Nurse on the Run

As most of you know (despite my super late race announcement!), I ran the Ocean Drive Marathon in Cape May, NJ on Sunday, March 27.  This was my seventh marathon and my second “small” marathon.  (Wisconsin was my first small marathon.)  If you would like to check out my goals for the race, you can read this post before moving on to what will probably be a marathon of a race report!  (I crack myself up…)

Saturday – Playing in Jersey

Living in NYC, you don’t really need a car for most purposes, but in order to travel to places like Cape May, NJ, it is easiest to have a car.  However, Megan (my marathon buddy for the weekend) and I both don’t own cars, so we rented one for the weekend.  After laughing at the hilarity of our tiny, tiny rented red Kia and the fact that neither of us have driven in awhile, we started on our way across the state of New Jersey to Cape May.  It took a few pit stops (we’re runners and we’re hydrating!) and we ended up taking the turnpike instead of the Garden State Parkway (oops?), but we made it to Wildwood, NJ (home of the expo) without much of a hitch.  We chatted about the race and our plan and the weather for most of the ride.

My career as a car model has officially ended.

Soon enough, we were in Wildwood and we headed into the tiny expo.  It was actually larger than I expected, with a couple vendors and a race trying to recruit some runners.  Definitely not on the scale of NYC or Chicago, but it did its job and you could buy some last minute gels if you needed to.  After grabbing our bibs and race tshirts (maroon, again?  I have a nice collection of maroon race tshirts…), we walked down the boardwalk to check out the fun that Wildwood has to offer.

Wildwood!

Reflective pictures…why not?

Course map…26.2 miles straight north.

Well, it turns out that in late March, the fun is limited.  90% of the stores were boarded up since the 2011 season hasn’t started yet, and the rides were definitely all closed.  It was a wee bit chilly and rather windy, but we made the most of it.  We actually make Jersey look pretty exciting:

We almost bought these for race day…

Marathon crew…Megan, me, Benny, and Fanny.

Then, we took jumping pictures.  Because they’re awesome.

Wildwood!

High five?

Ocean!

To loosen things up a bit, we practiced running on the beach:

Ferris wheel!

Check that stride!

After we got our fill of Jersey fun, we headed to the grocery store to stock up on necessities and then got to our place of residence in Cape May.  Megan’s family owns a couple houses that they rent out during beach season, but Cape May is pretty much vacant right now, so we got to stay in a huge house with all the amenities, two blocks from the start!  It was awesome.  It was probably around 5-6-ish when we finally got settled in, after which it was time to eat some dinner and relax.  We went with our own homemade concoctions.  I ended up making pasta with broccoli and red pepper (yes, an entire red pepper), sauce, and cheese…and Megan ate rice.  Yes, rice.  Pre-race fueling is a funny thing.

My dinner!

Megan’s bowl of rice…

After dinner, we watched some of March Madness and chatted more about the weather.  Earlier this week, the forecast was perfect.  It was predicted to be in the 40’s and sunny.  That took a turn for the worst when snow showers and 30 degrees was the forecast.  When we went to bed on Saturday night, that was still the case and I had no idea what I was going to wear.  The wind was also rumored to be an issue, and 30 and windy is much different than 30 and calm.  To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

I also started freaking out about the race on Saturday afternoon/night.  Despite awesome tweets of encouragement from all of you.  All of the tweets are way too long to post here, but I will get them up so I can remember them.  Having people believing in me and cheering me on really meant a lot to me.  Still, I went to bed with butterflies in my stomach about the coming morning.

Sunday – Marathon Morning

This marathon actually had a pretty late start as far as races goes…9 am!  I guess they don’t really have to worry about shutting down a huge city for the marathoners, since the marathon was really all that appeared to be going on in the town.  I woke up around 7 and started the general pre-race prep of coffee (yes yes, you know why), peanut butter toast with a banana, and some Gatorade.  Listened to my power songs.  (Currently:  So Much Love by The Rocket Summer and Foreverandever by David Crowder Band.)  Then, I spent a really long time trying to figure out what to wear for the race.  It was less than two hours until start time and I still had no idea what I wanted to wear.

