New marathon PR! 4:38:35 – 23 minutes and 1 second off of my marathon PR set in Madison. I couldn’t have done it without Erin (check out her race report here), or the support of Steven, and all of you!
Yesterday morning started off early, with a 4:00 am wake-up call. We met my running club friend, Riyanti at 5:00, and her dad drove us to the start. Thank you Riyanti’s dad! I had a bowl of cereal at home, and two bagels with peanut butter and one banana in the car. My goal was to NOT get hungry. Even though eating all of that made me feel gross.
It was cold when we arrived at the start – in the low 40s! I was worried for a second that I under dressed. Erin and I both had throwaway jackets* and I thought I may hold on to it longer than intended.
Me, Erin and Riyanti, all bundled up at the start.
We didn’t! Once we took off and started running, we warmed up and ditched those jackets at mile 1**. The first 13 miles were amazing. Slightly rolling hills, chilly weather, and beautiful scenery! We ran through back country roads with beautiful estates on them. Spectators were scattered, but very energetic, including a guy playing an accordian, a guitarist, and young girls doing a dance routine in their yard.
Erin and I chatted away, like we would during a normal training run. We first saw Steven and Erin’s husband just before mile 12 and were feeling great!
After we passed the guys, we hit the 13.1 mark in 2:17:53, and I was excited to think that we may come in under 4:40! I should mention, our original goal was sub 5:00, and we thought 4:45 was a pipe dream. We were quite pleased with how fast we were going!
But I started to run out of energy at mile 16ish. My body felt fine (just a sore back), I wasn’t hungry (took GUs every 4 miles (excluding 24) and Swedish fish at 18) but the sun was starting to wear me down and I was feeling a bit thirsty despite drinking lots of water. Despite keeping up with running pretty fast, I was starting to fade.
We saw the guys at least three more times after mile 12, and two of my girlfriends from the running club came out to cheer us on too! One of them even ran a lot of mile 20 with us!
The crowds were picking up, and all along, people were saying “Go Erin! Go Kim! You look great!” We did look great, I think, for a lot of the time. Okay, Erin all of the time, me most of the time. Erin was smiling the whole time, and me, again, most of the time.
A lot of the remainder of the run was like this photo above – me either right behind Erin or well behind her. She was doing so so awesome. She had a ton of energy and was feeling great. She got ahead of me and waited for me at water stops a few times (I should mention, we walked one minute every 2 miles (+ mile 25), and at about mile 16, I started filling up one bottle at each water stop) and would wait for me to catch up. I would try to keep up with her, but just couldn’t. It was all I could do to maintain 10:30s when sub 10:00s were easy for her! She waited for me just before 24, we walked a minute at 25, and I told her I would be sad if we couldn’t finish together, but more sad if she finished slow because of me (well, I tried to say that in my incoherent state).
Erin went ahead and finished just over a minute and a half before me, and waited for me at the finish (Steven was at the finish – I love it when he sees me at the end of my races!!!)!
I finished and felt like such a loser and said “I suck.” Erin was quick to remind me that I don’t. I just felt so bad for not being able to keep up with her and “holding her back.” She assured me that I wasn’t, and was stoked about her new PR. Eventually, as we walked back to the car I started to realize:
- I took over 20 minutes off my PR.
- I only walked at scheduled walk times and stopped at a few water stops to fill up bottles – NO DEATH MARCH FOR ME!
- My half times were so close – 2:17:53 and 2:20:42 – that is pretty awesome – I did not slow down a ton in the second half.
- My average pace was 10:38 and only two of my mile splits were over 11:00. I ran mile 24 in 10:08. You can see my splits here.
- I pushed hard. I almost did my best.
- Even though Erin and I did a lot of training together, I should never compare what I cannot do in one moment to what someone else can do. We aren’t the same person!
- This is my third marathon. I feel like I can definitely improve, but that maybe, I did this marathon “right.”
Now that I am sitting and thinking about it all. I feel better. But like I said, major props to Erin, who pushed me so much. I am so so so so proud of her. I cannot wait to see how she smashes this PR at the Las Vegas Marathon. And a BIG THANKS to my favorite spectator, Steven! He even told me he didn’t see much of the death march around me because I was “running so fast.” What a sweetie!
After the race (and once I was able to walk again) we went to Red Robin. Of course.
P.S. Some of these photos are from Erin’s husband – a huge thanks to him! And the poster photo I stole from Facebook, from my club friend.
P.P.S. Some of these photos are from my new camera and I LOVE the quality of them!
*Funny story, Erin brought a sweatshirt to make in to a throwaway jacket. After she cut in then tried it on, I told her I thought my throwaway jacket would fit her better. It sure did! So we switched. And I had to tease her that my new throwaway jacket did not zip up or close!
**The race asked that you leave your clothes at mile markers and aid stations, so they could easily collect them and take them to finish for your pick-up. Pretty nice. Neither of us wanted our stuff back though!
There are a few other things I want to say, and you can see them if you click “more” below (or if you are looking in Reader, they’re already there).
Continue reading 'Milwaukee Marathon Race Report'»
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