Green Bay Marathon

It’s been just over two years since I’ve ran my first marathon. Since then I’ve done a few triathlons and quite a few half marathons. This fall, my plan is to finish my first Full Ironman distance triathlon. Leading up to that, I wanted to run another marathon, sometime in the spring, to build up my running mileage first.

Let me preface this race by saying the marathon build up was flawless. Seriously. I’ve never felt better, fitter, and faster. Everything clicked these last 16 or so weeks. Speed workouts. Long runs. Even cross training. Perfect. Everything was pointing at a 3:20-3:25 marathon. Easy BQ. Then the race happened. Crash, bang, BOOM. I blew up.

At the race expo, ready to go!

The morning of the race we had received an email and text alert saying the race was yellow flagged. Pretty much, this just means that the conditions aren’t ideal and to start adjusting your goals a little bit. I looked at the weather… 75 degrees at 6 am. 90+% humidity. 70+ dew point. And this was 90 minutes before race start. Oof. Nothing I can do about it, but run and do my best and see what happens today.

Race day outfit, ready to go.

I couldn’t get breakfast down. I had my usual (bagel, banana, orange juice, water) with me but I think I took about 2 bites of my bagel and forced the banana down. My body was clearly a nervous wreck.

I donned my race outfit (Team Martilee, for the win!!) and we were out the door by about 6:45. This would give me plenty of time to use the bathroom, take my gel and mentally prep for the upcoming 26.2. Hubby had his bike and was planning to follow around the course as much as he could!

I still hadn’t eaten much, and water wasn’t going down easy either… again, not a super great sign for things to come.

I put on my tunes, and once the race started I tried my best to keep the negative thoughts about the weather out of my mind. I was running what felt easy, but looked down in my first mile and saw a 7:30. WHOA. Slow it down. This is much too fast! I kept pulling myself back and tried to run closer to 8 minute pace. This course was really flat, but I knew I was running too fast. Every time I looked down at my watch I had crept back into the 7:40s.

Course map provided by race website.

Around mile 5 I took my first gel, and again I had issues swallowing it. I had used Huma gels throughout my training, along with both water and Skratch Labs. I had to count down from 3 to swallow my gel… again, not a great sign.

Some of the spectators had their sprinklers or hoses on and the amount of people running slightly off the course onto the sidewalk or yard to run in the cold water was alarming. It had to be creeping towards 80 degrees at this point, but the flags were still yellow on the course. The miles kept ticking by and I somehow kept running in the 7:40s-7:50s. Maybe I could do this? Maybe I can run a 3:2X:XX.

At mile 10, I started to get chills. I know my electrolytes were off. I tried taking a few cups of Gatorade at every aid station coming up, but in the back of my mind I knew it was too late. By mile 12 I wanted to walk. My pace had slowed to 8:30s. I took out my phone and texted my husband one word, that rhymes with duck. In all caps. He immediately replied and asked where I was. I was almost to him and he said to just keep moving forward.

I saw him right at the half way mark and started crying. I knew my “race” was over, but it was only half over. I have never wanted to quit something so badly as I wanted to quit that race. I stopped. He gave me a hug and then said “keep moving. There’s a lot of race left. You can get this back.” But mentally, I was done. In my mind I had failed. I walked. I wouldn’t run near what I was capable of. I knew I had a ton of friends and family following my race, all believe I’d crush it and BQ. I let them down. I let myself down. I just failed…

To be honest, the rest of the race is a bit of a blur between walking and running and thinking “Don’t let the 3:30 pacer pass you.” Then they do. “Okay, but you can at least beat the 3:50’s and come away with a big pr.” Then they pass you too. “Just break 4. You can do that.” Nope… there they go. So effortless. “Fine. Just PR. That’s all. Under 4:10. Come on.” Not even that.

I cried a lot. I walked a lot. I cursed. I threw a pity party. I stopped to stretch. I told myself to just run this block. I bargained with God. I did everything… except quit. I forced myself to run the entire last mile. Just look down and keep running.

My medal in front of Lambeau Field.

