Breaking 3! Chicago Marathon 2017

It has already been 2 weeks since the Chicago Marathon and I am still trying to process it all. I have been dreaming about running a sub 3 hour marathon for almost a year. There are some moments where it doesn’t seem real, and I feel like it was all a dream. But it indeed happened, and this race will definitely be something I never forget. I am experiencing some real post Marathon blues right now, so what better way to get over it than to write about it? I’m new to blogging, so stay with me if I begin to ramble.

Backstory:

I ran a 3:09 at the Boston Marathon in April 2017, which was a 5 minute PR from my previous 3:14 marathon at Philadelphia in November 2016. After I ran Philly, I remember sitting at dinner with my mom and telling her I wanted to run sub 3 hours. As a lifelong runner, she encouraged me and said of course I could do it. Even though I was still 10 minutes off at Boston, my performance only solidified my goal and pushed me to work even harder this training cycle. If you follow me on Instagram (@Alanaruns26.2) you saw that I had a pretty great training cycle. I PR’d at the 10K (39:28) and Half Marathon (1:27:17), ran long runs with final miles at faster than goal marathon pace, ran tempos at paces I never thought I was capable of, and had no major injuries thankfully. With Chicago approaching I was feeling as ready as ever. However there were many moments where a 6:50 pace felt so fast and I couldn’t even fathom running that for 26.2 miles. But, I quickly erased those negative thoughts from my mind. I wanted to go into this race with confidence in my training and in myself. In my mind I had already ran a 2:59:xx, so now all I had to do was get my body to do it on race day.

The night before:

Pre-race nerves were setting in as I frantically tried to get my outfit together for the next morning. I wanted to make sure I got an adequate amount of sleep, but I just felt like I had so much to do! I began to foam roll to loosen up a bit and make sure my legs felt super fresh. However, as I was rolling out my right hamstring I felt something pull. Cue freak out. I stood up and could barely walk. I of course started panicking. My dad tried to calm me down saying it was just nerves and I was fine. But this pain was not just soreness. I did everything I could to ease the pain. Iced, took Advil, lightly foam rolled, stretched. It only seemed to get worse. So, there was really nothing else I could do but to sleep on it and hope for the best in the morning.  I got little to no sleep that night because I was so stressed about this stupid hamstring pain that I NEVER experienced during my training. When I woke up in the morning my hamstring was still in pain but nothing was stopping me from running this race.

Race day:

I spoke with my coach prior about my race strategy. We didn’t speak much about paces but the plan was to negative split, which means run the second half of the race faster than the first. But, I have yet to negative split any race so I didn’t know how this would play out. I just never know how I will be feeling the last 10k of a marathon, so it scares me to bank on going faster those last miles. I lined up at the start to find the 3:00 pace group, who’s goal was to run around a 2:59:30 via pretty even splits. They said the first mile or two would be little slower than goal pace but they would slowly make up for it over the next 24 miles. The pacers were awesome, and had both paced the 3:00 group for Chicago the last few years. There were only about 3-4 other women standing by the pace group. I recognized 2 of the other women around me from different local races as well as from the lakefront running path. One of them turned to me and said “Let’s do this thing”. Those words got me in the zone. I was ready.

Miles 1-6 (6:55, 6:45, 6:47, 6:52, 6:45, 6:52)

These miles flew by. I felt springy and the pace felt very conversational and comfortable. I was a little nervous after we hit the first mile at 6:55, but the pacer assured as all that we were right on track. From the first mile I was experiencing some extreme shin splints. I tried to shake them off, but they only seemed to get worse. It wasn’t until about mile 8 that they magically disappeared. Surprisingly I had absolutely no hamstring pain! The morning of the race I could barely bend over without pain, but luckily somehow it didn’t hurt running. Phantom pains? These miles get super crowded and I constantly found myself tripping over other people’s feet. I tried to stay as close to the pacers as I could, but it was extremely hard weaving through people as they sped up. The first few aid stations were a disaster and I almost tripped and fell because everyone was cutting each other off in an attempt to get fluid. I definitely used a little too much energy speeding up after each aid station, but I didn’t want to fall behind. I saw my dad and boyfriend at mile 4. If you’ve seen any of my Instagram videos of him cheering you know how loud and crazy he gets. My dad screamed to me and asked me if I was OK. I just laughed because it was only mile 4 and the race had just begun. I assured him that I was doing well. A man next to me said “wow, now that’s a good cheerleader”. My dad definitely wins the best race spectator award. 

