Drake Well Marathon – my first marathon

Drakewell Marathon – My first marathon

We left Friday afternoon to head out for the race to be on Sunday.  I ran on Tuesday before and had planned to go for a short run on Thursday and maybe Friday.  Well, didn’t make the Thursday run as I went to my sister’s house and was going to run there, but my nephew wound up needing stitches and things just got off track and then didn’t make Friday’s run either because we just ran out of time trying to get all of us packed and out the door.  Plus we got lost in Ohio on our way there so needless to say I was a little nervous about running this having not ran since Tuesday.  At that point though I was glad to be running it and figured I’d cross my fingers and hope for the best.

We get into Pennsylvania and all I can say is holy hills!  We were driving my husband’s RV/converted school bus to the race.  This thing is big and old.  As we are driving into Titusville I start hearing my husband grumbling about getting this bus up the hill.  And let’s just say that bus really was struggling to get up the hill.  We go up hill and down hill and up hill and down hill and up and down and I tell my husband to stop talking about the hills that I was trying to block that out of my head and pretend they don’t exist.  He responds with a “good luck with that one”.  Which with the amount of hills I was not doing a good job blocking that out of my head.

We arrive in Titusville and find the pasta dinner without too much trouble.  I ditched the hubby and kids for that and had a really nice time.  I got to meet Dane there and a few other runners.  All of them did a nice job humoring me and listening to my nervous chatter. Every single runner I met was very nice, encouraging, and positive. We got the map of the race route and planned to drive the route, but that kind of didn’t go as planned.  We were cruising along following the route until we stumble on this hill and we both look at it and know that the bus no way no how is going to make it up it. We then have to figure out how to back the bus up without hitting a house or a person or anything.  At this point the neighbors are all coming out and staring at us. I will just say the people of Titusville have to be the nicest, friendliest people.  One of the neighbors comes out, helps my husband back the bus up, and then offers to get in his car with his wife and drive to the start line so we can follow him.  We took him up on the offer and found the starting line and decided to give up on driving the route and head back to our campsite.

Sunday morning head to the race and start lining up.  I decided to stick towards the back because this was my first marathon and I didn’t know what to expect.  I wind up running with this girl and chatting with her for a while and we hit hill number one.  I was in I think position number 3 from last at this point.  That was a little discouraging, but hey I figured that the first 8 miles were hills and I didn’t want to wear myself out and not be able to finish.  Well mile number 2 (13.53 min) we pretty much walked most of it because it was nothing but one huge hill.  I did not feel any shame at all in walking as everyone was walking and it just seemed like a huge waste of energy to attempt to run that monster.  I made horrible time on that mile, but what can you do.  Mile 3 (10.34) I think was downhill because my time was much better on that one.  Mile 4 (13.52) was also insane, but at this point I was wanting to ditch the girl I was running with because she was kind of slowing me down.  I could tell from her talking that she was way more winded than me. We get over the monstrous hill there and proceed to mile 5.  Somewhere close to mile 6 I ran ahead of the girl I was running with and was hoping to make up for some lost time.  Besides I felt really good at this point because the worst of the hills were over and I usually have no problem running 11 minute miles so I was discouraged with my time at this point.  I didn’t have ambitious goals for my first marathon, but I was hoping to do it in under 5 hours.

Miles 6 through 15 nothing exciting.  I was feeling good and honestly really happy with myself as I was sure that I would finish it at this point and I actually started thinking I could hit under 5 hours – beginner’s thinking huh?

At mile 15 I started struggling a little bit and kept thinking just get to mile 16 and you’ll only have 10 miles left.  I should mention I was run/walking at this point, but still running a decent point of it.  I pretty much rotated running and walking with this race in general because it was so hilly.  Oh and I didn’t mention the heat and humidity either.  I hear that at the pasta dinner they were expecting the worst heat all summer or something like that – lovely.  That’s what I get for picking a race in the middle of August. The heat wasn’t horrid to me, but I was born and raised in Florida. The humidity on the other hand was really bad so that was not making for fun for the last half.  I finished mile 16 in 11.04 and was doing okay with my time so I am still thinking just maybe I will be able to get in under 5 hours.  Mile 17 went okay and the turn around point was at 17.5.  I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  I’m tired and hot, but sure I can finish it.  I really just wanted to be done, but was trying to block out how much further I had to go.  I think I was running 4 minutes walking 1 or something like that at this point. I get to mile 18.  At mile 18 I am struggling, but just want to get to mile 20.  I start saying in my head – run, run, run, salta, salta… Oh my God can’t believe that’s the mantra that came to me, but there you go.  My little Leo, my 3 year old, (who also picked my race number 33 since he likes 3) well he watches I think it’s Diego, but I don’t know one of those kids shows that likes to teach the kids Spanish.  Well he goes around saying that run, run, run, salta, salta so there you go that got me from mile 18 to 20.

Mile 20 I’m thinking yeah, I’m almost there, but knowing at the same time I got 6 more miles to go and I’m not stupid.  I know 6 miles is a good distance. I kind of got a second wind at mile 20 and was still able to run a decent part of it and finished in 12.16.  Mile 21 and 22 I was still plugging along, not at a great pace, but I was still able to run good stretches in between walking and finished those in 12.31 and 12.33.  By the time I finish mile 22 I know I am not finishing this race in under 5 hours and at this point my running was because it was hot, humid, sweaty, and my legs hurt and I wanted to be done.  I just kept telling myself the more you run the sooner you’ll be done and started playing the tree game.  You know the picking a tree and running to it.  I didn’t make it to all my trees, but it kept me moving along, slowly all be it, but moving.  Mile 24 and 25 I didn’t really care if I was walking most of it.  I tried to run as much as I could, but my legs were really not wanting to cooperate.  I was watching my watch and trying to run for a minute or two at least and that helped. I seen my husband at mile 25 and knew I was almost done, but wasn’t sure if I could pull out any more energy for the last mile.  I knew I wasn’t going to quit, but I didn’t want to walk so slow that I finished in 5 ½ hours.  I was hoping for 5:15 or anything less than 5:20 now. I still walked most of the last mile, but I did run some parts of it.  The race finished out at a track and dang it – it seemed like it should end there!  I really wanted it to end right there, but dag gone it for that .2 miles.  I had to run one loop around the track to be finished.  Of course that’s the part that everyone’s staring at you.  My kids are all there cheering me on waving at me and I’m thinking man I don’t want to be the big loser walking the track.  That was just the pressure I needed to finish and then I hear my name over the speaker thing and I swear I was feeling my eyes all tearing up trying not to cry.  It was the most amazing, incredible feeling crossing the line.  My final time was 5:17 something – gotta look up the exact time.  It wasn’t the time I was hoping for, but this was a tough course and I am really proud of myself for finishing it!  This was an awesome experience for me and I will definitely be running another one (at some point).

Here’s some photos from my race too.

Me and my cheering crew

Me at mile 25

Me at finish – my little one insists on shoving himself in all my pics. His first words were “I missed you mama.” when he found me at the finish.

Here’s my mile times for anyone interested. Thanks for reading and thanks so much all of you for the encouragement from everyone.

1 – 11.02
2 – 13.53
3 – 10.34
4 – 13.52
5 – 12.47
6 – 11.36
7 – 10.25
8 – 9.56
9 – 10.05
10 – 11.10
11 – 11.49
12 – 10.12
13 – 11.16
14 – 11.01
15 – 13.47
16 – 11.04
17 – 11.47
18 – 12.57
19 – 11.57
20 – 12.16
21 – 12.31
22 – 12.33
23 – 12.58
24 – 13.55
25 – 14.27
26 – 14.06