I think the biggest reason was it took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to focus on next.
Last year, post marathon, I felt that I had to try going back to my speed goals. It became increasingly more frustrating not being able to reach the goal of a sub 2 hour half. I set out on some 13.1 mile long runs on paths familiar to me, without big crowds, timing myself and trying to beat it. I got as close as a 2:04 doing this (although I did stop my watch once on that run). I kept trying it again and again but just couldn't do it.
My last attempt before I put the goal "on the shelf" as I say (because I'm not giving up yet, just postponing my timeline) was at the Emerald City Half Marathon in August. This ended up being about the perfect weather for August. Cool in the morning which is unexpected in summer. Relatively flat course. If I couldn't do it here, this was my sign. I came in over 2 hours, and realized it was going to continue to frustrate me to do this to myself. I wasn't enjoying running as much as I used to enjoy it. And that is something I can't allow myself to experience.
Now, I did have some other fun moments during the summer. I did a trail race at a local metropark with running friends. It was a 10k (actually a little short of 10k) but it let me see that I missed running on trails/in natural settings. I checked out a few new metroparks, actually. Some of them were more technical and rugged terrain. I enjoyed this more than I thought. As a result, I've decided to expand my territory in 2018 to include places I've never run before and are more scenic/difficult technically. I ran on vacation, in Tampa and Orlando Florida. Around the Universal Studios area and in 80 degrees at 5am with high humidity. I love running on vacation. It's always an adventure.
There also was a low point this summer where a man had been harassing and threatening some of us on a nearby trail. They finally did find him, but as usual, things move slowly in proving anything and often the path is difficult for justice. But I started carrying pepper spray, being more aware, and having help on my phone speed dial. It just sucks that people like this exist when you're trying to enjoy a run.
So with all of this in mind, what did I want for myself? This was a tough question to answer. My long run mileage had climbed after the Emerald City Half and I was getting 16, 17 miles on my long runs. I thought I might as well sign up for a 20 miler at the end of September. I went ahead and did that. What I ended up doing though, was running 10 prior to the planned race, and switching to the 10 mile distance at the race. I didn't want to do this, but the day ended up being 85-90 degrees and it made sense to do it this way. I still got my 20 mile run in. A few of my friends agreed to meet at 6am, get 10 miles, then loop back to race start, run the 10 mile race. I also started a new plan in terms of pacing.
I had been following a trail running group who told me about running 6:2 intervals. That is 6 minutes of running, 2 minutes of walking. They explained that they did this for longer distances, and it really saved their legs and actually made them get a faster time. Could I try this? Hmm, maybe this was worth trying. Last year at the marathon, I felt bad about walking. But maybe walking could help me? I researched a little into the Jeff Galloway strategy, and decided to try it out. I found I could do a run here almost the same speed as if I just ran it at a straight 10:30/11 mm pace. This would be a good speed if I ran a marathon. If I ran a second marathon... If I chose to run another marathon... this was the question. I had been contemplating this both in my head and out loud to a few friends over the past few months. I had signed up for the Nationwide Children's Marathon again, but had signed up for the half this time. But maybe I could just go ahead and upgrade to the full. What would that be like? Was this a good plan...
The only downside is I hadn't really been following a marathon training plan. It was more of an "advanced half marathon" plan. My mileage had been higher for long runs. I had made it all the way to 15, 17 and I was planning on running 20 anyway for the race at the end of September. Why not go ahead and just do 26.2 again? My fear was less this time. I had done it before. I knew what the course was like. I knew all the places I struggled last year. And I could do something differently. I could run the back half of the course 2 weeks ahead and the places I struggled might not be that bad. So I decided to take the leap. I was far less nervous about it. My only fear was that my training was a little subpar. My midweek runs had not reached the mileage they probably needed to. Maximum distance of runs during the week were only 4-5 miles. My long runs had reached 20 but I had not had very long midweek runs. Ok, well let's just see how this goes.
The race turned out to be not ideal weather. But, it was too late to turn back or drop back to the half so I settled in my plan. I know the course will be crowded at the beginning, so I'll just determine if it's possible to take any walk breaks. If it's not, I'll just do them when the course thins out. It did end up taking a few miles, but I was able to get walk breaks in there. I had been practicing running intervals for a few weeks and had gotten used to this method. It seemed to work well for me because I could run a 9:45/10 mm pace for my running portions and then about 15:30 mm for walking. I made my own "calculator" to see what my average pace would be, and it ended up being faster than last year's pace for the marathon.
When I say not ideal weather, it was 65-70 degrees when we started and high humidity. It was actually windy at the start as well, and then the wind gusted to 35 mph by the end of the race. But, no storms were predicted. This is what we all feared the most, that there would be thunderstorms. It was definitely a struggle with the humidity, but it went well for me. I didn't start to feel concerned until around the race split at 12-13 miles. Shortly after that (maybe 14 or 15 miles in) I started to feel what was the precursor to a leg cramp. I walked a little. I wasn't exactly following my run/walk plan, but I also wanted to finish, so I stopped before the cramp worsened. I was taking my fluids, gels, and half way ate an energy waffle. This was best for me as I knew I got very thirsty, dehydrated, and couldn't go on without doing these things. There were definitely times I didn't want to stop for water. But I knew with the weather, that I probably should. I listened to a book on tape, which got me through for a while. Around mile 20, I switched to no headphones. Decided to just listen to the sounds of the race.
The last 6 miles, I knew I had to just power through. Walked a little when I needed to, but did my best. In my head, I wondered if I would beat my time from last year. I felt like I probably wouldn't. The wind was making it very hard to follow my strategy. Surprisingly, when I got around mile 25/26, I looked down at the total time on my watch. It might be actually possible to PR. I saw some of my friends cheering near the end, and that helped a lot. I made an effort to run the last mile/mile and a half. I might even come in under 5 hours. In the end, my official time was a 7-8 minute PR. I wasn't expecting this as the weather worsened, and knowing I had subpar training. My Garmin thinks I was just barely under 5 hours (literally 4:59:51). Of course, I ended up running 26.66 as it's impossible to run a perfect marathon distance. So my recorded time was over 5 hours. I had cut over a few times to get a drink or use the facilities, so I knew it would be a longer distance. I was pretty pleased with this unexpected outcome. I might write more about the marathon as I think about it, then again I might not. I already knew the course, so it didn't have that sense of newness that I usually get from a race. But I liked that it didn't feel new to me. I just wanted to give it another shot and feel better at the end.
So, after all of this, I ended up running my second marathon. I had not expected to run one again for a few years, but everything worked out to allow this to happen. I'm going to enjoy the rest of the year and think about what I want for myself. The first thing is enjoying running and being in natural settings. The focus on speed training got in my head and I just wanted to enjoy running again. I don't like feeling that I'm always short of my goal. When that happens, I just set a different goal for myself. And then I can enjoy myself.