So many options…

After putting on a few different outfits and running outside to see if I was too cold, I decided to run with tights, a short sleeve shirt, arm warmers, a headband, and gloves.  I really didn’t want to run in tights because my legs feel more free in shorts (and that whole “racing mentality” kicks in), but in the end it was a good idea because I think I would have been cold otherwise.  I’ve actually never worn arm warmers before (bought them on Friday!), but I don’t really have lightweight long sleeve running shirts sooo they worked out well.

NYC ladies running as ninjas.

Around 8:35 we headed over to the start (two blocks away!) and looked around for a bathroom (bad idea…long lines) before lining up with about ten minutes to go.  Having spent way too much time stalking past years results, we knew to line up near the front (no chip time, gun time only!)…we ended up in the second row.  The marathon and ten mile event started at the same time, and we noticed that people with yellow bibs were running the ten mile event.  I chatted shortly with the guy standing next me…he said he was running the ten mile, but had a marathon in a month.  I asked which one and he said Big Sur…I exclaimed, “Me too!” and told him I’d look for him in California.  Rob, if you’re out there, see you in warmer weather!

After a few short greetings and the National Anthem, it was go time.  26.2, here we come.

Marathon – Let’s Do This

So the gun when off (or air horn, or someone yelled…I don’t really remember), and we ran.  The plan was to start at 7:20-7:30 pace and go from there, but people took off from the start…combo of faster marathoners and those running the ten mile.  Megan and I planned to run together, although I had hopes of running a little faster…she didn’t want to go out quite as quick as I did.  As usually happens, we got out and our pace was a bit too quick.  Went out around 7:15 pace and didn’t really back down.  The weather was 30-ish, overcast, a little bit windy.  We just ran.  Somewhere within the first two miles, and another woman pulled up next to us and asked what kind of pace we wanted to run…we shared our thoughts with her and she told us that she was trained to run 7:30’s, but she ran a three hour marathon seven years ago.

Uhhhh, okay.  I was a little bit weary about her saying that, but I was running my own race so I just held on.  It was great to be running with a little pack, but in my head I told myself to hold my own.  Mile after mile clicked off.  Spectators were few and far between (although the beginning was one of the most populated areas), and I took the opportunity to wave at the police and firemen along the course.  (Why not?) 

The course was pretty much flat except the bridges that took us from town to town, but even those were limited to about five-six, and the climbs were that bad…nothing like the NYC bridges, and you get the downhill on the other side so it evens out.  We pretty much just ran along, sometimes mentioning that our pace was a little too fast, but our splits were more or less even.

Miles 1-10:  14:29 (7:15), 7:28, 7:06, 7:03, 7:24, 7:23, 7:16, 7:11, 7:14

Any mile that looks too fast registered as “short” on my garmin, and the slower ones were “longer” miles…as you can tell, they all pretty much average out to 7:15.  Not too terrible since I said I wanted to go out at 7:20’s.  Really not far off pace.

At mile ten, we passed by the ten mile finish up on the boardwalk in Wildwood.  Lots of spectators (well, it’s all relative) were around, but they all pretty much just stared at us as we passed through.  It did the whole “lifting up my arms” thing to try to prompt them to cheer a little bit…we were in the top five women at this point, and with so few runners, can’t you cheer them through??  We got a few yells, but soon enough it was quiet again.

Once the ten milers broke off, the runners were much more scarce.  Anyone who went out really fast had a reason…they were only running ten miles!  I would have gone out faster too.    Shortly after the ten mile mark, our pack of three passed the second place female…around the corner, we must have run past Megan’s (our newfound running buddy) husband, who told us the lead woman was 45 seconds ahead of us.  I was in no mood to lead a chase with over half the race to go, so we held our ground and slowly crept up on her.

The miles were still clicking off…went through the half at 1:35:10…uhhh.  That’s fast, people.  While I wish I could say that I was confident about my ability to replicate that in the back half…but I wasn’t.  I knew it was fast (although only 50 seconds off my plan?), but I just wanted to hold pace as long as I could.  The 7:15’s still felt okay, so along we went.

