Rocket City Marathon 2015 Race Report

It's always such a full-circle experience to return to the Rocket City Marathon, as it was my first one 14 years ago!  On Saturday, December 12, 2015, it was also my 33rd marathon!  I was co-leader of the 4:00 pace group with friend and fellow Fleet Feet Racing teammate, Christy Scott.

Pre-Race

Our expo is held at the VBC in the South Hall.  I headed over there around noon on Friday, December 11 to get my race packet and pace sign.  Everyone was talking about the record breaking warm temperatures.  The temperature was expected to start in the 50's and get up to the 70's during the race.  

Saturday morning began for me at 2:30 a.m., when I woke up and could not go back to sleep!  Rick had to get up at 3:00 to get ready for his course sentry responsibilities, so I lay in the bed listening for him to wake up and then listening to him as he got ready and left.  At 4:00 a.m., after tossing and turning forever, I decided to just get up.  I showered, ate a FigBar and drank some Gatorade.  My stomach was in knots and upset.  I took Tums and Pepto chewables and hoped for the best.

I got my baby up and nursed her (at 18 months, she still nurses in the mornings).  I left at 5:40 to bring her to my sister's house (the older 2 kids were already there sleeping).  I handed her off, picked up friends Alison and Susan (both first time marathoners!), and headed to the race.  We arrived around 6:30 a.m., not leaving too much time for bathroom visits with a 7:00 a.m. start!  The race begins at the VBC, so there are tons of bathrooms inside to use.  I much prefer them to port-a-potties!

The Race

I found my friend, Christy Scott, and we held up our pace signs and chatted with runners.  A common question was whether or not the signs are heavy.  After pacing for 5 years, I can honestly say that carrying the sign is not a problem; however, this year the dowels were larger.  Simply carrying the sign lower for most of the race solved that problem, though I made sure to raise it up for spectators and photographers!  FF teammate Marty Clark joined our pace group with his friend.  Marty was planning to pace his friend for a 4:00 time.  

Off We Go!  First Half--Easy Going: 9:16, 8:57, 9:03, 9:11, 8:58, 9:08, 8:56, 9:04, 9:12, 9:00, 18:19 (Miles 11 and 12), 9:15

We were aiming to finish around 3:59 (a 9:06 mile).  We didn't focus too much on getting exactly 9:06 for each mile.  In fact, we were pretty relaxed about the whole thing.  Seasoned.  Before the start, one girl asked us how we keep the pace, and we both had trouble verbalizing it right away.  You just know.  You can feel it (and of course, you rely on watches and Garmins!).  Our half split was right on at 1:59:26.

During the first half, I chatted with 3 of my neighbors who were also running today--and they all started with our group!  We also made conversation with the other runners.  Runners like to know if we are on pace, so we made sure we announced that at every mile marker.  The first half of the course is mostly run in neighborhoods, some of them in our historic downtown.  Then at the halfway point, the course takes you back to the VBC, so we enjoyed a large cheering section and the satisfaction that we were halfway to our goal.  

Photos courtesy of We Run Huntsville

Second Half--Quick Changes: 9:04, 9:09, 9:00, 8:52, 9:06, 9:05, 9:01, 9:11, 8:48, 8:51, 9:02, 11:52 (Mile 26 and .2)

Mile 15 takes you on a long straight section on 9th Avenue, parallel to Interstate I-565 and close enough to see the cars whizzing by.  This section is pretty boring, but I like it because I know my favorite spot--the Space and Rocket Center--is coming up.  As I was running this section next to Christy she suddenly said, "Katie, I'm going to have to walk for a bit."  Before I knew what was happening, she had fallen back and I was the only pacer.  This is the hard part of pacing--you have to stay on pace.  I couldn't wait on her or stop and ask her if she was okay.  I had to go on.  I'm realizing all of this in my head and holding up my pacer sign high, hoping she could see it from where she was, when I felt someone hit my sign.  It was Marty, holding Christy's sign!  I was relieved that he had taken her sign but disappointed because I knew that meant she wasn't coming back with us.

As we headed into the Space and Rocket Center (you go around their parking lot and then through the Rocket Park behind the museum), I distracted myself with some songs in my head (I liked "Eye of the Tiger" by Katy Perry and "I Know I Can" by Nas today!).  I was more concerned about pace than I was before because Christy wasn't with me and she had a Garmin (I only had my stop watch).  It's easy to feel a pace when you are fresh, but as you tire it gets harder to judge pace based on feel alone!  I made sure to look for photographers near the rockets--they make great backdrops for the Rocket City Marathon!

