California International Marathon Race Report

This was definitely not a training cycle that went smoothly. But I feel like I came to the start line fairly healthy, in great shape, and ready to run a good race. I didn't meet my ultimate goal, but after a few days of reflection, I have no regrets about my strategy and execution, and I am thrilled to say that I have another marathon finish in under 4 hours. We can't PR every single race, but we can take away from every race a new lesson we've learned and new accomplishments that we can take into the next one.

First, I have to say that California International Marathon absolutely deserves all of the kudos it gets from runners as being a premier marathon. The field is mid-sized at about 8000 runners, the course is a fast and scenic point to point with a net downhill, the finish festival is well thought out, and the organizers think of all the little details to help the runners have a successful race. It was a very fun weekend and I'm looking forward to going back and racing there again. December weather in Sacramento tends to be cool and dry - perfect conditions for a good race (but more on that later....).

Now, about my training cycle...

I was supposed to run CIM in 2018, but a hamstring injury in September forced me to be smart about recovery and defer my entry to 2019. Instead, I focused on getting stronger, ran a PR half marathon in January, and then ran the Boston Marathon in April. By July I was ready to ramp up my training and spent 19 weeks getting myself ready for CIM. If I were to compare this cycle to when I was training to BQ in 2017/2018, I would have to say that I felt slightly slower, yet felt my endurance was better. I had hoped that the two components would mesh well on race day, and with the right conditions, I could come pretty close to a 3:45. I trained the entire cycle for a 3:45, made some tweaks to how I had trained previously, in the hopes of getting me to the start line healthy.

I think my success was about 80%. My speed was REALLY close to being where I wanted it, but it didn't feel quite as effortless, I will admit. However, with the experience I gained from the past 2+ years, that didn't worry me too much. My body was kind of all over the map with how it was holding up. I had a psoas issue after Boston that needed to be worked through, my IT band was on and off tight throughout the cycle, my hamstring would make itself known here and there but wasn't a bit concern, and then during my peak week of training, I felt a strange pain at my left Achilles. That threw me for a loop because my issues are always on my right side. This pain felt like a touch of tendonitis and my assumption was that I was probably overcompensating for my right side issues and had aggravated the left side because of that. But, I managed to keep it in check and it didn't get any worse as I tapered. I knew that rest would come after the race and I could fix it.

I traveled to Sacramento Friday morning before the race and met up with my friend Dennette and her two daughters. A quick trip to the Expo was fun, then a great steak dinner capped off my first day there. Greg arrived that night and we got settled in for the weekend.

On Saturday, my friend Kalynn joined me for breakfast while Greg did his long run and scoped out the end of the course. Another trip to the Expo so Kalynn could pick up her bib and we could do a little more shopping, a drive on the course, a lot of rest, and a yummy Mediterranean dinner, made Saturday a very fun day as well.

Did you know that chickens are a thing in the Fair Oaks area of Sacramento? Yes, they're a thing and we couldn't resist the opportunity to hang out with the free roaming chickens while previewing the course.

No chickens were harmed

Laying out my gear the night before always gets the nerves going. There's just so much crap that you need for a marathon. I totally thought I took a photo of it, but apparently not!

Sunday morning rolled around EARLY. Like 3:45am early. The shuttles were leaving at 5am and were about 2 blocks from the hotel. I wanted to get over there and settled in without a last minute rush. The morning moved fast, however, and we were on our way 26 miles away to Folsom.

I showed up at the start line determined to give it my all and take the chance that I would blow up. My attitude was that I had nothing to lose. I didn't NEED to BQ, although I definitely want to go back to Boston. My A goal was to PR (3:49:53) and therefore BQ (<3:50), and my B goal was to break 4 hours. On a perfect day, the stretch goal was 3:45.