For those who don’t know, I usually eat Honey Stinger Energy Chews during races, as gels usually make me vomit.  (I’m a nurse, I can talk about anything…)  I do most of my long runs without any sort of nutrition, although I did practice eating them once.  Throughout this entire marathon, I maybe ate about 15 of them…that’s about 150 calories.  I was taking water at the water stops, which came in plastic cups…harder to squeeze in half and drink like I can normally do with paper cups!  The water stops were about every 2.5 miles, although I swear they seemed further than that just after the ten mile mark…and I really wanted water.

Around mile 14 we overtook the first place woman…she was running with headphones, a waist pack, and a hand held water bottle, and she had no clue we were coming.  When we first got on her heels, she sped up until she was about ten feet in front of us and held there.  We caught up to her again and she did the same thing…finally we passed her and she didn’t pursue.  Her race tactic seemed a little weird, but oh well.  And she seemed weighed down by all her stuff!!

We continued to chug along, and we hit a mini 3-4 block out and back…on our way “back,” some guy yelled from the other side, “You ladies are awesome!!”  Why yes, yes we are.  Then we hit mile sixteen and I didn’t feel all that awesome as I had been.  At a water stop, right around the 16th mile marker, I wasn’t as quick going through the stop and I fell behind Megan and Megan…and never caught up again.

Miles 11-16:  7:13, 7:34, 7:09, 7:13, 7:12, 7:17

Now I was running on my own.  I didn’t feel that bad, but I had a feeling it was going to be a long road to the finish.  Yes, single digit miles to go…I knew it was going to get tough (this is a marathon…), but I held on.  I noticed my pace dropped to around 7:30’s which was still acceptable.  I have a tendency to think that my race is going much poorer than it really did, and look back at my splits for the next few miles, it was really quite solid.  These miles were tougher on my own and I could see the Megans getting further and further ahead, but I don’t think I had it in me to keep up with them.  I told myself to keep with these 7:30’s and to keep moving…race was still under control.

All I wanted was to see the sign for mile 20.  Wanted it so bad.  I was still holding a good pace, but everything seemed to be going along so, so slow.  So few spectators were around, and when I did pass some, they wouldn’t cheer.  Really?  I mean…really?  I know this isn’t the NYC marathon, but still.

Okay, now time to be hypocritical.  I was getting really annoyed around mile 19-ish.  I was annoyed with people who didn’t cheer, I was annoyed with people who were whoop-whooping really loud.  I smiled and gave a little wave when they cheered, but I was downright grumpy at some point.

Miles 17-22:  7:26, 7:49 (long), 7:08 (short), 8:02, 16:03 (7:57…long)

Megan’s family was supposed to be spectating along the course, but the first time that I saw them was mile 18…they had some sort of a morning snafu (I think it was called breakfast?) and missed us earlier.  They were around quite often after that, every 1-2 miles…or other people knew my name!  It was nice to finally have someone cheering.  I thought I was getting warm so I threw my headband and gloves at them around mile 21…then I got cold.  Oops?  They snapped this picture from far away:

See how barren it was??

Not going to lie…after mile 22, it all went downhill.  And fast.  Meaning, I didn’t run very fast.  It hurt.  I hated it.  The mile marker for mile 23 is right at the base of the final bridge, and it got me.  I walked up it a little bit, did some power walking, started running again.  Since my pace had started to slow, some runners who passed me offered some encouragement, but my legs hurt and did NOT want to move.  I was so upset and was feeling defeated.  It didn’t help that the spectators were so, so few and far between at this point that I was pretty much alone.  I do most of my runs by myself, but when you’re running in NYC it’s not like you’re ever alone.

I was miserable.  Absolutely nothing was helping…my mental tricks didn’t do a thing.  I told myself:

• “One mile to go until two miles to go!”  Usually works.
• “Only 24 minutes left to run!”  That’s like nothing.
• “Think of everyone who is cheering for you!”  Sorry, didn’t help.
• “You’ve come SO far…don’t stop now.”  But wouldn’t stopping be easier?
• Every piece of twitter encouragement I’ve gotten in the past week.
• “The faster you run the sooner you’re done!”  Ugh, who cares?
• Sang (out loud…I was by myself), “I think I’m on the brink of something large, Maybe like the breaking of the dawn, Maybe like a match being lit, Or the sinking of a ship, letting go gives a better grip.”  Power song from above.

