Humpy’s Marathon 2021 – Race Recap

There’s good news and bad news:

The good news: I set a new PR (personal record) in the marathon! That’s a new PR after TWO babies. I secretly hoped I could get faster after having two kids, but I also wasn’t sure if I could do it now that I’m 5 years older since I peaked after having Cullen.

The bad news: I still didn’t break 3 hours in the marathon! Ugh! Once again, I fell short, this time by a mere 75 seconds. So frustrating, so heartbreaking, and I definitely shed some tears over it.

Marathon number eleven did have some really great things happen for me. Most importantly, I felt strong the entire 26.2 miles. In my last few marathons I’ve faded hard in the last 4-6 miles, but I felt really good until the end during the Humypy’s Marathon. The other thing that went well (which could very well be a result of feeling so strong) is that I feel like I finally nailed my nutrition during this race. I took in 4 energy gels (in the past I’ve only done 3), and I drank extra water. (I’ll never forget my first marathon, taking in less than one gel, and hitting the wall hard at mile 16.)

So here’s a breakdown of the race. . . . .

First of all, it was really nice doing a race so close to home. The past few marathons I’ve traveled to the Midwest or East Coast, so I really appreciated sleeping in my own bed and having less stress due to traveling this time around. I think that helped with my performance as well. The week going into the race was pretty low-key. I really tried to be off my feet as much as possible the few days before the race, but if you’re a mom, you know that is tricky with little kids. Luckily Craig was off work, so he was able to help out a lot.

I did everything to set myself up for success the weeks going into the race: I was reading books to get my head in the right space, doing some extra foam rolling/legs up on the wall, carb-loading the two days prior, staying on top of my sleep, and keeping stress low. (I even avoided getting a cold that everyone else who was staying at my house got: my parents, Cullen, and Bjorn–due to me not getting stressed out.) I was 99.9% sure I was going to have the sub-3 in the bag. I briefly thought about ‘what if’ I didn’t get it again, but I mostly wouldn’t let myself think that way.

Come race day morning, I woke up on my own at 5:15 a.m. My alarm was set for 6:00a.m., but I knew I wasn’t going to fall back to sleep, so I got up and took my time getting ready: reading a devotional, checking Instagram messages, and starting eating my pre-race breakfast.

For breakfast, I started with the Maurten liquid drink mix. I only had about half of it, and then my stomach started to feel a little off, so I stopped drinking that and had a bagel instead. I had one half with jam and the other with peanut butter. I did my best to eat as much as I could, but dry bread with pasty peanut butter is hard to get down when you’re nervous. I also had a little bit of caffeinated coffee. Forty-five minutes before the race, I had my Ucan drink mix, and then finally just 5 minutes before the race, I had a Spring energy gel.

I started warming-up about 20 minutes before the start of the marathon. I jogged around for maybe 3 minutes, stopped, did some stretches, and then jogged another minute before remembering I should get in the port-a-potty line. In the past, this race has always had several port-a-potties, but this year, there were literally only 6 of them! I got in line for one, but it was not moving. There were still 6 or 7 people in front of me and 10 minutes before the gun was to go off. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I peed in the port-a-potty that was two troughs of urinals. People were warning me not to go in there, but it was 100% worth it in my mind. I quickly jogged back to Craig, stripped my clothes off, took my Spring energy gel, and then hopped over the fence into the start area. I did just a few striders, but I felt ready to go!

I’ve always been able to tell how a race is going to go within a few steps of starting a race, and as soon as I started, I felt really good, and I was confident I would be returning to the finish line in under 3 hours. The first two miles are downhill, but I didn’t want to go out too hard and risk tiring too early, so I stuck to my 6:50 goal pace from the start.

Mile 1 – 6:48
Mile 2 – 6:51
Mile 3 – 6:53
Mile 4 – 6:51

The start of mile five is when the first climb came. There is a medium-length climb going into Earthquake Park, which then platues out for a bit before a long climb up to Pt. Woronzof for a total of 112 feet of elevation gain. I’ve run this trail more times than I can count, so I know what to expect. I did my best to keep the same effort on the uphill portion, but I slowed down too much and ran a 7:16 for mile 5. Ugh! That’s a lot of time to make up. But my coach had said not to panic if this happened, and I now that a few seconds faster here and there can really add up, so I kept my chin up. Miles 6 through 10 are very desolate and isolated–no fans cheering, just a few other runners as the course meanders through the woods. I only had the cheers of fellow racers who were walking the marathon or doing the ultra. I really could have use some extra motivation through this area, but luckily I am pretty good at motivating myself. (The perk of doing most training runs solo.)

Mile 5 – 7:16
Mile 6 – 6:42
Mile 7 – 6:56
Mile 8 – 6:47
Mile 9 – 6:54
Mile 10 – 6:58

At mile 10, Craig handed me my handheld water bottle. (This is the one I have, and I LOVE it.) I carried it for about 1.5 miles and drank as much as I could from it.

