Coeur D'Alene Marathon race report

Sunday, May 27, 2012... 

Coeur D’Alene would be my second attempt at breaking 3:30. I was cautiously optimistic about my prospects – with a few days to go, I was a little stiff (from inactivity no doubt) but my hip was feeling better and my hamstring issues while not great, were not too bad.  For the first time in over 7 years I would have my family with me for support.  Frankly, I was not sure how that would all pan out but in the end the race would prove to be almost perfect.

We headed over to Spokane, WA where Ty’s grandmother lives as it is only 30 minutes from Coeur D’Alene and we could tie in a visit to celebrate her upcoming 90^th birthday.  We left Friday evening along with the gazillion other people heading East for Memorial Day weekend.  Each minute in traffic eroded the minutes available for sleep that night. As I drove at a snail’s pace and fretted over it I realized that this weekend would be as much about my ability to give up control over the situation at hand.

It's so hard to get up sometimes!

After a busy Saturday around town Ty took the kids to the hotel pool while I pulled together my race gear and settled in for bed.  We would need to be on the road early for the 7:00 start and while I didn’t sleep all that well, at least I was horizontal for 8ish hours.

We met up with Tina who had her husband and father with her.  She would also be running for a PR as she wanted to run a 3:40 – 5 minutes under her Boston qualifying time.   The pre-race area was a breeze with easy parking, good porta-potty access, etc.  My only issue (there’s always at least one) was that I didn’t synch my GPS before getting to the start line. For some reason it did not want to synch up so I ended up having to start without it. Note – I have a GPS issue about every other race and it’s always due to user stupidity.  Having been through this before, my plan was to synch it on the run then start the timer at mile one.  My race pace was to be 8 flat, so I planned to run the first mile at sub 8 on feel. Not being able to see my exact pace I didn’t want to take any chances of going too slow and missing my goal time by a few seconds.

I felt pretty good considering I didn’t warm up and fell into pace with a couple of guys going my speed. As they chatted, I heard them note they were at about 7:45 pace. Perfect. I figured I’d hang with them for the first mile, then go my own way once I had my watch working.  Unfortunately at mile one I realized that it still wasn’t up (user stupidity again) so I started the process again, figuring I’d get it going by mile 2.  In the meantime I was now chatting away with Tim & Tony. They are a few years younger than me and have been running together since high school.  Both from the Seattle area they are prolific marathoners (60+ marathons each w/ recent PRs of 3:15) and ultra-runners (both have run Cascade Crest 100 and multiple 50 milers).   Although I got the watch going at mile two I ended up running with Tim and Tony for 10+ miles.  I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the pace other than to look down now and again to make sure I wasn’t running too fast. It felt like we were on a training run with no pressure to stay with or push the pace.  We chatted about real estate (Tim, now a police officer, was once in real estate), the recent crime in Seattle (lame mayor, DOJ), minimalist shoes (Tony is a P.T.), must-do races (Pikes Peak!), and myriad other topics.

By mile 10 Tim was ahead and Tony dropped back so I was on my own which was fine with me as I knew it was time to focus on the task at hand.  We were running along the lake for what is the out and back portion.  There would be a large up and down hill then the turn around so I stayed relaxed and on pace and ready for it.  I saw my family a bunch of times which was great.  My stomach was becoming disgruntled and I considered stopping at a bathroom.  By my watch I figured I had anywhere from 20 to 40 seconds cushion, but I didn’t want to take any chances by stopping so I pressed on willing it to settle down.  At mile 12 came the first one mile climb.  It wasn’t terrible, a nice change of pace so I pushed it a little bit but well within my comfort zone.  It ended up being an 8:23 although I didn’t look at my watch at the time.  My family was at the top and they let me know they would be staying there and catch me on the way back.   Now down the other side for about a mile. I could tell this side was steeper - note to self – it’s going to be harder on the way back.  The lead marathoners were on their way back so I could check out where I was in the order of women.  I noticed a few women then got distracted so I wasn’t sure but I figured I was in the top 10. I turned on my music and continued to focus on making my stomach cooperate.  I noticed that whenever I ate or drank it would cramp up. I had no choice but to take in water and calories but at least I knew what to expect and could brace myself for it.  We turned around at mile 15ish and I settled in behind a guy who seemed to be running well.  I knew I would eventually pass him, but I thought he would keep my mind and pace calm for a while.

