There was so much to recap about the marathon itself, I didn’t have time to include what went on before or afterward. And if you missed it, you can check out Grandma’s Marathon recap here.

My mom and I drove up to Duluth and arrived around 1:30 p.m. on Friday. We first drove some of the course so I knew what the terrain was like and how steep this Lemon Drop Hill was. I thought this hill was going to be a “walk-in-the-park” and quickly put any concerns out of my mind. Well, it definitely ended up being a walk to get up it.

After picking up my race packet, it was time to watch Kara Goucher speak. Ahhh!! I was so excited to see her. Kara is a stand-out American distance runner–an olympian and world-class athlete. She was raised in Duluth, Minesota, so it only seemed natural she was one of the guest speakers. She was so down-to-earth, genuine, and nice!! I loved hearing her speak. (Sorry for the blurry picture; I had to really zoom out with my camera.)

Kara Goucher with her husband, Adam Goucher, who is also a professional runner.

Kara signing autographs after speaking. (I was too scared to get her autograph.)

By now I was starving, so it was time to grab some food. We weren’t quite sure where to go at first because so many of the restaurants were busy, and I didn’t want to eat anything heavy (i.e. pasta with cream sauces). Luckily, my mom and I found this small, intimite cafe tucked away in the basement of a building.

It was great because it was not busy, like so many of the other places, plus it had food that I knew wouldn’t make my stomach upset.

I had a delicious sandwich with turkey, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, roasted red peppers, a little mayo, and some honey mustard. It tasted so fresh and definitely hit the spot. I loved the bread–crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.

The rest of the evening included finalizing details for the marathon and getting ready for the big day. Then it was time to hit the hay and attempt to get as much sleep as possible, which only ended up being about 4.5 hours. Oh well.

Here’s some pictures from the race that I forgot to include in my race recap.

I am not sure where this was–mile 9 possibly?? We ran along the beautiful shores of Lake Superior and had a spectacular view of downtown Duluth, which was bitter-sweet since it was our destination.

My sister running with me and probably handing me water and/or GU.

Then at mile 20 when I started to walk.

My brother, Mike; myself; and my sister, Kristy after the race.

And the thought that was going through my head for this picture, “What was I thinking when I signed up for this?”

My shoes (and orthotics) that faithfully carried me to the end.

My very sore, tender, beat-up feet. Actually, I only got two blisters, four black toenails, and one toenail that will probably fall off. Not too bad, eh?

The worst was the second toe on my right foot. There was a large blood blister under the toe nail that caused the toenail to be raised up. (It was very painful!) That toe nail has been black for a very long time and will forever be black I think.

The circle imprints on my feet are from my socks. (ha ha)

Now it was time for an ice bath. I was in the water for a while, but my toes got super cold, so I had to get out.

Sorry for another slightly gross picture, but this was the insane amount of salt on my back/armpit from sweating. Sick, huh?

Me, Kristy, and Kristy’s friend hanging out by Lake Superior.

The crowds of people relaxing after the race was over.

I was NOT hungry after racing but knew I needed to eat something.

After relaxing and showering, my sister and I went to At Sarah’s Table Chester Creek Cafe in Duluth. We got some delicious food including this pizza that contained smoked salmon, dried figs, and goat cheese. While it may have seemed like an odd combination, it was very good!! The sweetness of the figs and savory taste of the smoked salmon and goat cheese were something that was not expected but very tasty.

We then spent the rest of the evening hanging out with some of my friends from college who ran the half-marathon earlier that day. Kristy, me, Julie, and Jen.

By the way, I love my sister’s t-shirt and need to get one of my own!

Wow!! I knew the marathon would be hard, but my body was not expecting that!! I don’t want to scare anyone from doing a marathon, but that had to be the most difficult race I’ve done so far!! But I did finish, and my New Year’s resolution has been accomplished!!

First off, I am sure most people want to know how I did, so here’s a breakdown of my stats.

My official (chip) time was 3:42.12.

My average pace per mile was 8:29.

