick. At that point I was a week out from the marathon. I felt recovered enough to do a little running early last week. The congestion and the coughing would clear up while I was running, but I found myself still coughing a bit in the evenings.

By Wednesday, I was feeling good (although still somewhat congested) but I decided to not run the rest of the week and rest my legs. I was not worried about the cold affecting my race. I made a conscious effort to eat less over the past week, so I would not be carrying any extra weight on race day. Basically, I tried not to do my usual mindless snacking between meals, and didn’t let myself have any alcohol or ice cream. If I needed dessert, I had a cup of yogurt or a piece of fruit.

Friday night when Tommy came home from a week out of town and made himself a martini, I could not resist and I had one beer. Saturday night I was going to cook a pasta dinner, but instead we had takeout from a local Italian place and I stuffed myself.

I was a little nervous about the weather. Weather.com was saying 30% chance of showers for the entire morning. I hoped it wouldn’t rain. Temperature-wise it was supposed to be low 50s at the start and climb to the low 60s by afternoon, which sounded okay. It had been in the 80s earlier in the week, so 50s was going to feel great.

Race morning I was up at 5-ish for coffee, yogurt and banana. I left for the start around 6:15. It took me a little over an hour to drive there, because there was some thick fog on the second half of the drive. I got one of the last parking spaces in one of the lots near the YMCA where the race start and finish is set up.

I picked up my shirt and bib, used the bathroom inside the Y (another nice feature of this race), and retreated to my car until it was time to line up.

I was wearing my CW-X capri tights (which I need to think about replacing before they become translucent), a shortsleeved tech top and a hat from Fargo. I also wore my old, shredded (a couple of dogs have munched on it, and I also ripped it on something during a race one time) blue anorak, which is lightweight enough to tie around my waist or that I could even pitch although it seems like I am doomed to have that thing forever. I was still worried about rain and the anorak is handy for that.

I debated over wearing my big fanny pack that holds a water bottle, or a smaller one that just holds my gels. The aid stations were mostly two miles apart, but not always I ended up going with the water bottle, because there were some spots in the middle of the race where the aid stations were more like three miles apart and that is too far for me to go without water in a marathon.

The Race

My goal was a 3:59, which would give me a Boston qualifier for the 50-54 age group, which I intended to use next April. I have run faster than that, but it was ten years ago. Since this was an ambitious goal, I decided that I would be happy with a time under 4:15, which would still show improvement over recent years, and would give me hope that I could get my time down under 4:10 this fall. A 4:10 run after September 25 will give me a qualifier for Boston that I can use in 2014.

Oh yeah, and I might not actually run Boston even if I do qualify. What I really want to do is run a marathon in Gansett, Rhode Island, on the Saturday before the Boston Marathon. That race uses the same qualification standards as Boston, and it is in a state where I haven’t run a marathon yet. It is also more exclusive than Boston, because the only way to run it is to qualify, whereas Boston lets in some charity runners, foreign tourists, and celebrities. The other problem with Boston now is that even if you qualify, you might not get in because more people qualify and apply to run it than the race will accept. Paradoxically, it is now both easier and harder to get in to Boston. So, I’ll use the qualifier for Gansett, but I might possibly do Boston as well if I can get in.

For a goal of 3:59, you have to average 9:06 per mile. The ideal is to run a little slower in the first half and faster in the second (the elusive “negative split”) but that hardly ever happens. Most of the time, I find myself slowing down in the second half of a marathon, even on a good day. But I was going to try to just keep it around 9 minute pace, and hopefully a little below for some of the flatter miles.

They used chip timing for this race, so even though it wasn’t a big field (1100 runners in the half and the full, combined), I didn’t have to stress out too much about my starting line position. It did take me maybe 30 seconds to get over the start line, and every second was going to count if I wanted to qualify.

The first two miles is a loop around downtown Xenia that brings you back by the start line, before you head out on the country roads and bike trail. My watch said 8:50 at the first mile marker, and that was encouraging. I felt good. I really thought I could hold that pace for 25 more miles. I took off the anorak.

