"Anyone who has done something at a high level knows it's not about trends, hacks, or fads. It's about showing up with relentless consistency. It's about surrounding yourself with the right people. It's about being patient & finding joy in the process."
~ The Growth Equation
On Saturday I ran my 34th marathon down in Hartford, CT. It was intense and wonderful and everything in between. And it will definitely go down as one of my favorite race experiences. Here's the story. Back in July, I applied and got into the Hartford marathon's New England's Finest Program (NEF) which basically recognizes and supports athletes from the New England area who have run a specific qualifying time. My friend and teammate, Jackie, had done this same thing back in 2023 and loved the experience so I was pretty excited about it; both the program and the race itself. My last two marathons, Cape Cod in 2023 and Boston this past spring, had been hot garbage. It's hard not to wonder if perhaps you're done putting good races together when you have a couple bad ones in a row. And I don't blame my age for my performance, but being 49 certainly doesn't make things easier. But, I'm stubborn and I love to train for marathons and I like proving myself wrong, so hell if I wasn't getting back on the proverbial horse and trying again. I started working with a new coach, Jon Green, after Cape Cod which was a much needed change. Prior to Hartford, I had only worked with him for Boston and that, as I said, was a shit show, and definitely not his fault. So, I was eager to see if a good training cycle with him would yield the results I was hoping for. We started ramping up in June and successfully made it through the next four and half months without any major issues which, at this stage in the game, is a big win. I have to give a shout out to my dear friend, Frankie, a crazy fast runner who would meet me at the track over the summer with her 7 month old, Codie, and pace me for repeats of all distances with the stroller in hand like it was no big thing.
Frankie & Codie making it look easy
She and Codie were always down for anything. Side note, Codie is the least fussy baby I have met, maybe ever. As you know, summer training can be brutal, so having them around for so much of my harder work was such a huge help. Come September, I was back home and doing a lot of my training with my dear friend and Whirlaway teammate, Lauren, who was training for NYC. We don't really live near each other, and yet both of us are pretty much always ready and willing to drive stupid distances to meet up for runs and coffee. Strength in numbers, right? As we were getting closer to my race, Lauren asked if she could join me for the weekend and use the half that was also being offered as a long run when I did the full. My own family doesn't come to my marathons with me anymore when the race is out of town because, let's be honest, after 33 of them they've been there and done that. So Lauren thought it would be nice for me to have company over the weekend and was psyched to come and cheer me on. I was obviously thrilled to have her with me and knew it would make the whole experience notably less stressful and more fun. This will not be the first time in this blog post that I talk about what an absolute rock star she is.
Lauren drove down to my house on Friday and we took off for Hartford around 1pm. I was very happy to have someone to talk to as we sat through a ton of traffic. Gotta love the Mass pike. We got to the expo around 4:00, grabbed our bibs and shirts, she took the obligatory pre-race photo with number and then we made our way over to the hotel. One of the perks of the NEF program is a free hotel room which is obviously wonderful. They had us staying in a Marriott right by the finish line so the location was super convenient and the hotel itself was lovely. All in, a really nice experience. Lauren and I settled in to our room, got our gear out for the next day, ate more food; in my case a very large serving of plain, white rice which was very practical and not at all delicious. Then we watched some slightly inappropriate comedy shows (thank you, Nikki Glaser) until 8:00. There was a lot of laughter and even some tears and it was exactly the distraction that I needed to get me through the rest of the evening. Again, rock star.
We set our alarm for 5:00am but both of us were up and moving at 4:45. As always, I brought my own coffee maker and coffee so we brewed up two cups and then sipped and ate in bed as we tried to wake up. I had more graham crackers for breakfast which at this point tasted like cardboard. I had to work hard to get them down. But successfully managed to eat six full sheets.
The weather forecast was calling for 40s in the morning and highs in the 70s and it was actually right for a change. We woke up to a pretty beautiful morning and while it was a little chilly, there was no wind and the sun was working its way up. It really couldn't have been better if we'd requested it ourselves.
My sweet friend Mary, who I've known for years through skiing and running, was also racing the marathon and was there with her family. We'd made plans to meet up and walk over to the start together the night before. So, we scooped her up around 7am and headed out. Lauren and I actually had no idea where we were going so we were very grateful to have her with us as she already knew the drill having run it the year before.
Another bonus of the NEF program was a special tent with everything we could possibly need before the race including, but not limited to, food, water, coffee, changing rooms and our own set of portos. It was notably warmer inside the tent than out and it was very nice to have these perks as we waited things out. Finally, around 7:45, the NEF coordinator gathered our crew and walked us over to the start. Again, Lauren was planning to run the half as part of her long run for the week so the two of us were in the start coral together which I was very happy about. My nerves were in high gear at this point and having a human security blanket with me was pretty freaking fantastic. After the national anthem, we hugged and said goodbye (she scooted back because she would be running her own easy pace) and then right at 8:00am we were off.
