Sunday, October 16, 2011

I Survived My 3rd Marathon.


I went into this race with a totally different attitude. I had trained hard and thought I was prepared to break 4 hours and really meet my goal time. BUT I wasn't going to kill myself or make myself sick if I couldn't make that goal once I was in the middle of the race. AND I wanted to finish feeling happy about the race and feeling good. Not mad, or disappointed, or sick or injured. The race was HARD. Even though it had some really great downhill portions to it, it also had some pretty big hills that I was not prepared for. So I walked them. There were about 4 big hills within the first 6 miles, and I didn't want to use all my energy (knowing that I had 20 plus miles to go) on trying to keep my pace up the hills. So I chose to walk about midway through each hill. And then I felt like I made up some time on the downhill portions. By mile 13 I had made really good time and was feeling pretty good. It went down a little bit for me from there. I think by mile 15 I started to feel nauseous again. I would try to run and feel like I was going to throw up so I walked quite a bit. I had to stop to poop about mile 18 I think and then there was another descent size hill around that point. With all that though, by mile 20 I had still made pretty good time and thought that if I could bust out the last 6.2 miles that I could still break 4 hours. Then my ipod died just when I really needed something to pump me up. :( By mile 23 I knew I wasn't going to break 4 hours. I was pulling at every ounce of my being and could not make myself run faster, or not take short walk breaks. I was feeling pretty sick so I stopped "fueling" (other than water which that even made me sick) at about mile 18 and I think that contributed to how I felt in the end. I had nothing to pull from. I ended up finishing in 4:10 4th place in my age group (according to my watch theirs said 4:12, but I am saying 4:10!). The good part about it was that because I didn't over due it and allowed myself to walk when I felt sick or just tired was that I felt really good and happy when I finished. I did the BEST I could have done in that race. I didn't feel horribly mentally or physically like I did with the last race. I mean I was sore of course, don't get me wrong, but I got my appetite back pretty quickly and that usually doesn't happen. AND I felt like... "ok I am done with full marathons. I can be ok with this." I think that with working full time graveyards and the time that I could commit to training, this was probably the best I could have done especially on this race. Had I done a race like Top Of Utah again or something like that (without hills) I think I probably could have met my goal.
Missy ended up finishing in 3:55 ( more of the time I was going for) and beat her last time by one minute. September met her goal EXACTLY and finished in 4:30 and was SO HAPPY. She felt great and also said "ok I think I am done with full marathons." Jenny ended up getting sick and feeling pretty crummy so she ended in 4:42, but the great part about it was that she finished and she was really ok with it especially because she didn't feel horrible once the race was done. We all walked away from the race happy and ok with the results feeling like we are done with doing full marathons. Haha that has never happened to us.
Oh and I have to say that I met up with Corbin while we were there and he was so sweet and helpful. He helped us get to where we needed to be and he was there at the finish line to cheer me on. I was so happy to see him.
Here's the kinda sucky part. I woke up today wondering if I could have pushed myself just a little bit harder. I felt sad that I had to slow down or walk as much as I did and was disappointed that I didn't make my goal. I HATE that feeling. I felt so good about it yesterday and today I feel really disappointed in myself. I told my sister that I was feeling that way and she text me back and said, " Why are you even thinking twice about it? You improved your time on a harder coarse only training a little bit in a couple months. You have nothing to be disappointed about." That did help to make me a feel a little better. And then I talked with Jared who made me feel better like he always does and then Corbin text me and said, " I think you pushed as hard as you could have yesterday. Anyway harder and you wouldn't have beat your time because you would have broke down. I'm saying for another race you can always push harder and run faster if you train. Training takes time away from your family and you don't really enjoy it. Training takes you from other things you love and races don't really make you happy. That's what I mean by sacrifice (cause he had said earlier that you can always get a better time it just depends on what you want to sacrifice)".

Anyway I am sure in time I will feel ok....

I took a few pictures of Friday but didn't get my camera out on Saturday dang it.







7 comments:

Kim said...

YOU ARE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF!!! First of all, you just finished your THIRD marathon. Oh my gosh! That is awesome. Any you improved your time. And you didn't poo your pants! Haha. You're awesome. Seriously!

Unknown said...

oh my heck myca! Too hard on yourself is an understatement. If I trained every day with a trainer who pushed me hard and accommodated my kids and schedule and gave me all the help I needed....I would still have a hard time FINISHING - let alone beating a goal. I cant even keep up with your life, let alone work out!!! Youre amazing and for reals you deserve to enjoy your success! So go do something fun to celebrate not just one but two marathons this year WHILE working nights, raising 3 kids, and sometimes single parenting while Jared is gone! YOu deserve not just a good feeling about it - but some type of medal or statue! Shall I make you one? I will dangit!

A Bug's Life said...

I don't think there is anything left to say after the first two comments! so I echo them and glad you made it through! daishan

Cali said...

You are a truly amazing woman. I am so proud of you.

mallari said...

Shoot I am totally wishing that I was with you guys! Sounds like you all rocked it!

Melissa said...

You DID awesome & you ARE awesome! Period. And think about it, you are part of a mere fraction of the human race that can say you've run 3 MARATHONS!! (I certainly wish I could say that!) Give yourself a pat on the back for all the mornings you woke up before the crack of dawn, laced up your running shoes, ate nasty gu's, peed in the bushes, ran when no one could run with you, ran on the greenbelt unafraid of nasty creepy dudes, picked dirty wild blackberries for energy on the trail, motivated your friends to sprint it out Myca style @ the end of a 16+ mile run, (still don't know how u do that), sat in an icy cold river after 20, patched up blisters, fought off knee pain, ran in the wind, rain, sun and dark all to reach your goal of 26.2! You are the woman, woman! I Love your guts & am lucky to call you my friend! Take care, forget the pain & let me know when the next race is ;) I'll be there.

Melissa said...
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