Sacramento is usually pretty dry at this time of year. The temps are typically not an issue. However, they'd been getting a lot of rain the weeks leading up to the race and the forecast was holding strong as being very rainy during the race. As race day approached, the temp forecast moved from upper 30s to mid 50s, a big swing, and almost 30 degrees warmer at the start than when I ran in Baton Rouge and BQd. Still not bad temperatures, but with very wet air after a night of rain, it simply wasn't going to be as easy as dry air in the 30s or 40s. Even as we woke up on race morning, the rain forecast was holding strong at 50-70%.

As we drove to the start, the forecast changed to a 10% chance. So now we had mid-to-upper-50s and 97% humidity for the entirety of the race, with a small chance we'd get some relief with the rain. I wasn't too concerned about feeling hot during the race, although ideally we'd be about 10 degrees cooler, but the near-100% humidity was in the back of my head as being potentially problematic. I tried to push it out of my head, however, because I was not going to change my race strategy and was going to just go for it.

My strategy was to run the first half at 8:41 pace, and then hopefully drop to about 8:30 in the second half. My first 5K would be my slowest as I eased into the harder paces. The first half the of the race has rolling hills, but more downhill than uphill so that was not going to be an issue for me. I run in rollers all the time and am a strong uphill runner. I knew using different muscles in that first half would serve me well for the flat-to-downhill second half. The course is fast and I'm truly confused by those who say it's "hilly" (and many people who ran it that have described it like that, as being a bad thing). To me, a net downhill that gives you a drop in elevation every time it makes you climb is a fast course, and this race was no exception. It was FAST.

Putting on our brave faces

The temps were most definitely not cold and I started the race with just my throwaway gloves on, no arm sleeves or jacket or anything. I just simply didn't need any of that. It felt similar to how Boston started, but about 5 or so degrees cooler. I knew it wouldn't get nearly as warm as it did in Boston, however, so I held onto that positive as the gun went off.

Four minutes after the first runners started, Kalynn and I crossed the start line and the journey to the Capitol began.

That first mile was kind of stupid easy. It was a bit downhill and I felt like I was running effortlessly. When I saw I was running 8:50 pace it truly surprised me and it felt 30 seconds per mile slower than that. I held back a bit in those first two miles, knowing I had a very long way to go, but my splits were coming in very very strong. I went with it.

Now, I've gone back and forth in my mind on whether I should've held back in those first few miles. And I keep answering myself with NO. I went to that start line with a plan to run a 3:45 marathon and get a strong BQ and make my way to Hopkinton in 2021. The weather was not ideal, but it was not debilitating, either. If it started raining then I REALLY would be okay, because my body naturally craves that kind of cooldown and runs faster with less effort. I was definitely banking on a little rain, but I just had to try my best to run the paces I planned to and was capable of.

First 5K in 27:10 and 8:45 average pace....so awesome.

I was supposed to see Dennette and her family at around 5 miles as they live on the left side of the course. I kept my eyes on the spectators but never saw them. Found out later they were on the RIGHT side of the course, but they saw me and they were armed with the GREATEST signs on the course that day.

Second 5K in 26:53 and 8:39 average pace. I was at 54:03 overall in the first 5K. That used to be similar to the fastest I could run a standalone 10K. How far I've come! I felt really great and strong and in control and loved the fact that I was pushing myself and seeing what I could do. I saw Greg across the road with our friend Landon and it was a nice boost to see them.

I think this was somewhere around 10K into the race

Just as I suspected, the rollers were not bothering me. They were not difficult inclines and the downhills that followed felt great to run down. Using different muscles was a big positive in my book and I was enjoying the challenge of the course.

Now, don't get me wrong. I knew this pace wasn't easy. I was putting it all out there and mentally telling myself I could keep running this for 26 miles. But I was under no illusion that it was definitive that I would be successful. The air was just plain wet. The pics all look like it rained the whole time as the ground was wet, but it was just overnight rain and mist that just never evaporated.

Third 5K in 26:55 and 8:40 pace, holding strong. 1:20:58 for the first 15K.

