Delaware Marathon

Warning: The stunts in this post were performed by an experienced crazy marathoner and should not be attempted by runners who have common sense.

Apprehension. Now there's a feeling I haven't had at a marathon in a while.

Since my fall Tuesday night, I'd spent two days cursing, hobbling and ironing. Finally on Friday I could walk pain-free but my butt was still quite sore. I decided it was best for me not to try running at all until race day. Why am I doing this silly 50 states marathon quest again???

Oh yeah, I thought it'd be fun to travel and run marathons.

But there was no backing out. Dave was coming with me to the Delaware Marathon since he had to be in DC the following week anyway. The weather forecast was pretty good: party cloudy, 58 degs at the 7am start, high 60's later in the morning. I'd even been assigned bib number 77, which had to mean I was going to have good luck, right? Right??

Still, I had no idea what to expect. I'd never gone into a marathon not knowing whether I could run. OTOH, I knew adrenaline was a powerful pain killer. Here I am at the start doped up on a couple Tylenol 8-hours hoping for the best. Funny, I just realized I'm standing in front of some medical cots, things I was hoping not to see during my race.

For a smaller race (600 marathoners, 700 half marathoners, 200 relay teams), this race was very well organized with an attractive start/finish area (I like balloon arches). They also offered nice cash prizes to the top-3 open and top-2 masters winners, not that I was thinking I'd win anything.

50 yards into the race, my Achilles felt tight but my butt seemed to be OK. I was running and trying to stay positive. Woohoo, only 26 miles and 335 yards left!

The first couple miles we snaked along the scenic, flat Wilmington riverfront. This photo is actually from the race website as Dave had gone back to the hotel after the start of the race to get his free breakfast. Priorities!

Later, though, there were some hills and we'd see them twice since this was a double loop course. After mile 6 is where things started falling apart.

Because climbing hills requires using your butt and my left butt was broken (not really, but definitely not working right). To get up them, I had to use a lot of right hip flexor and my left calf so now they were complaining too. Hey, give us a break! We're not used to working so hard on hills. That's the butt's job. Yeah, not in our contract. We're going on strike. Blah-blah-blah.

Miles 6-10.5 seemed to take fooooooor-eeeeeeeeev-eeeeeeer and take a lot out of me. Not good!

Dave had his bike and was riding around on the course. He found me at mile 11, just in time to see my grimacing turn to relief as we headed back downhill.

But a little hill at mile 12 nearly locks my butt and legs up so I accepted Dave's offer to go back to the hotel and get more dope (Tylenol 8-hour) to hopefully get me through the race.

Back on the flat riverfront section was easier but I'm now just hanging on and only just over halfway done. It was the second worst I'd ever felt midway through a marathon (the worst being at the 2007 Olathe Marathon where I had major GI issues).

Dave is waiting for me at mile 15 with a baggie. I greedily grabbed it from him but dropped one and then another pill on the ground before I could get them into my mouth. ARRGGHHH! Now my hands aren't working!?!

Luckily, there are 5 or 6 pills in the bag. I saw Dave again a little while later and handed him the bag back with only one pill left. I swear I took only 2, though! (Technically, I know it is cheating to receive outside help during a race but I was past the point of caring.)

But unlike morphine or heroin, there's no immediate relief. I trudged on for a while dreading those hills and told Dave he should just go for a ride elsewhere and leave me to wallow in self pity. He refused. Perhaps he thought I took all the pills missing from the bag and would collapse any moment? I do look pretty awful in the above photo.

But then around mile 17, the drug starts kicking in! We're now back in Brandywine Park which had plenty of shade and the spring has begun to return to my step.

There are cute llamas in a zoo that I didn't see before on the first loop.

A pretty wooden foot bridge that I do remember from before but enjoy much more the second time (I've already passed the bridge so I'm not in the photo).

Nice river views.

And a wonderfully shaded bike path.

By the time I got to mile 19 where the hills began again, I was warmed up and ready to start racing!

Wow, what a difference. This time the miles seemed to fly by and the hills were no problem.

My high continued all the way to the finish. I didn't count the number of folks I passed after mile 20 at this race as there were so many relay runners passing me and distracting me (again, something like 200 teams!). But I know three people not wearing "Relay" on their backs passed me the last quarter mile, including one woman who happened to be in my age group. Oh well!