I had to fight myself a lot in this race. I finished. My second marathon was slower than my first. I never even looked up my official time, but my watch had 4:16 something, 9:40 or so pace. I have never felt so defeated, finishing close to an hour after I thought I would. But, lessons have been learned. Give the weather the credit it’s due. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. LISTEN to your body. Adjust your goals. There are more races to come.

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Eisenhower Marathon

After the expo, with President Eisenhower.

Ahhh… it’s finally here! My first full marathon! I was excited, but also very nervous. I flew into Kansas City the day before the race, and my mom and sister picked me up from the airport. We headed to Abilene to go to the (small) race expo. I knew it would be small, as this race was also my first half marathon a year ago! You can read about that race here. Then we all headed to dinner (my in-laws, grandparents in-law, husband, sister and her husband, and my parents) before hitting the hay.

My mom and sister were both doing their first half marathon this weekend too! Last year, I ran the half, my sister the 10k and my mom the 5k. You could say this family runs!

Race morning… zero dark thirty! You guys… spring marathons are tough. You train all winter long in cool/ cold conditions and then race morning shows up and it’s already 75 degrees and crazy high humidity… oh and 30ish mph wind gusts. WHY?! Alas… that was the situation today. Nothing I could do about it but adjust my goals a bit. My only REAL goal was to finish the darn thing. but secretly I’d love to break 4 hours! That’s a tall order for a first marathon, or ANY marathon but let’s see what happens!

Getting ready to run!

I knew the course, and knew there was really only one hill, that we went through a nice park both on the out and back in… and that the marathon course was just a double loop of the half marathon course.

Knowing this info, our families stationed themselves in the entrance/exit to the park area so they’d be able to see my sister and mom four times, and me eight times! Not bad spectating for them and easy since they didn’t have to move until after we started (and they’d have about 4 miles to get there) and until the last time I passed (around mile 22). I’m not sure there’s an easier race to spectate!

We took off and headed straight into the headwind for the first 3 or so miles… awesome. I felt pretty good and just tried to keep my pace nice and easy. I just recently got my Garmin watch, and I must say it’s nice to be able to see what pace you’re running! I headed out around 8:45 pace and tried to tuck behind a few taller people to use them as a wind block.

Mile 4 or so.. feeling good!

We climbed the hill and headed into our first loop of the park. Luckily the trees blocked the wind and the rising sun for a few miles too.

I decided to carry my own bottle this race with my Tailwind I’d been using for training. The course did have a few aid stations but I figured I should use what I trained with for months on end… even if I was totally tired of the flavor!

I kept cruising along pretty well, and remember hitting the first turn around point (about 6.5 miles) feeling really good! I knew I’d see the family in about a mile and a half, and once again before heading to the finish line for the first time.

Once down the hill, I got to run WITH the wind! Boy… I felt like I was flying!

But then… I crossed the finish line and there were cheers in the crowd! Until they realized I was turning around and heading back out… and the entire crowd let out a collective groan, as if to say “oh, yeah, she’s not done yet.” Right then and there, I feel like I lost all my mojo. Poof. Gone, like their collective sigh, blown away by the 30 mph winds I now had 3.5 miles to run straight into again.

Really, the only “good” part that came out of the next miles (13-17ish) was seeing both my sister and my mom bringing it home for their first half marathon. I was so proud of them! Even though I knew I wouldn't see them actually finish the race I could feel their joy and excitement building (all while mine continued to dwindle).

Around mile 18 I found a gentleman to run with (in the picture he has the red/ white/ blue shirt on). This marathon was his 129th. ONE HUNDRED AND 29 marathons. I couldn’t believe it! He was working his way through the 50 states for a third time. He just loved running in races, even if they weren’t his fastest. I ended up running with him until about mile 24 when my energy was pretty much gone and all I could think about was sitting down and eating pancakes.

No more smiles… lets finish this up!

I was thankful for the tail wind the last few miles, because if it weren’t for those big wind gusts I’m pretty sure I would have walked it the entire way back in. The wind pretty much blew me to the finish line. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but it was a big learning experience on needing a bit more marathon preparation for the next one for sure!