THE RACE:
Miles 1-5 (6:51, 6:44, 6:46, 6:38, 6:44)
Like the carb loading plan, my race day fuel was also new. For obvious reasons, I wanted to follow Meghann's recommendation over what I typically have done. So, instead of taking three gels at 7, 14 and 21, I packed five of them and hoped to get one down every five miles. I was pretty nervous about this because, as you may know, the gels can be tricky to stomach. And successfully eating five of them seemed very daunting. Knowing that I was following this fuel schedule, I decided to break the race up in to five laps, if you will. I told myself that each gel would be a lap and to focus on fueling at each lap rather counting my overall miles. Runner math for the win. After posting this video, I now know that many of you use the same logic. The race plan that I'd made with Jon was pretty simple. The goal was to settle in and be patient. He told me I should feel like I was almost sleeping through those first 15 miles; meaning very little effort, just coasting. That was kind of funny because in no marathon have I ever felt like I was sleeping through the first half but I understood the point. Relax and take it easy until it was time to buckle down and go. He told me to check in with my body every six miles or so and not to panic if my watch was throwing out weird splits, which often happens. He would not give me a predicted time and we didn't pick a final goal time. He emphasized the fact that my buildup had gone very smoothly and that he was confident, barring any major issues, that I could run a solid race. This was definitely an opportunity, he thought, to run a time I would be excited about. It all made sense to me. So, I did my best to heed his advice and just cruised through the first five miles with a clear head. Side note, my friend, Erin, had suggested I make an effort to smile at all the race photographers. Helps take your mind off the pain sometimes to put on that smile, she said. As you can see, I really nailed this. Turns out I could only focus on one thing and the smile got priority over the eyes. Or maybe I was actually sleeping. Yea, no.
Miles 6-10 (6:36, 6:42, 6:36, 6:38, 6:43)
Earlier in the week I had looked at the 2023 results and seen the times that the top 3 masters (40+) women had run. My friend, Mary, who I mentioned above, had won the year before with a time of 2:57, which would be tough to match and I thought it would be too aggressive to try and follow her. But, the second woman had run 3:10 and I felt pretty confident that this was within reach and a good benchmark for the day. Plus, it would be nice to place top three as master and this was another fun goal to aim for beyond time. So, while I don't check my watch religiously during marathons, I was glancing every mile or so to see if I was staying close to that that 3:10 time. Clearly, I was running a bit faster than this but I felt okay and trusted that my body would let me know if I needed to pull back. The gels are kind of tough for me to digest so I opened my first one at five and ate it slowly between miles five and six while also taking in some water. This worked really well for me and was a small, unexpected boost of confidence as I settled into my second lap. These miles flew by pretty smoothly and I was trying to just zone out and take in the scenery while soaking up my music. I ran a lot of these miles with Greg Lee, who is next to me in the below photo and whom I connected with after the race (love that about running). As you can see, he was super focused and I was still trying to smile at the photographers. He was probably like, I'm in the game here but you keep doing you over there.
Miles 11-15 (6:48, 6:49, 6:49, 6:51, 6:50)
These miles were a little tricky mentally. The half and full marathon courses were the same for the first 8.5 miles. So, I'd be running with someone who I thought was pacing similarly to me and then they'd suddenly be picking up the pace which then had me wondering if they were doing the half and changing gears for the finish or if I was potentially slowing down? There was also a marathon relay happening so runners were hopping in and out at various check points. Right around mile 6, a woman flew by me and had me a little panicked because I'd been with her from the start but then I watched as she passed the baton off to her teammate and quickly calmed down as I realized what was happening. You plan to run your own race and not follow what others are doing, but it still messes with your head when all of this is happening around you and you're not quite sure who's doing what. Once we split and the marathoners went off into a different direction I was back into my own zone telling myself to chill out and focus on myself.
Miles 15-20 (6:39, 6:57, 6:55, 6:42, 6:43)
I gingerly took my third gel and set off for my 4th lap. The crowd was now much smaller as not as many people were doing the full marathon. The runners began to spread out quickly and this was when I lost a wee bit of focus and slowed down a bit as you can see in miles 16 and 17. This situation in a race is dangerous territory as it is easy to start fading without really realizing it when no one is around you. But then the course turned and the top runners started coming towards us which was a great mental boost. One, it's fun to cheer on the people who are crushing it. And two, I now knew that this turn wasn't far for me and that I'd soon be on my last lap. Don't get me wrong, I was feeling the work in my legs at this point. But, as Jon had told me to do, I checked in and had a little talk with myself. I said something like, okay, it's starting to hurt. But you're still mentally okay. Your legs are still moving pretty well. And when we get to 20 you only have one more "lap" to go. We got this. Usually if things are going to fall apart for me, this is when it begins to happen. Honestly, I could almost could feel all that extra energy from the massive amounts of carbs I'd consumed over the last three days. I was trying to trust that I had enough fuel in the tank for the remainder of the race and since I also had my gels, the breakdown that usually happens wasn't inevitable.
