Erie Marathon
Stolen from an email to a friend:
This past weekend I went home to Erie to run the Erie Marathon. On Friday and Saturday it was kind of cold and rainy; today it was cold, 62 degrees, and rainy so when I woke up yesterday morning at 5:00 AM to dry and warm conditions I didn't know whether to be happy that it would be a dry run or concerned by the tropical temperatures. On Saturday night my nephew, Sammy, had an outdoor football game (in the rain) so after we finally got home, dry, and warm it was at least 9:30/10:00. I made sure that we had pizza for dinner - my absolute favorite pre-, and post- marathon dinner. I think that everyone was surprised that I ate over 1/2 of a medium pizza all by myself.
Yesterday morning we set off from my sister's house at 5:30 to pick up my mom and we made it to Presque Isle (the state park where the race was held) around 6:30. It was kind of creepy how warm it was but not oppressively so given the wind coming off the lake. We all made it over to the race start and got ourselves situated. My sister, Becky, and nephew signed up for their first 5k, which they planned to run/walk, so they were pretty excited. Myself, I was kind of detached
from the whole
thing in the sense that I've done enough of these things to know what I need to do to get the job done. As we were walking over to the race start one of the race directors stopped us; I was munching on an Odwalla bar and he just wanted to make sure that I
knew what to do in the conditions. Me, being me, assured him that I knew to walk through the water stops and that I was planning on running 8:1's and planned on taking it nice and slow. He seemed reassured and went on his way.
Once the race started and I figured out that they actually did have water stops at every mile, my plan to run 8:1's went out the door and I decided to run from water stop to water stop and to walk through them. I took it nice and slow and didn't get caught up in the adrenaline rush that people usually get at the start of marathons. People were passing me left and right but I knew what I needed to do to finish this marathon and running fast in the first couple of miles was not it. I kept a pretty even pace, 10:30 - 10:38 min/miles, for the first 17 miles. Around mile 8 or 9 we were out at the tip of the peninsula and the wind felt great, they were handing out ice (which
felt amazing and helped cool me down). I was on my way to a 4:33 marathon but at Mile 17 I started to feel the heat. Mind you, it was now around 10:00 AM and I'd been running for just about 3 hours in 80+ degree temps and I was now on the base of the peninsula where there
was no wind to cool us down. I was soaked, completely soaked; I was wringing sweat out of my running skirt as I was running. Despite the frequency of water stops, the gatorade was severely diluted so I started taking two just to get the electrolyte replacement that I needed considering the amount that I was sweating. I started taking those minute walk breaks every 8 minutes but by the time that I reached mile 18.5 I was stuck in my head, literally reminding myself that I had less than 8 miles to go and that was nothin'. At this point I caught up to a man that was struggling and it was time for a walk break. I started walking with him and we decided to walk Mile 19 and
start running again at 20.
It took us 14:20 to walk that mile and when it came time to start running again we were both groaning and struggling to put one foot in front of the other. But run we did and we knocked mile 20 off in 10:30; not bad after having been pretty beat
up. We started running again and that's about the time that my sister finally found us. See, around Mile 17 when I started feeling the heat I was looking desperately for them to drive by with my shot blocks (electrolytes!!!). (The course is a two lane road that circles the peninsula and one lane was open to traffic) By the time they found us I was back on my feet again and ready to just finish. I was ready to keep running and the man I was running/walking with just couldn't keep running so I left him to finish on his own. I know, I know, but it at this point there were less than 4 miles to go and I needed to push on if I was going to finish. . . and he encouraged me to run if I had anything left in me. I started running for 2 minutes and then walking for 1 minute, running for 2 more minutes and walking for one. This strategy seemed to work better than just walking; but walking is a different movement than running and I ended up developing some blisters on my feet/toes as a result. (I'm going to lose at least one toenail - it's purple!!) In the end I finished in 4:57:52 - I kept telling myself that I needed to finish in less than 5 hours but if I didn't I had to be okay with it; I wasn't going to put myself at risk just to finish. After it was over I had to remind myself that this was the worst marathon I've ever run (due to the conditions) and that MCM will be better. After getting myself together, having my feet looked at and such, I decided to hop into the lake. They had a kiddie pool filled with ice water for ice baths but 1) it was on the ground and I didn't think I'd be able to get up once I sat down and 2) lots of sweaty, nasty people had been sitting in it and it was just plain unsanitary. So into the lake I went, 68 degree water was just thing that I needed and I didn't want to get o
ut.
It cooled me down and got me 'clean'. I got changed, got some nutrients in me and passed out on the drive home. My body went into shock though; I couldn't keep anything in my system (tmi- I know), so I keep eating in the hopes that something will stick. My quads were pretty worthless today and they're still swollen. But all in all, I'm glad that I knocked the bastard off - it's a good little marathon, water stations are well staffed, well placed and afterward you can just hop in the lake to cool off/clean up.
