PF Chang's Rock-N-Roll Marathon

I felt great on Sunday morning! We got to the starting area with plenty of time, short lines at the porta-potty, sun just peeking over the horizon, 53 degrees. I took my first Gu packet, slugged down the rest of my water, and got to corral #6 with 4 minutes to go. I lined up with the 4:30 pace team, thinking that I would start with them, run with them as long as I was able, and then drop back to finish at my goal time: 4:40. During the first mile, I realized that I had to go to the bathroom – too much water in my system. I hit the porta-potty just after Mile 1 and never saw the 4:30 pace group again. I sprinted to try and catch up with them, but they must have picked up speed because they were gone. No big deal. I settled into a comfortable pace and planned to run to each mile marker and then walk 1.5 minutes…just like I had trained. My plan lasted about 2 minutes until I got a severe side stitch. I don’t get side aches when I run, so I wasn’t sure how to make it go away. I slowed down. I ran with my hands on my hips for 4 miles. When that didn’t work, I ran with my hands on top of my head. That didn’t work either. After running the first 10K with a side stitch, I literally said out loud “f*&^ this! I’m not having fun, I will not be getting a PR today, it’s going to be hot, and I’m running by myself.” I started trying to figure out how I was going to get in touch with my Dad to come pick me up. Then I thought about walking the rest of the way, but that held absolutely no appeal to me, so I decided to pray. If God wanted me to finish running the marathon, surely He could help my body relax. The side stitch got better. It never went away, but I was actually able to run with my arms by my side in a comfortable position.

I noticed that I kept meeting up with a guy at each mile marker, where he would walk for about the same amount of time as I was walking. His name is Mike, he’s from San Diego and Sunday’s run was his 10th marathon. He’d met another guy, Frank from Phoenix, who was also walking at each mile marker. It was Frank’s first marathon. While we were talking about running the next several miles together, Scott from Spokane (who is training for an Ironman and was running his 2nd marathon) also decided to join us. We ran mile 9 together…at a 9-minute mile pace. That was much faster than I wanted to be running and, quite frankly, much faster than they had been running, so we all walked at the 10-mile marker and then I let them go ahead of me because the side stitch was back with a vengeance. Frank and I met up at the miles 11 and 12, but he didn’t catch me or pass me after that. I passed Scott at mile 12.5, and didn’t see him again for the rest of the run.

I kept plodding along at a great pace (around 10:12 with the walk breaks) until the slow incline at mile 15. Luckily, Josh Turner’s “Me and God” song came on my iPod…“there ain’t nothin’ that can’t be done by me and God.” Apologies to the English majors …it was the message that I needed at the time and it was inspirational enough to help me get up the hill. I really started feeling great, until I saw Mike from San Diego with 10 miles to go. The side stitch hurt worse than ever and, despite running with my hands on my hips or my head, I could not get rid of it. So, I decided to walk all of mile 17, trying to concentrate on my breathing and trying my best to get rid of my side stitch. That was the best idea I had all day. I ran strong from mile 18 to mile 23…passing all sorts of people, feeling strong, listening to great songs on the iPod like “How Far We’ve Come” by Matchbox 20, “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child, “Yeah” by Usher…they all seemed to come on the iPod exactly when I needed a little pick-me-up. Since my right calf was starting to cramp a bit at mile 23, I took a salt packet and powered up and over the bridge at mile 24…still passing people, still singing to my iPod, still feeling strong.

After crossing the bridge, I could see ASU’s Sun Devil stadium…but it was still more than 2 miles away. Mat Kearney’s song “Undeniable” came on…“it’s undeniable how brilliant you are, in an unreliable world you shine like a star, it’s unforgettable now that we’ve come this far, it’s unmistakable that you’re undeniable.” I played the song 3 times in a row. Surely, I was going to make it to the end and I was going to beat my personal best…not the 4:40 that I originally wanted, but still a PR. That seemed like a good testament to spirit, particularly since I had all but given up 6.2 miles into the run.

For some reason, though, there was no water station between 23.5 and 25.25 on the hottest part of the course (the temperatures had warmed to nearly 77 degrees), there was no shade, and we’d just run up and over a bridge. Where the hell was the water?! I was hot, my mouth was dry and I needed water, so I walked another half-mile to the water station at 25.25. Just when I needed it to finish strong, Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song “The Hard Way” carried me over the finish line: “we’ve got two lives, one we’re given and the other one we make, the world won’t stop, and actions speak louder, listen to your heart and your heart might say, everything we got, we got the hard way.” I saw Mike from San Diego at mile 26 and he was walking. I ran up beside him and told him to get moving, and he ran the rest of the way just a couple of steps behind me. I finished in 4:51:57 and, thanks to some rule put in place by the Boston Marathon Association, I get a “gimme” on the 57 seconds, so my new PR is 4:51 (just 4 minutes faster than the old one, but a PR nonetheless).

Except for some soreness in my joints on Sunday night, I feel remarkably well…no problem with stairs or walking. I thought about going to a Spinning class last night, and then decided to take a nap. :) Looks like I’ve got another marathon in me because: (1) I’m still looking for that perfect race, (2) I know that I can reach that 4:40 goal if all of the stars and planets align on race day, and (3) my training went so well I now know that you can run a marathon without feeling like it will take a week (or a month) to recover. I'll post the photos when they are available.