The start area was so quiet. We would start on Beach Blvd in Pass Christian, MS, surrounded by practically nothing. A very mellow and relaxing way to get up the courage to run my race plan and be successful in my first attempt to qualify for Boston.
We were allowed to stay on our shuttles in the warmth while we waited for the start of the race, which was a great thing because it was brutally cold outside. As the sun rose along the Gulf, I said about a thousand prayers that this race would go well. It was truly a beautiful morning.
The marathon course was going to be a great one. The first 24 miles are run on Beach Blvd., with the beach on our right and some pretty impressive homes on our left. Once in Biloxi and Mile Marker 24, we enter the on ramp to I-110 for just under 2 miles round trip, then weave around MGM Park to enter the stadium for the finish. Great scenery, and because it's a straight shot for most of the race, it's a big opportunity to get into a good pace groove.
This is the first marathon where I actually did a jog and drill warm up. My race execution plan called for me to start at a much faster-than-I'm-used-to pace for an endurance distance. Coupled with 28 degree temps, a warm up was necessary.
FIRST 10K
I started just behind the 4:00 pacer, and let the group get slightly ahead of me for the first two miles. My starting pace felt fantastic! I got through the first two miles in 18:21, about 30 seconds ahead of plan. I did not let this freak me out, however. I didn't want to get caught up in the numbers on my Garmin unless I was running too slow. I had to run by feel and if I was lucky, my feel good pace would be better than expected. So far so good.
Mile 3 came in at 8:49. Ok, so that was a bit fast, but this was also when I passed the huge group with the 4:00 pacer. I was a little overly excited about that. I settled into a groove for miles 4-6, averaging 9:00 pace, and this was the last time I saw any miles over 9:00 for the duration of the race. It helped tremendously that I started running with a gentleman named Tom, a local whose goal was to break 4 hours and who was more than happy to run my pace and have some company. Thank you, Tom!!
The timing mat for the 10K was placed at about 6.3 miles, so while my split came in right where my plan called for it to, I was actually running faster. First 6.3 miles came in at 56:49, 9:01 pace. And I was feeling great. I also tried not to think about the fact that I still had 20 miles to run.
I got to see Greg for the first time at this checkpoint. Always a big boost to see him!
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| Giving Greg the all clear that I was racing well |
ONTO THE HALFWAY POINT
I had settled into a pretty sweet groove at this point, taking in the scenery, chatting with Tom about the gulf coast area, and making sure my miles were on target or under and feeling comfortable but not too comfortable. Every mile between 7 and 12 was in the 8:40s and 8:50s. My plan didn't even call for me to hit anything under 8:50 until after halfway, so this was time in the bank for me, yet I wasn't overdoing it. I do remember thinking during mile 9 that I was a third of the way done, and strangely this didn't freak me out. It's almost like I was actually performing like a good marathoner now or something. Even my heartrate was under control, staying comfortably in Zone 3.
Mile 13 I like to think of as my Golden Mile. The timing mat came at 12.5 miles instead of the expected 13.1 miles (which is what the tracking app indicated). So all the people who were following me were probably wondering how I ran sub-8 pace between 10K and 13.1. No worries, folks...I did no such thing. I was at 1:51:42 at 12.5 miles and not 13.1. My average pace at this point was now 8:57. Mile 13 was my first mile that came in under 8:40 pace and while I could feel the fatigue setting in, I was still doing exceptionally well. I ran Mile 13 in 8:38! Just wow! I ran the first half of this marathon in 1:56:45.
I had just run my third fastest half marathon. Well, how about that!?!
I also got to see Greg again! I let him know it was starting to get a little hard.
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| Look at my scenery! |
13.1 to 20 MILES
This is the point to where reality starts setting in during most marathons. Lucky for me, I was just getting started. I started knocking out miles in the 8:30's at this point, mile after mile after mile. Now, don't get me wrong. This was not an easy pace for me. I was working hard. I focused on a high cadence, on keeping my shoulders back, and just getting to the next mile marker. I needed to chip away at the course five minutes at a time at this point. It was working, though, because while it was not easy to maintain my pace, it was still completely doable. I was still running with Tom during this stretch.