At least I finished and stayed out of the medical tent. Here are my splits for anyone interested:

Official splits:
First 5.2 mi (flat) in 44:46, 8:36 pace.
Next 13 mi (hills and flats) in 1:59:49, 9:13 pace.
Last 8 mi (mostly hills) in 1:08:39, 8:34 pace.

My watch splits (surprisingly even paced halfs):
1st half 1:56:11, 8:52 pace.
2nd half 1:57:02, 8:56 pace.

Final race time:
3:53:13 (8:54 pace), 4/29 F45-49, 39/212 Females.

Thanks to Dave for all the photos and support. No doubt it would have been much uglier if I'd gone to this race alone.

Now, time to see what all you bloggy friends have been up to. Thanks for your kind words of encouragement and for reading!

3:53:13

Un-Freaking-Believable.

Well, far from an easy race for me but I managed to run and finish!

An Unpostable Injury

Un-Freaking-Believable.

With a fast recovery following the Cox Providence Marathon and 50-60 degs F forecast on Sunday for the Delaware Marathon, I was thinking a sub-3:50 looked doable. But now all bets are off!

Because the ground jumped up and bit me again, this time at my first spin class in ump-teen years. &$#?$%@!!!

Now some of you may recall that I usually AVOID spin classes like the plague because I hate spin bikes (they never seem to fit right and hurt me more than the workouts) and I am not fond of riding indoors in general. But this one allowed, actually encouraged, us to bring our own bikes & trainers and the instructor is the coach of my tri club. I figured I'd be safe and it'd be more fun to ride indoors with my tri club.

Indeed, it was the best spin class I'd been to but getting off my bike would present a problem. It became very apparent that I'd not ridden on a trainer much. Who knew my bike would be much higher on a trainer than on the road, that I couldn't easily just lean it over to get my leg over it, and the floor would be so slippery when wearing bike shoes?

Man, I might as well have been wearing skates. And the spin room floor, of course, was one of those really hard tiled floors that made asphalt feel spongy.

Luckily, I did not hit my head (no helmet worn indoors) or re-fracture my tailbone (an old childhood injury). I was also able to catch my bike before it hit the floor (it got pulled over when my leg got caught on it). But now I have a most painful bruise on my left butt bone right where the left leg connects to it. Darn tush has lost much of its cush due to years of endurance sports -- WAH! And you'll just have to take my word for it as I'm not posting a photo of this injury.

Good news: It only hurts when I sit or move my left leg.

Bad news: I'll need to do both to get on a plane and run a marathon.

Good news: Ironing doesn't require sitting or much leg movement. (I have a big pile that I've been putting off doing. So much for being an ironwoman - HA!)

Anyways, Dave will have many nice pressed pants & shirts but who knows what'll happen on Sunday. Then again, whoever said running a marathon would be easy?

In the meantime, I'll leave you with some other photos from the past week:

Dave celebrated his 49th birthday down 25# from the beginning of the year, even traveling nearly every week.

His typical lunch lately (fruit salad, frozen mixed veggies, carrots & celery sticks).

Me (front left, red visor) and some folks from my tri club at Lucky's Lake, a local swim spot that has gained cult-like status in free swimming.

With no swim on my training schedule, I was there mainly to support team members who'd never swam in open water before.

But I couldn't resist getting in a quick swim myself. Busted ;-)

First-time lake crossers got to sign Lucky's "Wall of Fame", which has become so full now that folks are signing the ceiling!

Dinner with fellow ironwoman Vickie and her husband who were visiting from Michigan (sorry, terrible photo as my camera was on the wrong setting).

Nearing the finish of the Cox Providence Marathon.

My apologies for being MIA on blogs. I hope to catch up next week when I get back from Delaware and am able to sit for much longer than I can now (even with a doughnut it's far from comfortable). Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend!

Update 5/14: Able to walk pain-free today! Fingers crossed for running on Sunday.

Cox Providence Marathon

3:54:20.8 (8:57 pace), 10/88 F40-49, 58/360 Females.

I know, I know ... My goal was to just to finish the Cox Providence Marathon (Rhode Island) and I end up with a sub-4 BQ?

But I swear NOTHING spectacular happened. Really, this race was about as close to a training run as one could get. Thankfully, as I could use less drama after the Gator Half Iron! So you guys luck out as this race report is going to be fairly short.

