Bad Information = Bad Planning

We worked the Little Rock Expo, advertising The Rocket City Race Weekend (we are moving to a two-day event with a 5K and 10K on Saturday, and TWO half marathons and the full marathon on Sunday).

--Okay, I know some of you reading will be wondering...why two half marathons? Well, our half marathon has always been the "BACK" half of the marathon course. That's the part of the course that runs through the Space and Rocket Center and Botanical Gardens. We have to limit the number of runners who can register for that race because we can't flood the back half of the course with too many people. So we worked to make the front half VERY interesting and fun so that we could bring in more people to our wonderful city.... 

Back to my Little Rock Marathon race report...

If you read "Part 1" you know I thought I had done my due diligence in gathering information with regard to doing/not doing an early start at the Little Rock Marathon. 

Years ago Little Rock didn't have an early start at all...everyone started at the same time... which meant the police were out there a VERY long time for the slowest runners. They have a slogan "the race for all paces" because for years they basically didn't have a cut-off. They might move you to the sidewalk, but they wouldn't cut anyone off (at least I had never heard of anyone being cut off). A few years ago they implemented the "early start" for anyone who was going to finish in "MORE than six and a half hours"...saying the cutoff for the regular start was 6 hours. I was caught up in that the last time I did the marathon. I was thinking I would be right at 6 hours and had no idea when I should start so I went with the regular start. I think I finished in JUST SLIGHTLY over 6 hours (and still got a listed finish time).

This year it was ever so slightly clearer-6 hours or less meant a regular start, over 6 hours meant an early start. But I really wasn't sure how we'd finish. I was figuring 5:45-6:15. So I went to the early start meeting and got information...They said early starters were ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED to pass the 6 hour pacers-AT ANY TIME, even at the finish. They also said the "hard cutoff" was at mile 19.2 and was going to be at 12:45pm. That meant with a regular start we had to maintain, at the very least, an average pace per mile of 14:50. I figured there was NO WAY we'd miss that. And, I was right...but...

Well...let me back up and explain why they won't allow early starters to pass the 6 hour pacer (who starts early). That pacer "opens" the race. The police stay in front of the front runner...the schedule of police working the intersections and the aid stations are based on a 6 hour pace starting at 7am. If a faster runner were to get out in front of the 6 hour pacer the police would not be ready at intersections and the aid stations wouldn't be open and ready to go on time. It would set up a very unsafe situation.

If you are a runner and a mathematician you can figure out the leaders of the regular start would overtake the 6 hour early start pace group but that doesn't happen until about mile 18. It's MUCH easier for the sake of having easy to follow rules to say "early starters may not EVER pass the 6 hour pacer" rather than allowing that rule to be fuzzy. I understand and can respect that rule. I can also fully understand why there is a cutoff time on the course. It's at the perfect spot...at 19.2 the course turns left and does a VERY VERY VERY long out and back along the river. Not meeting that cutoff time allows the runners to be turned so the course can be shut down. Totally reasonable. I thought 12:45 was VERY generous...and it turns out it was "too" generous...

But let me start at the beginning

I met my friend in the last corral...where I was supposed to be. She was actually supposed to be further up based on her projected finish time of something like 4:30. Since she had run Snickers the day before she had planned on taking her time with me and just having "fun" running back-to-back marathons. She had never been that far back in a marathon before so she was enjoying the antics that happen with the people who are out there getting our money's worth (costumes of all sorts!). The gun went off and we crawled to the start. 

The race was smaller this year so it didn't take nearly as long to get to the line and before we knew it we were off. We started out next to the 5:45 pace group (there was NOT a 6 hour sweeper/pace group) but we quickly realized that group was NOT running a 5:45 pace so we didn't try to stay with them. We settled into an easy run. Mile 1 12:26. Mile 2 12:45. Mile 3 13:20. Mile 4 12:11. The course was different this year than the other 3 times I've run it so it was fun to try to figure out where we were. I realized we were close to the school I went to in the 2nd grade so I regaled my friend with stories of how my brother and I would walk to a school that we lived almost right beside only to be bussed across town. One day we missed the bus so we set out to walk there. We found a little (TINY) mom and pop store where we spent $.25 of our $1 lunch money to buy a Hershey bar... We started skipping school after that when were realized no one seemed to miss us at school that day! (We did eventually get caught!)

Mile 5 we came upon a friend of my friend's so we started running with her. That mile was 13:39. That was the mile we "stopped" at the first aid station of the day...I got the LAST cup they had! And, they were out of Gatorade! That was NOT a good sign. There were literally hundreds of people behind us. Mile 6 was 14:08...so I told my friend we had to leave her friend so we could stay on our pace target. Mile 7 12:47. 

