With an extra day in sunny California we take the kids and head to SeaWorld on Wednesday and LegoLand on Thursday. We are staying with my brother Mike and his wife Shirley and their many pets, it was great. My brothers Mike, Pat and Jeff are all running this marathon with us. With the family in town my diet continues to be junk and beer mostly. I never do this the week before a race I am typically Paleo to the end an absolutely no beer. Tammy and I had both resigned ourselves to a long painful run. Tammy wasn’t convinced that she was going to run the marathon until a day or two before. I think that I guilted her into running the event. We planned this as our first Marathon together and we planned to run the entire day together and I didn’t let her forget it.
We got a chance to visit Shirley's Crossfit box while we were out there, both Tammy and I represented well and winning our respective classes. I also did a quick Tabata treadmill on Friday to help keep everything moving. Saturday rounds the corner and the race is the next day. We spent the day with the family we even fit in a trip to the Pacific Ocean and got to play around in the Tide Pools. The kids had a great time. We had a big Spaghetti dinner and off to bed early. We planned to leave the house at 4:30AM the next morning.
Up early, a fast breakfast and out the door. We had a 45 minute drive to Huntington Beach for the race. We needed to be there about 6AM and we made it with no problems. It was clear while putting on my running gear that we didn’t pay this marathon much respect. I forgot a number of things; my compression socks, extra pouch for GU and I found out at the last minute that my iTunes didn’t have any music on it and my fancy ass Garmin watch stopped working right when we got to the start. Neither of us bothered to stretch we just lined up and got ready to go neither looking forward to the next 5 hours. The night before we agreed to follow the 4:20 pace group in hopes of keeping close to them and finishing between 4:30 and 4:45. We lined up right behind the the 4:20 group. I found Pandora on my phone but didn’t have any of my run mixes that have have ready to go but any music is better than none at this point.
The gun went off and we got started. It was nice and cool, perfect for a long run next to the ocean. Brother Pat started off with us and he stayed with us for the first mile or two before taking off. Mike was planning for a fast start and was following the 3:50 pace group. Brother Jeff was planning a run/walk strategy and planned to finish is 5:30 hours. Tammy and I have run together before, the Chicago half marathon Tammy pulled me through the entire race and we completed that one together but this was our first Marathon together. We were determined to stay together. Both of us have experienced issues fueling and taking in enough water on our previous marathons so we decided to focus on fueling for this race. I GU'ed at the beginning of the race and planned to GU every 30 minutes. Sadly with my watch not working I couldn’t time this well and Tam didn’t have her watch either.
We did our best and I fueled with GU's about every 4 miles. We got about 8 miles in and I could tell that we were running well. We had the 4:20 pace group behind us and we could see the 4 pace group in front of us. The day continued to be cool and mostly perfect. We were able to catch glimpses of my brothers at a number of points along the race. It was fun to be able to watch for and spot people that you know in a race. Around Mile 15 we caught up to Pat and he ran with us for a while before dropping back and resting some. Around 16 Tammy and I realized that we might be able to PR if we didn’t blow up. Mile 16 is too early to get excited. I crashed hard a mile 20 in the Chicago Marathon and Tammy had issues around mile 18 of her first marathon so we were cautiously optimistic.
Mile 20 came and we are both getting tried and maybe slowing from our pace about 10-15 seconds a mile but still running well. We were fueling well and looking like the PR is likely. At that point the 20 mile pace leader passes us so we get nervous that we are slowing down. I try to pick up the pace but Tammy holds us back and keep us consistent to our pace, probably a good thing we would have gone hard for a mile and crashed had we not stayed on pace. We have been walking the water stations and they are harder and harder to get going once stopped. Tam and I both have aches and pains settling in, Tam decides no more walking the water stations for her so we push on. The last 5 miles are right next to the ocean and really beautiful. The sun finally make an appearance and starts shinning bright and hot around mile 23 and I start heating up.
At mile 25 we can see and hear the finish line. Tammy takes the lead and starts pushing us faster than I wanted to go but we stayed on pace and sprint few hundred yards, well at a sprint speed after 26 miles. We officially finish at 4:18:22, a new PR for Tammy. This was great race for us both, neither of us hit the wall and our fuel worked well for us. We also believe that the nice cool weather played an important role in the whole thing. This was my best marathon, not by time, but my strongest run never having stopping to walk or stretch. Funny how when you expect the worst things just work out if you put the training in. It was great to run with Tam, there wasn't a lot of meaningful conversation but we were there to encourage each other and that means a lot.
Our official time and splits:
3 miles 28:18
6 miles 56:24
12.2 miles 1:56
20.9 miles 3:22
26.2 miles 4:18:22
Thanks to the CFWC coaches that helped us prepare and to couch Britt our CFE coach. We couldn't have done it without your help and support.
Recovery is slow for this one, no stretching pre race and crappy diet doesn’t help. I hope to start training again on Friday.
