OC Marathon Race Report

Last week I had a week of training down in Orange County so took the chance to meet up with friends and stay the extra few days to run the Orange County Marathon.  This race report could probably also be dubbed "Hardest Race Ever".  I'm really not sure why...

The morning started out with Kayla dropping me at the race start just before 6AM.  She would later be meeting me around mile 19 to run with me to finish.  I made my way to the bathroom "Lines" and I use that term very loosely.  Due to the layout of the porta-potties (a u-shape) the lines were just one big mass of people with overlapping lines everywhere.  It was hard to tell where one started and the other ended.  I think next year they will put them back to back :)

I was a bit worried about running on all that pavement.  And running that many miles.  My training had been lackluster at best, definitely my worst training for a marathon yet.  I am also 5-10 pounds heavier than any other marathon I've finished.  I manage to get two 20 mile runs in, one on trail, one on pavement about 3 weeks before the race but then got the worst cold I've had in years that completely knocked me out of training for a couple weeks.  Ah well... I would finish one way or another.

I set off with a goal of an a 11 minute pace and would drop back to 12 minute when needed.  An overly ambitious goal it would soon be.  The first 5-6 miles I did manage an 11 minute pace and I was actually feeling really good.  The heat and humidity was a bit rough since I wasn't used to it by I like it and manager.  Somewhere around mile 6-7 I dropped off my pace a bit and by the 6.5 mile mark was on 11:48 pace.  Still decent.  Then things started to fall apart... I don't know when but between miles 8-10 my left hip started hurting REALLY bad.  It happened to me on long pavement runs before but didn't happen at all during my last long training run so I didn't think much of it.  The pain made me lose steam and I pushed ahead as best as I could.  By the halfway point my hip was still hurting and my stomach had been cramping up and I was feeling a bit nauseous. 

My halfway pace was 12:04 so somehow I managed to hold my pace fairly week those last 6 miles despite how I was feeling.  Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming... I kept telling myself.  I wasted about 4-5 minutes there at a bathroom break and by mile 14 I had resulted to lots of walking.  My hip was starting to get better but I was having a hard time getting deep enough breaths and keep running out of steam every time I picked up the pace again.  I skipped my nuun for a few miles and my stomach seemed to get better.  Was that the culprit??

I was excited to see Kayla at mile 19 and she could see how bad I was hurting.  I said "It won't be pretty but I'll finish".  My mile 19.6 split had my pace at 13:12.  Those last 6 miles I lost a minute per mile off my pace.  Ouch!  We walked, ran, walked, ran along the Santa Ana River channel path.  My race was one of survival at this point.  The sun was now out and heating things up.  I love the sun and the heat but am still not used to it.  Someone my hip was getting better but my breathing was not.  I had to sit a talk a few breaths a few times - never had to stop and sit in a marathon before!  My thoughts of a sub 5 hours finish were long gone and so was a 5:30 in the later miles.  We just kept moving.  Moving.  Running.  Walking.  Running.  Walking.  A few of those later miles were 15-16 minutes per mile.  Yikes that hurt.  I didn't feel like we were going that slow.

Coming up on mile 24 I saw my chance to at least break 6 hours so we picked up the pace as best as I could.  I figured it was only 2 more miles and if I ran out of steam I was close to the end and could pass out after I crossed the finish line :)  We picked up to a 12 minute mile for miles 25 and 26 before Kayla left me for the last quarter mile.  I had about 4 minutes to run about a quarter of a mile.  When I saw that finish chute I picked up as a best as I could and was probably running a 9-10 minute pace.  I crossed the finish line, got my medal, almost threw up, and plopped down on a chair.  My finishing time of 5:58 (13:42 pace) was a full HOUR slower than my PR and about 45 minutes slower than my previous slowest (and first marathon time).

Amazingly I'm not horribly sore today and getting around pretty well.  I'm not sure what happened at the race but I know I need to lose a few pounds, work on my race day diet and run a heck of a lot more.  The last is the most important of course since I simply love running :)  The breathing thing concerned me a bit but might have just been from not putting in enough miles.  I have some work cut out for me with Tahoe at the end of July.

I'm very happy to have finished and fought through some tough time out there Sunday.  Now back to the trails!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Comments

[rustyboy]

Well run! Sounds like it got brutal, but you managed to scrape it together. Ya definitely earned that one!

[tom]

Good report, and you finished another marathon!

Way to keep moving when the going got tough!

[Eric Barnes]

Well deserved medal! Time to knuckle down for Tahoe!

[Anne]

Hey, you did beat 6 hours and after the ordeal you went through, that's saying somethin'.