Life's little adventures, accompanied by a running watch

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Masquerade Marathoner (a race report)

This past weekend was the Vermont City Marathon.  If you remember, I still felt “hungry” after Boston so decided to try my hand at VCM about 5 weeks later.  I was a little nervous, but mostly intrigued with the possibilities of how my body would perform.  I’ve done the typical Spring/Fall marathon circuit for a number of years now, so this would be a different test of my physical and my mental abilities.

Pre-Race Masquerade
Marathon weekend kicked off with a Masquerade party.  How fun!  Knowing we were heading out bright and early on Saturday morning for Vermont, we made a pact to leave early. 

Although I had been smart about my eating/drinking all week, a few bad choices Friday night (delicious, but not conducive to my stomach apparently) lead to a rough Friday night and an even rougher Saturday.  Let’s just say that my dietary choices created a perfectly dehydrated body by Saturday.  Ruh roh….

So I drank...powerade.  I drank powerade like it was my job.  And I forced myself to eat lunch.  I later forced myself to eat dinner.  All the while, drinking more powerade.  Between the dehydration headache and the fear of my body not being able to run on Sunday, I was getting nervous.  After a late day nap, I felt a twinge of improvement.  I’m pretty sure I was asleep for the night by 8:00pm.

Race Day!
I woke up not quite 100%, but a lot better than Saturday.  Continue Project Hydration!  Scott and I drove down early to the Lake Champlain waterfront and got a primo parking spot at the Finish.  I had my own private Port-o-let with no lines.  Perfect.  I choked down my bagel with hard boiled egg white and crossed my fingers.  Stomach, don’t fail me now….
Calm before the race along Lake Champlain
One of my most favorite moments occurred in the start corral.  Scott and I were a few minutes from starting and just behind the rope that separated the “preferred” corral from the masses.  We struck up a conversation with a couple of women nearby, when one of them said to me, “You look like you belong in that (preferred) corral!”.  I was so flattered!  I was slightly uncomfortable being so close to the front, but with all of the preferred/faster runners officially segregated, I knew my placement at the start would afford me the ability to find my pace early without darting around other runners.  Finding my pace became an interesting adventure….

Here’s a glance at my first 5 miles.  Note:  Mile 5 at Boston 2012 felt like mile 17.  VCM was a very different day….


Inner dialog went something like this:

    Lisa:   I don’t belong here!
    Lisa2: But you feel OK; just run how you feel
    Lisa:   OK, but….
    Lisa2: You’re fine

OK, not bad, but then…..


This spurred on a rather argumentative exchange with myself:

    Lisa:   Knock this sh*t off!!
    Lisa2: Why?  You’re fine
    Lisa:   I know, it feels OK, but I have the hardest miles ahead of me!
    Lisa2: You’re fine

As the 3:45 pace group passed by me, my inner dialog changed to:

    Lisa:   Uh oh, I’ve been ahead of them all of this time? 
    Lisa2: You’re fine
    Lisa:   I don’t belong in 3:45 pace world
    Lisa2: I’ll give you that, but you’re fine

My faster, earlier miles combined with the heat ensured my pace adjusted accordingly –


And then the real race began –


It got hot.  I got dizzy.  I walked (as proven by mile 23).  One of my 4 coworkers cheering on the runners yelled out to me “GO LISA!” on the bike path at mile 24 and that gave me such a lift.  I also saw 3 of my coworkers over the 26.2 miles (sometimes more than once), heard one of them, and hugged one of them.  I offered to dry clean her top, but she insisted the hug was most welcomed J.  I reminded myself that I could do 2+ miles in my sleep.  Then at the 1.5 mile mark, the memory of my warm up run just the day before reminded me that I only had to keep my feet moving and let gravity take me on this gentle decline into the…..


Post-Race
Were my first 14 miles my best race strategy?  Maybe not.  Did I expect to PR after feeling so terrible the day before?  No way.  But once I started running and let go of everything that was the day before, I found my mojo.  It was a great opportunity to see what I had and I was lucky to have rehydrated in time for the race.  I was well trained to cover the miles and had recently even felt a little speediness during my shorter training runs.  I felt mentally strong enough to get through the rough spots and finish with a little bit of a kick. 

Early on, I remember feeling like I was still wearing my mask at the Masquerade party – why did I think I could run with the 3:45 pace group and why did I think I could maintain an unfamiliar marathon pace for a little over half of the course?  Because I believed I could. 

Maybe not the most strategic race I've ever run, but definitely one of my most satisfying.  I didn’t know I had that in me.  And now I do.  And after running his own 3:27 marathon, Scott was right there at the Finish Line to hug me, congratulate me, and steady me. 

Masquerader?  Nah.  Marathoner?  Yeah, that's right, marathoner.



20 comments:

  1. great race, Lisa....and a great recap! This one is on my list for next year.

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    1. Thanks Bill! I highly recommend it :) Well organized, great technology, decent support/spectatorship, beautiful area. My only "eh" is the beltway part of the course. That takes some mental preparation to get through....

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  2. Great race!! I find those last 6.2 miles to be the hardest and I hate them :)

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    1. Thanks Sandy :) ...and that's why they say the marathon is a 20 mile warmup to a 10K race! I'm with you.

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  3. excellent job!! you must be so proud of yourself! :)

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    1. Thanks so much! I'm definitely proud and very happy with how I ran :)

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  4. Awesome job!!! Sounds like a great race!

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    1. Thanks Nancy, it was a great race and I'll definitely be back :)

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  5. I'm sorry I missed it. I so love going to your races. You make it look so effortless! Love you!

    Mama

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    1. Aw, thanks Mama! You were totally there w/ me in spirit. But you already know that (wink).

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  6. Congratulations! I'm glad you recovered so well! And I'm glad I'm not the only one that has similar inner dialogues during races!

    Great race!

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    1. Thanks Mandy :) I was SO thankful to recover in time - phew!

      And yes, you have plenty of company with the inner dialogue!

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  7. That's awesome, congratulations!!! You did great in that heat, I'd have slowed to a 30+ min/mile. Nice going, girl! Loving the medal, too....so pretty!!

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    1. Thanks Jill! I'll thank Boston 2012 for allowing me to practice running 26.2 in the heat.

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  8. Congrats, Lisa! Yours was the most successful "Boston redemption" race I've read about yet!

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    1. Thanks Terzah! I've heard "Boston redemption" a lot recently - mostly I was just hungry for more :)

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  9. What a wonderful race! I love the inner dialogue, I have that same conversation with me, myself, and I all the time while running! I am so excited for you!!!

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    1. I figured that inner dialogue would resonate with many :) It's been a good season and I'm really happy with Spring 2012....

      Now for Fall 2012!

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