On Sunday I ran the inaugural Naperville Marathon with Xaarlin and set a new marathon PR! What an experience!
I wasn’t planning to run a marathon this year. And this one was not on the radar – registration for 3500 total spots in the half and full marathon sold out in ONE day (pdf here) when it opened on January 28! But in July, my good buddy Ian asked me if I wanted a free entry for either the half or full! He works part time for Clif Bar (a race sponsor) and they had given him two entries and he thought to offer one to me! What a nice guy! Thank you, Ian!
(Ian and me, who unfortunately, did NOT get to run because he was sick!)
I knew Xaarlin was signed up for the full, so I emailed her and asked if I should pick the full too! Her answer was an excited yes and… the possibility that she could pace me for the race! Woo hoo!
So I got to training. Ha ha. Just kidding. I don’t really train, I just run whatever I feel like. And by training, I mean I made sure to start doing double digit runs most weeks. I felt really good going in to the marathon. My only setbacks during “training” were rolling my left ankle and consequently irritating my left leg, and getting a cold the week of the race. But other than that, I was very positive, and had a strategy worked out with Xaarlin to run an average pace of 9:30 min miles and hopefully run a 4:10. More importantly, I wanted to run the marathon feeling good, and avoiding bonk… because the not bonking the marathon had yet to happen for me.
People asked if I was ever nervous for this race. Not really. I tend to only get nervous for 5Ks. And with Xaarlin being my pacer, all the responsibility of nervousness goes to her. Ha ha ha! Really though, after I told her my strategy, I knew she would keep me on track and help motivate me when I needed it. And that is why having a pacer is so awesome. You just follow along, or set the speed and they help you adjust it when need be.
Being an inaugural race, I was curious to see what the race organization and course was like!* Bobbi was sweet enough to take me to the expo on Saturday (and be my personal cheerleader through all my “training,” and really, throughout life, ha ha!) and drive the course with me. We both agreed that the course looked really neat – a bit commercial, a lot residential and some through forest preserves, as well. Good variety! We were a bit uncertain (FORESHADOWING) about miles 14 – 20.5, though, through Green Valley Forest Preserve. The course map made it look wonky and hilly. But! I trained on hills. Whatever race day brings… no point in worrying two days before the race!
So! Let’s get this show on the road (six paragraphs later…).
First I must say… two VERY special guests came to watch me run this marathon… my parents!
The pirate get-up will make sense later, when you see my mom’s race sign.
This was my sixth marathon, but the first time my parents have ever been able to come to one. I was ecstatic about them coming! And! I wanted to make sure to put out a good effort. Or at least fake that I was, when they saw me on the course. Ha! Okay, here we go, for real…
The race was easy to get to from my house – mostly highway. There was plenty of parking, and the normal race morning busyness, finding it. It was easy to find the porta potties and I seemed to be in a fast moving line until three other lines somehow formed around me and the person in the stall I was waiting for took 5 minutes. Ha ha. No biggie. Shit happens (me so funny). Once I got in, I was quick, and never had to go during the race. WINNING!
I easily found Xaarlin, Britt and her husband, Doug (not pictured).
And as we were walking to the start, Dave (from my running club) ran up and gave me a good luck hug! And Bobbi and Riyanti (also running the full) were right behind him. It was awesome to see them before the race! And amazing they came all the way down just to spectate! Love them!
Let’s talk about the weather. It was almost perfect! Starting temps in the 30s, ending in the 40s. Only issue was 13-15mph winds. But man, not a cloud in the sky for most of the race, and not too warm for the sun to be a bother. I kept my gloves and headband on for almost the entire race (just took them off and on a few times). The shirt was probably a bit much, but eh, whatever.
The start corral was a bit tight, but they usually are. We wanted to get near the 4:00 marathon pacer and I have no idea where we ended up starting, but since they had a staggered start, the course never felt crowded, not even on the trails!
Xaarlin and I settled in to a nice slow pace for the first two miles. We couldn’t stop talking about how great the weather was, and how awesome it was to be running together! (Okay, we talked about that for most of the race). We started to dial in to race pace around 3 miles in and I felt great. Everything felt easy. I had a slight tingle in my right ankle (which turned out to be nothing) and that was it. We mostly just chatted away, checking in to our pace and how we felt, and enjoying the changing scenery.
I think my favorite part of the course was the park we ran from miles 5-8, Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve. I love running on crushed limestone. I loved the prairie. I loved that spectators came in to the park to cheer. I loved all the tiny little signs someone put out there. I loved seeing a horse. I loved it when Xaarlin said something about The Little Mermaid and I got a song from it stuck in my head (then I started singing Into the Great Wide Open and got that stuck in my head).
I LOVED seeing my family, and Erin out there! Erin came to spectate the entire race and helped Steven and my family navigate! It sounds like the four of them made a great team. Ha ha, apparently, at one point, Erin was using the map I printed them, with google maps on her phone and the Glympse** I had sent Steven on his phone to track me/navigate. They were successful! I saw them at the start and finish and three times on course! Spectating is HARD work, and I am so grateful they (and others!) were out there!
Miles 3-18 were all pretty much on pace! Looking back at the course map, I see that 11-14 was one steady incline, but I didn’t feel it. I was feeling good! It helped to have seen Bobbi and Dave during that stretch!
