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.