I HAD TO BELIEVE IN MY TRAINING. It was probably right around Mile 17 that my mental game kicked in. I was down to single digits in miles left to run, I was not slowing down, I still felt pretty decent considering I was PR'ing every single distance past halfway at this point. Fastest 14 miles, fastest 15....16....17....oh hey, look, it's my fastest 18....19....20 miles.
I saw Greg again, and passed a timing mat at 20 miles. OH MY GOSH, I WAS AT 20 MILES! And I still was under 3 hours. Completely unreal to me, and a huge motivation to me as well that I had just run 20 miles in well under 3 hours.
I hit the mat at 2:56:32. From halfway to 20 miles, my pace was 8:40 average. My overall pace through 20 miles was now 8:49. I was under my goal pace of 8:51 (this is what I needed to run in order to be 3 minutes under my BQ standard). All I had to do was maintain this average pace for less than an hour and I was golden.
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| I told Greg that I had it in the bag. Pay no mind to how bad I look here. |
FINAL 10K
I refuse to let the 20 mile wall myth bother me. Okay, so it's not a myth. People really do hit a wall physically sometimes, but more often than not for me it's been a mental wall and I don't do that crap anymore. I've done this enough times to know how to toughen up in the last hour of a marathon, and with my training this time around I was in better shape than I've ever been. All I needed to do was run 58:28 for the final 10K and I was a Boston Qualified runner. That's 9:25 pace. I hadn't even run a single mile that slow yet and I wasn't about to start now! Unfortunately, I had lost Tom, so this last stretch was solo.
The fatigue was setting in. I was counting down the half miles, sometimes the quarter miles, and putting one foot in front of the other, trying to keep a high cadence, trying not to slow down. Mile 21 was awesome at 8:41, but then I started hitting 8:50 miles. I needed to stop looking at my watch, so that's what I did. At this point I just needed to maintain 10:00 average to qualify, and that was a huge comfort to me.
At this point, I just RAN. I was passing people like nobody's business and having a grand time responding to their comments of "great job!" with "I'M GOING TO BE A BOSTON QUALIFIER!"
The 23 mile marker is always a good one for me. I have about a 5K left to run, less than 30 minutes. I can always run 3 more miles. The more sub-9 miles I was clicking off, the more time I was banking and the better my chances were getting to BQ.
At 24 miles we turn off of Beach Blvd and onto the on ramp to I-110. I saw Greg at this point and I looked at my watch again. It was kind of a blur, but I thought I saw 3:31. I had 2.2 miles to run and 24 minutes to get there. I wasn't really slowing down. We went up the ramp and this was the only point in the course with any kind of real incline, but it didn't bother me. Using different muscles was a good thing and I tried desperately to not slow down. It's a long steady incline, probably about a good half mile before it levels out. My favorite part was being able to look down into MGM Park and the finish line and see people crossing it. Talk about lighting a fire in me to hurry my ass up and finish! Once I hit the flatter part on the interstate I relaxed a bit. I had about 15 minutes left to run and I would be done.
The half marathoners had a turn around point closer to ours and I was thinking that there needed to be a course marshall there to be sure none of the marathoners cheated and turned early. Our turnaround was about a minute further down the road.
This is where the race went sideways, unbeknownst to all of us.
They placed our turnaround cone short of the certified spot. We didn't know this while we were running. I was elated to finally get around that cone and to truly be on my way to a great marathon finish. I hit mile 25 in 8:50 and began to hopefully speed up for that last 10 minutes, particularly on this downhill off the interstate.
It didn't even seem like that long before we were back to Beach Blvd and turning left to make our way around MGM Park. I saw Greg again, and this time he was waving my Boston Marathon shirt at me. He was so excited because he knew I had blown away my goal.
Seeing the Mile 26 marker and entering the stadium for my finish was like nothing else I've felt in any of the races I have done.
As I rounded the curve to the finish, I saw the clock and it surprised me. I know I hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to my watch the last several miles, but I was not expecting to see a 3:48. I felt like I had really kicked it in the end to pull that off.
