Napa Marathon the Recap

This past Sunday I ran the second marathon of my running career, the Napa Valley Marathon.
Nick and I headed to Napa at about 1p.m. on Saturday to get checked in and stop by the expo to pick up my schwag, bib, and t-shirt.  I didn't know this when registering, but the Napa Marathon gives GREAT schwag!  I not only received a duffel bag in my favorite color (green), but I was presented with a plethora of samples and coupons.

After the excitement that was the expo, Nick and i headed to the hotel to nap, eat, and rest for the rest of the evening.  I placed all my clothes, trigger point roller, food, water bottle, and breakfast out on the table in the hotel ready for the 4a.m. wake-up call.  I was so excited, nervous, and worried that I woke up at 3a.m., but managed to force myself back to sleep until 4.

After getting myself together, eating a small breakfast, and heading to the finish line buses I was off.  The bus started at Vintage high school and drove us to the start line in Calistoga.  It is here where I would take care of bathroom business, meet my fellow fomo friends, and try to get some of my anxiety out of my system.

Then it was TIME...dun, dun, dun.  I just kept saying,"start slow, start slow."  We headed off and I trotted my way through the start line and tapped my garmin to start.  Illiana joined me for the first two miles chit chatting as I tried to get warmed up so I wouldn't blow up.  At mile 1.5/2ish I started to push and with each mile I started counting down in my head.  Now the Napa marathon is a NO HEADPHONES course, which was a huge challenge for me, and I thank all the spectators that brought music to the road it really kept me moving.


It was a gorgeous morning winding through the wineries, but at first the shade made it a bit hard to get warm.       We went up the first hill around mile 2 which I took pretty well.  I finished my first mile at 8:42, my second at 8:12 and then my third at 8:06.  I picked up the pace even more going downhill, but the one problem with the Napa Marathon is that the road is banked almost the whole way.  It either leans heavily to the right or heavily to the left so it is very difficult to cut the corners real tight and avoid my knees aching.  My legs felt good, but not great so I was a bit concerned, but I kept going mile 3 at 8:06, mile 4 at 8:02, mile 5 at 8:14, mile 6 at 8:16.

I popped a gu at mile 7 and even though my stomach had some problems with gu through my training I decided to stick with gu, but stick with flavors I've had good luck with in the past.  I brought 3 faithful vanilla flavors and one 2x caffeine orange vanilla roctane.  I pushed on 8:17, and mile 8 at 8:14.  My legs started to feel real heavy and I was overjoyed when I was greeted and passed by Ms. Amy Streeter.  I chased her orange shorts trying not to push too hard in fear of blowing up.  Mile 9 at 8:03, mile 10 at 8:08, mile 11 at 7:59, mile 12 at 7:59.

By this time I'd been greeted and cheered on by Ms. Kim Cooke twice and her enthusiasm really pushed me on.  I felt like I had an runner and a quitter on each shoulder telling me to keep going and the other to give up.  At this point Ms. MaryAnn Holland was pushing herself through a boston training run in the opposite direction cheering Amy and myself on.

Mile 13 went 7:56, mile 14 at 8:10, mile 15 at 7:54, mile 16 at 8:15, mile 17 at 8:04

At mile 18 my water bottle was empty so I was ready to be done carrying it.  I hoped I would see someone I could drop it off with and I did.  Mr. Ryan Fitzpatrick rode up on his bicycle and then Mr. Eric Miller, Mr. Jason Cooke, Mr. Malcom Deseyes, and Mr. Chris Eichorn.  I gave Ryan my water bottle which he kindly filled up and continued on my way to miles 19 and beyond. As I came closer to the finish I found more and  more friends out running or cheering in support.  Diane captured this shot of me around mile 23.  Nick found me on his bicycle around mile 22 when I really needed support.