Alessandra and I (Angie trailing)

Now running back I was able to see Tina and give her a shout-out. We got to the hill at 16 and I started pushing it.  I passed my pacer guy and set my sights on passing anyone in front of me.  It was painful but I knew I would see familiar faces at the top and then it would be smooth sailing to the finish line.  I saw the family and took Alessandra’s hand to run with her a bit I mentioned my quads were on fire but gave smiles and high fives all around.  This mile would be 8:17 and my last mile in the race to be over 8:00.  At mile 18 I checked my time and figured I was right on pace for 3:30 if I assumed my first two miles were 8 flat.  That meant I likely had a small cushion, but not enough to stop for the bathroom or make any mistakes.  All things considered (the 18+ miles I had just run) my body was feeling good, and my mind was engaged.  I knew I had it and the key would be to not screw it up. Now it would be a mental battle to stay focused when I was starting to want the whole thing to be over! At mile 19 I thought, “o.k. you only have 7 miles, that’s nothing”  “ what’s  a 7 mile loop from home?...damn that seems long.”  So then I thought about how many minutes...“o.k. at an 8:00 pace that’s only 56 minutes. Wow that’s almost an hour, that’s a long time.”  I needed to stop thinking about it and just run! One mile at a time…

With blinders on I worked on reeling people in.  There weren’t really any women in sight so I focused on the men.   I passed Tim somewhere in here and that gave me a little boost.  The family drove by for what would be the last time until the finish line.   Pushing on I finally saw another woman up ahead. I steadily gained on her so that by mile 23 I passed her.  Looking at my watch I knew that 3:30 was a given and that breaking 3:29 was possible.  Now I was pushing as hard as I could for the finish line but man it was hard!

With about a mile to go I saw another woman. In fact she was the woman I knew had been in 2^nd place. I tried not to get too worked up but knew I was gaining on her.  In about a half mile I was in striking distance.  The finish line area was in a shopping center to our right and I could see her looking that direction - she was hurting.  I was on her heels when we made the right turn and I zipped past her.  I knew I probably wasn’t in 2^nd place but I was thrilled at passing a woman much younger than me. Unfortunately the last .3 is uphill so it is a bit of a trudge to the finish.  Trudge I did and was happy to see my daughter Catherine with a quarter to go.  I took her hand and we ran up together.  We turned the last corner and I saw the clock. It was in the high 3:27s so I charged ahead thinking I might break 3:28. 

3:27:55!!

A new PR - 32^nd overall out of 470, 4^th woman and 1^st in my age group. My fifth marathon in eight months, all of which were faster than my previous PR set 18 months ago. It’s a good feeling.

I felt fantastic at the finish line and walked back up the course to cheer on my three Ts.  Tina ran a 3:45:48 and did not get her Boston qualifier, but it was a PR nonetheless and her first marathon in over 10 years, so a success in its own right.

The intrepid marathoners - I look so tall next to Tina

I feel so spoiled having my family with me that it’s going to be hard to run without them. They did a great job hanging in there and although Alessandra & Angelina were exhausted and bored by the end, they enjoyed cheering mommy on. I was happy I gave them something to cheer about.  I’ll have to figure out a schedule that gets them to at least one race a year although something tells me I’ll be more excited about it than they.

3:27:55 (7:55 average) per mile splits:
(1)missing (2) missing (3) 7:56 (4) 8:04 (5) 7:42 (6) 7:50 (7) 8:02 (8) 8:03 (9) 7:59 (10) 7:50 (11) 7:51 (12) 8:00 (13) 8:23 (14) 8:01 (15) 7:50 (16) 7:58 (17) 8:17 (18) 7:54 (19) 7:55 (20) 7:54 (21) 7:42 (22) 7:36 (23) 7:35 (24) 7:48 (25) 7:55 (26) 7:43 (.2) 7:23

It's good being near a cold lake!