Finish line!

Yeah, I’m just gonna sit here awhile.

In the end, I finished in 4:10 and change, right about 9:30 pace. I did end up walking some. I let my mind get the better of me starting around 16 miles. I was very thankful to be able to finish, but I really feel like even though I “finished” a marathon I haven’t “ran” a marathon. I definitely want to do what I can to see if I can run an entire marathon, and maybe even try to qualify for Boston. Who knows how long it will take… but dreams worth doing don’t come overnight.

This race sparked a new dream, and I ended up getting second in my age group. Found that out while shoveling pancakes into my mouth. No one needs to know that there were only two of us in that age group…. :)

The cheer squad and runners, post race!

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Maryland

This race was going to be my big goal race for the fall. My first true test of speed after having my son a little over a year ago. Going into this race I had a few months of really solid training, thanks to hiring a new running coach back in July. If you’ve read some other race recaps, you’ll know I had a coach to help me get ready for my first marathon in April 2014. It wasn’t a bad experience per say, but it made me hesitant to hire another and it was one of the reasons why I wanted to become a coach myself... to be a better coach and provide a better experience than the one I had. I had a great chat with my current coach leading into this race and she truly believed I was capable of meeting (and maybe beating) all of my goals I had set for myself based on my training.

Bib pick up at the expo! Love the free race photos. Quick in and out, and back to our hotel.

When I go into an A race (meaning goal race) I usually try to set multiple goals. For the Baltimore Half Marathon they were:
C: Finish strong and healthy
B: Sub 1:45
A: Sub 1:42
Shoot for the Moon: Sub 1:40

We headed to the race expo on Thursday afternoon, so that Friday we could relax and spend a little time exploring the city. Going into race week my family had been in Nashville as my husband had a work conference. I got some solid runs in there but had spent more time on my feet than I had expected, so I really wanted Thursday and Friday to be about relaxing as much as I could so my legs would feel as fresh as possible.

I knew to hit my goals, this race would have to “hurt” and I had to be willing to make it hurt.

Race morning dawned cool and crisp, but race start time wasn’t until 9:45 am for the half marathon. Truly, I was totally on board with this! I typically head out for my long runs around 9 or 9:30 in the morning, so this felt normal to me! I was able to enjoy a great waffle from the hotel, orange juice and banana before heading out for a 15 minute warm-up jog about an hour before the race start. After the jog, I hit the port-o-potty lines. They weren’t too long yet which was greatly appreciated! My body always seems to know it’s race day… if you know what I mean!

Half marathon course.

Elevation chart… they can be so dramatic and somewhat deceiving, don’t you think?!

I finished my warm-up with drills and strides with about 15 minutes before the race started. I felt primed and ready to go, but nervous about finding that uncomfortable zone and hanging on to it as long as I could. After I headed to the start line I took off my long sleeve throw away shirt and waited for the gun to go off.

Thayne and Parker weren’t there yet as start time was close to Parker’s morning nap. They would find me at the finish line though, and that’s what counts!

In my pre-race chat with my coach we came up with a pacing plan and we knew (based on the elevation chart) that it would be challenging, but definitely do-able to hit my goals. She had full belief that 1:42 was more than possible as long as I was willing to work for it. My speed workouts leading up to this race really had been more about building strength as they’ve all been at my threshold pace and steady effort, versus a sprint type of pace. I actually did the math to see what the average incline was going to be from miles 3-6.2ish. With the downhills included, it only came out to be about a 1% incline! That’s not too bad!

Start line of the half marathon. The half started half way through the full marathon course so we would have the same finish line.

I was able to line up pretty close to the front of the start line, and then suddenly the race was off! We had a small incline right away, and I knew that since we were starting near the city and heading straight into the tall buildings that my GPS probably wouldn’t be accurate right from the beginning. I needed to just go off effort and keep my heart rate in check. My coach had said to begin around 7:45-7:50 pace and try to build as the race progressed making the last 3-4 miles really hurt. We also discussed not looking at my watch during the uphill portions because it can kind of mess with your mind if you see your pace slow, but your effort stays the same or is increased. But you can “make up” that time on the downhills if you keep your effort similar.