I loved the section where we run behind the Space and Rocket Center on a gravel trail, and I love the Botanical Gardens (we were welcomed into this section by a lady in a huge butterfly costume who was dancing--awesome!).  As I left the Gardens, I was given a baggie filled with ice water which felt so good and cool.  I held it in my hand, put it on my head and face, and then poured it into my water bottle to drink.  I'm holding the baggie in the picture below.

I had been eating Gu (they offered it at several aid stations along the course--not just the 3 places listed at packet pickup), some chews, orange slices, and a pretzel offered to me along the course.  I'd also had lots of water and Gatorade.  Taking my second dose of Advil around Mile 15 was a crucial move for me since I'd had lots of leg pain/cramping in Columbus.  

The last 5K of the race went well, and it was hard to hold back from running faster.  Marty and I still wanted to be on pace.  He and his friend plus a few people here and there were the only ones still at our pace.  We passed many people walking by this point and left many people too.  I don't normally drink while I run, but I took a beer offered around Mile 23 and enjoyed the excited cheers from the Hashers.

I knew we were well under pace as we approached the finish line, so I slowed for the last mile + .2 though Marty went ahead.  I wanted to be close to 3:59.  This picture shows how wet my hair was--from sweat and the water I'd been throwing on my head at every aid station!  I am in the finisher's tunnel here, only feet away from the finish inside the VBC.

I love our finish line!  I could hear and see the people cheering.  If you enlarge this picture, I like how there is a man in the background just smiling at me as I finish.  People were saying, "Good job, right on pace."  My official time was 3:58:29 (chip).

 

I grabbed my mylar blanket and medal from the volunteers and headed to get food.  Three people came up to thank me for pacing them at the end!  Chicken noodle soup sounded delicious and salty so I took some.  I sat down to watch the finishers and eat a little.  I knew I didn't have long because I needed to get back to my kids.  

Reflection

Only 5 weeks after my last marathon which was a real low for me, I ran right on pace today and felt good for the entire race.  Since the weather conditions were similar, I think the experience I had at Columbus helped prepare me for today.  I dealt with the warm temperatures better than I might have without my Columbus race.

My fellow pacer, Christy, finished in 4:10 and did amazing dealing with nausea but still pressing on.  Seeing Marty take her sign left me with a feeling of appreciation for our team and for what we do for each other.  Our Huntsville community of runners is like no other!

I learned about pacing and came to a new appreciation for this task.  Feeling responsible for the pace group helped me to stay on pace through some of my lower points towards the end of the marathon.  I felt an obligation to the runners who were counting on us.

I also learned not to be so hard on myself about the past years' pacing experiences.  We all are doing the best we can, learning and running and pacing.  Today things came together for me, but I know that it would have been okay if they hadn't. 

In the News

A friend shared this link with me and said she recognized me!  It's an article about The 50 Best Races in America.  Rocket City is listed and has a picture of Rick and me at Rocket City in 2012, the year we paced together.   Here's the picture:

Pacer Recaps: I've Learned LOTS

Rocket City Marathon Pacer Years and Paces

2010 4:15 pacer

2011 3:55 pacer

2012 3:45 pacer

2014 4:10 pacer

2015 4:00 pacer--this Saturday!

This Saturday, I'll be attempting the task of pacer for my 5th time.  Pacing is all about when you finish.  It is best to be right under pace (15-30 seconds under) and never over even by 1 second!  In 2010 I finished too slow, and in 2011 I was too fast.  Pacing was new and challenging to me.  Plus I was running alone (now we have 2 pacers per group which helps me a lot).  I wasn't using my key tool that I recommend to anyone wanting to run a certain pace: a pace bracelet.  The bracelet (I tape mine to my pacer sign) will tell you the pace you should have for each mile.  This is crucial!  If only I had known this.  I mistakenly thought that the Garmin (with overall and lap pace) would be all I needed. Wrong.  You will probably run OVER the marathon distance, so over relying on the Garmin will only mess you up.

With Rick's help in 2012, we ran an awesome race and finished perfectly.  In 2014, I also repeated a well-paced run (I never did the race recap for that marathon, oh well).

I liked rereading these because I can see how far I've come.  This task should feel easy to me on Saturday.  I'm trained, I know how to pace, and I've got a fellow teammate to help me with the group.
More later!

Family Fun at the Krispy Kreme Challenge, 2 Pi K, Autumn Chase, and Monte Sano 5 and 10 K

Running is a sport for our entire family.  We don't push our kids to participate in runs, but the older 2 (9 and 8 years old) are beginning to really enjoy it and ask to run races!  The baby is doing great just tagging along too.  Here are some of the things we've all been up to lately.