Fourth 5K in 26:49 and 8:38 pace and 1:47:47 for the first 20K.

This is about where it definitely was fatiguing me, but not horribly worrying me. I knew it wouldn't be easy and I'd likely be hurting big time at the end. But nonetheless, I kept my balls out and continued swinging for the fences.

Greg saw me at the halfway point and he could tell I wasn't my usual "happy face" Steph and it gave him pause. He knew it was hurting me now.

My first half was in 1:53:31, which just happens to be the third fastest half marathon I have ever run, stand alone or in a marathon. Third fastest, holy crap. And I still had 13.1 miles to run, and hopefully at a faster pace. I had hit the halfway point running 8:40 average pace, just a little under my target. It was BQ pace by a lot, so even if I maintained my pace I would have a BQ time by a few minutes. I couldn't complain about that.

This is the point where I started negotiating with myself. I was starting to have a hard time speeding up like I had planned, so I kept maintaining my pace as best as I could.

My fifth 5K was in 27:08, and 8:45 pace so I had slowed down. Not by a lot, but if I wanted a comfortable BQ cushion, I couldn't slow down anymore. My 25K time was 2:14:55. Crazy to think that the winning male would've already crossed the finish and the women weren't far behind. And here I was with nearly 11 miles to go.

The balls that I started with in Folsom were definitely starting to shrivel. Things were getting a bit hard, and this was kind of early for them to be getting hard. My left Achilles was most definitely bugging me, but not getting worse as the race progressed. I'm sure it affected my pace slightly. I'm not sure exactly when, but I know we got a few minutes of rain. It felt so good, but it didn't last nearly long enough. I wasn't feeling hot, but I wasn't cold either and I was desperately wishing for some cold. The air wasn't bugging me too much, but it's entirely possible my lungs were starting to rebel. My heartrate was definitely higher than I expected it to be, but rather than intentionally slow down like I did in Boston (so I could actually enjoy the experience and not suffer and hate it), I just kept running hard. Greg always tells me to just shut up and run and that's what I continued to do.

When Mile 17 came in at 9:15 after I took a longer time to make my way through the water stop, I knew that this was the point where either I try to run through this pain, or I cut myself some slack and protect my sub-4. HOW BAD DID I WANT THIS??

Sixth 5K was in 28:59 and 9:20 pace....I was now over 2 minutes off the 5k split I wanted to be at. I was running dangerously close to having the 3:50 pacer pass me and losing my BQ. My 30K time was 2:43:54.

It was at this point that I decided that I, in fact, did NOT want the BQ bad enough to suffer more than I was for 7+ more miles. I would still need to run some semblance of an 8:45 pace to squeak under 3:50, but my brain was having trouble doing math. At this point, hanging onto 9:15 miles hurt. BUT I was still running well enough to break 4 hours by a few minutes, so that's where my focus shifted. NO WAY was I going to see a 4 in my finish time.

Now, if I had really been thinking clearly, I would've thought about breaking 9 minute average pace, but hindsight is 20/20.

I saw Greg at 20 miles, along with some dinosaurs, and that provided a boost to me and my morale. I did give him a little pout and a thumbs down, but unfortunately that only served to really worry him about how I was doing. I held up four fingers as I passed in the hopes that he knew I was going for the sub-4, but he didn't really understood that's what I meant.

Thumbs down to losing my BQ

So poor Greg spent the next 6.2 miles of my journey worried that I was incredibly upset.

HECK NO I WASN'T UPSET! I was running a freaking marathon into downtown Sacramento and it was going to be my 3rd fastest by a long shot. I was going to be under 4 hours and it wasn't going to be an epic implosion, nor was I going to run any miles over 10 minute pace. I wasn't even going to give into walking, except to grab fuel as quickly as I could at the water stops.

Seventh 5K was in 29:36 and 9:36 pace. 35K was in 3:13:30.

