Sat August 6th/ Sun August 7th
Jason, Rachel and I had one room at the Days Inn and Susan and Karen Oliver had the next room. Karen and I went for a light jog down by the river and then came back for a sweet breakfast. Jason went for a longer run in the trails near the race site. When we all got organized, we went to a waterfall Jason had discovered on his run that morning. Bend is a really active community, and there were bikers and hikers everywhere. We walked through the downtown area, checked in for our races, and played at the toy store. We met up with hashing friends Rob and Andrea and their boys for lunch. After lunch, Rachel and I napped and relaxed at the hotel while Jason and Karen explored the race area to figure out the logistics of spectating.
Karen is training for a half marathon and registered for the 7 mile race; I was set to do my first ever marathon. I had convinced my friend Jehanne to do this race with me and it would be her first full marathon also. We had done okay with our training. Up until July 1st, actually, I felt great about it. But July didn't go as well as I had hoped. Still, Jehanne had done many runs at the 13-16mile distance and I'd done a few longer ones as well. I had done lots of trails and hills to prepare for this course, which was up for the first half and down for the second half. My longest run in training was 33km, or 20.5miles. I had hoped to run 21-22miles but my right knee started acting up (I think from a field hockey pelvis thing) in July and instead I tried to rest up and let this heal as best as it could. I know I didn't do the short runs, the strength work, or the stretching I should have done in July. I should have made more time for this part of the preparation. Several times Jehanne and I had considered signing up for the half marathon course (with our friends Rob, Phil, Nadyne) instead. We had also discussed starting 30 min earlier with the 'early start' group because we wanted an official finish and we weren't sure if we could complete the race in less than 6.5 hours. In the end, our goal was to finish safely before this official cut off. We didn't care how much we had to walk, if we looked good, or if it took us 6:29. As a secondary goal, I wanted to finish under 6 hours but by race day I just hoped my knee would take me through the whole course.
Now people ask me to 'tell them about the marathon' and I'm not quite sure what to say. It's harder to describe what happened on a run like that, especially compared to a field hockey game or other sport or even adventure race where there is more going on. At the beginning we were in a pack (or near the back of it) and we just ran and chatted and visited. We felt good. At some point, I remember thinking that the elevation must be increasing because things were feeling harder than they should have. My knee started hurting, and I experimented with different taping options. Jason, Rachel and Susan appeared here and there to support us. We climbed up a huge climb and walked and chatted the whole way. At the top, we had completed a half marathon and it felt totally fine, and then we laughed and enjoyed the next mile of fun single track descent. And then at about the same time, we felt nauseated and the downhill felt harder than it should have. We tried to continue to eat and drink, and we tried to continue to run. As time wore on, running became harder and walking became more frequent. My knee was quite sore, but it recovered well during our walking breaks. The scenery was fine, but it wasn't anything amazing. It began to feel dry and hot, and somewhere around 22miles we dipped our heads into the creek which was fantastic. From there to the finish, we barely ran and just willed ourselves to keep going to the end. For the last mile, we tried to jog it in again, and then it was over. I can't even remember my real time now, and just had to look it up to see that it was 5:44
Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150261553610894.329162.599030893&l=bb282f3ac9&type=1
I'm really proud of myself for this accomplishment. I've never been a good runner and have always thought that maybe if I completed a marathon it would help my confidence as an athlete. After I delivered Rachel I thought nothing could ever be as bad as that and people always try to compare running a marathon with having a baby. For me, running a marathon was way, way easier. I think it's a strange comparison. Anyway, I'm glad that this post-partum fitness goal was achieved, and that I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I wouldn' t exactly say that I enjoyed the process of training for the marathon or that I'm keen to do another one. Trail half marathons seem like a good idea to me. But I do feel some wonder and slight regret... what if we had been able to run more, and walk less? Could we have challenged the fitness we'd trained for and not just gotten through it with a working knee? I think doing a marathon by running hard the whole way would be a whole different matter. Not one I plan to try or think would be enjoyable, but I can appreciate that it would be a different experience.
Anyway, back to the race finish. We cooled off in the creek and pretended to eat food and then Jason had to leave. He returned the Mazda 5 rental to the Redmond airport and flew to Denver. Then he took the bus to our new home in Boulder and prepared to start his new job the next morning.
Rachel had a rough night. She woke at 10:45pm throwing up. She'd never vomited before, so I didn't quite know what to do. She heaved on and off most of the night, but since she had no fever and didn't seem too upset by it, we just snuggled through it. Poor thing! By the morning, she seemed just fine except she didn't have her usual appetite for a couple of days.
Monday morning Susan, Karen, Rachel and I headed out in Karen's Jeep Patriot rental car for week 2 of vacation - the girls roadtrip.
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