THE Race Report - Maine Marathon

Pre-Race: I woke up around 6am, but didn’t actually get out of bed until 6:15. Quickly got on the race gear, ate my banana and cashew cookie Lara Bar, along with a good 8 ounces of water. Kevin and I headed downstairs to the lobby for 7am, met Sasha and Rob to head down to the starting line, and received good luck hugs from my Mom and Aunt Helen.

Weather was perfect, overcast and not too warm, not too cool. I could not have asked for a better race day. There was traffic to the starting line, but we were smart enough to get off the highway going to opposite direction on Forest Ave, and found a very close parking lot. The four of us quickly found our way to the start, which was pretty packed! Sasha and I got our pre-race pics taken, said our goodbyes to the husbands and headed into the port-o-potty line. Very exciting stuff indeed.

THE Race: The race start time of 7:45 came VERY quickly, and we found ourselves a decent spot to begin. Sasha headed off for her BQ attempt, while I started my conservative race plan, sticking to 11+ minute miles. I did have to catch myself from going out too fast but I found a steady pace pretty easily. There were a LOT of half marathoners, and I had to take into account that more folks were bound to be much faster than me, and not to take it too personally! Kev was at about 1.5 miles in, where I got a kiss and was able to drop off my pre-race sweatshirt, which I already no longer needed.

Miles 1-5: Slow and steady wins the race? Err, well, it at least finishes the race. I stuck to my race plan. Walking each water stop (these were roughly every two miles), taking in the views of the harbor, making my way over the bridge to Falmouth. The racers were pretty much spread out at this point. In Falmouth we ran through a lovely waterfront neighborhood, with gorgeous bungalow/cottage-like houses facing the harbor. Later we saw some huge mansion-land houses, but this neighborhood was much more my speed. They also had many folks out on their lawns cheering us on, which was much appreciated!

Miles 5-8: Keeping steady I continued, and watched the half-marathoners make their turnaround. The cliché comment had to be made to the woman next to me, “The sane people go to the left, and the psychos keep on running.” We also ran past the Falmouth Fire Station, where my friend Jean (who is from the area) told me was the best water and pit stop around! In the past, her father worked this water stop every year. I made sure to take a moment to think of him as I stopped here. This was also where I ate my first ClifShot gel. It was gross but did the trick. After this water stop I ran into fellow TnT folks, my mentor and his girlfriend. They seemed to be doing well, and I was happy to have caught up with them! I continued onward as they stretched, looking for another teammate who was also up front somewhere.

Miles 9-14: At mile 9 I called Kevin, who had wrangled my crew of spectators to meet me at mile 10. Mile 9 also saw a big downhill, which I would have to revisit going uphill at mile 16! I made it to mile 10, and saw my family, each of whom I gave a kiss on the cheek! It was so good to see them all, and really gave me a boost. I saw my TnT teammate up ahead and sprinted (kind of) to catch up with her. We ran together for a while and attempted to take a pit stop at a port-a-potty, but the line was too long and we continued on. We entered a loop area with a few hills, and the 13.1 mile turnaround! Yay! Halfway there! The clock was at 2:28 here, so I knew I didn’t have a ton of time to play with if I was to finish under 5 hours. I continued… with a quick stop to the facilities (no line this time). I passed the National Guard folks who were walking the route, which was amazing. I think many of them got a good laugh at me when my husband called my cell phone and asked for my Mom’s cell phone number - which I looked up and gave to him while running A MARATHON. Note to Kev: Please do not call me again during a marathon, unless you lost a limb or something. xoxox.

Miles 15-19: My family was waiting at the 16 mile mark; my Mom said I looked good! I felt good, even facing a pretty big hill up ahead. I took in gel number 2. The hill was fine, but I have to admit that the mile markers did seem much farther apart at this point. My hips were beginning to feel a bit tight, so I did stretch out a bit somewhere around mile 18. I was looking forward to seeing Kevin and his family at mile 20. This is what kept me going.

Miles 20-22: I get to mile 20, I stop at the water stop, and I look for Kevin, no Kevin. All I had said to Kev was, "I want to see you at Mile 20." No such luck. I call him, he says he is there, I cannot find him. I start to freak out. This isn’t Kevin’s fault, or mine, but I am at a bit of a fragile state. I find that crying while marathoning leads to wheezing. I’ve never felt like this before, as if I was breathing through a straw. I do calm myself down, walk a bit, and then set out on my way. Luckily it ends up that they were at mile 21, and I found them. I didn’t stop though, because I was afraid I would cry again! When people say that the last six miles are all mental, they are TOTALLY RIGHT. At this point I should have taken another gel, but I totally forgot. In fact, I forgot to take another for the rest of the race… Luckily I was readily drinking Gatorade at all of the stops, and had enough calories in me to keep going!

Miles 22-24: I ran into more TnT people on my way back over the bridge to Portland. One of the guys noticed the back of my shirt, where it said that I was running in memory of my Dad and he yelled “Run for your Dad!” which was really sweet and all but did kick off additional tears, which led back to wheezing. Luckily I was able to rein it in pretty quickly, and set off back on my way. Soon I also ran into one of the TnT City coaches, and it was nice to chat and get my mind off the few miles ahead. We ran through another residential area, with a LOT of hills. I was ready for this to be done, but first I had to get through the longest 2 miles of my life!

Miles 24-26: At around 24.5 perhaps (up the last hill) I felt pain in my left hamstring. I was still running and continued past the final water stop (only 1.5 miles to go!!!). Then the sharp pain gave me pause, and I had to walk for a minute. After this minute was up (thanks little Garmin!) I ran again. I quickly figured out that as long as I ran it didn’t hurt as much, woo! Mentally I couldn’t face walking it in; I was going to run in if it killed me. The final mile is through the Back Cove of Portland, where there was an apartment complex, and in front of this complex there was a child SCREECHING and SCREAMING. He/She may as well have been poking ice picks into my ear drums. If it wouldn’t cause me to waste a few more feet of this race I would have run over and kicked him or something, but instead I definitely yelled some sort of combination of KID, F***ing, and SHUT UP. Forgive me, I was a bit of a fragile flower at this point. Fellow runners did laugh at least (or so I like to think).

Mile 26-26.2: Finally – I see it! The end! I hear my name on the loudspeaker, I’m still running, and feeling like I am going 100 miles an hour but was probably more like a 10 minute mile. My family is right there to witness the moment, I get my medal, my space blanket and cry a bit. Hugs from Mom and Kevin are welcomed, and I wander to the TnT tent to let them know I survived. I more than survived, I reached my goal of finishing under 5 hours. The clock was at 4:57:55 but I knew I had perhaps a minute less on my chip time. 4:56:52.

Post Race: At this point I should have EATEN SOMETHING. Instead I thought it is a good idea to go to the massage tent, well this was a BAD idea. Always eat first, kids. I began to see stars and a nice woman at the massage tent helped me over to the medical tent, where I was in the “these people need to eat something tent” as opposed to the “you need an IV or major assistance” tent. A banana and half a granola bar did the trick, and I was ready to get the heck out of there. I said hi and goodbye to my relatives, Kevin arrived with the car close by, and I hobbled over. My leg was not so happy when completely straight, but not as bad as I feared at mile 25. I just wanted to head home, and so we did. No shower, no pit stop, no nothing, just straight back to Medford. Two hours later including a detour to get ice and beer, I first sat in my ice bath, then on the couch eating pizza and watching Lord of the Rings. Ahh - a well earned relaxing evening and an end to a day that saw the mightiest physical feat of my 32 years so far!