Not a single thing helped.  Call it pain, call it the wall, call it whatever you want.  I was done.  People started passing me, women started passing me.  One woman passed me and said, “I’m trying really hard not to puke right now.”  When she was about twenty yards in front of me, she yelled back, “You got this, keep going!”  She must have heard me mutter out loud, “This is horrible.”  I ended up walking at some point, and a woman behind me yelled, “Don’t walk now!  You’ve come too far to walk…you’ve got a great time, keep it up!”  Don’t you love runners?  We had no one else to cheer us on, so we helped each other.

I wish I could say I dug deep inside and pushed through.  But I didn’t.  My legs didn’t want to move at all.  I was running and walking and almost started crying.  I was disappointed in myself and how I was falling apart, but I knew quitting wasn’t an option so I pushed forward in my silly little shuffle.

Around mile 25-ish (just before?), I heard a voice saying, “Come on, Susan!”  It was Benny, who was on his way to a PR!  I was surprised to see him since he had plans to run slower, but a familiar face was good to see.  When I hit mile 25, I thought I would be excited…but I wasn’t.  The finish line still wasn’t close enough.  It only would have been close enough if it was behind me.  Let’s continue on. 

Miles 23-26.2:  8:24, 9:01, 9:15, 9:04, 1:24 (6:51)

I saw the 26th mile marker and tried to move faster.  Wasn’t happening.  My legs were spent.  I wanted to run, but was still doing a run/walk/shuffle.  Ugh.  Finally when I got to mile 26, I knew I was going to have to hurry up to run sub-3:20.  It pained me to think about that because I wasn’t pleased with how I was running.  I picked it up with whatever I had in my legs…they honestly could not go any faster.  At all.  I saw the seconds ticking away…3:19:56…57…58…59.  I crossed the line.  It was going to be close.  According to my watch, it was 3:19:59.  So nervous about the official results, but we had to wait to find out.

The Aftermath

After crossing the line, I was just happy to be done.  No overwhelming feeling that I had just PR’d, just glad to be finished.  Someone put a space blanket around me and I was standing in front of the volunteer giving out medals.  “I’d like one of those!” I told them, then joked that I’d come way too far for them to mess up my hair while they put it around my neck.  They laughed…maybe out of pity, maybe it was actually funny.

I found Megan and her family immediately after getting my goods…with a small marathon, the finish area chaos is quite limited.  Megan was the second woman, coming in at 3:14.  Congratulations were going all around.  I had mixed emotions about the race.

We did it!

We walked over to the hospitality tent where they had food and music and some heaters…we pretty much just wanted to wait around for the awards since we knew we were getting some.  (That’s cool!)  They had chicken broth, which is one of my favorite eats after a marathon…hot, salty goodness.  To avoid sitting, we danced a little bit to the music that they had playing.

  A little warmer now!

They had to wait for more age group finishers to come through the finish before announcing the results, so I took some time to head outside and call my parents.  As I was sitting outside, a girl walked up to me and waved…she looked familiar, but I couldn’t place who it was.  I got off the phone and she introduced herself as Nikki, a friend of my friend Monica…I had met her when she came up to visit Monica in December, which is why she looked familiar.  The guy next to her said, “And I’m Regular Joe Running!”  I knew he was going to be there and had tweeted that I was in the finish area if he was around, but it’s really funny that they knew each other!  They’re from Philly and talked on the way down about how they each knew a girl who was going to at the marathon…and then they realized they were talking about the same person!  Small world.  Joe had given me some pointers about the marathon (he’s ran Ocean Drive before), although like most things, I forget everything once the gun goes off, but I appreciate his help anyway.

  Twitter/blog meet up!

We waited around a little longer for the results, and I heard them announcing them as I ran back into the tent.  I had missed hearing Megan’s name called, but I was in time to hear the age group awards.  As they called my name, I listened intently for what time they had me down as, and they called out 3:19:58!  (Official website says 3:19:59.)  First in my age group!

I’m such a cheeseball.

Bling bling.