Krispy Kreme Challenge

My family participated in the UCP Krispy Kreme Challenge on Saturday, November 21.  This was our first year to go as a team.  Our challenge was to run 2 miles to Krispy Kreme, together finish a dozen donuts, and run back 2 miles to the finish.  

Since my daughter is only 8, she hadn't run 4 miles in a race yet.  This was her first time.  She told me she wanted to try it, so I went ahead and signed her up.  She was so cute and was coming up with a time goal before the race (by multiplying her 1 mile time by 4, which I told her is not how it works!).  We were not concerned about our times today, but she seems very goal-driven.  She doesn't like to eat and run, so for fun we called the baby her "sub" for the eating part of the challenge.  

My son who's 9 has run this race the last 2 years with me.  After carefully reading about the prohibited items and not seeing anything about a jogging stroller, my husband and I agreed that the baby could come and be pushed by Rick during the race.

The kids sprinted ahead of us at the start.  We were in the back with the stroller.

My son and I finished the first 2 mile run and waited for Rick and the girls to come to the KK parking lot.  We had our box of doughnuts waiting.  

We ate all the doughnuts!  What an fun way to bond as a family!

Our doughnut totals:

Rick: 5, Our son: 4, me: almost 3, the baby: 4 bites of mine  

Then we ran back to the finish line.  All of us ran the entire race!  The baby doesn't look fazed at all about the run.  She loves the stroller!  We received green finisher's shirts and were happy to accept another couple of boxes of doughnuts to take home as the race ended (if you do this race, they give away lots of boxes of doughnuts after the Doughnut Eating Contest, so stay and claim some if you haven't had your fill yet!).

2 Pi K Race

Here is a picture from back on October 7 at the 2 Pi K Race.  This is a small race on the Redstone Arsenal one day after work.  My son and I ran this race together while the rest of our family watched.  He did great and ran the entire thing (2 Pi K is 6.3 K which is just about 4 miles).  I finished first place female and then put the baby (who was missing her Mommy) on my back.  She and I came up to receive my award.  

Autumn Chase

This is a family picture from the Autumn Chase races.  We always have fun at these races.  My kids run, and Rick and I volunteer.  They chose to use this picture as the cover of the HTC newsletter for this quarter.  It was such a special surprise for all of us!

Monte Sano 5 and 10 K

We all volunteered at the Monte Sano 5 and 10 K back on September 5.  

I love the picture of all of us!

Soldier Marathon 2015 Race Report

Friday, November 6, 2015

My family left Madison, AL and headed to Columbus, GA at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, November 6, 2015.  The drive was about 4 hours (but we lost an hour on the way).  We arrived at the packet pickup at the National Infantry Museum right around 5:00 p.m. their time.  The museum was closed, but we were able to look around outside and to see the Avenue of Flags and their Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall.  We watched a kids' marathon there that looked like a lot of fun.  We headed to our hotel (about 15 minutes away) and grabbed Panda Express for dinner on the way.

 I am standing in the Avenue of Flags.  The start/finish area is behind me.  

The Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall is to the far left in this picture.

Saturday, November 7

We woke up early (I was up at 5:45 a.m., which felt like 4:45 our time).  Well, I was actually up most of the night.  Our baby was in a pack and play for the first time ever (she's 16.5 months and this is her first overnight trip).  She did well until 4 a.m. when she woke up crying.  I was already up tossing and turning, so I nursed her and kept her in our bed.  At 5:45, I was relieved to be able to finally get up, shower, and prepare for the race.  We woke up the kids at 6:15 and were in the car around 6:35 a.m.

Traffic to get to the marathon was heavy and at an almost standstill.  The race started at 7:30, and at 7:15 I was still in the car a 1/2 mile away and not moving!  Finally, we pulled into a parking lot and I raced to the start.  Rick ran up behind me with the kids as I was walking and trying to scarf down a Honey Stringer waffle.  He served as my "gear check," so no need for a checked bag!  When I think of Rick, I am reminded of this quote by Daniel Bennett from the Soldier Marathon FB page:  "I encourage you to play an active role in enhancing someone else's participatory experience."  Rick, who is usually at my side as a fellow runner, was injured and unable to run today, so instead he was my biggest fan and supporter.  For someone who's used to not having any support on my marathons, knowing that Rick and the kids were there meant so much to me.