The second mile was a 9:08, and that was okay because it included a short walk break while I took some water from my bottle, and removed the anorak. It was overcast and very humid. The fanny pack felt kind of heavy around my waist, and the anorak didn’t help, either. I had a little water at the aid station.

It was uphill to mile three. My watch said 9:52. I told myself it was the hill, or maybe the marker was in the wrong place. It was now quite humid and warmer than I had expected. I was glad I had the water bottle with me because I was thirsty, even if it was weighing me down a little. I had my first GU with the water.

In the fourth mile, we turned on to the bike trail and the course flattened out. I missed the 4 mile marker, but miles 4 and 5 were an 18:29, not too far off the 9:06 pace. I missed the mile marker for 6 as well, but 6 and 7 were an 18:35, again, not horrible. I had another gel and water somewhere in between at approximately mile 6. That sub-4:00 was slipping away but I didn’t feel too bad and I resolved to just take it a mile at a time and do my best.

Mile 8 was a 9:10. Better. Mile 9 was a 9:27. Now we headed out on the country road, and the sun came out, and I started to struggle. I had another GU and some water. And it sucks to start to struggle this early in a race. I felt overdressed, and wished I was not wearing black. At least my hat was white. I chatted with a guy who lived in the area who advised me of the hill coming up ahead. Uphill in the sun. Great. It wasn’t that steep of a hill but it was quite long. Mile ten was a 9:48. This is when I knew for sure that it just wasn’t my day.

I ran a little with a woman who was doing her first marathon. Her goal was just to finish and hopefully be under 4:40 or even 4:30. I told her she looked strong and she would make it. She was one of those tall, skinny people who doesn’t seem to sweat much. She pulled ahead of me.

And at this point I guess I got a little demoralized, not even able to keep up with someone whose goal was so much more modest than my own. Mile 11 was 10:42. Mile 12 was 10:19. Mile 13 was 10:39, mile 14 was 11:16. I wanted to drop out. I was getting in a bad mood and thinking about how there was no reason for me to be doing this race if I wasn't going to qualify for Boston.

Around mile 14.5 we turned back onto the bike trail. Mile 15 was 10:59. At some point in here I passed the tall, skinny lady, and I told her she still looked strong and she would make it. I had some brief conversations with other Maniacs. Most of them passed me. One guy who passed me told me that he had run a marathon in NJ the day before, then drove nine hours (he must have been speeding and did not stop at all along the way!) to get to Xenia. And he was running faster today. He was very proud of himself. Good for him, but I'm not sure he needed to share his tale of wonder with poor me.

Did have a lot more conversations with folks than usual during this race, maybe because the race organizers discourage the wearing of earbuds, so people were bored and needing something else to do besides just plodding ahead.

I continued with the gels every three miles, until late in the race when it was just too much trouble to deal with them so I switched to Gatorade at every water stop. Going so slow, I was actually a little worried about being over-hydrated!

Mile 16 was 9:54. I missed the mile 17 marker but 17-18 was 20:22. I thought things were looking up until I got to mile 19, which was 11:08. I just wanted it to be over!

Another guy who passed me decided he had to tell me all about how great he felt and how he was going to finish even faster than last year and he was going to pick it up and even break 4:30. Well la-dee-dah, hooray for him, I thought.

Mile 20 was 10:50, mile 21 was 11:30, mile 22 was 11:47 (things were really getting rough), mile 23 was 11:53, mile 24 was 11:54. I could not believe that after all that training I was barely going to be any faster than I was last summer/fall with almost no training. What, then, is the point of training? I don't know. I also ask myself this question every time Zen jumps off the top of the a-frame at an agility trial, but I digress.

Mile 25 was 11:40. Near the 26 mile mark we turned off the bike trail onto the street. There were volunteers blocking the bike trail, and it is a good thing they were there or I would have missed the turn (indicated my orange arrows painted on the grass).

I made the turn at the same time as another woman whom I had not noticed until that point. She turned to me and said what I had been thinking for a few hours---"this really sucks!" I said, "yeah, this totally sucks!" It was so nice to meet someone who was expressing exactly what I was feeling at that point instead of all the silly cheeriness about what a beautiful day it was to run, and how awesome it was that we could all be out there doing this race even if we were slow and all that kind of crap.