We received little plaques and arch supports from Strutz, a sponsor of the race.  Once we got our goods, we headed out!  It seemed like a long drive back to Cape May, which just goes to show how far a marathon really is.  The shower when I got back never felt so good.  We lounged around for a bit and then headed out to dinner.  Post-marathon beer?  Yes, please.

I may or may not have shared with the little guy.

We spent the night in Cape May before coming back to Manhattan on Monday.  (Perks of 12 hour shifts…long weekends without taking vacation!)   We found the local newspaper before heading back, as they had a little article about the marathon and names of the top finishers…check it out:

Let me know if you want my autograph.

We got back to NYC around 4pm, and after a shower I went for a long walk to stretch out my legs.  They’re feeling pretty good…better than my last few marathons, so I can’t complain about that.  Ran into Baker in the park…love seeing other runners out there, and I must admit that I was already jealous that people were out there running while I was walking!  Soon enough.

Final Stats

26.2 miles in 3:19:59, avg pace of 7:38

Overall Place:  51/737 (Top 6.9%)
Female Place:  7/283 (Top 2.4%)
Age Group:  1/67 (Top 1.4%)

Glamour Shots

#7

  First marathon award. 

Race Reflections

I would like to start this off by saying that this is my opinion about my race and my running.  This is not meant to reflect on anyone else’s running except for my own.  I’m entitled to my own opinions and this is what they are.

First of all…I’m not sure I liked the small marathon.  Yes, it was nice to win something (I’m fast, but I’m not that fast), so the only way I’m going to get an award like this is to head out of NYC.  So that’s pretty cool.  However, I really think that having spectators makes a difference and even though I do many runs solo, it would have been nice to have some more crowd support along the way, especially near the end.  (And especially if they had my sign with Testudo on it…)  The marathon is very much a mental game, and spectators definitely help when the going gets tough.  And trust me, it will get tough.  I’m planning on running NYC in the fall, so that will be a turnaround.

It was great having people to run with…I’ve never actually started a race with a plan to run with people, but it was nice to have Megan and Megan around for 16 miles.  I just wish I could have stuck with them.  For the record, I’m terrible at racing.  I was bad at it when I ran cross country and track in high school, and I didn’t have the drive to try and stick with them…I mean, they were first and second! 

The weather…I thought that it was a little bit too windy, although others familiar with the race say that the wind was actually quite calm compared to other years.  It was also a little chilly…would have liked to run in shorts, but with a late March marathon, you never quite know what you’re going to get.

Now, about the race.  Yes, it was a personal record…by just shy of three minutes!  I ran sub-3:20 by the skin of my teeth (but sub-3:20 is sub-3:20 and the clock says 3:19 so it’s allll mine!).  I’ve taken 14 minutes off my marathon PR in the past two years, and that includes a year of washout due to injury.  Yet for some reason, I’m not thrilled.  I honestly, honestly thought I could have run faster.  Whether that was all in my head or I was actually trained to run faster is another discussion for another day, but I really thought I had it in me.  Which is why I’m not jumping for joy with a PR.

And I absolutely hate that I’m saying that.

I keep telling myself, “Susan, who are you that you aren’t happy with a PR?  Get over yourself.”  Really.  I feel like some sort of elitist when I say that.  I know that I can run fast.  I know that a three minute PR is nothing to sneeze at.  3:19 is an awesome time.  One 7:38 mile repeated 26.2 times?  Some people dream of that.

I’m just disappointed in myself, I guess.  I know that I have no reason to be.  It’s not like I quit on the course.  I went for it and it didn’t happen.  My legs didn’t have it in them.  A marathon is a long way to go and you never know what will happen.  I’m pleased overall, but I had hoped for more.  Another one in the books.

what’s next?

More training.  More work.  Another marathon.  I’m not done, and I know big things are in store…sometimes it just takes longer to get there than you want.  I will run 3:15 (and 3:10) someday.  And you’ll be here to see it happen. 

thanks to you

As always, the support you all give me through comments, tweets, emails, text messages, and facebook never fail to amaze.  At any sign of doubt, twitter blew up with words of encouragement.  Congratulations flowed in after the race.  I’m so lucky to have so many people who are interested in my running, who run with me, who encourage and inspire me.  I’m ready for what’s next and I hope you’ll be a part of it.