Miles 7- 13 (6:41, 6:49, 6: 46, 6:48, 6:45, 6:54, 6:55)

I had so much fun these next miles. My mile splits were pretty consistent and I felt so strong. I considered picking up the pace but I still wanted to stay pretty conservative because there is still such a long way to go. I saw my friends around mile 9/10 and got a huge surge of energy.  I realized at this point that I was ahead of the pacers but didn’t worry too much. I felt great and pushed on. I saw my boyfriend and Dad at mile 12.5 and reassured my dad once again that I was OK and felt great. I crossed the half at 1:29:25 and knew that I was right on track. I even thought that I could negative split this thing and finish in the high 2:58’s.

Miles 14-20 (6:45, 6:50, 6:47, 6:54, 6:45, 6:51, 6:48)

Not much exciting stuff happened here. I was going back and forth with a few women during these miles. Most of them were a part of the American Development Program (sub-elite field), so this gave me a confidence boost knowing that I had caught up with and was passing several women who are capable of running sub 3 hour marathons. I was running side-by-side with another woman for a few miles. Although we didn't speak to each other it was great to feed off of each others' energy and push one another when one started to fall back. This woman later found my instagram and said I was a huge inspiration to her, and helped her get to that finish line in 3:00:18! Knowing that I helped someone achieve such a major feat in their first marathon brought me to tears. It is always nice having a lot of people around you during these miles because they tend to get super boring. You still have a while to go and are starting to feel fatigued. It still seems crazy to me that I was able to hold a 6:50 average pace for this long without feeling too much pain in my legs. Usually on my long, which are run at about 20-30 seconds slower than this, my legs feel super tired at the end.

Miles 21-26.2 (13:49 for miles 21-22, 6:51, 6:56, 6:44, 6:50, 1:38 last .2)

Here is where things started to get tough. I didn’t notice the weather until about now. The heat in Boston really took a toll on me, and I drastically felt the pace slow and there was nothing I could do to speed up. I felt the sun beating down on me and was sweating so much. I did my best to drink water at every aid station. I took one cup to drink and one to pour on my head. I also realized I was fading fast and needed some electrolytes. I took a cup of Gatorade a little after mile 21, but the sugar made me feel sick so I continued to stick to water. I think it’s also important to mention that I took about ¼ of a GU around mile 19, but it was warm and I could not stomach it. I knew I was not getting enough fuel, but the thought of eating another GU was making me sick to my stomach. Going through China town was the boost I needed. I was thankful for all the crowd support and several friends I saw during these miles that distracted me for at least a few seconds from the pain I was enduring. Mile 22 was when I began to go to that really dark place. I was so nauseous and felt like I was about to puke the entire last 4 miles. I honestly have no idea how I was able to keep my pace during mile 22-26. I kept telling myself that I had less than 30 minutes until the finish and to not check my watch and just go. That was my mantra. JUST GO. I did not get this far to give up and miss my goal by a minute or so. At mile 24 the two women who I had recognized at the starting line blew right past me. I had passed them around mile 10 and hadn’t seen them since, so I was envious that they obviously kept it conservative enough to have this much energy the last 2 miles. I surged as best as I could and tried my best to stick with them. The pulled ahead but I was not giving up. Everything was really a blur the last mile. I saw my Dad and boyfriend at mile 25.5. They were screaming but I really couldn’t make out anything they were saying. There were signs that said 800m, 400m, and 200m. Once I hit 800m I did some quick math which probably wasn’t right because my brain was mush at this point. My watch said 2:56 so I knew I was going to get it. Then came that cursed hill at mile 26. I seriously felt like I was walking up that damn hill and physically felt my body give up at this point. I thought I was going to pass out, so I’m just proud of myself for staying upright and not walking. After I climbed the hill I pulled to the side to throw up, but held it in somehow. I’m not very proud of my sprint to the finish, but that was all I had to give at that point. The clock had turned 2:59 and I just tried to soak it all in. I tried to forget the pain I was feeling and wanted to just live in that moment. 

Post 26.2:

I had visualized this exact moment for so long. I started to cry. I crossed the finish line so emotional. Unfortunately the nausea was so bad at this point it was causing extreme pains all down my back. My entire stomach cramped up and I couldn’t stand up straight. The only way I didn’t feel sick was if I was bending over, head between my legs. After what felt like the longest, slowest walk ever, I finally found my dad and boyfriend. I hugged them and started to cry again. I call my mom, step-dad and sister, still shocked at what had just happened. I really couldn’t have done it without all of them. 

I had this huge dream in my mind for a while and I went for it. I sometimes felt that my goal was too lofty and I had overestimated my ability. However, I trained my mind to become mentally stronger these last few months. For once I was confident and believed in myself. I was strong and I worked damn hard to get to this point. I took a chance by putting it all out there on that course and I’m so proud of myself for finally achieving this dream!

Overall stats:

Finish time: 2:59:12

90^th Female

13^th female ages 20-24

848 overall