Overall place: 996 out of 5606

178 of 2147 females

106 of 1162 for my age group: females 19-34

Splits (of the ones that I got accurately):

1 – 8:12

2 – 7:32

5K (3.1) – 8:21

4 – 6:47

5 – 7:42

6 – 7:42

(total time at 10K – 48:53)

7 – 7:46

8 – 8:00

9 – 8:01

10 – 7:44

11 – 8:06

12 – 7:59

13.1 – 8:50 (total – 1:43.43)

14 – 7:57

15 – 7:02 (that’s not quite right)

16 – 8:03

17 – 8:15

18 – 8:21

19 – 8:20

(Mile 20 – 26.2 I did not get accurate splits–just the total time.)

20 – 2:40.37

25 – 3:31.04

26.2 – 3:42.12

If you are familiar with the running world–especially the marathon world–you know that qualifying for Boston is what “everyone” talks about. In order to qualify for Boston, I needed to run the marathon in 3:40 or better (which was also one of my goals). Well, as you can see, I just missed it!! I was quite bummed. However, I have to remind myself it was my first marathon and there is always next time.

There is so much to tell you that I don’t know where to begin, so let’s just begin at the beginning.

Saturday morning, the marathon started at 7:30 a.m. A bus picked us up and took us to the start at 5:45 a.m., so I got up around 5:00 a.m. and started getting ready. As I went to put my running shoes on, I discovered something that I did not plan on. . . .I forgot the orthotics for my shoes!! I started freaking out; this was not good!! I didn’t even have the inserts that come with the shoes when you buy them, which left me with nothing in the bottom of my shoes. I quickly called my mom since they were in the trunk of her car, but she spent the night 2 hours from the starting line and there was no way she could get them to me before I started running.

I was going crazy!! How could I make such a rookie mistake? I told my mom to try to get as close to the start as possible to give the orthotics to me. She said she would try to meet me at mile five. I was still freaking out because I didn’t know how my feet would adjust to wearing running shoes with no inserts in them, but I knew I couldn’t let it get the best of me. I finished getting ready, boarded the bus, and said some prayers on our way to the start. When I arrived at the start, I knew there was going to be a lot of people, but I could not believe how many people were actually running this race–over 5000.

And that was just one (of five) set of porta-potties!!

We got to the start at 6:15 a.m., so I sat down and waited. Normally, I spend anywhere from 30-60 minutes warming-up for a race–depending upon the distance, the shorter the race, the longer the warm-up and vice-versa. However for the marathon, I could not sacrifice any energy.

Then it was time to line up in the chute and wait for the gun to go off. Once the gun went off, it took me about 1.5 minutes to actually get to the start line, and now it was time to accomplish a goal of mine that I’ve had for quite some time.

One of my biggest worries was that I was going to start off too fast, so I did my best to keep the pace easy. I just kept telling myself that this was just a normal Saturday long run–no pressure. In no time we crossed the one-mile mark–8:12–a little slow (I wanted to average 8:00 per mile.), but that’s okay, I still had 25.2 miles to pick up the pace.

And then lo and behold, I hear my name being called–it is my sister with my orthotics!! Hip, hip, horray!! I quickly sat down and put them in my shoes, and ran off again. My sister joined me for a little while here, which was fun.

From here until the half-way point, the miles clicked away easily. I was feeling great (no knee pain–yeah!!!), my pace was easy, my breath was not labored, and I was passing people up quite frequently.

At mile 13.5 my sister caught up with my again. I was starting to feel the effects from running so long but I was barely over half done, so I took some GU in hopes it would revive me a little. She stayed with me for a while and I told her that I was starting to get tired. She said she’d meet me at mile 20 for some more GU and water. Mile 14 turned into 15 and then we got to mile 16–only 10 more miles to go. What?!?! 10 more!! I don’t know about this. “Alright,” I told myself, ” just get to 17 and then it will be down to the single digits (of miles remaining).” Miles 17 -20 were tough and actually quite a blur. I still had a ways to go, but my body was starting to break down. I didn’t have the energy I did at the beginning, my joints were getting sore, but somehow I managed to keep moving my feet.

Finally, I got to mile 20 and my sister was there with some GU again. I took the rest of it and continued on. By this time, I had seriously considered walking. I did NOT want to walk at all though (it was one of my goals), but I was in a lot of pain and I didn’t know how I could run 6 more miles like this. I figured I had already broken my goal of not stopping when putting my orthotics in, so I pushed as long as I could and finally told my sister I had to stop and walk. As soon as I stopped, I staggered, swayed from side to side, but forced myself to regain my balance before my legs gave out.