Mile 8 takes runners back over the Arkansas River bridge....13:45. Dwayne was messaging the whole time giving us updates on our predicted finish time. We were WAY ahead...and at that point VERY (VERY) glad we didn't start early (forcing us to slow down from our overall pace thus far). Mile 9 12:39. 

Mile 10 has one little stinger of a climb and goes past the School of Law. I couldn't help but remember my high school self dreaming of going to Law School there. It's obviously changed a lot but I was flooded with memories. We also had a potty stop...14:00. Mile 11 we made up some time with a 12:29 split. However, we encountered another aid station that was out of Gatorade! This was shocking...it was a hot day and this was too early in the race to run out! 

Mile 12 takes runners by the governor's Mansion--the Governor was actually outside taking photos with people!! I (we) didn't stop because there were a few people waiting to get pictures but how cool that he was out there!! There's some elevation gain there and we were feeling the lack of Gatorade at that point. That mile was 14:04.

Mile 13 seemed like it was faster but we had lost the half marathoners at the split, it was HOT, and we were climbing. The course goes by Central High School--famous because in 1957 the Governor of Arkansas actually brought in the Arkansas Army National Guard to prevent school desegregation. My dad was actually one of the National Guardsmen who was there carrying out the Governor's orders. (Shame on them.) That mile was 13:49. Mile 14 13:54...I was getting worried. We had seen too many miles over the 6 hour pace but Dwayne was messaging our predicted finish and we were still on target for about 5:45ish so we were doing fine. 

Mile 15 is really where the Marathon truly begins...that mile takes runner by the Capitol Building and just beyond that is where the wonderful climbing begins. The Capitol Building is so impressive to me. It's an exact miniature replica of our nation's capital! I love seeing it and LOVE "running" past it in this race. I remember thinking on this day it was the hottest LRM I'd been to. What's "funny" is that they had been calling for storms ALL WEEK LONG. I honestly expected the race to be canceled, or for us to be pulled off the course because the storms were predicted to be BAD. We had maybe 4 drops of rain. At that point I was praying the sky would open up on us just to cool us off! We were slowing WAY DOWN but I expected this and had accounted for it...15:19. Looking at the time of day we needed to cover JUST over 4 more miles and we had like 90 minutes. We had PLENTY of time to make the 12:45 cutoff at 19.2...

Mile 16-18 is the most challenging part of the course. That's the long slow climb that makes you understand why LRM has a dinner plate sized medal!! THIS is where you really earn it. On this day I started wishing we had actually started early-not so much for the additional time as much as for getting us out of the heat 2 hours sooner! 16-16:23. Mile 17 14:07. 

Then mile 18...I was telling my friend this was the hardest part of the whole race but we were WELL ahead of that 12:45 cutoff time at mile 19.2. So she stopped at a potty for an apparently very necessary "visit". By my watch we lost 4 minutes there...but, again, we had like 30 minutes to cover a mile (point two). We were golden even though that mile was our slowest of the day at 17:27. 

Mile 18 to 19 the course goes through Allsopp Park and is a fairly steep(ish) downhill section that leads to the LONG out and back along the river. When I was in high school and college this park had a VERY bad reputation for being filled with drugs! It's a VERY pretty park actually. It's strange because you feel like you are in the middle of the woods there, not in the middle of a major city! That mile I was feeling really good...we were coming up on 19.2, we had PLENTY of time to make that 12:45 cutoff, we were both feeling decent enough to pick up the pace on the flat section so we could make up lost time to make the 6 hour cutoff...SWEET! The biggest complaint was that several aid stations had been out of Gatorade and the gels we expected were NOT at the aid stations! Mile 19 was 13:35.

The course crosses a major road, goes up and over a little "bridge", then turns left at the 19.2 mile aid station to start that LONG out and back... When we were on top of the "bridge" we could see the aid station...we had right at 15 minutes...SWEET!!

Just then a city vehicle sped past us and pulled sideways at the bottom of the little hill, the guy got out of the car and said something to the volunteer...my heart sank... The volunteer pointed to his left (our right) and told the 2 runners in front of us they had to turn...then told us the same thing. 

HOW DID WE MISS THE CUTOFF WHEN WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE ALMOST 15 MINUTES??????? 

I did NOT want to argue with the volunteer-he was just doing what he was told. It was a city vehicle so maybe there was something I didn't know? The aid station was to the left. I considered saying "hey, we need water (and hopefully Gatorade if they weren't out)" and then quietly continue on our way...but that felt very WRONG to me to "sneak" past this volunteer who was just doing what he was told.

I pulled out my phone and called Dwayne to tell him that we had gotten turned...we missed the cutoff and were now DQ/DNFs. That call was placed at 12:33, after we had turned and started walking. (This is important...)