Despite being a low key race for me, I decided NOT to run with my camera. I knew I needed to stay in tune with how I was feeling and stay focused on where I was stepping. Believe it or not, I'd already turned my ankle once at the Orlando airport - GAH!

The weather was forecast to be 60-65 degs at the 8am start, getting up to 75-80 around noon. Bleh! At least it was supposed to be mostly cloudy early and training in Florida and Hawaii, heat and I were on a first name basis (although I preferred not to see much heat at a New England race).

A half an hour before the race, I went down to check out the race start/finish area which was pretty much right in front of my hotel. Sweeeet!

Where is everyone?

There were supposed to be about 1000 marathoners plus double the number of half marathoners but no one was really lining up yet. So I went back to my room, put Mr. Camera away and came back 10 minutes before start time. One good thing about being small is that it's fairly easy to wiggle past people in a crowd and go through gaps in corral fences.

After the national anthem, I snuck in around the 9-minute pace sign. 60 degrees felt surprisingly cool with a nice breeze in our face. I ran by an easy feel, even enjoyed a few hills early on, and arrived at the halfway point in 1:54-something (~8:45 pace). Oops!

I knew heat would slow me down later though and I had no plans to push much harder at the end for a negative split or even an even split. Not with a 90% healed up ankle, my longest run in 4 months being only 16 miles and another marathon to run in 2 weeks.

But speed is relative. Around mile 15, folks around me began to melt. I stayed on an 8:45 pace until mile 19 then backed off and began walking through aid stations to make sure I got enough fluids into me. Blue skies, no shade, plenty warm. Still, people were coming towards me. At mile 20, I began to play "How many runners will I pass before the finish?"

Answer: 41, 17 of which were women.
2 guys passed me. 1 woman too, technically, but I passed her back on the final stretch so she doesn't count :-)

The only unusual thing that happened at this race was that my name didn't appear in the posted results. OMG, why am I not there?!?!

I went to the Yankee Timing trailer, showed the guy my race bib (which was folded now but not during the race) and told him my Garmin time. He said I was the third person whose time wasn't recorded for some reason (we were using the new Chrono B tag where the timing strips stay on the bib). He manually entered me into the computer with a 3:55:00 finish and I ended up with a 3:54:20.8 net time. Close enough.

54 marathons, 44 states done. 6 more to go!!!

Aloha!

This Easter, Smoosh Bunny (SB), a Giant Marshmallow Bunny that has been mailed back and forth between my hubby Dave and his sister for years, turned 21!

And he (she?) showed up with a message.

So I brought him along with me back to Kona. SB got lucky and had his own seat on one of the flights.

He hung out on our lanai when I went out for my first run in 2 weeks after having sprained my ankle at the Gator Half Iron.

He hopped and sat in Dave's patio chair and watched surfers and boogie boarders play while patiently awaiting my return.

After my 5-mile run, I was drenched but very happy that I had no ankle pain at all -- Woohoo!!! But I was NOT used to running in heat having been spoiled by an unusually cool winter in FL. Need to start out earlier, not mid-morning when it was already approaching 80!

As promised, I took SB out for a bike ride. To make sure he had a good view, I put him into one of my rear bottle cages.

I'd been mostly cycling while I couldn't run to stay in shape the past few weeks (unfortunately, the ankle flexion involved when swimming bothered my ankle so Coach didn't have me swim much once I could put weight on my foot). Below, we are at the bike ride turnaround. I had to hold onto SB tight when I took him out as that rascal wanted to keep going!

As usual, we had a headwind going back but lovely ocean scenery and other cyclists to try to catch made the ride back fun.

Next up for me, 3 marathons in 5 weeks, starting with the Providence Marathon (Rhode Island) on Sunday. My longest run was 16 miles last Thursday but all I want to do is finish these marathons, which should be doable provided I don't roll any more ankles.

Look forward to catching up with everyone this week!!!

2010 Gator Half Iron Tri

Thanks, everyone, for the congrats, ankle condolences and baby shower wishes, too, LOL. I'm happy to report that the ankle is MUCH better now, almost normal looking. It's still weak, though, so I'll be taking things slow. No races until May, which is good.

As for being a superhero? No, not me. I just did what I've always done when I fell down: I got back up and found a way to get home. But more on that in a bit.