We got in to Green Valley Forest Preserve at mile 14 and I saw my family and Erin again . They were so energetic, and I was all smiles (I had asked Xaarlin to remind me to smile and be grateful to run!).
And this is where the course chewed me up and spit me out. There was an awful part down a windy blacktop road that looked like it never ended. There were small hills. The wind in my face. Oh, the wind. I am so happy I kept applying chapstick. I just wish I would have applied it to my face. Ha! I was SO wind burned, my face hurt incredibly after the race was over. Ouch.
One highlight during this part was that we saw Britt for a split second. Xaarlin kept saying if our timing was right, we would see her! And our timing was right! My pace didn’t start to drop until mile 19, which is such a shame, but no surprise, as 19-21 was all uphill. There was a nice downhill from 21-23 that I had been looking forward to all day. Ha. I should have remembered from the downhill at the end of the Milwaukee Marathon – it just doesn’t feel good at the end of a race. And this downhill was all in to the wind. I told Xaarlin, “The only thing that feels good is flat!” Ha, ha, uh…
Around mile 21, we saw my dad, and he handed me a bag of Dots (my favorite candy), and even ran with me for a block and gave me some encouragement! Then we ran by my family, Erin, Bobbi and Dave, and it was fabulous to see them.
But… I completely got off track with my goal pace during miles 19-26. When I look back at it now, that is the longest I have gone with out bonking in a marathon, and that is good for something, right? And, I don’t really think I bonked… I never walked, only stopped once to get more water (and accidentally stopped my watch? oops). I did pretty well! And funny thing, everyone I’ve talked to said the same thing – they were on track until this point then fell apart. Must be partially the course. Riiiight.
Anyway. The last 7 (okay, 10) miles were really mentally hard and I was out of it. It felt like it took forever. I kept telling myself “only x more miles left!” That never works. Ha. I was trying to talk to Xaarlin and making no sense. She was very encouraging and kept telling me how proud she was of me.
There was a steep incline right before mile 26 (evil!) then we finished that bad boy in 4:24:56, which is not very close to my goal, but a PR by almost 14 minutes! Schweet!
I cried when I finished. Gah. I was so overwhelmed. I was so happy to be done. So happy to see my family and friends.
It’s just so amazing to have so much support from loved ones. To get that big hug when you are all sweaty after you finish. To know they got up early (maybe earlier than you!) to drive to watch you race. That they are taking photos and driving all over when they have a cold. That they drove from 250 miles away to see this race. They they screamed and cheered and jumped to get you pumped. That they MADE and carried a sign (or had someone bring it for them if they couldn’t come). That they supported you throughout your training. I felt very special and loved, and my friends and family made me feel proud of what I did that day.
And of course, the hardest task of all… being the pacer. Xaarlin was such an amazing pacer, and friend to me, during the race (and all the time). She had asked me during the week how I wanted to run, and what reminders I needed, if I wanted her to carry anything. Damn, she remembered it ALL. She had saved stories to tell me for the last tough miles. She brought up things she knew would get my legs moving. She distracted me. She pushed me. I am so happy she was there. My legs (and body) carried me, but I couldn’t have done it without her! And we had so. much. fun. Even when it was hard, we still had fun. I have so many wonderful memories from this race, even though the end felt so hard for me (as it should at a marathon?).
Tidbits:
- Thank you to everyone who cheered me on, wished me good luck, texted me, and all that! And! Thanks to all those who trained with me!
- I wish I could have chatted more with Britt and Riyanti after the race to see how it was for them (we caught up via text, later).
- So many people LOVED Xaarlin’s owl hat and commented on it. Fun!
- I tried to conserve energy by not doing too many spastic arms or high fives (low fives were okay). Kind of lame, but that takes a lot of energy out of me.
- I tried to run the tangents – I was only .2 over, so that is not too bad.
- Aid stations were pretty well spaced out, and there were two Clif shot stations (mile 14 and 21). I was very happy I wore my backpack and could have water whenever I wanted it.
- No chafing, whatsoever!
- Edited: I had an energy gel (mostly GU, some Clif) every 4 miles then an extra one at 18… then not too much after. I couldn’t chew. That was probably a bad idea. I had even packed a little tortilla with Biscoff on it, and didn’t eat that (until 8:00 pm that night).
- I ran this race on MucinexD. I was carrying cough drops just in case. My lungs felt fine until the last three miles when I felt like something was stuck in the bottom of them.
- The half split was no big deal!
- I got a short massage right after the race. AHHH! It felt so good, and NO wait! She kept saying how tight my calves were. Must be the hills?
- My quads were TRASHED after this. TRASHED! I ran a shake out run with my dad yesterday, because I had to teach last night and needed my legs to get moving!
- My dad said he enjoyed marathon spectating, and that made me happy!
- There was just the right amount of spectators on the course! And they even went in to the preserves.
- Packet pickup was easy. The race was really organized.
- We saw Michelle all over the course, which was awesome!
- And last but DEFINITELY not least, holy crap, these guys made the best signs! And one of my friends, Kelly, sent a sign with Dave! I love how personal they all are. My friends and family rock!
*I am including a lot more details about race logistics in here than I normally would, since a lot of people asked my thoughts on the race.
**I sent Steven and Bobbi a Glympse so they could see exactly where I was, at least for the four hours the Glympse app will track me!
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