My friend was PISSED. I was devastated. I am the one who made the decision for us to skip the early start. I felt like I must have somehow gotten the cutoff time wrong. I wasn't thinking clearly enough to check my text message to Dwayne. But even if I had checked it right then I still would not have argued with the volunteer. 

We walked all the way to the lipstick stop (LRM has a lipstick station right before the finish line where they give free lipstick and they have a mirror for you to apply it...so you'll look good for the finish line)! Thanks to the idea from a wonderful Marathon Maniac who goes by the name "Lipstick Lady"! Then we ran in to get our 21.81 mile medal with a DQ story.

My friend said she would never to LRM again, but I told her this was a one-off kind of thing...I LOVE that race almost like she loves RCM. She caught them on a bad day-running out of cups at that early aid station, running out of Gatorade, us getting turned on the course by the volunteer...those were not the normal LRM experience!

Later I checked my text message to Dwayne--I was right, it said 12:45...I also went back to the race instruction email...the one that said the cutoff for the regular start was 6 hours (14:53 pace) AND it said the 19.2 mile cutoff was 12:33....

Here's my BIGGEST mistake...it wasn't that I relied on the information given in the meeting. It wasn't that I didn't start us early. It wasn't that I didn't speed us up along the way. It wasn't that I didn't argue with the volunteer. It wasn't that I didn't find a way to sneak around the volunteer who told us to turn. It was that I didn't VERIFY the cutoff time. The information in the instruction email regarding the cutoff pace was wrong and that was clarified in the meeting...I should have clarified the cutoff time rather than just taking what was said without asking. That is on me.

Running out of cups and Gatorade...I blame the weather! :

At the end of the day I still love this race. I don't know if I'll do the marathon again, but most likely I will. I will just make sure I'm trained up enough to not get caught in the early/regular start delima. I'm also going to recommend that they have a 6 hour pacer/sweeper at the end of the regular start. That would have saved us. 

Probably most important...this experience gave me some very good lessons learned for a potential early start option for Rocket City Marathon!!

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around. I know this was long...but so was the race! :D

When a Race Goes WRONG

Little Rock Marathon has this early start thing...if you are going to finish between 6 and 8 hours you start at 6am. If you are going to finish in under 6 hours you start at 8. Well...I was planning on a 5:45ish finish, but I was going to be running with a friend who was planning to run a PR marathon the day before at Snickers. She had not told her coach (not me) that she was going to do back-to-back marathons. I really wasn't sure what that might do to our race day. She assured me she was down to do whatever I wanted (early start and make it a 6-8 hour day or regular start and make it sub 6). I figured I would be good for a 5:45 on a good day but 6:15 on a bad day. 

So I asked questions...

When I picked up my bib I went to the "Bless Your Heart" booth (so cute to call it that)....and asked for some details on the early start. I was told that the most crucial thing is that early starters MUST NOT pass the 6 hour pacer (who starts with the early starters) because that pace group "opens" the course. I said at some point the regular starters would pass that group. The lady said that wasn't until about mile 18...and at that point it would be fine to go ahead of the 6 hour pacers. So I thought an early start would probably be great-hold us back a bit early on and then after the hilly section (at about mile 19) we'd turn it on and finish sub 6 (even if not by much). The lady said it's really hard to hold back when you are fresh on the front half but I figured that might be the better option.

So a little while later I went to the early start meeting. (In order to be in the early start you have to have a special bib...I wanted to gather all the information before pulling that trigger.)

In the meeting they said if you were to join the early start you ARE NOT EVER allowed to pass the 6 hour pacer...even at the finish line...and if you had an early start bib but end with a sub 6 hour time you would be DQd. (This was NOT what I was told earlier, but the lady who told me this was in the room so I figured she was wrong since the RD was giving the information.)

Earlier in the week they had sent out written instructions. In that email it said the early start was for 6 hour or slower finishers and that the cutoff for the general start was 6 hours (must be faster than 14:53 pace).

From the instructions:

Well, a 6 hour pace is really like 13:40...so that question was asked in the meeting. They said basically they made a mistake in the instructions (I get it...instructions are copied from one year to the next and sometimes new information gets missed). They clarified and reiterated-slower than 6 hour finishers need to early start.

So I asked the question...if I'm having a good day I'll be 5:45. If I'm having a bad day it will be 6:15. Given the fact early starters are NEVER allowed to pass the 6 hour pacer (who starts early) I really wasn't sure if I should start early or at the regular time.

This is the CRUCIAL point in time where my race day plan was formed, and WHY my race went VERY WRONG....

They said there are 3 cutoff points but the first two are more for the half marathoners (therefore much slower than the full marathoners would need to be at that point in the race). The 3rd cutoff point was at mile 19.2. They said that is a HARD cutoff...if you miss that one you will be turned (cutting the race short for you). You'd still get to finish, you'd get a medal, but you would be DQd in the results.

