hartford marathon recap

Wow, where to start? This will be a long post.

Let's begin with Friday. Chris and I went to the marathon expo to pick up my race bib and walk around. It was so exciting. The city was full of marathon-related signs, banners, and even sidewalk decals.

We picked up my bib and walked around the expo. Then we walked down to Bushnell park, where the start and finish areas were. Here I am at the finish area.

We chatted with another runner there who was running Hartford as his 32nd marathon. He's running one in every state. Boy did I feel like a shmuck after that! Compared to most of the other runners we spotted, I felt like I was completely out of shape. Oh well. They give me something to aspire to. Hartford is a very small marathon, so I was really at the slow end of the field! Not many other first timers.

We took one last picture with my bib in front of the expo, and then drove part of the course as we left.

After the expo it was time to get my things organized. Everything I needed for the morning was put in one place.

At this point I was starting to feel jittery and overwhelmed. Stretching and a trip to the drug store for a couple magazines helped. We were staying at Chris's parents' house, so we had dinner with the family and I spent the evening just trying to relax and drink plenty of water.

Saturday Morning:
At 5:30 am I got up and started getting ready. I had been awake for a while. Had some water and plenty of coffee, and packed a bagel and banana for the road. It was very hard to get food down because I was nervous. At the race, there were people everywhere, constant announcements on the loudspeaker, serious sensory overload. We made our way to the start area and Chris waited with me until just a few minutes before the start.

At this point I started getting a bit choked up. I could not believe this day had come, and that I was actually about to run a marathon.  It was awesome.

Because it's a small marathon, the start really wasn't too crazy. Not much jostling, and not too crowded once things got moving. It was still much bigger than any race I've been part of in the past. For the first few miles I'd say I was kind of in a daze. I was trying to settle into my pace, which was hard with people everywhere and all running at different paces. I was planning to start slow, but ended up running slower than I wanted to at points in the first several miles. It took a while to focus mentally and stay on a good pace. I also got distracted by a comment from another runner (who was completely inappropriately dressed) as I took off my throw-away gloves and arm warmers: "Looks like you overdressed." Um, no...

I felt good for the first ten miles. By around mile 14 my legs were feeling a little tired- more tired than I wanted them too. This worried me a bit, but a quick bathroom stop and a gel helped. I was also looking forward to seeing my little cheering section at mile 16. Chris was there with Celia, our parents, and one of my good friends with her boyfriend. Sure enough, seeing them gave me a little mental boost. Celia was so cute, calling to me and clapping. Mile 17 marked the turnaround where the course headed back toward the finish. I got to pass my family one more time at mile 18:

Personal cheering section.

Heading out of a water stop and past my family.

The next few miles went pretty well, though I wish I had kept my pace just a little faster. From mile 19 to 24 there were hardly any spectators on the course, and that made things very quiet and probably slowed me down a little. I was still feeling good though. At mile 24 my legs were tired but I knew without a doubt I was finishing. I picked up the pace for the next mile and just kept repeating to myself, "I can run two miles. I can run two miles." At mile 25 we were entering downtown Hartford. It was getting noisier. I took off with an amazing finishing kick. My last two miles ended up being my fastest and I finished at an 8:30 pace, fueled by adrenaline I'm sure!

My goal was to finish in under five hours. My time was 5:02. Missed it by two minutes! Not bad though, being my first marathon on minimal training. I had an issue with my Garmin early in the race, and my time/mileage ended up being off on it. So unfortunately I didn't know exactly what finishing time I was headed for. I just knew I was close to 5:00. If I had known, I could have made up those two minutes and more. A lesson for next time... Crossing that finish line was still amazing, no matter the time.

Things I'm taking away from this:

• I ran 26.2 miles, you guys!!
• The most important thing is that I finished strong, healthy, and feeling good.
• I ran as smart a race as I could have, considering that I'd never run a marathon before and had the technical problem with my Garmin.
• Drinking a cup (or two) of water and a cup of Gatorade at every water stop worked well. Having a straw for the water stops was fantastic. So quick and efficient. 
• Carrying one water bottle was also nice to get a little extra liquid in the first several miles. 
• A gel an hour seemed to work well. 
• I could have run faster. I still have more to learn about controlling my pace for long races, and about when I can push myself harder. When I think about how I probably could have handled a faster pace, I sort of kick myself. But, it was a learning experience and finishing the race (and not being last) was my main goal.
• While I could have kept a faster pace, it was probably smart not to. I've never run 26.2. I wanted to keep my heart rate under control, because if that became an issue I would have had a lot more trouble finishing. As a result of my controlled pace, I was breathing easy the whole time. Whenever I passed someone wheezing, walking, or receiving medical attention on the course, I was reminded of how well I was doing.
• I never hit "the wall" because I was well-prepared, ran a smart pace, and took care of myself.
• I need to remind myself that although my "net pace" based on my 5:02 time was around 11:30, this time included bathroom and water stops. My actual running pace was 10:30-11:00. There were a couple of instances when I lost time and could do nothing about it (like when I was approaching a port-o-potty and a spectator- who saw me coming!!- still went in before me and made me wait!). 
• Now I know that next time I need to push the pace to make up for any time lost. 
• I also know to make sure my Garmin is functioning properly so I actually know when I need to make up for lost time :D.

I think I may have the bug. You know, like someday I might be one of those people other people think are mentally ill because they're "addicted" to marathoning?

More than one person has brought up to me that people equate marathoning with childbirth. Usually in a negative way, like one is even worse than the other. To be honest, it's all mental. If you expect something to feel awful and doubt your ability to handle it, it will probably be as awful as you're expecting. If you have confidence in yourself and expect that same event to be a positive and amazing life-changing experience, it will be. If only I could get more people to believe that... I was thinking about this today because my friend asked me about it yesterday and I hadn't had enough time to process things to give an answer. Now I need to tell her: Neither experience was worse, or better. They were different and mostly incomparable. I prepared for them well and got out of them what I put in. There is one thing in common that really stands out, when I compare this marathon with my natural childbirth experience:

It was one of the absolute BEST things I have EVER done.

For the rest of the fall I'll be having fun with some shorter, speedier workouts and hopefully with a couple more races. Because of certain logistics I have a feeling my next marathon won't be for a while, but I can't wait!

It was a great day and truly a dream come true. Although, next year I may be telling you my life's dream is to run a sub-4:30 marathon... ;)