Phoenix Marathon 2015

Getting there…

Phoenix first entered my idea of possible places for my next Marathon because Grand Island airport offers direct flights to Phoenix.  I signed up in December for the race at the end of February. My training began good peaking at 80 miles per week before tapering back down to around 40 miles for quite a few weeks before Phoenix. Somewhere along the planning I got the idea that I wanted to drive out instead of flying and take the camper. 

So after work on Wednesday I headed out for the dessert. The drive from the office to Dalhart,TX went good, all clear roads. From That stop to Phoenix I ran into some snow & ice around Albuquerque, but made it to the campsite before the sun went down Thursday night.

Getting acclimated….

The weather was absolutely perfect on Friday so I did a nice little run on the trails at McDowell Mountain Park. I found out the camp hosts that the trails I ran on are the trails used at the Javalina Jundred. I really hope to get back someday to do that race & maybe qualify for Western States. Later that day I headed over to the expo and got my bib & shirt. The expo was an awesome event. I felt this race was the most social race and new quite a few people from a running group in PHX and had fun sharing stories with them.

I felt pretty good about the race after getting so many comments about my training from them all. I ended the night with some potato soup & went to bed by 8:00 so I could be up at 3Am to get to the buses

Race day….

I actually slept well the night before the race and woke up at 3 to get to the buses. The PHX marathon is a point to point so they bus you to the start line. We arrived at the start line at 4:30 am and the race began at 6:30. 2 hours of standing around propane heaters chatting with other runners. They shot off fireworks pre-race that were pretty awesome! Once 6:30 rolled around and we lined up I felt ready. I didn’t have too many nerves and just felt mostly calm ready to get to running. I decided to run with a handheld water bottle for the first half so I didn’t need to stop at aid stations. 6:30 rolled around and we were off down the mountain.

Mile 1-6….

Miles 1-6 are mostly all downhill with the exception of a few up hills. This is the part that I feel I was not mentally or physically ready for the most. With talking with runners before I determined I would not be worried if I saw 6:30-6:50 miles on these downhill’s because of the grade. Well during the run that somehow turned into that I needed to run these at 6:30-6:50. I don’t know why I started thinking that and ran outside of my comfort level. I was not regularly checking my heart rate like I normally do and just going with it. Around mile 6 we started entering into Mesa and were seeing more residential areas.  

Mile 7-13...

At mile 7 I was contemplating if was going to fast or if I was going to be ok. I must have decided I was going to be ok and continued on at that pace. I was still aiming at keeping my over/under spot on my watch to 0. I had it set to show me over under on 3:00. It was around here I started having some pains never really experienced on a run before. I had my shoulder start hurting and my neck. The only thing I could maybe tie that to was the 18 hour car ride left me a little cramped up. I hit the half way point at 1:31:53. I thought at this point I was going to be able to keep it up or keep close to that and be ok. I used the porta potty really quick and headed back out.

Mile 14-20….

After half way is normally a good mental kicker for me and it was for a little bit. I got some momentum and felt pretty good thru 14 & 15. Still had thoughts enter my head about whether or not I was going too fast. Around mile 18 I got a sharp pain in my groin. I had pulled his groin when I was playing basketball about 6 weeks ago and would have minor issues with it off and on. This however did not feel minor. I tried to mentally just run thru it but by mile 20 it was killing me. I adjusted my form quite a bit to compensate for this; as other things started hurting to.  It was at this point, right around 20, I realized qualifying for Boston was not going to happen for me this race.

Mile 21-26.2….

These miles were some of the toughest of my running life. I would run for as long as I could and then walk. I would walk until I felt I could clench my fists and bite hard and give it another go. There were points I was only running about .1 mile then walking. I couldn’t seem to find much that worked but told myself, just don’t stop. You can walk, till you can run then you can walk again. Don’t stop moving forward and we will get there. I was still getting motivational texts and IG comments popping up on my watch that made such a difference. It was around this time i started wondering if my friend Amy was going to catch me and that would creep in my head and get me running again. (Thanks Ames) Some of my running friends had put together that the BQ was out but kept encouraging me to PR. These were such a motivator for me, and I’m so grateful for all my running friends.

 The Finish….

This finish was bittersweet. I was so excited to be done, I was so happy that it was over. This was not how I felt in my last marathon. The last marathon I had ran the 2^nd half faster and got to the finish line with my 2 fastest miles of all 26.2. This day was the opposite. It reminded me how different things can go if you aren't paying attention to the details. I burned my body out on those first miles and paid the price for it. I had put enormous pressure on myself to qualify at this race and didn't set myself up to have a chance at it at the end. Failure has always been empowering for me though. It’s the missteps and bad races that we learn the most from. I know more now and will not soon forget the lessons learned in the dessert. I feel like my body is fit enough to run 26.2 @ 7:00/mile, I need to have a much better race and set myself up to have a good finish to qualify.. The next 60 days I will focus on that as I train to attempt it again May 3^rd in Lincoln, NE.

Final thoughts

my favorite part of this race was getting to meet and share stories with some of the best runner's anywhere. You know how you are, Phoenix  brightened my winter a great deal and reminded me how much i love this sport. Thank you Phoenix for a great race & a great time.