I tucked in with the runners at the 8:00 pace sign and waited about 10 minutes until the race began.  It was a close call, but I'd made it!  As I waited for the start, I looked down and noticed a mosquito bite on my leg.  The conditions here today were humid and warm (70's).  The area was swamp-like, with Spanish moss on the trees and even an alligator habitat along the course near the river!  With a cannon's loud "BOOM!," the race began.

First Half: Right on Pace

7:36, 7:42, 8:04, 7:52, 8:04, 8:10, 8:06, 7:54, 8:06, 8:14, 8:14, 8:03, 8:08

I saw the 3:25 pacer ahead of me as the race began, and our first couple of miles were a tad fast.  No congestion at the start was nice (The marathon had around 500 finishers, but the half started with us with almost 1,000 finishers.  There was also a 5K which started right after our start).  I was running with only a stopwatch and no Garmin, so I had trouble judging my pace at the beginning but was aiming to stay at 8:00 the entire race.  Mile 2 held Drill Hill, complete with a drill sergeant barking at us to go faster up the hill!  

This part of the course led us around Fort Benning, so we saw lots of the army housing and soldiers stationed at frequent intervals.  I felt pretty warm, but I was still feeling like the running was easy.  I had a chocolate Gu offered in Mile 6 and a salted caramel one at Mile 10, and I poured water on my head at every water station, hoping to cool off a bit.  I made it through the first half perfectly paced for a 3:30 (half split was 1:45).

Photo courtesy of FB Soldier Marathon site

Second Half: Let the Excuses Begin

8:45, 8:49, 9:33, 9;04, 9:12, 10:33, 17:51 (OUCH!), 10:14, 9:07, 12:15, 9:17, 9:33, 10:49 (1+.2)

We ran a lot of miles on the Riverwalk by the Chattahoochee River.  It was so pretty with all of the water and the changing leaves.  It was such a relief to not have rain (they'd predicted thunderstorms and even posted a severe weather policy on their FB site in case a delay or cancellation was needed).  I told myself to enjoy this day and the opportunity I had to run.  It was a little lonely for the early teens and I began to wish I had brought music (something I never use in marathons).  

I began to know that I would not be able to get the 3:30 right after I finished Mile 13.  I just knew I didn't have it in me today.  It was easy to list the odds stacked up against me in this race: stomach bug over the last 2 weeks and no appetite or energy, Rick being on travel while I cared for all of the kids while they were sick, not well hydrated since my stomach had still not been taking liquids well, more frequent nursing from my sick baby, lack of sleep the night before the race, endless chaffing along my bra seams that I cannot seem to stop, and warm conditions.  I'd also gotten this weird feeling in my right ear, just like what you get when you swim and water gets in your ear.  I've had this happen only once before, on a hot long run.  This wasn't good.  But this was my chance!  Couldn't I push through all of this?  Wasn't I tougher?

Seeing Rick and the kids at Mile 15 was a highlight of my race, but it also made me want to stop and quit.  I wanted Rick to drive me back to the hotel and just call it a day.  

Here I am when Rick and kids saw me at Mile 15.

What Rick didn't see was me crouching down on the grass near the street shortly after I'd left him.  I knew I could not hold my pace anymore, and I looked back at them longingly, wanting to go back to them and drop out.  When I finally made it to Mile 16, I was surprised that even with my stop that mile was only 9:33.  

We passed some type of barbecue festival to our right as we ran near the city, and we ran through a marching band at one point!  I'm not sure why they were on our course?  I also remember running through lots of parking lots with uneven footing and feeling a little confused about where to go for some of the course.  I was struggling to maintain 9:00 miles.  

When I saw Rick at Mile 20, it was another surprise for me!  I didn't except to see him at either place along the course.  How I wanted to just stop!  I shouted, "Expect me in 3:45 or slower!"  He knew what this meant.  I was now just running to finish.  I had officially tossed my goal out of the window.

After I left my cheering crew, I just gave up.  I stopped, crouched to relieve some of my legs' soreness, and began to walk.  Mile 20 was 17:51--one of my slowest marathon miles ever.  I texted Rick, "Talk me out of the DNF," to which he wrote back a flurry of inspiration and also started tracking me with my phone.  He wrote, "You aren't a quitter.  That is not who you are.  You are tough!  You finish what you start.  Finish this thing!"  