Miles 21-26.2 (6:48, 6:41, 6:44, 6:42, 6:36, 6:57, 6:06)
Somehow I managed to get that final gel down. Holy crap, that was challenging. Just so much sugar having already had 3 up to this point. I tried not to think about it. And now I was digging in. I was starting to hurt a little more but I also kept telling myself I'd done so many workouts of 6+ miles at this pace and made it through. I was doing everything I could think of to distract myself....counting to 100 and starting over, singing songs in my head, thinking about my kids, my Lex athletes, my friends, my dogs, coffee; anything I could come up with to not focus on the pain and getting to the finish. I was now running with another woman, Katy was her name, who was clearly aiming for a similar time. She would surge ahead and I would try and hold on and vice versa. Both of us knew, I think, that we were now in this together and while we were competing against each other we were also going to ultimately get each other to the finish if we stuck together. Which is exactly happened. At mile 25 the clock said 2:50. You often make that pie-in-the-sky goal and then put it in the back of your mind, right? At least I do. And sub-3 hours was that for goal for me. But I didn't want the outcome of my day to be determined by this alone, so I made a couple other goals that were tangible and that I was equally excited to chase. At this point, though, I realized my big goal was potentially doable. I also knew that I had not run the tangents very well because my splits were clicking off before the mile markers so if I was going to make it happen I had to find one more gear. I literally had zero time to waste. I threw down everything I had to hold on and finally turned into the finish shoot to see the clock rolling at 2 hours, 58 minutes and change. Sweet lord above. It was over. And it was wonderful. I mean, it hurt like hell, but it was also the most satisfying challenge. And I loved every second of it. Lauren snapped the below photo as I crossed the line. As you can see, I was pretty surprised. And that moment of pure joy. There is truly nothing like it.
Finishing a race effort like this when I'm solo is pretty weird. I'm either high-fiving myself or walking away quietly with my tail between my legs and then taking myself out for coffee. So, having Lauren there was really special for me. I fell straight into Lauren's arms and just stood there in disbelief. To have someone to hug and celebrate with meant so much to me. And, I know if things had gone South, it would have been equally as valuable to have her with me; probably more so. Yep, rock star.
So, yea. It was a banner day. But, this one hit different. Sure, I was happy with the time. But that's not why it was so amazing. This training cycle was one of my best and I know it was because I approached every day with gratitude. Of course I had some shitty workouts in there, but my mindset had shifted for this one to just appreciate all of it; the good, the bad and the ugly. And to trust that all of it would add up and help me get the best out of myself on the day, whatever that looked like. I really had fun this time around. I didn't dread the work. I embraced it. I mean, yea, I complained sometimes, I'm not a Pollyanna (you youngsters need to look that one up). But, I did my best to recognize every moment for what it was and appreciate every mile. I always tell my Lex athletes to find the joy in what they're doing. Always remember why you love it. I finally took my own advice.
Before I left I thanked the gentleman who had led the NEF program. He was such a pillar for us throughout the weekend. Questions, issues, all of it, he dealt and he was so calm and relaxed about it all. I never once felt stressed from a logistical standpoint. And this is so rare. So much credit to him and his team for making this such an unforgettable experience.
And that, my friends, is all she wrote. Lauren and I quickly packed up and showered and were out of our hotel by noon. We grabbed a coffee and some food for the ride home and got right on the road. All of that in less than 24 hours. Which is kind of nuts when you think about it. We made it home easily, again, chatting the whole time. Similar to the post-race finish when I'm on my own, the post-race solo car ride home is a massive buzzkill. Not even music is enough to distract me as I'm processing a race; no matter how it played out. So, bless you, Lauren, for being the most amazing wingwoman. Thank you doesn't even begin to cut it. Next up for me? As far as racing, I have no idea. For now, my main focus is supporting Lauren for the next two weeks as she gets ready for NYC. Hopefully I can do as good a job as she did. This sport. It's such a gift. I love it and hate it but it's always there for me and truly brings out the best in who I am as a mom, coach, friend, human. I probably won't be doing marathons for too much longer, but for now, you'll find me out there getting ready for the next one. Because I can.
Listen to this:
Levitating by RÜFÜS DU SOL
