Race report: Rocket City Marathon, Huntsville, AL

State: 7 of 50

On September 14, I ran marathon #17 and pulled off a nice BQ time on a flat course in nice weather after training through the hot Georgia summer. With 12 additional weeks of training and cooler race day temps in mid-December, I felt sure I could beat this time at Rocket City and secure a better start spot for Boston in April. Instead of following my usual training plan which comes straight from Pete Pfitzinger's book, Advanced Marathoning, I decided to train with Jamie, a fastie friend who was aiming for a sub 3:20. Though I knew that particular finish time would not be in the cards for me, I still thought I could benefit from a little push in the intensity of my training. Her plan did not have quite as many weekly miles, but it did have several long runs which actually exceeded 26.2 miles. It also had two weekly speed work sessions with intervals of various lengths and reps.

I definitely did benefit from training with Jamie. She is one awesome cheerleader and is great at tricking me into doing things I was certain I could never do. In one run, we had three 1.5-mile intervals. In the last one, I stopped after only 1 mile to rest. She stopped, turned around, put her hands on her hips, and gave me her famous stare, demanding, "What exactly do you think you're doing?!!" Well, the guilt trip worked! I put on my big-girl panties and sucked it up to complete the interval. I learned then that it's much more effective to do them more slowly than you'd like than it is to go too fast and cut it short.

On the longest run we did, I managed to crank out 27 miles! The run was supposed to be 4 hours, but as you can see below, I cut it short by 5 minutes. I mean, stick a fork in me because I'M DONE!! Unfortunately, this was the first of several runs where I had a mild panic attack around mile 18. I'm not sure what triggered them, but they felt very real. Jamie managed to talk me down, and I managed to rally and finish the run. In spite of the inner trauma, I managed to negotiate with my mind and body and push through it. I'm still very proud of knocking this one out.

Jamie and I celebrated with a beer and a heaping mound of fries at Cherry Street.
As you can see, I had easily pre-burned enough calories!

After a warm, swift 21-miler, I needed a full 20-oz. coke to revive myself.

One of the factors that made this marathon extra special was that I got to run with some truly special ladies! Some say "I like to run with a fast crowd," and this race was no exception. Almost every day I go run on the Forsyth Greenway, and I almost never need to run alone. The ladies I run with every day are awesome in so many ways. Of the 14 of us who ran Rocket City together, 3 of us were first-timers (so therefore earned an automatic PR!), and almost everyone else has been to Boston at least once. Where else in the US can you find such a large group of fleet-footed female friends to run with every day of the week?

Here are some of us at the newly opened Halcyon development on a long training run.

And here we are after another long training run.

One of the runners in our group, Julie, decided to ask if we'd be interested in raising money for Camp Fire, a co-ed youth development organization whose programs emphasize camping and other outdoor activities for youth. Of course we were!  We then started our own text group to make plans for fundraising and for getting geared up to go big at Rocket City. Hilarious posts littered our thread!

8 of us made it out for a chilly pre-race run in our Camp Fire hats

On Friday, everyone piled into 4-5 vehicles and traveled 3.5 hours to get to packet pick-up together. All week we had obsessively checked the weather like the true marathon nuts that we are. Fortunately, the rain that had threatened earlier in the week had just passed through as we pulled into town, leaving us with a fairly optimal 43-degree start temperature for race morning. It was chilly as we pulled into town, and we hurried to pick up our race numbers so we could catch an early dinner.

I'm ready to rumble!

Finally, a photo with all 14 of us together, at the finish line which was indoors!

We had dinner at a local pizza place (though a couple of us brought in other fare). Then we headed back to our hotels to get organized and lay out our "flat runner" garb. I was lucky to stay with two marathon first-timers, so we got organized together and chatted about strategies while we charged our phones, watches, and earphones. I was a bit conflicted on what to wear. Since I tend to be on the chilly side, I decided I'd better wear my long-sleeved shirt over my tank top. Since I had not brought a headband or beanie, I decided to wear my Camp Fire hat. I have no regrets over that decision!

Race morning smiles! I got to be an honorary Mormon, with a throwaway BYU hoodie to keep me warm!

The marathon course had quite a few turns!

The elevation was not especially easy either. There were plenty of long inclines, even up to mile 22.

I was so thankful for a warm waiting area and flush toilets before the start of the race! At the last possible minute, we headed out into the cold and made our way to the start line. Krissy and Mary and I lined up together, but the 3:40 pacer was nowhere to be found! At about 30 seconds before the gun went off, I saw Mary, one of the other cold-natured runners like myself, pull off her throwaway layer. I decided that if she could shed hers, I could too. Additionally, I knew it was going to be a pain to pull a hoodie over my hat while I ran, so it would be better to take care of things on the front end.

I had barely finished getting the hoodie off and re-settled my hat when the gun went off. I saw Krissy sprint ahead quickly. I quickly got out of breath between trying to catch up with her and head up the hill that faced us from the very start. But by a quarter of a mile in, I decided to get my music going. That's when panic set in. I had inadvertently tossed them away because they were stuffed in the front pouch of the hoodie! So not only would I have no music on this run, but I had also just thrown away my awesome $130 Jaybird earphones. Ugh!!!

I quickly decided not to even try to keep up with Krissy because between the hill and the headphone debacle, my heart rate was seriously soaring. Instead, after a first mile at 7:56, I settled in to the 8:15 pace I was aiming for. In the second or third mile, there was a group singing the Hallelujah Chorus. As a "retired" long-time member of a choir, I felt inclined to spurt out tiny lines of the alto part with them. It truly did make my heart sing to hear it!

