Steamtown Marathon Recap

I have been very busy and a lot has changed in my life since writing my last blog post back in May. The one constant in my life has been running! I started my first full time job, moved back home to Philadelphia, traveled to 3 new states (bringing my total up to 29 out of 50 states!), I got to pace my Dad for his first half marathon, I joined a Spartan gym, and to top it all off I have run every race distance from a 5k to a marathon since my last post. 

On October 8th I ran the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton Pennsylvania. My initial goal for the Steamtown Marathon was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. However, I only gave myself 12 weeks to train to drop 25 minutes off my marathon PR. Looking back I was not very realistic in my goal setting given that I only had 12 weeks to really improve on my speed and endurance while still figuring out how to balance a full time job, a social life, and training. The biggest mistake I made during this training cycle was loosing sight on why I love running and racing. I started running to better myself. During the 6 months I have been away I started to loose sight of why I started this whole fitness journey. After qualifying for OCR World Championships in the spring and placing in a few races I found myself focusing on what big races I could qualify for and what races I could win, rather than focusing on being a better me. Every race I have ever had success in was when I went in focused on beating MY PERSONAL BEST not beating my fellow racers. It took me about half way through my training cycle to figure this out, which helped me adjust my goals and expectations going into my second marathon. My new goal was to run a PR and enjoy the challenge of running 26.2 miles for the second time in my life. I figured I would use Steamtown to learn and grow from the mistakes I made during this training cycle, so that I could move forward as a stronger more driven athlete! After all I will have the opportunity to run 26.2 miles again in November at the Philadelphia marathon! With my new goal and an improved attitude I felt more than ready to conquer 26.2 miles for the second time in my life! 


The day before the race, was a relaxing fun filled family day. My parents and I took my brother back to college and had lunch with him before heading to Scranton for the night. The expo was much smaller than the Philadelphia Marathon expo, but it was well organized and had some awesome local vendors. I was able to snag two new pairs of running shoes for $100! After the expo we checked into our hotel and had an early dinner at a local Italian restaurant. I was thrilled that they had my favorite pre race meal, spaghetti and clams! After dinner we went to Panera to pick up bagels for breakfast, before heading back to the hotel. I got all of my race essentials together and pinned my bib to my shirt so I would not forget it. I slept surprisingly well considering I had to sleep on a sofa bed.

The next morning I woke up feeling excited and ready to race. I got dressed, made my bagel for the car ride, and headed out the door to find that the weather was going to play a major factor in the race. It was raining cats and dogs when we left the hotel for the start line at Forest Hills High School. It was the worst possible weather for a marathon. I was not sure if I would be capable of PRing in this kind of weather. Although I was beginning to feel nervous I managed to eat my bagel and drink a bottle of water during the car ride. When we arrived at the start the rain had not let up at all. My parents sent me on my way at the drop off lot across from the school. My day could not have started off worse as I had to trek through the soccer fields in the pouring rain before finally making it into the warm and dry high school. I had about 45 minutes till race time and made sure to hydrate and use the bathroom. While I was warming up I noticed I had lost my running belt. I figured it must have fallen off when I was running through the fields, but I was not going back out in the rain to look for it. As I lined up at the start I thought things could not get much worse: I had no music, no place to hold my phone, I was soaking wet, and the temperatures kept rising along with the humidity, but on the bright side the rain had stopped! The Steamtown Marathon does not start with your typical starting gun. Nope. They prefer a good old fashioned shooting of a cannon to get runners off and on their way. And off we were when the cannon fired. 

Steamtown is a downhill course. The first half of the race its almost entirely downhill, which luckily was not where my race went downhill. No, I lasted 20 miles before Steamtown started to break me. My parents were at mile 8 cheering me on! They even had an extra running belt for me to carry my phone and gels. I ran the first half in 1:51:16, which is a 2 second PR according to my Garmin! I was feeling great at this point and decided it was time to take my first gel. I slowed down a bit, but I was moving at a comfortable 8:42 min/mile pace when I reached my cheer squad at the 18 mile mark. I wasn't feeling tired quite yet, but I was starting to feel the heat and humidity affecting my spirits. When I saw my parents I stopped for a moment to tell them how hot I was, but that I would not let the heat deter me from my PR. 

Happy Runner!

I spoke to soon, because as the miles kept getting higher so did the temperature and humidity. I could not seem to get enough water in my body and I just felt hot and sluggish. At mile 20 I saw my parents again, which gave me an extra boost as I headed towards the final 10k... Well that extra energy lasted maybe half a mile before I felt like a slug again. My next miles were not pretty: mile 21 - 9:48, mile 22 - 10:14, mile 23 - 11:37, mile 24 - 11:44. I knew at this point I was not going to PR. I was falling apart and I just wanted to be done. I was over the heat, over the pain, over the salt burning my eyes, and sick of hearing people say "your doing great", because I was most definitely not feeling great. I must have harnessed my frustration into the next mile because I somehow ran a sub 9 mile after run/walking the previous 4. The final mile was brutal as I had no energy left to conquer the final up hill portions of the course. I gutted it out and finally finished in a time of 4:01:42.

My face says it all...
Check out those awesome spectators!

Did I accomplish any of my goals? No!!!!! This is the first race I ran this year where I did not PR and I am totally okay with that. Just finishing the Steamtown Marathon was enough of an accomplishment for me that day considering the heat and humidity. I also have come to the conclusion that every time anyone runs a marathon, a whole 26.2 freaking miles, they have accomplished something majorly awesome!!!

 

Would it have been awesome and rewarding to PR? Yes, but sometimes we have to fail to see how far we have come. It has not even been a full year since I ran my first marathon and I already have a second one under my belt. I feel more prepared to run the Philadelphia Marathon in November and I feel stronger knowing that I am no lesser of an athlete or person because I had one bad race. After all I have so many more opportunities this year to lace up my shoes, put a smile on my face, and train/race for the love of the sport.

This morning that is just what I did and I was able to crush my 5 miler PR (from 38:34 to 37:12!!)and place FIRST overall female in the Hotfoot 8.8 kilometer!! 

8.8 Kilometers in 40:56!