At around mile 4,
on the 2nd bridge, I started looking for Peter and Erin
since they planned to be there. Eventually, I spotted them standing on the side
of the bridge. I yelled, but neither of them saw or heard me. So I jumped into
the air, waved my hands, screamed Peter, and got their attention. I was so
excited. Maybe leaping into the air and flailing my arms like a crazy octopus
wasn’t the best energy-conservation strategy but the pay-off – getting a second
to make eye contact and smile at both of them, was totally worth it.
After that bridge,
we went right over a 3rd bridge – they weren’t bad at all. The race
was still flying along at this point- the bridges were short and had basically
no incline. My memory of everything after that point is vague with a few
moments that stick out for one reason or another. Here are those random moments
that I can clearly remember:
Around mile 6 there was a turn and a big downhill. Waiting at the bottom of the hill was a band and a big cheer section. It was an exciting, “Woohoo running marathons is fun!” moment. It was probably the last time I thought that until I crossed the finish line.
Around mile 6 there was a turn and a big downhill. Waiting at the bottom of the hill was a band and a big cheer section. It was an exciting, “Woohoo running marathons is fun!” moment. It was probably the last time I thought that until I crossed the finish line.
At mile 9 I took my
first gel because I knew mile 12 was where the big hill was. I wanted to give
it 20 minutes to kick in. I passed a photographer while I was eating it and
totally hammed it up for the camera.
Someone was holding
a sign that said “Smile if you peed yourself!” I thought it was a little too
soon for someone to have peed themselves, but laughed at the sign.
Foreshadowing.
There was a
sprinkler archway set up for us to run through and when I passed under it, the
water was ICE cold – it literally took my breath away and it was scary to stop
breathing for a second as you’re running and not be able to catch your breath.
Also around mile 9
I caught up to the 8:40 pace group (that’s how far behind the 3:35 guy had
lined up in the corral. I stayed with the group for about a mile and the girl
who had left the 3:35 group with me was there too. We exchanged a, “holy shit that pacer was so
far back,” confirmed that our watches had the same time, and eventually lost
each other.
Looking back, this was the moment I should have relaxed, stuck with
the 3:40 pace group the rest of the race, and probably would have qualified for
Boston. That’s not what I did, however. I got impatient and continued to run
far too fast for the first half of the race.
Miles 5-10 were run
at the following paces: 7:46, 7:37, 7:33, 7:55, 7:43, 7:42.
The bridge leading
up to the mile 12 hill wasn’t bad at all.
The mile 12 hill was like a 2 part hill (similar to Harlem Hill). The
first part gave me a false sense of security that I was going to be fine. Then
I rounded the corner and saw the second half looming in front of me and thought
grrrrrreat. But I made it up and over without too much trouble.
I felt good for a few
more miles, but I could tell I was running out of steam. I just kept telling
myself to get to Peter and Erin at mile 15ish, and then I would get an energy
boost and feel better. Miles 11-15 were 7:42, 8:11, 7:55, 8:11, and 7:48.
I didn’t see Erin
and Peter again, but I did take another gel, hoping it would give me a boost. I
was really starting to feel awful. There was no specific pain anywhere and my
breathing was fine but my body was just tired and my legs didn’t want to turn
over as fast as I had been asking them to. At the end of the race if you had
asked me to guess where I started to slow down, I probably would have said mile
15, but it turns out miles 16-18 were still pretty fast at 7:54, 7:56, and 8:01.
But mentally, I knew the rest of the race was going to suck. I had burnt out. I
also really had to pee.
I can’t say when
exactly it happened, but I knew I was going to have to pee, and I knew that I
was very close to a BQ finish time – so there was no way I was stopping at
wasting precious time at a portapotty. I grabbed a stick of Vaseline from
someone at a fluid station and rubbed it on my thighs in case I had the guts to
actually follow-through with the peeing as you run thing. It happened, people.
At first it was pretty contained and I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but
then my bladder was like, “Oh you’re letting this happen? K, we actually have
another gallon of urine, comin’ right up.” There’s no way people that I passed
didn’t know what was happening, but I was oddly ok with it in the moment. And I
guessed it meant I had been drinking enough water?
