Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Flying Pig Marathon- My first Marathon

Sorry this is a long one!

What an experience! Sheri and I decided to leave around 1pm Saturday to set out on the 2hr drive to Cincinnati to the expo and pick up our bibs. That would leave us a good 4hrs to go through the expo except there was road work going on which led to one lane only and it took us over an hour to drive 6 miles~UGGHH!! We finally got through and to the expo at 5:30 and it was over at 7pm! What we did get to see of the expo was great, its the first one we have been too although I think we missed out on all the freebies because there was several empty booths but you could tell people had been there. But wow what great deals you can get at those expo's!

Us girls went up early and the husbands came up later so we decided to wait for them to go eat. They hit the same road work and didn't get there until about 9pm. The nerves of doing the marathon really hit me around Thursday and really had my stomach to pieces. This made me nervous about eating so late. We ate at Johnny Rockets and it was wonderful (or maybe I was just really hungry) the fries were hot and crispy ummm! Then back to the hotel ( a little less than great but perfect to sleep in just for the night!!) and by the time I showered it was already 11:45pm, the marathon started at 6:30am, the room was hot and the air wasn't working so needless to say there was little sleep. Got up around 4am ate a few peanut butter and crackers, loaded the rest of my music, got dressed, fixed my hair, saw the forecast of rain so I grabbed my hat, already had my belt loaded with GU, carried all of our stuff down and yep I still hadn't used the bathroom, this worried me as I always end up with GI issues during long runs! We had to walk about a mile to the start area which was a nice warm up and surprisingly enough I wasn't nervous as much as I thought I was going to be?!?!??? We we first stepped out it was perfect weather about 55* and still I didn't even feel like I needed my throw away shirt half way there and the wind started picking up and I was glad I still had my shirt:) and of course it started to rain.  (For my first half it was a terrible cold windy monsoon rain so of course it has to rain for my first full right??) It started as a light rain that wasn't so bad while we were waiting in the corral but about the time we took off it was more of a steady down pour!
Miles 1 - 6.8      Time 1:15:45 Pace 11:05
        Looking back unfortunately these were my best miles.  Another friend of ours (Sheri and mine) Carmen also ran this with us. On the way there her and I discuss what our goal pace was and we was both hoping for the same and had the same thoughts about starting out SLOW. I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with Sheri although I so BADLY wanted to, so I was glad I had another person to try to hang with. Like all races I always get caught up in the crowd and start out too fast, we were around 9:30 off and on during all these miles but not the entire time of course. I feel like I was way too up and down during these miles and have you ever heard of the HILLS in Cincinnati?? Except for the first little wind down at the beginning and the little flatness around 6 - 6.8 these miles were pretty much all up hill. I think around 3.5 - 4 we crossed a bridge over the Ohio River which swayed terrible with ALL the runners my stomach jumped up and down and I got a little dizzy ~ ugghh that wasn't very fun! The crowd support for this race is unreal! There is people everywhere and just about every couple of miles there is some type of entertainment like bands and such. During these miles there was mostly bands and since it was raining I can't say that I ever saw the bands but you could hear them! The greatest part was the end of this leg was through downtown area and there was hundreds and hundreds of people along the way. I told Carmen I felt like I was in a parade or something, it also didn't help with my crazy pace either!  By this time I couldn't see Sheri anymore and in my mind I was sending her good vibes:) Carmen also decided to get a water I wasn't ready so I just walked through to catch a little breath and wait for her but due to the crazy amount of people when I reached the end of the stop I still couldn't see her so I went finally went SLOW so I could hopefully find her again and sure enough she found me:)
Miles 6.9 - 13.1          Time 2:26:35   Pace 11:12
     These were some tough miles. Have you heard how many and how LONG the CRAZY HILLS are in Cincinnati?? Holy cow I didn't think the long winding hill to the break off point for the half marathoners would ever stop ~ oh but wait the full marathoners get to continue going up! I think it was during these miles at one of the water stops there was 2 men singing "Gatorade is in the green cups, Water in the white" it was way funny! During these miles I started loosing my steam and fast! I have been taking those crazy hills too fast and should have slowed way down a long time ago. Around 8.5 I pulled out my first GU but I was nervous about taking it due to not using the bathroom before the race so I just kind of sipped on it until I reached the water stop I think I only ended up doing half of it before I threw it down thinking I would wait and see how it does before I try to take anymore, this ended up being the only GU I took the entire time. Around 11.5 I told Carmen to keep on going I was going to walk a bit. That is when the wall started coming up for me:( I managed to run walk through till the half, Carmen had stopped for a potty break so she came up behind me with some great motivation "Come on Bobbie we are Half way there!" This was also about the time the fist spectator said "Good Job Bobbie" (names on bibs:) and that was awesome I pushed on!
Miles 13.2 - 19.7                     Time 3:54:02    Pace 11:53
     As you can tell by the pace ~ I had bombed out :( From 13.2 - 15 I tried to run walk the best I could. From 15 -17 I pushed myself to run at the very least a half mile before I would walk about a half mile. I must have really looked distressed, in every group of spectators at least one person yelled my name along with "Keep on You got this", Really? is all I could think cause I don't feel like I have got this. These miles had more rolling hills like I am used to and that really helped my push through I felt like I knew how to handle them until I reached the straight up hill at mile 17. That's when more walking than running began! And my mind really started wondering towards negative thoughts. There was a huge Bull Mastif dog on the sides and I really considered asking if I could ride him to the finish line. I had taken my music off so I decided to put it back on and just try, try the best I could. My feet were killing me from being wet and it had started to rain again. Why oh why am I doing this? Am I going to finish this? Do I want to finish this? YES, yes I am going to finish. I started crunching numbers and wondered if I could still finish under 5hrs, maybe just maybe.......
Miles 19.8 - 26.49 ?
     Once again most of these miles I walked, probably on average I walked about 9 - maybe 10 miles of the whole thing. Dangit! My feet were absolutely KILLING me by this point, my socks felt bunched up and I felt like I was walking on huge blisters. I considered taking my shoes off and just keep walking in my socks but I didn't like the thought of having to carry my shoes. I considered stopping at one of the medical tents and asking them to just take me back. I felt hungry yet not although I had ate a couple of orange slices and a twizzler and lots of water and Gatorade along the way, in fact I think I had too much water and Gatorade! I had a headache, my hamstrings were killing me and my back was awful painful. I just wanted to be done! I couldn't even enjoy the entertainment on these miles, there was a parrot head club, a belly dancer, hula hoopers and more that I don't remember. I was walking with a man who said he was going to run the last mile I told him I just didn't think I could, he didn't make it the entire mile either cause I caught back up to him! I was determined I was going to be running through the finish. My garmin was way off at each mile marker so I wasn't really sure when to start running again. I decided to start at 25.85 and hope for the best. Slow it was but I was doing it and I just wanted to keep going so it would just be over! Thankfully it was downhill, I still looked in distressed and a lady that had already finished saw me and said" Go Bobbie I promise it is just right down there! You ARE almost there!"  I said thanks and pushed on rounded a corner and could see the finish line! I could not even turn my head to look for my family or anyone I was just so focused on crossing that finish line! My husband saw me coming and jumped out there with me! He was crying and said how worried he was about me and asked me if I was okay, my reply "No, no I am not!" he said "It is right there you HAVE GOT THIS" and with that I pushed straight through that finish line!! (Can't wait to see how awful the look is on my face in my finish photo~ HA!)  Although I did not make it under 5hrs I am VERY PROUD to say that I finished! and when I looked at my garmin my mileage read 26.49!! So I finished my first marathon + in
                                                          5:33:09