We walked for a little while and tried to give my legs a break. Restarting is always the hardest, but somehow I convinced myself to start jogging again. I did feel slightly better, so I pushed on. Lemon Drop Hill (the largest hill of the course) was coming up and even though it wasn’t that steep, I knew I couldn’t waste my energy running up it, so we walked up the hill and my brother joined us at the top. My sister, brother, and I continued to walk/jog the next couple of miles–taking 100-200 meter walk breaks to try and give my legs a little bit of a rest.

This time was very difficult for me–physically and emotionally. I could not believe how excruciating the pain was!! I quickly said good-bye to my hopes of qualifying for Boston and now just made it my goal to finish and get in under 4:00.

We finally got to mile 24.5 when my sister took off for the finish line. I continued to run and forced myself not to stop again until the finish line. It was a long 1.7 miles until the end, but the shouts from the crowd were loud and very encouraging. I continued to shuffle along and recruit every last ounce of energy my body would give me.

Slowly but surely I came to the end and saw the finish. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I knew I had given it my all. I was weak, tired, and completely exhausted!! I had just endured something most people only dream of. I knew running a marathon was going to be difficult, but that was a level of difficulty I was not expecting. It was an adventure I will never forget and one that is a true test of physical endurance, mental toughness, and heart.

The big day is almost here! Yesterday morning I did my last training run before the marathon. It is a lot warmer in Minnesota, so I was quite sweaty when I returned. . . .but I liked it!! I didn’t know how much I enjoyed the heat until it was gone.

Sorry about the lack of posts and pictures. My parent’s Internet is far too slow for me to upload pictures without losing my mind. (And Craig and I thought our Internet was slow!!)

Right now, I feel quite confident going into the race. After doing a handful of races, I’ve learned things that help me to feel more prepared for the race and relieve some of the pre-race jitters. The following are just a few of the different things that have helped me feel prepared for this marathon.

- I have done two 20 mile runs and one 22 mile run–getting over the 20 mile mark was important to me. These definitely boosted my confidence that 26.2 miles is possible.

- During my long runs, I practiced refueling while still running. I made sure my body could handle the consumption of “food” (GU) while still running. Craig would also hand me Dixie cups filled with water, and I would practice taking them from his hand and drinking them on the run. (Pinching the cup is the best method!) I am just sad he won’t be able to do that for me during the race.

- Unfortunately I have not  run the course, which would be ideal, but I have looked at maps and know what the terrain is like, where the hills are, and where the aid stations are.

- I know which pair of shoes, socks, shorts, top, and underwear (yes, even underwear–my mom was surprised by this) I am going to wear on race day. I have worn these things on long run and know they are comfortable and won’t cause me to chaff.

- I also know what my stomach can tolerate (and what it can’t) the night before and the morning of. The morning of, I like a bowl of cold cereal with milk, a banana, and half of a bagel with peanut butter on. (I don’t feel as good after eating pancakes or oatmeal.)

Finally, I wanted to list what my goals are for this race. This is my first marathon, so I know I shouldn’t have too high of expectations, but I am an overachiever and very competative. (If you ever see me racing, I rarely smile because I don’t want to get out of my zone.)

Goals:

- Not to stop and/or walk during the race.

- I definitely want to finish in under 4 hours, and if everything goes well, I should be able to.

- I would really like to qualify for Boston, which is a time of 3:40 for me.

- And if everything goes really well, I would like to finish around 3:30. That’s about an 8 minute mile average pace.

- Other than that, I hope to enjoy it as much as possible!! (I am just sad my husband won’t be able to be there and watch me or see me finish. He’s been such a help on my long runs–biking beside me, encouraging me, and handing me water and GU when I needed it.)

This morning my mom and I head up to Duluth in hopes of avoiding traffic and so I can watch my idol, Kara Goucher, speak!! And then the big day will be here before I know it!!

I plan to take lots of pictures and do a pretty lengthy post about the weekend, so be looking for that early next week. Hopefully my sister’s Internet connection will be faster.