This past weekend I went home to Erie to run the Erie Marathon. On Friday and Saturday it was kind of cold and rainy; today it was cold, 62 degrees, and rainy so when I woke up yesterday morning at 5:00 AM to dry and warm conditions I didn't know whether to be happy that it would be a dry run or concerned by the tropical temperatures. On Saturday night my nephew, Sammy, had an outdoor football game (in the rain) so after we finally got home, dry, and warm it was at least 9:30/10:00. I made sure that we had pizza for dinner - my absolute favorite pre-, and post- marathon dinner. I think that everyone was surprised that I ate over 1/2 of a medium pizza all by myself.
Yesterday morning we set off from my sister's house at 5:30 to pick up my mom and we made it to Presque Isle (the state park where the race was held) around 6:30. It was kind of creepy how warm it was but not oppressively so given the wind coming off the lake. We all made it over to the race start and got ourselves situated. My sister, Becky, and nephew signed up for their first 5k, which they planned to run/walk, so they were pretty excited. Myself, I was kind of detached
from the whole
thing in the sense that I've done enough of these things to know what I need to do to get the job done. As we were walking over to the race start one of the race directors stopped us; I was munching on an Odwalla bar and he just wanted to make sure that Iknew what to do in the conditions. Me, being me, assured him that I knew to walk through the water stops and that I was planning on running 8:1's and planned on taking it nice and slow. He seemed reassured and went on his way.
Once the race started and I figured out that they actually did have water stops at every mile, my plan to run 8:1's went out the door and I decided to run from water stop to water stop and to walk through them. I took it nice and slow and didn't get caught up in the adrenaline rush that people usually get at the start of marathons. People were passing me left and right but I knew what I needed to do to finish this marathon and running fast in the first couple of miles was not it. I kept a pretty even pace, 10:30 - 10:38 min/miles, for the first 17 miles. Around mile 8 or 9 we were out at the tip of the peninsula and the wind felt great, they were handing out ice (which
felt amazing and helped cool me down). I was on my way to a 4:33 marathon but at Mile 17 I started to feel the heat. Mind you, it was now around 10:00 AM and I'd been running for just about 3 hours in 80+ degree temps and I was now on the base of the peninsula where there
was no wind to cool us down. I was soaked, completely soaked; I was wringing sweat out of my running skirt as I was running. Despite the frequency of water stops, the gatorade was severely diluted so I started taking two just to get the electrolyte replacement that I needed considering the amount that I was sweating. I started taking those minute walk breaks every 8 minutes but by the time that I reached mile 18.5 I was stuck in my head, literally reminding myself that I had less than 8 miles to go and that was nothin'. At this point I caught up to a man that was struggling and it was time for a walk break. I started walking with him and we decided to walk Mile 19 and
start running again at 20.It took us 14:20 to walk that mile and when it came time to start running again we were both groaning and struggling to put one foot in front of the other. But run we did and we knocked mile 20 off in 10:30; not bad after having been pretty beat
up. We started running again and that's about the time that my sister finally found us. See, around Mile 17 when I started feeling the heat I was looking desperately for them to drive by with my shot blocks (electrolytes!!!). (The course is a two lane road that circles the peninsula and one lane was open to traffic) By the time they found us I was back on my feet again and ready to just finish. I was ready to keep running and the man I was running/walking with just couldn't keep running so I left him to finish on his own. I know, I know, but it at this point there were less than 4 miles to go and I needed to push on if I was going to finish. . . and he encouraged me to run if I had anything left in me. I started running for 2 minutes and then walking for 1 minute, running for 2 more minutes and walking for one. This strategy seemed to work better than just walking; but walking is a different movement than running and I ended up developing some blisters on my feet/toes as a result. (I'm going to lose at least one toenail - it's purple!!) In the end I finished in 4:57:52 - I kept telling myself that I needed to finish in less than 5 hours but if I didn't I had to be okay with it; I wasn't going to put myself at risk just to finish. After it was over I had to remind myself that this was the worst marathon I've ever run (due to the conditions) and that MCM will be better. After getting myself together, having my feet looked at and such, I decided to hop into the lake. They had a kiddie pool filled with ice water for ice baths but 1) it was on the ground and I didn't think I'd be able to get up once I sat down and 2) lots of sweaty, nasty people had been sitting in it and it was just plain unsanitary. So into the lake I went, 68 degree water was just thing that I needed and I didn't want to get o
ut.It cooled me down and got me 'clean'. I got changed, got some nutrients in me and passed out on the drive home. My body went into shock though; I couldn't keep anything in my system (tmi- I know), so I keep eating in the hopes that something will stick. My quads were pretty worthless today and they're still swollen. But all in all, I'm glad that I knocked the bastard off - it's a good little marathon, water stations are well staffed, well placed and afterward you can just hop in the lake to cool off/clean up.
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