But seriously, I haven't felt this much pain at the end of a marathon in a long time. Where was my rain? The sun tried to peak out of the clouds a couple times but mercifully went away just as quick as it came out. I still wasn't feeling particularly hot THANK GOD. Since my pace was slower, my heartrate dropped about 10 beats so I was breathing easier. But my legs were struggling. I kept giving myself all sorts of pep talks to keep moving, I kept looking at my time and how much longer I needed to run and reminding myself I was well on my way to breaking 4 hours by a long shot.

Coming across the American River at mile 22

As you get into Sacramento, you start running by all the numbered streets. I remember seeing numbers in the 50s and knew that we didn't make the turn towards the Capitol and the finish line until 8th Street. Good Lord, that's a lot of streets to count down, and they were going by SO SLOWLY. It seemed like it took forever for the numbers to get into the 30s, then the 20s, and then at that point, I was running on sheer will. My body HATED ME.

Eighth 5K was in 29:59. YIKES. I was still slowing, but it wasn't horrible. It was ugly, but not horrible. I was at 3:43:29, so basically with almost 1.4 miles to run I was almost at my original goal time of 3:45. OOPS.

Did I mention that the streets were going by so slowly? I started counting down the tenths of a mile at this point.

Making those last two turns, first onto 8th street and then towards the Capitol was the best feeling! Only I couldn't speed up in that last stretch and in the finish video that Greg took I look incredibly pathetic with all these people passing me. But that's what I was willing to give to finish this damn thing out.

I crossed the finish line in 3:56:50, with a 9:02 average pace. Oh, if only I had thought to speed up just enough to see 8:59 average pace. So, that's really the only regret I have.

Gosh, what a big finish line smile. Ha.

I mustered up a BLAZING 9:48 pace for the last 2.2 km. Just BLAZING, I tell you. My slowest split of the day was the final split.

I had myself a quick little cry on Greg's shoulder when I found him at the side of the finish chute, and got that out of my system. I wasn't disappointed, but I was just plain exhausted at the mental and physical effort it took to salvage some semblance of a good race after my A goal went out the window.

Recovery Coke, with rum hidden in it, of course

My 16th marathon was complete. It was my 3rd fastest and my 3rd sub-4. I am nearly 46 years old and can still crank out a good marathon time and be proud of myself. With the exception of the last mile, I did manage to continually improve my placing in the field.

My last four marathons have been my four fastest....my fastest half splits have come in these four races. I am learning how to truly race a marathon distance and pushing myself to see what I can do, without fear of failure. I had a 9:48 positive split in this race....BUT....

I'm really proud of myself.

This is a FAST field, and to see my placing be respectable was a big positive

I loved experiencing this weekend with this girl!

When I got back to Round Rock and was unpacking, I noticed that there was an energy gel still in my handheld. I shouldn't have had an extra gel, as I took four with me on the course and planned to take them every 5 miles. Apparently, I never took one after 15 miles. I was still hydrating with Nuun Endurance and getting calories that way, so it's hard to know if a lack of my final gel had any effect on how I felt. We will never know and I'm not going to dwell on what could've been. But I could still kick myself for forgetting to fuel at 20 miles. It's a rookie mistake to make.

Because my Achilles is still tender and needs a little rest, rather than running the Atlanta Marathon on March 1, I am downgrading to the half marathon. I need a bit of lower mileage right now and to give my brain a rest. Greg is going to run that half marathon with me and we are going to have a great time watching the Olympic Trials the day before, so I'm very much looking forward to the trip.

Greg had another surprise in store for me as well. Back in October I applied for guaranteed entry into the Chicago Marathon and was accepted, but Greg maintained that he was still retired from marathons. I joked that I might enter him into the lottery anyway, but I did not.

He posted this on Facebook on Thursday when they notified the lottery applicants of their status, sneaky man:

The man always keeps me on my toes.

Chicago training starts in June!