What went wrong? Honestly I feel like I had not trained nearly enough. I just didn't have the endurance build up that is needed to complete something that large. And those hills, ugghh! Will I try it again? Not the Flying Pig and my first answer when it was over was never, never again! My answer now, not for a long time but I do see it as a possibility in the future!


Sheri and Me
Sheri, Carmen and Me

   

15 comments:

H Love said...

CONGRATS!! Way to go!!

RunToTheFinish said...

YOU DID IT!!! you are a marathon finisher!!! I know it's maybe not exactly how you hoped in your mind, but congrats!!!! hope the feet start feeling better

KovasP said...

First one is the toughest - now you know you can do it when you are ready again - Congrats!

Crystal said...

I am with you - I will never do the Pig period - half or full! Too many hills for me!

chris mcpeake said...

Awesome, Congrats.
THere is nothing like the first one

ajh said...

Congratulations on completing your first marathon! Thanks for commenting on my blog. Come back for some non humiliating posts!

Tricia said...

congrats!

BabyWeightMyFatAss said...

Congrats on the first one!!!

Caroline said...

Congrats
you are ALL my admiration for doing this!!!
be proud!

RunningWhit said...

Congrats on your first marathon!!!

Laura said...

Congrats Marathon Finisher!!! Way to push through and get it done!! You must feel proud now that it's all over :)

Stacie said...

Congrats!!!! I've been there. Rainy marathons are just not as fun. I'm still trying to break the 5 hour mark.

Anonymous said...

I HUGE congratulations. Your completed your first and a difficult one to say the least. Sunday was not the ideal race conditions either. I usually don't run the PIG as horrible as I did Sunday, but for you to go the Whole Hog is Incredible. Congrats again.

Stephanie F said...

CONGRATULATIONS! i just found your blog and i love it!

Karen Seal said...

Awesome job! Sorry about the hills and that you didn't feel as if you were trained enough. I still think you did a great job and you made me "lol" when you thought aobut riding the Bull Mastif to the finish line! Hah!