Mile 18 at 7:54, mile 19 at 7:47, mile 20 at 8:06, mile 21 at 8:03, mile 22 at 8:38, mile 23 at 8:31, mile 24 at 8:32

This is where I started doing the math on my finishing time and I realized I was on the verge of Boston.  I didn't even think I could come close to this so I started to push, but I needed help and this is when Nick came around again coaching me through it mile 25 at 8:31, mile 26 at 8:09, and .38 miles at the  end at 7:27 pace.  I finished at 3:35:32 a 39 minute PR from San Diego in 2010, but just 32 seconds shy of Boston.  There are many factors I could say caused my 32 second lag, I held back a little too much, the course was long, I didn't cut corners tight enough, but it doesn't matter I felt great, I did great, and I almost cried at the end that I exceeded what I thought I could do.  I've never been an athlete and THIS was an athlete's marathon time (or at least in my mind).  I also was so excited I didn't feel like crap.  I am actually exited to work my butt off and do it all over again, well after tri season of course.

Could not be more excited...and a tiny bit sad

2011 finished off as a bit of a disappointment for me as I walked away from a marathon I really wanted and had trained hard to run.  My last long run left me with an awful bout of patellar tendonitis which did not go away prior to the scheduled marathon date.  I was crushed, I cried, but then I got over the marathon that never was and set my sights on a new goal.  I really was not sure what to do...focus on triathon? Plan another marathon?  Take some time off?  So I sought the advice of some wise and experienced endurance athletes.
      All signs pointed to a marathon, but with reduced mileage and increased cross training.  Everything was riding on one successful track workout 5x1000.  I made it through all 5 with no pain so…I grabbed my credit card and signed up for the Napa Valley Marathon, I searched for a lower mileage plan, and I got my calculator and created “THE PLAN," 12 weeks to NVM.

I worked hard to get all my miles in while rolling, stretching, and icing.  I incorporated weights, tae bo, yoga, pilates, swimming, and cycling.  I was a little concerned not putting too many miles on my feet might make it hard to reach the finish, but I followed through with my plan as best I could.

I even created my own track workout on Thursday evenings because I couldn’t make it to anyone else’s track session and I don’t like being lonely on the track (even though I still did my workout even if no one showed)

On Sunday I ran the Napa Valley Marathon.  Knowing my last marathon was 4:14:41 with piriformis syndrome (I still have this plus patellar tendonitis), I had 3 goals

1) finish, work hard, don’t walk, and don’t feel like crap (realistic)

2) Run a 3:40 (8:23 avg.) (somewhat realistic)

3) Boston 3:35:00 (8:13 avg.) (Not likely, but why not?)

I didn’t really plan on Boston I just knew my half marathon and interval times were there, and maybe just maybe I could use every ounce of energy I had to push to get there if I could. 

AND…

I ran faster than I thought possible, I pushed myself as hard as I could, I took it easy the first two miles like I told myself I should, I carbo-loaded for days and didn’t try anything new.   I put salt in my water and drank my pedialyte days before.

In the end I PR’ed!  I ran 39 minutes faster than my previous marathon finishing at a 3:35:32 (8:14avg.)  At the end of it all I felt GREAT!  The course was gorgeous, the hills were hard, but I pushed through the whole course, chasing after my friend Amy (you definitely kept me going).  Plus, I did all 26.2 WITHOUT MUSIC!  This was the biggest mental battle I had, I was in my head the whole way, well except the last 1.5 miles where Nick rode along side me coaching me toward the finish.

I signed up like Simon told me I should

I believed in myself and thought I could do it like Scott kept saying I would

I rolled in the morning like Carrie said I should

I went to track week after week knowing Jason, Diane and Joe would whip my butt into shape

I kept my miles low, but my cardio high like Laney says she does

I busted my butt through the pain like Nicki told me to

I had the support of great friends and family to get me to the finish, especially Nick (who went to 2 different places for pasta to make sure my stomach didn’t get upset)

Although I was a bit sad to walk away 32 seconds shy of a Boston qualifying time, even if I didn’t realistically have my sights set on it at this marathon.  I know I’ll never have a PR like this again and that is something to be proud of.

Next Event: Oakland Half

(Napa race report soon to come)