It was sunny and it
was pretty damn hot. I had lost the arm warmers really early on in the race.
Mile 19 on was
where it was REALLY bad. I never ever thought I would come as close as I did to
walking. One minute I was telling myself, “RUN FASTER YOU IDIOT! You can BQ!
Leave it all out on the course! You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t give
this everything you’ve got!” And the next minute I was telling myself, “There’s
no way you’re BQing at this point, just walk and try not to be so hard on
yourself- it’s not happening, you already ruined it, what’s the point just walk
a little.” Back and forth, those two schools of thought battled it out in my
head for 8 miles, while my legs battled the hilly back end of the course.
I waited for that
moment I had in Wineglass where the pain didn’t matter and I just “ran with my
heart.” There were brief spurts where I was able to pick up the pace but I
couldn’t sustain it more than a few seconds. 19-24 paces were 8:18, 8:52, 8:47,
8:50, 9:05, 8:46.
I would pass
spectators who would cheer me on, tell me how great my pace was, tell me I
could do it and I wanted to badly to believe that I could still come in under
that 3:35 mark. Even if I ran a
typically easy pace for me, I could have done it. But nope, 9 minute miles were
all I had left. Every, “You look great!” cheer just made me want to cry because
a) I knew I didn’t look great and b) I sure as hell didn’t feel great. As a shuffled my feet one in front of the other some
people told me to pick it up, we’re at the end, you got this, let’s go –
further proof that I looked like I was hurtin’ and as I passed some people I
did the same for them.
Around mile 24 the
3:35 group came up behind me. Of course my heart wanted to finish strong with
them, but it honestly just wasn’t possible. The 8:40 group came along shortly
after that, and I put in a little more of an effort to stay with them, but that
wasn’t sustainable either.
At Wineglass, I ran
the last 2 miles like I was never going to run again – I blew past that finish
line so strong. But no amount of cheering spectators or internal mantras could
get my legs to move any faster in Pittsburgh.
I saw Peter and Erin as I came to the finish line and I made a “I’m
gunna die” face (I’m sure it was super adorable!) When I crossed the finish
line, I’m happy to say I wasn’t sad and disappointed that I didn’t BQ – that was
never the goal.
I did PR by a TON, I completed my second marathon, I ran my own
race, I learned a ton about race strategy, I had PEED MYSELF, and I knew that I
had given it all that I had - there was
just nothing left to give by the end. My last two miles were 9:26 and 8:56.
When I crossed the
finish line in 3:37:03, I was way out of it. I felt like everything was really
far away, and my legs – oh my freaking legs. Volunteers helped me shuffle away
but I really was on the verge of collapsing. I stubbornly told them I was fine,
but I really probably could have used a medical tent. Everything was so tight
and hurt more than I’ve ever experienced.
I got my medal (SO HEAVY!) and
remember thinking “Seriously? A banana? I DON’T WANT YOUR BANANA.” Wineglass
had soup and pizza and other delicious things.
Pittsburgh – a banana. Not
amused. Anyway, I chugged some Gatorade, chugged a water bottle, and was happy
to see smiley face cookies and Panera bagels (mmm cinnamon crunch bagel!) At
least a little better than a damn banana.
I just wanted to
get to the finisher’s festival, but the walk there seemed to last for years. I
stopped to have some pictures taken but the whole time I was on the verge of tears.
We had planned to meet in the finisher’s festival near the family reunion area
but luckily, Peter found be before that point and I basically collapsed into
him and I don’t know how I wasn’t sobbing, I think it would have taken too much
energy. I was so glad to see him, I was in so much pain, and he was saying such
nice things about how well I’d done and how proud he was. And he got me a TEDDY BEAR which I clutched
the rest of the afternoon and he took all my pictures with me. His name is
still being negotiated.
When we found an
area to sit down I literally need Peter to pick me up and put me down, I couldn’t
just squat to sit down. They just hurt. So, so badly. About 5 minutes into him
trying to massage some life back into them, I let him know that I had peed all
over myself. I was horrified and felt so bad but he just laughed at me and gave
me a kiss and I think that’s pretty much proof of how amazingly wonderful he
is.