Miles 10-12 include more climbing, so I lost some more time on those hills again. Finally at the start of mile 13, there is some reprieve from the hills, and it turns to downhill, so I knew I had to make up some time on this section. (But I also knew I couldn’t start running 6:30s or anything.) Oh, let it also be known that pretty much throughout this entire course, my watch was not picking up a good GPS signal. The entire trail is tree-covered (which definitely has its perks), but I rarely knew what I was actually running. It would jump from 6:30s to 6:50s within a few steps, so it was hard to gauge what my actual pace was. I used the mile markers as much as I could.

Mile 11 – 6:55
Mile 12 – 7:02
Mile 13 – 6:44

The half-way point was not marked on the course, so a little past mile 13, I peeked down at my watch. At this point, I don’t recall the seconds, but I know I was a little over 1:30. I knew I was going to have to make up some time, but I also tried not to lose hope because the first half of the course is much hillier and harder than the second half.

For whatever reason at mile 14, I really started to wonder and doubt a sub-3 would happen. It wasn’t so much my gut talking but my head rationalizing that I had quite a bit of time to make up. I started to get really down because while my legs weren’t terrible, they also weren’t feeling great by this point. I gave myself a little pep talk, recalled all the people on Instagram cheering for me, and told myself “it isn’t over til it’s over.” Knowing the course so well, I also broke the course into sections an said, “just get to Westchester.”

Luckily at Westchester two good friends were out cheering, which helped a lot. The marathon course also merges with the half marathon course, so there are more people out running and spectating, which boosted my spirits and took my mind off the pain that was starting to set in. After Westchester, my next destination in my mind was at mile 16 where I was going to take my next gel.

Mile 14 – 6:54
Mile 15 – 6:47
Mile 16 – 6:55
Mile 17 – 6:58
Mile 18 – 7:01

At this point the course has a slight uphill grade to it, and while it is pretty subtle, I was feeling it a little bit more than I usually do. I knew at mile 18.5, Craig was going to be there with another water bottle, so that was my next destination focus.

After seeing him, I saw two other good friends who cheered for me. The one asked how I was doing, and I think she knew things weren’t going great. Then came the turnaround at mile 20. This was my next big destination goal because once I turned around, I would have some downhill going back towards the finish. I knew I was going to have some time to make up, and I was hoping I would still feel okay since many times I hit that 20 mile wall. But this time, I turned around and felt quite good, and I was so thankful for some downhillls.

Mile 19 – 7:04
Mile 20 – 7:05
Mile 21 – 6:50
Mile 22 – 6:43

I came up on my friends at Westchester again, and my friend was cheering for me so hard. I wish she could have cheered for me like that they whole time! That gave me a boost of energy, and I knew I only had two more miles to run. I kept telling myself I was in way more pain during labor, so I can push harder now.

The last two miles are another climb to the finish, and I knew it was going to be close to the wire, and I kept trying to do math in my head while running (always a difficult thing for me). I started dropping the pace a bit, but by the time I made it to the last hill, I knew I was going to be over.

Mile 23 – 6:39
Mile 24 – 6:47
Mile 25 – 6:44
Mile 26 – 6:56

Despite my watch telling me I was going to be over 3 hours, I still pushed as hard as I could because I knew I had a chance of PRing, so I kept grinding away and double and triple checking my watch and the clock as I gave it everything I had until I crossed that finish line.

As soon as I crossed the line, I bent over, hands on my knees, eyes closed, gasping for air. My legs were weak and wobbly, and I staggered over to the side to find Craig. As soon as I saw him, I burst into tears. He gave me a big hug and said, “You have another chance at CIM. We’ll do whatever we need to to make it happen.”

I walked through the rest of the finish chute, found my friends who had come to cheer for me, cried some more tears, and talked through the race with them.

The boys came over, and I gave them each a big hug.

In hindsight, the 900 feet of elevation was just a little too much for me. I honestly think this was the hardest marathon course I’ve run.

I know I have a lot to be proud of: a brand new PR after having two babies, running so well and so strong the entire way, and nailing my nutrition during the race, which ended up being about 700 calories before the race started; 4 energy gels (Ucan, Huma, Maurten, and Gu Roctane–4 different kinds/flavors because I get tired of the same flavors easily) pretty evenly spaced throughout the race a miles 5.5, 11, 16, and 21; and extra water with Skratch at mile 10 and 18.5. I only took in a little bit of water at the aid stations, but luckily the weather wasn’t too warm (upper 40s/low50s), so I wasn’t sweating that much.

So, this story is not yet over. After this week of no running, I’ll be at it again training for CIM (California International Marathon) at the beginning of December!