California International Marathon Recap

Last Sunday I raced the California International Marathon, and set a new personal best of 2:55:06. This was my 7^th marathon, and 2^nd one within the last 2 months. I knew racing another marathon only 8 weeks after I set a huge PR in Chicago (2:59:12) was risky. However, even though I had a great race in Chicago, breaking 3 hours for the first time, I knew I was capable of running faster. Instead of waiting another 6 months to prove myself in Boston, I decided to take the risk and run CIM, hoping I could still hold my peak fitness. This race was one of those races where everything just went perfectly. I had tapered the perfect amount, my fueling strategy was on point, the weather was more than ideal, and I FINALLY negative split a race! That doesn’t mean I wasn’t hurting or didn’t have to fight for it. This race was freaking hard, both mentally and physically. Yet, I executed a perfect race strategy, and I’m pretty damn proud of that.  

Last week I drafted a blog post of my goals, but I never got around to posting it. I wrote out A, B, and C goals. My A goal was to run 2:55. These were the exact words I wrote: “I know I am capable of running this time, and I WILL fight for this time. I know it will be a grind. Given my legs feel fresh and weather conditions are ideal, I believe I can do it.”

Well, I did it! About a month ago I was confident I would run a 2:58, maybe a 2:57 at best. It wasn’t until I ran a 1:26:59 at the Philadelphia Half Marathon as part of a long training run that a 2:55 crossed my mind. A 6:40 pace for a 13.1 felt relatively comfortable, and had me believing I could run double the distance at the same pace. Not to say it wasn’t intimidating, but it’s crucial to believe in your goals, even if they scare you.

The entire weekend went smoothly. The two hour time change ensured that I got plenty of sleep, even though we got into Sacramento pretty late Friday night. I met up with some awesome people for the Rabbit shakeout run on Saturday morning. I had the opportunity to run with some amazing athletes that were going for Olympic trials qualifying times. They all achieved those goals btw, so inspiring!  After a few easy miles and strides, my legs felt fresh, and I couldn’t be more excited to run fast.

RABBIT crew!

My dad’s friend lives in Folsom, where the race starts, so we were lucky enough to stay at his house Saturday night, and didn’t have to worry about taking a shuttle down to the start line. Race morning was pretty uneventful. I woke up at 4 am with excitement. I ate my toast with peanut butter, foam rolled, and got to the starting line with plenty of time to use the bathroom and do a slow 10 min warmup jog. I really enjoyed the “small town” race vibes at the starting line. Yes, there were over 9,000 participants, but it didn’t feel that way at all. A few minutes before the race the elites/subelites entered into their corral. I starred at these women, many of whom were in professional race kits, in awe. So many of these women are my role models in this sport, and it is crazy to me that now I am not too far away from their levels. Seeing them warmup definitely lit a spark inside of me. I want to be there some day, and I will put in the work to get there.

Miles 1- 6 (6:43, 6:46, 6:42, 6:36, 6:46, 6:41)

The first mile is downhill and I felt like I was flying. I try not to look at my watch too much during races because the GPS is usually off, but I glanced at it and it said 6:10 pace. Way too fast, so I made sure to back off a little. I came into this race wanting to negative split. Although it’s easy to go out fast in the first 10k, I made it a point to reel myself in because I was going to do everything in my power to make sure I had energy the last 6.2 miles to give it all I had. These miles went by almost effortlessly. There weren’t too many spectators in the early miles, but the silence was peaceful. All I could hear at times was the pattering of feet around me. Many women were blowing by me, especially in the first 2 miles. I knew to stick to my race plan, and was confident I would catch them in the end (spoiler alert, I did).

Miles 7-13 (6:41, 6:44, 6:42, 6:39, 6:46, 6:48, 6:45)

These miles I was pretty much alone. I would pass people and got passed, but never found a rhythm with any certain group of people. I saw my dad and boyfriend at mile 10, right as we were climbing up a pretty steep hill. Seeing them gave me energy to charge up that hill and then fly on the downhill. CIM is known to be a fast course, as it is net downhill, but in my opinion this course is far from “easy”. Those rolling hills really beat up my quads. They were screaming by mile 11. I kept pressing on, remembering to embrace the pain rather than get scared by it. I crossed the half in 1:28:06. I proudly crossed that 13.1 timing mat, thinking about everyone who was tracking me.

Miles 14-19 (6:43, 6:39, 6:38, 6:38, 6:35, 6:32)

I found myself running with a large group of guys and two women around mile 15. I told myself that no matter how I was feeling to just stick with them. I did for about 3-4 miles until the group started to break apart. I’m thankful for the comradery I felt on that course. Everyone was so supportive and encouraging of one another. We all had the same goal of getting to the finish line. Honestly these miles were pretty much a blur, yet they were some of my fastest miles. Once I hit mile 16 it finally felt like a race. With only 10 miles left, there was no more time to hold back. Although my legs were in pain, I continuously repeated to myself, "I can do hard things". 

Miles 20-26.2 (6:38, 6:33, 6:41, 6:47, 6:39, 6:35, 6:32, 1:23 for last .24)

I hit that 20 mile marker and it was go time. I did some quick math, and realized that I needed to run a 41 minute 10k to hit my goal. At that point I had no idea what that meant pace wise, so I just kept pushing. I was terrified that I would feel as nauseous as I did in Chicago, or bonk from the lack of fuel I was taking in, but that thankfully never happened. Mile 22 I was in a pretty dark place. The self-doubt was really creeping in. However, I somehow found the mental strength to not give up. I would close my eyes and see the clock saying 2:55. I was also passing a lot of people, something that normally doesn’t happen to me in the last 10k of a marathon. This gave me confidence. My body felt awful but I knew I was strong enough to keep pushing. My mantra turned into "JUST GO". All of a sudden I was at mile 25. I always envision myself going all out on the last mile of a marathon. While I’m not sure a 6:32 mile is considered “all-out” but at that moment it was all I had to give. As my boyfriend loves to say, I truly believe I “emptied the tank”.  I made that last turn with 50m to go and saw Capitol and the finish line. It was all so surreal. I heard my dad and boyfriend screaming at the top of their lungs, saying “YOU DID IT”. I heard the announcer call my name. I saw James at the finish line cheering for me. It was all so amazing. James put the medal around me and I think we were both just in shock what had just happened. We talked about running a 2:55, but it just didn’t seem real.

I am still savoring every moment of this race, but I’m definitely hungry for more. I am ecstatic with my race performance, but as a type-A runner are we really ever satisfied with our times? I crossed the finish line exhausted, yet still thinking I could have run faster. I hope to keep this marathon PR streak going with my next race in April at the Boston Marathon. I have big goals (hello, Olympic Trials Qualifying time) that scare me but also excite me. I am more than ready to put in the hard work to achieve them. But for now, I’m making rest and recovery a priority. I loved this race so much, so who knows, maybe I’ll be back at CIM next year, chasing after my big dream.