First of all, I chose the Gator Half Iron Tri because it was a small race with a flat course and hopefully cool weather being held in March. Last year, my training/racing was all about hills and heat and, to be honest, I was sick of it. I just wanted to see how fast I could go in flat, cool conditions for a change!

I was joined by three fellow BPY Tri Club members. Two of us on the left were half iron vets while the other two were newbs. The other woman, Jacklynn, is the coach of the club, however, and a very good swimmer, spinning instructor and a strong runner so I knew she'd do well even if it was her first half iron. We also had a few other tri club members and family members come out to spectate and support us adding to the fun.

With only ~80 participants, the race had just one "mass" swim start and it was actually my first in-water start (as opposed to a beach start). We lucked out with 68 deg water temps so I went with my sleeveless wetsuit. How that happened, I don't know but I'll take 68 over 58 any day!!

The swim course was two rectangular loops plus some and I swam fairly hard from the get-go, another first. Still, by the second lap I was swimming mostly by myself, as usual. Man, these folks are fast! (or is it I'm still slow?)

Whatev. Except for my wetsuit pull-string wrapping itself around my right arm and my swim cap creeping off my head, I was very pleased with my swim. I was only a few minutes behind many others and with a strong bike would be seeing them again soon.

1.2 mi Swim: 39:07 (1:51/100 yds), a 5-min PR!

In transition, I had a great spot on the end right next to the bike exit as I was one of the first to rack my bike the day before. Gotta love small races where you can rack your bike wherever you want, first come first serve.

T1: 2:25, one of my fastest T1 times but mainly because the transition area was very close to the water.

The bike course was FABULOUS, one big oblong-shaped flat loop. We had a 10-12 mph headwind starting out (notice flags in swim exit photo) that grew to 15-20 mph as a front moved in. But having ridden in much stronger winds the weekend before, it didn't seem bad to me. I just stayed down in aero and kept telling myself the wind is my friend, the wind is my friend ... I passed the two male tri club teammates by mile 20 or so and gave both guys a cheer. Probably never fun being chicked but at least if it's by a teammate or someone friendly maybe it's not as bad?

Mile 29 was where the course turned so we'd have the wind mostly at our backs. I'd averaged 18.6 mph up to that point and now it was time for the fun to begin!

WEEEE!!! I never saw my Garmin go below 20 mph again. Around mile 40, I finally caught up to Coach Jacklynn, who'd come out of the water 8 minutes ahead of me (she will no doubt be much harder to catch in the future). By then it was raining but the roads were straight and I saw no reason to slow down. In fact, I decided to speed UP a little knowing the weather would be getting worse soon. The last 5 miles or so, Dave found me on his bike and a couple tri club members drove by in a car cheering, which pumped me up even more. Thanks guys!!!

The hardest part of the bike course to me was this little maybe 50-yd dirt path between the bike mount/dismount point and the transition area. The rest I give 10 stars on a scale of 1 to 5.

56 mi Bike: 2:45:54 (20.3 mph), not a PR but only 16 sec slower than my fastest half iron bike split which was on a course that was actually 1.5-2 miles shorter.

T2: 1:15, fairly fast but the porta pottys outside of the transition area would be my next stop.

With that taken care of, I was now ready to blast the 2-lap run. The clouds, rain and wind kept temps well below 70 making this the coolest weather I've ever raced a half iron in by far and I felt very strong coming off the bike. I didn't start my Garmin until I got out of the porta-potty but ran my first mile at a 7:52 pace, which felt quite manageable. Hmm, a 1:45 half marathon might be doable?

I saw a couple of paper Gatorade cups on the ground from an aid station I'd just passed. No biggie to step on one, right?

WRONG!!! The next thing I knew I was down on the ground with a familiar sharp pain in my left ankle. ?#@$&%!!! Was there a rock or something in the cup?

I couldn't believe it. The race had gone superbly up to that point and now this stupid misstep. Fortunately, there was no one else around at the time as I HATE falling in front of people (the aid station was unmanned because they were short on volunteers). I got myself back up on my right foot and wiped off the dirt and asphalt pieces embedded in my right palm. My right knee was bleeding from a scrape but nothing major. Then I tried to put some weight on my left foot. OWWIE!!!!!!!