She said what sucked even more was that the next day she was going to have to get on a plane to California, and I agreed with her that totally sucked. Mile 26 was a 10:55.

At this point ordinarily I would have kicked ahead of this woman because, hey, we were still racing, after all. But she looked younger than I am (she was) and I just didn't care anymore so I let her beat me. Okay, well, I did try to pick it up a little but she did the same thing, and she crossed the line just ahead of me.

After the Race

I got my medal---surprisingly nice one---and walked to the car to get my gear bag (which seemed incredibly heavy), then headed into the Y for some soup. I decided to eat first and then change in case they were running out. There was a choice of chili, broccoli with cheese, and chicken noodle. I went for the chicken noodle. I also grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies that appeared to be homemade. I headed for a spot at one of the tables, but I was afraid to sit down (because I might not be able to get up again) so I mostly kind of hovered. I ate the cookies first because that was more what I was in the mood for. But the soup was just the perfect thing.

While I was eating, the tall, skinny woman came up to me and thanked me for supporting her during the race. She said that she had achieved her goal, and that our brief encounter during the race really helped her.

There are some days---most days---when I feel like my entire purpose on this earth is to make other people feel better about themselves. Maybe that's why I was really there doing this race, after all. Like all those people who passed me, I was there just so they could have someone to pass.

I told her she was still looking good. Because she was. She didn't even look like she was sweating.

I, OTOH, was quite a mess. I finished my soup and headed off to the locker room. I decided to wait until I got home for my shower, so I just changed into dry clothes and flip flops and headed out. I was pretty happy when I took my shoes and socks off to see that my feet didn't have any blisters. I was a little worried about how I would extricate myself from the car when I got home, but I called Tommy and told him that he might need to come out and help me. It felt really wonderful to sit down in the car!

Final results showed my time to be 4:31:17. I was 2 of 4 in my age group (which means, apparently, at some point an award will be arriving in the mail, since they gave them out to the top 3 in the age group) and 169 of 246 marathoners overall. The woman who won the age group finished in 3:49, closer to where I had hoped I would be. Third place, I believe, was tall, skinny lady with a 4:38.

With a couple of weeks perspective on this, I am going to blame it on the cold/flu/whatever that was I had. I don't know if I could have gone sub-4:00 otherwise, but I think it took more out of me than I suspected.

The Last Few Days

Going to try to write a little more just about the everyday stuff.

Have recovered quickly from the marathon. Was a little sore last Monday, too busy Tuesday, but able to get out for a little three miler Wednesday. Busy on Thursday, but ran again Friday and Saturday, and then did a six miler on Sunday, which went pretty well.

Today, I did another three miler, along the route where I run down Erie Ave., take a little detour around the Broadview neighborhood, and then back up Erie and finish with a little loop of my neighborhood. Its probably closer to three and a half miles. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the low 60s. I ran into one of my neighbors, Peggy, and her dog, Quinn. He is a very handsome Golden Retriever. I never get to say hi to Quinn usually when I see them because I have the dogs with me, so today I took the opportunity to give him some pats and kisses. Peggy's former dog, Ceres, was a great friend of our girl, Libby. We chatted a little about how much we miss them. We love our current dogs but there is no replacing Ceres and Libby.

After my disappointing performance last weekend, it is time to regroup and come up with a new plan. So, the plan is that I will try again to qualify for Boston at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in the fall. I picked that one because I know it is a good race and a nice flat course, and not too far away. Also, all the race hotels for Columbus are already booked, but I could still get a room within a quarter mile of the start/finish in Indianapolis. And, it is a month after Susan's wedding, whereas Columbus is just a week or two after. So Indy is probably better.

I won't start training until early July, so in the meantime my goal is to do some 10k training program, and apply it to trying to better my time at the Hyde Park Blast, which is a four mile race but that shouldn't matter so much.

I'm going to run a 10k this weekend, the Run for the American Dream, which should give me a baseline for my training paces going forward.