At about mile 5, I heard a female chatting vociferously behind me. I tilted my head and listened in, thinking I recognized the voice. Sure enough, it was Shane, one of our crew, who is known for entertaining us with great stories while running! She was animatedly chatting with our now accounted-for 3:40 pacer who had caught up. I pulled back slightly so I could run with them and hear more of the story. What I gleaned from the conversation (and from the details Shane filled in later) was that the poor guy had stayed in an AirBNB, and the neighbors thought there was something going on, so they pulled a gun on him! He still somehow made it to the race, though late and without his hydration belt. I instantly forgave him in my mind for not being there at the start. I started thinking it wouldn't matter anyway because I could already tell I was more tired than I ought to be, even though I was just at mile 8.

I reluctantly pulled back a bit and watched Shane and the pacer forge an ever-larger gap between us. As one who now had 17 marathons under her belt, I knew better than to push it too hard when I was only in the first half. So, I eased off, hoping that would help me be stronger in the final 10k.

Here's a clip from the first 10k split when I was actually feeling fairly good.

Unfortunately, at mile 10, I had to make a quick potty stop. One can't help these things. I just tried to make it quick. I didn't feel like I lost too much time in there. After that I just plugged along, staying at around an 8:30 pace through mile 15.

So my A goal was to get a 3:36 and would require an 8:15 average pace. But I decided that I would start with the 3:40 group (8:23 pace) and make the decision at the halfway point as to whether I would push it or not. I've actually had some decent negative splits when things came together well. My B goal was to beat my last marathon, which was a 3:42.

At mile 13, though, I was already feeling fairly beat up from the turns and the hills and the earphone debacle. I decided to run easily and just manage what I could. At mile 16, however, the course headed uphill for what seemed like an eternity. I broke into my first walk and felt very sad about that. It was waaaay to soon to be thinking about walking! The next 4 miles were just awful. The roads were fairly worn, and the course was not very scenic in these miles. I stopped looking at my watch altogether.

Here's a little clip where I headed downhill past a checkpoint at mile 19.3. Scroll to 1:06:42. These places always make me smile and run a little faster knowing that my friends tracking me are seeing some progress.
  

I reached the space and rocket center just before mile 20. Thankfully they chose a slight downhill spot to take photos, so they actually caught me both running and smiling. I had been here before with my son's Cub Scout troop, so the familiar surroundings were somewhat comforting.

I kept going from a run to a walk, thinking that the marathon was going to last forever at this rate. I tried to process what was causing me to feel so tired. My legs actually felt okay. It was my breathing and heart rate that were off.

Although the training cycle had been rigorous, and I'd logged plenty of extra-long runs, I felt that I had tapered a bit too long. I had an inkling this might not be my best race when back on Thanksgiving I had run a less than stellar 15k.

It's hard to know how and why things come together (or don't) sometimes, but I was not about to cry. I knew I'd finish one way or another, so I plugged on.

My form at this point was a sloppy mess.

But at least this girl and I managed to both smile!

At mile 24 or so, I caught sight of Krissy. I knew that she was probably feeling as disheartened as I was. I pulled up beside her and we just exchanged sympathetic smiles. We plugged along sort of together for that last long couple of miles.

Somewhere in that last mile, though, I saw the 3:55 pace group pass me, and I knew that even my C goal, a BQ time, was not going to be in the cards.

In spite of my sucky running for almost all of the last 10 miles of the race, I managed to pick it up just a little at mile 26 so I could smile for the camera and pose for the rare "floater" shot.

I was so relieved to know it would all be over soon!

I loved the indoor finish, although even the slight uphill into the civic center was almost unbearable.

Aaaand, we are done!!!!!! Marathon 18 and state 7 in the books!

I crossed the finish line with a sigh of relief, received my super-cool medal and space blanket, and then looked back to see where Krissy was. She looked like she might pass out, so I steered her to some chairs, gave her my space blanket. Then I went to get us some Gatorade, but when I got back she was gone. After searching for her a bit, I texted her and then went to pick up the very nice light-weight, quarter-zip finisher jacket they provided.

The next item on my agenda was to see if there was any way my earphones might still be in some discard pile somewhere, and that I might recover them from the sweatshirt mound. I found a husband and wife volunteer team and asked them for help. After searching a bit, they found it for me!!! I was so relieved to have them back and grateful for their help!

Next, I went to find the rest of the group. Natalie was busy capturing finish line videos, and the others were enjoying some post-race treats.

I wanted to stay longer, especially because I knew a few friends were getting awards, but between being chilled and feeling quite a bit down about my less than stellar race, I decided to head back to the hotel.

I felt better after getting a hot shower!

A couple of my friends were trying to track me, but they were unable to do so. When I looked up my stats, I saw the reason....

Although I had entered the data online myself when I signed up, I showed up as a male of unknown name and age. Ugh! However, they did manage to put me in the correct group to show me that I had missed an age-group award by one spot. Feeling dejected, yet vowing to work hard to make a serious come-back on my next marathon in March, I knew I would not let this race get me down for long.

After we got back to Atlanta, several of us met up to celebrate with dinner at Cincos

Just a quick postscript to say that I was not sore at all, and managed a 5-miler the very next day. Now I'm busy aiming to claim my next state, South Carolina, in early March, followed by my third Boston in April. Miles to run before I sleep...