I crossed the line in 3:48:19.
Greg caught my finish on video. It was incredibly emotional. I was crying like I have never cried at a race finish.
I WAS A BOSTON QUALIFIER! And I had over 6 minutes to spare!
My overall pace in the results showed 8:43.
I was 5th in my age group of 36 women.
18th overall woman out of 209 (although I did catch a cheater in the results that needs to be removed and that will make me 17th of 208).
77th overall out of 441 finishers (or 76 of 440 after the cheater goes bye-bye).
I passed 22 women and 33 men in the second half.
Nobody passed me after the initial few minutes of settling into our paces. NOBODY PASSED ME.
Never before have I placed so high in a marathon and it was an exhilarating feeling.
I started to hyperventilate a little, and medical came over to me very quickly to be sure I was okay. Thankfully, my breathing got under control once I stopped crying.
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| I was so damn happy! |
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| Half Split was really a 12.5 mile split |
Awhile later, I looked at my Garmin and it showed I had run 25.91 miles. My heart about stopped.
The course was short. I hoped I was wrong, but in all honesty I knew they had messed up that turnaround cone and misplaced it and shortened the course. By this time, I had posted to social media, I had gone through all the emotions of a fantastic race, and I had to hold out hope that everything was going to be okay. I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure.
To make a long story short, it wasn't okay. Yesterday, the race director conceded, after vehemently denying the course was anything other than the certified distance, that a mistake had been made. In the rush of the morning, the measurements were taken off of the wrong spot, placing the cone short, and making the course 25.905 miles.
I was no longer a Boston Qualifier. It was being taken away from me, despite being so far under my qualifying standard and there being no doubt that I would have run 26.2 in under 3:51 had I been given the chance to complete that distance.
I wrote a blog post yesterday about the official ruling and my initial reactions. Today, my sadness is greater and my frustration is high. I ran an incredible race. I am a deserving Boston Marathon Qualifier, just without the title. I still have to go out and earn that again.
Rather than focus on that, however, I'm going to use this blog post to focus on the positives in my race execution. For the sake of the analysis, I'm going to adjust my finish time to reflect what it likely would have been at 26.2 miles. I was running 8:46 in mile 26 according to my Garmin (definitely wasn't speeding up like I thought!). Assuming I maintained that pace for the 0.295 miles that the course was short, my finish time would have been 3:50:54.
My first half was run in 1:56:45 at 8:54 average pace. My third fastest half marathon at the time. My second half would have been run in 1:54:09, 8:42 average, making it my second fastest half and pushing my first half to becoming my fourth fastest. I seriously think it's time to go bust out a 1:45 stand-alone half marathon, amiright?
My average heartrate was 152. This is the stat that truly blows my mind. Max heartrate was only 162. I never hit zone 5, and I stayed in zone 3 for over 2 hours. It makes me think I have a faster marathon in me RIGHT NOW.
Because I feel like I have to fix this unfortunate situation, I am still planning to run in Baton Rouge on January 14. It's a fantastic course, from the same race directors, and I ran it earlier this year. I have to go for another Boston attempt. The race directors are offering Boston Qualifiers free entry, but because I already registered I am asking for a refund of my entry fee. Either that, or I'll accept a free entry to run Mississippi Gulf Coast again. The fact that I loved that race, that course, the people, everything about it has not changed. I will absolutely run it again given the chance.
I want to run faster than my 25.91 mile time in Biloxi. It will give me the ability to say without a doubt that my marathon PR is in the 3:40's, without an asterisk. I am going to recover, get back into intelligent training, get to Baton Rouge, and run that crap out of that course. I have the confidence and mental strength I need to do this again, no matter how many times it takes me.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where I will talk about why I think the training worked for me to take over 27 minutes off my marathon PR.
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| 5th age group is pretty close to Top Finisher! |
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| My miles 1-20 running buddy, Tom! He finished in 3:52. |
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| Greg had TWO beers. |
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| Here's my medal |
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| My favorite cheerleader and biggest supporter |
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