Race Report: Scenic City Trail Marathon
Place: 23rd out of 215 + (originally 300 but people dropped out, stopped at the half, or didn't show)
Pace: 8:11 mile
Lessons Learned
To start off, I'd like to say that I didn't do what I wanted to, but it wasn't a complete disaster. My goal today was to run 3.15.00 to 3.20.00, but as you can see i did not achieve that. I believe in my heart that I would have ran this if not beat it, but you live and you learn and turn the negatives into positives. However, considering the events that took place I am very pleased with my time considering this was my first marathon ever (even though I ran Stumpjump 50K several years ago)
I woke up at 4:50 this morning to make a good breakfast for myself to get some much needed calories inside me. I made scrambled eggs, peanut butter toast, and turkey bacon. I was ready for this race and pumped so I wasn't really tired even though I wasn't able to get much sleep. Once I arrived I went to use the restroom, grab my bib, and sat down for the next hour and half or so before the race started, everything was going smooth with just a bit of nerves. I got on the line near the front due to the fact that there was 600+ (full and half ) and I didn't won't to get caught up in a bottleneck before we hit the trail.
Once the countdown hit zero I was off! For the first mile I settled in nicely and ended up falling in behind Rock Creek Race Team member Lance Steele, and followed till around mile 14 and that's when all Hell broke loose for me. However, the first 13.1 miles I was feeling awesome, nothing could stop me. I was cranking up the hills like it was just child's play. I hit the around halfway point (12.8 I think) around 1.28.00, feeling great! There was no thought of going out too fast or anything. In an ideal perfect world which probably would not have happened even if my events did not take place (I know I would have slowed down some with the trail breaking you down), if you add say (strictly estimating now at 13.1, there was no marker) 1.33.00 + 1.33.00 that's 3.06.00. I cannot express how good I was feeling, almost euphoria like or super human, at least for me anyways.
BUT, and there is always a but right???? it was around mile 14 that I started to not feel so good, no aches and pains with my legs, but something wasn't right and I started to slow down a bit, and it all came up around mile 15. I started to puke and puke and finally stopped, and I continued and felt a little better but was still running slower than I was wanting to go. I was trying to catch back up to Lance and had him in eyesight reeling him back in, but it was to no avail to which I started taking the hills slower and also I ended up puking again. By that time I stopped taking gels/heed completely with 9 miles to go in the last leg of the race in which you need those much needed calories and electrolytes. Around mile 18 I puked again and was on the verge of pulling myself out, all of the bad thoughts and emotions were going through my head that usually seems to happen in the last half of long races such as "I'm never doing this again" "Running is stupid" "I don't even know why I signed up for that stage race 4 weeks from now" "I'm just ready to get off this trail" "I suck" I even teared up a bit. It was scary just drinking water and nothing else, and not to mention dangerous with the heat, and worse humidity!
Somehow with what little composure that I had I tucked my head down and I trucked on having to walk most of the hills. I know in my mind I wanted to quit but quitting is really not an option to me especially when it comes to running unless my life is in danger. Getting passed by people you know you could beat does not do the mind any good but everyone was very encouraging. Also, the dreaded moment when the first female passes you can suck the life out of you. To add injury to insult (literally) within the last 2 miles I ended up falling and when I fell my hamstrings tightened up and I shrieked a little and laid on the ground a couple of seconds. The most important thing/best thing that happened though was that I finished was very glad to have done so with a not too shabby time considering and having great support from friends at the finish.
Once the race was over my puke fest was not over yet by any means. On the way home I started to feel woozy again! I luckily had a goodie bag and dumped all the stuff out of it and filled it back up with my insides. So here I am in a single cab small Ford Ranger with my dad driving with my head buried in a plastic bag driving down the interstate. Other people driving probably thought I was huffing glue or something haha.
So in short I learned my lesson today. Just because some people do certain things in races doesn't mean you should. I decided that I would take my gels every 20 minutes as opposed to 30 like I do in practice and I believe that it all caught up to me and upset my stomach forcing everything to come back up. And it mixed with that nasty heed that they give out is not a good combo at all. After discussing with Johnny Clemons (overall winner/beast) that was the conclusion and that whatever you do in practice you should do in a race. Just too many gels to quick and it cost me for sure. Other than all that I'm happy and healthy and it was great to be running out on the trails today!
Happy Trails