Crap! It was very painful so I was worried at first that I couldn't continue but then I remembered my last ankle incident at the Little Rock Marathon three years ago. Yes, unfortunately it's happened before ... There I'd rolled the same left ankle on, ironically, a little rock at mile 8. It was also very painful to walk on at first but I kept trying not wanting to have to come back and run another Arkansas marathon. At that race, the pain subsided some as I kept moving and eventually I was able to jog/run pretty well and go on to finish -- 16 more miles! Then my ankle swelled up like a melon and hurt like hell afterward ...

So I tried the same here. Sure enough, my initial very painful limp became just a painful limp, then a slow jog with a sorta painful limp, then a slow jog with a less painful limp and eventually a jog/run with tolerable pain on every left footstep. Adrenaline is a powerful painkiller! After a while, probably few could even tell I'd hurt my ankle but I knew. It felt weak and wobbly and I had to be super careful to make sure I didn't roll it again or it'd probably be the end of my race.

After a turnaround on an out-and-back section, I saw Coach Jacklynn coming towards me meaning she was a few minutes behind me. I told her what happened and she gave me some words of encouragement and a high five, which I very much needed. Then I saw a couple other tri club folks cheering for me on a corner which also helped raise my spirits. Then hubby Dave was at mile 3 helping out at an aid station (have I mentioned they were short on volunteers?). Having seen me run countless times, he knew something was not right.

Dave: What's wrong?
Me: I'm going to need ace bandages and ice when I finish.
Dave: What happened?
Me: I rolled my ankle back at mile 1.

Dave knew better than to ask me too many questions or try to baby me when I'm hurting. The next mile I felt my ankle stiffening up and was forced to slow down some more. Grrrrr ... I went through the 5 stages of grief and accepted the fact that Coach Jacklynn would probably be passing me soon but I'd try to hold off any other females if I could ;-)

Meanwhile, Dave hopped on his bike and began working at the next aid station for a bit while waiting for me to go by. He amazed some folks by appearing to be everywhere on the course handing out cups and food, snapping pictures, and cheering for folks, and not just me. What a guy!

Two of my tri club teammates.

As I came back to the transition area to begin lap 2, another tri club member who'd come to support us came up alongside and ran a few steps with me. I tried to tell him how I'd rolled my ankle, had probably blown my PR, blah-blah, wah-wah, but he wouldn't hear of it. He just kept telling me how awesome I was doing and to keep going and finish strong. Dang it, why won't he listen?

Then I realized that Coach Jacklynn hadn't passed me yet so perhaps I was doing OK. Maybe I still have a shot at a PR? No, Silly, your goal is to just finish this race. Focus on the ground and make sure you don't fall again!

The second lap required even more caution and concentration with more people on the run course and the thunderstorm fully upon us. We were running in squall-like conditions at times and everyone was encouraging each other while doing their best to avoid huge puddles, cars and each other. Jokes were being made about the rain coming down so hard that you wouldn't need a shower after the race and the rivers of water on the roads making you wish you had a canoe to paddle your way to the finish. And, the volunteers, OMG, what few there were, were still out there holding onto their umbrellas and raincoats while also trying to do their job in the driving rain and wind. Crazy!!

They actually made me think that running was easier, even with a sprained ankle. At least I was moving and staying warm and would be done soon. That is, provided I was able to stay upright on that same little stretch of dirt to the transition area that also led to the finish line, my least favorite part of the run course as well. Here's a little video clip of me finishing (TRT 14 sec):




So, as you can see, no heroics. I just kept moving which kept most of the swelling and pain at bay. The "No Way" comment was because I couldn't believe my ears when I heard my finish time (the overhead clock was knocked out by the rain but there was someone calling it out). I hadn't looked at my Garmin since my fall and had no clue what pace I was running or what my race time was. It was a total shock!

Final race time: 5:12:22, 1/3 F45-49, 7/22 Females
12* mi Run: 1:43:42 (8:38 pace).
*Again, the course was short.

Then I headed straight to the EMT to get my ankle wrapped up and iced as I knew it was going to balloon up as soon as I stopped. Coach Jacklynn finished a few minutes later with big smile on her face.

Oh, as for gators? The only gator I saw at this race were chunks in a rice dish they served at the finish. Tasted like chicken :-)

Thanks to Dave and my tri club buddies for a great day of racing, smiles and photos. And thank YOU, Dear Readers, for your patience!