Race Report: Bayshore Marathon
X-posted to the running comm as well.
After training through one of the most brutal winters in recent memory, the moment of truth was finally upon me on Saturday, May 24th. This person who couldn't run 400yd without stopping back in 2012 was going to run a marathon. I had been having some IT band pain for the first time in my life the week before the race, but decided to rest an extra day and do it up.
Bayshore is run up and down the Old Mission Peninsula in northwest Michigan with a spectacular view of the East Grand Traverse Bay pretty much the whole way. Lots of hurrying-up-to-wait; the pre-race highlight was the sound system blaring the un-edited versions of Blurred Lines and Hot in Herre (it was not hot, it was actually quite cold) amongst all the respectable-looking runner folks milling around with their families.
Anyway, I got off to a pretty rocky start. I drank too much water beforehand and not only had a wicked stitch the first two miles, but had to stop for bathroom break freaking twice in the first 6 miles. Threw off my groove, I think. My IT band pain was also bothering me at the beginning but then went away(?) for awhile. I started out very conservatively pace-wise and had a good stretch between mile 7 through 15. Bay was beautiful and weather was good.
One thing I noticed during that stretch was that I had this strange thing where I found myself fighting boredom of all things. Races usually pump me up, but for awhile I was feeling kind of lonely for a bit. During most of my long training runs, I had someone to run with to help pass time. Most of the people around me were already in pairs/groups or were wearing headphones. I'm kind of shy as far as approaching strangers to strike up a conversation, so I just plugged along and looked at the lake. However, there was a lot of great spectator support and a couple resident-run water stops with goodies like beer, fruit, and the Chariots of Fire music. I did encounter a skunk who was crossing the road completely unperturbed by the runners.
I guess I should mention at this point that my Spouse was also running the race. He went out (too) fast and was ahead of me until I caught up around mile 16.5. I was still feeling reasonably good, so we ended up running together from that point on. We had a couple walking breaks, but were mostly OK until Spouse started fading around mile 21 (I was starting to hurt pretty bad myself). He was feeling lightheaded and I was afraid he would DNF or worse, so I decided to stay with him the rest of the way. Discovered that the dizziness was mostly due to the fact that he had only had 1 1/2 energy gels and no Gatorade or other food (wtf man) after 21 miles. I fell into the Hot Mess zone around the 22-24 mile period. Stitches, IT band pain was back, everything hurts, etc.; we walked most of that, honestly. The comical low point was when an elderly-looking power walker with a big beard and a shirt that said "Run Like the Dickens" passed us. However, we mustered our final reserves and ran the race to completion from the 25th mile marker. Final time 5:39:05 gun, 5:36:30 chip.
The wood thing is a minimalist Daruma-san doll I received for Christmas; you fill in one eye when you make a goal and fill in the other one when you finish. My overall goal was to finish, although my ideal goal was to finish in under 5 hours. Despite the good weather and race atmosphere, I didn't really feel I was at my best (I felt a lot better after my 20 mi training run than I did at mile marker 20 for example), but I did complete the race and I realize that running performance does not always follow a linear progression. I need to forget the pain of this marathon before I start considering another one, though.
After training through one of the most brutal winters in recent memory, the moment of truth was finally upon me on Saturday, May 24th. This person who couldn't run 400yd without stopping back in 2012 was going to run a marathon. I had been having some IT band pain for the first time in my life the week before the race, but decided to rest an extra day and do it up.
Bayshore is run up and down the Old Mission Peninsula in northwest Michigan with a spectacular view of the East Grand Traverse Bay pretty much the whole way. Lots of hurrying-up-to-wait; the pre-race highlight was the sound system blaring the un-edited versions of Blurred Lines and Hot in Herre (it was not hot, it was actually quite cold) amongst all the respectable-looking runner folks milling around with their families.
Anyway, I got off to a pretty rocky start. I drank too much water beforehand and not only had a wicked stitch the first two miles, but had to stop for bathroom break freaking twice in the first 6 miles. Threw off my groove, I think. My IT band pain was also bothering me at the beginning but then went away(?) for awhile. I started out very conservatively pace-wise and had a good stretch between mile 7 through 15. Bay was beautiful and weather was good.
One thing I noticed during that stretch was that I had this strange thing where I found myself fighting boredom of all things. Races usually pump me up, but for awhile I was feeling kind of lonely for a bit. During most of my long training runs, I had someone to run with to help pass time. Most of the people around me were already in pairs/groups or were wearing headphones. I'm kind of shy as far as approaching strangers to strike up a conversation, so I just plugged along and looked at the lake. However, there was a lot of great spectator support and a couple resident-run water stops with goodies like beer, fruit, and the Chariots of Fire music. I did encounter a skunk who was crossing the road completely unperturbed by the runners.
I guess I should mention at this point that my Spouse was also running the race. He went out (too) fast and was ahead of me until I caught up around mile 16.5. I was still feeling reasonably good, so we ended up running together from that point on. We had a couple walking breaks, but were mostly OK until Spouse started fading around mile 21 (I was starting to hurt pretty bad myself). He was feeling lightheaded and I was afraid he would DNF or worse, so I decided to stay with him the rest of the way. Discovered that the dizziness was mostly due to the fact that he had only had 1 1/2 energy gels and no Gatorade or other food (wtf man) after 21 miles. I fell into the Hot Mess zone around the 22-24 mile period. Stitches, IT band pain was back, everything hurts, etc.; we walked most of that, honestly. The comical low point was when an elderly-looking power walker with a big beard and a shirt that said "Run Like the Dickens" passed us. However, we mustered our final reserves and ran the race to completion from the 25th mile marker. Final time 5:39:05 gun, 5:36:30 chip.
The wood thing is a minimalist Daruma-san doll I received for Christmas; you fill in one eye when you make a goal and fill in the other one when you finish. My overall goal was to finish, although my ideal goal was to finish in under 5 hours. Despite the good weather and race atmosphere, I didn't really feel I was at my best (I felt a lot better after my 20 mi training run than I did at mile marker 20 for example), but I did complete the race and I realize that running performance does not always follow a linear progression. I need to forget the pain of this marathon before I start considering another one, though.