Shortly after that, I came to an aid station that some man had set up (I don't think it was an official one).  He had all sorts of stuff, and I stopped to fill up my water bottle (which I carried because of the warm conditions).  I asked if he had Advil, and he did!  So I took 2.  I told him my legs were really tight, so he offered me some pretzels to give me the salt I would need to hopefully avoid cramping.  I continued on, thankful for that wonderful stop.  I ate some caffeinated Sportsbeans and did some walking over the next few miles, knowing that now even the 3:45 time was gone.  Then the 3:50.  When I got to Mile 23, I knew I had 32 minutes left to get a sub 4, so I ran as much as I could for those 3 miles, and they were all sub 10 which felt like a victory for me.

Finally, we were on the last mile, a long, straight stretch on Lumpkin Road (the same road we drove in on that morning in the standstill traffic).  So I knew I had a long way to go as I chugged along.  Then, I got to turn the corner and could see the finish!  I knew I was almost done.  I heard a guy shouting about finishing sub 4, and I sprinted to the finish line.  I saw my family cheering for me!  I finished in 3:59:26 (chip time), 81/523.

I grabbed food and immediately went to lay down in the field behind the finish line.  The Planet Pop they gave me was delicious!  I also had water and a Diet Coke!  After cleaning up a little, I walked through the National Infantry Museum (seemed odd that they were letting us walk through it all sweaty, but this was our chance so we took it).

From a news article I found online, which validated my thoughts that the warm conditions played a part in the way my race turned out today:

More than 2,000 runners participated in the Sixth Annual Soldier Marathon on Saturday.  Race director Cecil Cheves said this marathon is an opportunity for the community to give back to the military community.

This year, the humidity was the highest it has ever been during a Soldier Marathon, which experts said added 10 to 15 minutes to a runner’s time.  

My feet were so water-logged when I got back to the hotel, so I had one of the kids snap this picture.

And where do you put smelly, wet shoes when your toddler wants to wear everyone's shoes?  Why, on the lamp way up high over her head, of course.

We headed back to the Chattahoochee River to see the urban whitewater rapids at this place called the Island, shopped at a mall briefly, ate Firehouse subs for a late lunch/early dinner, watched lots of cable t.v. (luxury to us non-cable people!), and grabbed more popsicles at Planet Pop that night.  The next day, we headed to Auburn to tour my alma mater.  The rain they had forecasted for race day came a day late, and we all ended up wet.

Final Thoughts

Even though I did not get my time at this race, it still marked the return of something I love to do: traveling the country and running marathons.  As I do more and more of these and get older and older, I am sure I will have many more races that don't go my way---and hopefully a few that do.  It is the hope of these "mountain-top" marathon moments that keeps us coming back for more.  I am so thankful to be able to race, and I have to take the good with the bad.  No, it was not my day out there, but I pray that there will be other opportunities.  

I plan to pace the 4:00 group at the Rocket City Marathon next month.  I will hopefully be able to get within seconds of the time I got in the Soldier Marathon, with a much differently paced race, of course.

Soldier Marathon Quick Update

So this is not the time I wanted, but I am still pretty happy with the finish.  I had a lot of negative self-talk in this race and honestly almost dropped out several times.  It's why I love the marathon so much---it takes you to your highest highs in some races and your lowest lows in others.  It's such a roller coaster and you never know what you will find when you start the race.  I'm done with Marathon #32 and still have much to learn about me AND this distance.  More later!

Tapering--Marathon this Saturday!

Well, as they say, the hay's in the barn.  I finished Hal Higdon's Advanced 1 Marathon Training Program for this Saturday's marathon!  I only have 2 rest days and a Friday 2 miler to go!  I guess I'd give myself a grade of a B for this training.  I dug deep for dark solo long runs starting at 3:30 a.m., and I ran 10 mile pace runs with the stroller.  But I got to where I could not do the middle of the week "hard" run (either hills, tempo, or speedwork), so I started to skip it.  I did that at least 4 times for various reasons (isn't it easy to find an excuse when you really don't want to do something?).  I did finish the last speedwork today and nailed it (4x400s), but the thoughts of doubt still loom in my head from the missed workouts.

Then this past week my whole family has had the stomach bug!  I was planning on doing some core work with Jillian Michael's DVDs, but when the bug hit me a week ago I lost my appetite for days and had no energy.  I played around with some of the mileage for the first week of the taper, fitting in short runs when I felt well enough to do them, skipping them when I did not.  I could not even look at the healthy food I had bought to eat and instead ate Saltines and drank Gatorade.  Now with only 4 days to go, I am trying to hydrate and resume eating.

Then there's the weather report--lots of rain forecast for Columbus, GA the morning of the marathon.  Time for me to start mentally preparing for running in the rain.  I remain hopeful that I can meet my goal, but I also know that there are a lot of things I can't control, and this is one of them.

More after the race!