My watch ticked off the first mile at a 7:07 (oops… too fast!) but I passed the first mile marker around 7:28 in total time (closer, but still too fast!) Mile 2 flattened out, but I was still a little fast at 7:20. I didn’t feel like it was forced or I was running “out of control” so I decided to go with it. Mile 3 had a big downhill and ticked by at 6:54 pace. I knew the next few miles would be climbing though and considered this to be somewhat banked time. I decided to not look at my watch until I heard each mile beeps and go solely on effort and feel.

Now, I am definitely not an advocate on starting out fast and trying to bank time in a race. I really think it’s better to start a bit more conservatively and build as you go. But sometimes you just feel good and have to roll with the punches you’re given on that day! So, roll with it I did.

Not all race photos are fabulous! At least they’re free!

The “oof, I’m getting tired but am so close to my goal so I better keep pushing!” face. Ha!

Miles 3-6 were 7:16, 7:00, 7:33. Mile 6 was the steepest climb in the first half of the race, so I expected this mile to be slower anyway. I was happily surprised I was still in the mid 7s! I knew we’d have about 2 flat miles as we circled a lake near the city. I found a good group of other strong ladies to run with and tried to tuck behind other runners when we headed into a bit of wind. Both miles 7 and 8 were 7:16 pace. Not too bad!

Once we hit mile 9 I knew all the climbing was over except for one more hill close to the finish. I’d worry about that when I got there… but for now decided to keep cruising and pushing the pace. I was on pace for that sub 1:40 shoot for the moon goal! Mile 9 was 7:31 and 10 was 7:30. I still felt good but could feel the fatigue coming on. Only a 5k left! The real race has started.

Mile 11 had a good flat stretch into a slight downhill and brought a bit faster pace at 7:08. I knew that last hill was coming and when I started to climb it I started to have the first negative thoughts enter my mind of the entire race. Usually, this hits closer to mile 8 or 9 so I was thrilled to be this close to the finish before these thoughts crept in. I just kept telling myself that I was strong and capable and was almost (thank goodness) there. My 12th mile was 7:19. Only one to go, and downhill from here to the finish line with one left hand turn!

Sweet, sweet finish lines!

This smile is REAL!

My last full mile was back to 7:09 and I pushed with all I had to the finish line from there. Thayne yelled at me from somewhere in that last push and I saw him and Parker just before I sprinted (well, it at least really felt like sprinting) past them. It was great to see some familiar faces. My watch says my last push was 5:38 pace (HA… I doubt it) but also had me at 13.27 miles overall. From the first mile my watch was already .08 off in distance, and stayed that way until about mile 12, where it picked up a bit more added distance as we came back into the downtown high rise buildings area. So while I’d love to think my final sprint the finish was in the 5’s I know it wasn’t.

Not too shabby!!! Official race results.

I was THRILLED with this race and the end result. My current half marathon PR is from Louisiana in 2016 where I ran a 1:34:58. That course was fairly flat and 2016 was the year I felt unbeatable, PR’ing every race distance I ran that year. So to finish this challenging, hilly race feeling good and within 60 seconds of my PR at only 13 months postpartum… to say I was ecstatic is an understatement! Officially I ran 1:35:51 for 7:19 pace overall.

I texted my coach and she was SO exciting, asking me to call when I had time. It’s such a great feeling to have someone else feel confident in your goals and dreams (my husband very much so believes in me too, by the way!) and to help you feel like they are achievable as well. I know that in 2019 I will break my half marathon PR and I can’t wait to see what comes up next!

Also… this race was my birthday gift to myself. I’ve never ran a race ON my birthday, and I couldn’t be happier with the result and choosing this race as a way to celebrate myself.

Sitting down felt amazing! Plus the medal is pretty cool. The crab opens up to show a skyline of Baltimore.

To go back to race report archives, click here.