Once Melissa finished, Erin met up with us and I get
in line for the massage tent. Melissa found us and joined us in line as Pure
Protein bars were pushed on us (not delicious). It was such a gorgeous sunny
day, there was music, and I finally started to feel that “post-marathon high”
that is the reason I will certainly be signing up for another one. Peter went
and got my medal engraved, because again, he’s the best.
My massage was OK but not amazing and it didn’t make
me feel any better afterwards, but the lady was nice. We met up with Taylor,
took some pictures, and headed back to the car.
Walking was less torturous than
right after I finished. Peter and Erin walked up the parking garage to get our
bags since I definitely wasn’t about to tackle stairs yet. We took some more
pictures in front of the bridge and headed to brunch!
Brunch was wonderful, because we met up with the
rest of the November Project people who had run – Natasha, Emily, Nina all ran
the half and Taylor, Laura, myself and Melissa had run the full. Plus, Myles,
Peter and Erin, Taylor’s boyfriend, and three of Peter’s friends who live in
Pittsburgh. It was a partay!
We went to a place called Sonoma Grille that I had
found online – for $23 you got an appetizer, entrée and brunch cocktail!
Everything on the menu sounded so good, but I ended up ordering the Crab Tian –
lump crab, avocado, onion, cilantro, chili oil and sesame crisp. This was killer. SO much crab. So much avocado.
The entrée I chose was the Kurobuta Benedict – it came
with big hunks of pork that were cooked really well, but it was a little much.
I preferred the quail eggs and asparagus muffin it came with. The Hollandaise
Curry Sauce was a bit of a letdown because it didn’t taste much like curry to
me.
I was also bummed that the Bloody Mary tasted
overwhelmingly of Worcestershire sauce. That didn’t stop me from eating it, of
course.
After brunch we headed back to Erin’s and I promptly
showered and organized all my things so that it would be done and I wouldn’t
have to think about it again. We sat outside on the porch in the beautiful sunshine
and Erin’s family had an delicious outdoor dinner for us – complete with beers
and wine, obviously.
Also obviously, dessert. Brownie sundaes! The
brownies were Ghirardelli and soooo yum.
(Such a beautiful night!)
It was, understandably, a pretty early night. I was
looking forward to a great night’s sleep, but I tossed and turned all night
because everything hurt so badly – every time I went to kick the sheet away, it
literally felt like I was being stabbed. It was not the wonderful post marathon
sleep I had expected, sadly.
In the morning we got on the road (after getting
salted caramel iced coffee) and made a stop at Penn State to eat at Waffle Shop
(Peter and I ordered ALL THE FOOD) and then Peter drove us through the campus.
It was a long day. After like 9 hours, we got the car back to Long Island and
had dinner at Peter’s parent’s house. Lasagna was everything I needed. Next, it
was the train to Penn Station, subway to my apartment, cab to Peter’s. Going up
stairs wasn’t awful, though it was definitely slow
going. Down stairs was a different story. It was SO ROUGH.
Tuesday night I jogged a mile and Wednesday I jogged
less than a mile. My first real run since the marathon was Saturday when
Melissa and I did 5 miles in the park. My quads are FINALLY feeling almost
completely normal. Next weekend is the Brooklyn Half Marathon, so I hope I’m
ready to go!
I also said I wasn’t racing in Brooklyn, but now
that I know how fast I was able to run the first 18 miles of my marathon, I
want to see what I can do in a half!
Overall, Pittsburgh was an amazing weekend. Being
there with Peter, Erin and Melissa made me feel so relaxed. The weather was
beautiful. Everything was well organized. The course was challenging and I am
so so happy to have shaved 12+ minutes off my PR time. I’m not done with
marathons yet, that’s for sure.
There’s so many people who encourage and inspire me
to get up and run at 6:00 a.m., in the freezing cold, for 3 hours. There’s so
many people who encourage and inspire me to go to bed early, to choose race
registration fees over nights out, to keep myself healthy. Running and marathon
training has completely changed my way of life in so many ways and I’m so happy
to be a marathoner.