They SAID that cutoff time of day was going to be 12:45. He said it was based off the 8 hour pacer (who starts early and is the last person to cross the early start line...then they add buffer time; he said it was based on an 18:18 pace...plus buffer time). I made a point to text that information to Dwayne to figure out the pace we'd have to have in order to make that cutoff point in time if we were to start at 8...

text to Dwayne

TriCalc app info

Based on that information, and talking with my friend, we decided we had plenty of time to make the 12:45 cutoff starting at 8 and we'd make sure we had a sub 6 hour finish.

Here's the thing about Little Rock-the first maybe 15 miles are mostly flat (flat-ish). Then there's a hill that is literally like a mile long--and NOT a gradual climb, and there are several hills after that until mile 19. But at mile 19 there's a LONG out and back that is super flat, there's one hill and then the finish. So you will likely lose time between 15 and 19 but you can make up a good bit of time from 19-26 if you have properly paced the first 15 and don't kill yourself on the hills. Armed with the 12;45 cutoff I figured we'd have no problems at all.

Well...I was right, but... (cue sinister music)

To Be Continued.... stick around for my race report....

Will I? I Will...

Tomorrow I WILL complete my 9th straight Cotton Row 10K! I'm making that declaration now to set it in stone. It WILL happen.

my first Cotton Row 10K!

Let me explain by going back in time... For anyone who knows me well or who has been reading my blog, you can skip this recap. But for anyone else, hear me out so you'll have a more complete picture of where I am right now in my journey.

In 2009 I decided I would go from a mostly non-runner to a marathoner (I had tried several times in life to become a runner but it never really stuck). I started training and ran my first CR10K that year, injured (because I went from being a 40 year old "non-runner" to running too many miles too fast!). Fast forward through the years...triathlon training, becoming a coach, IMLT '13, IMChoo '15... I would argue that in 2015 I was in very good physical and mental shape. I had started a kids triathlon team and was race directing a kids triathlon that I had started. I was training HARD for a sub 13 hour IM and hitting most of my training goals. I had a near perfect day and got my goal. Shortly after that I started having weird symptoms. It was a long list of strangeness...that culminated in a diagnosis of Autoimmune Encephalopathy. Before I started steroid treatments I had started weakening and slowing. Autoimmune fatigue is like no other kind of fatigue I've ever experienced. I think at my "worst" I was only able to muster the ability to walk at about a 20 minute pace. Fast forward to when I stopped treatments...I thought I'd be making a swift and full comeback. Fast forward another 18 months to the beginning of this year....

I don't remember when the plan hatched but at some point I had the brilliant idea that my better half and I would participate in three marathons in four weeks. I picked three that had longer cutoffs to increase my chances of making the goal. (We direct the Rocket City Marathon...I wanted to be a Marathon Maniac and we had plans to work the expos of all three races. Does that make it sound better?)

Before the start

Marathon one was the Little Rock Marathon on March 3rd. I grew up in North Little Rock and went to college at UALR. Little Rock is like going home for me. They have a HUGE medal, a GREAT course, and like an 8 hour cut off! Their slogan is "a race for all paces". The back half of the course is HARD with some gnarly hills but I love this race. I did it in 2018 and came in at about 7:45 with a big blister on the bottom of my foot. My A goal was sub 6 for this year, but I didn't (couldn't?) train to that end. My longest run was 17.5 miles and my weekly miles were very low. But I still ended up coming in at 6:04! If I didn't have to visit almost EVERY SINGLE portopottie along the way I would have easily made my goal. (I still don't know what caused the bladder issue...)

One of the other things that made this race hard for me was caused because I FAILED TO READ THE PRE-RACE INSTRUCTIONS!! This is a classic "I've done this race before" mistake. I didn't think I needed to read the pre-race emails. In my defense, I don't think any of their email subject lines highlighted the fact there was new information there to read! (It's weak, I know.) In the past everyone (all paces) started together. This year you had to chose. If you were going to go over 6 hours you were supposed to get a special bib to start early (6am) but if you were going to be 6 or under you were supposed to start at 8am. I was HOPING to be under 6 but I really didn't know. I didn't get the special bib...and didn't really even know about it until the night before. The cutoffs were weird to me because it was supposed to be 8 hours from 6am. That would make it 6 hours from 8am but I had read somewhere it was 6:15 from 8am. I was concerned the whole time that I wasn't going to make it but overall I was very pleased with a 6:04 finish time.

Yes...I wore the Go-Pro!

Two weeks later was the Ashville Marathon. This one is held on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate! It's touted as "America's largest backyard" marathon! I got to run the front half with a friend I had met at RCM this year. When she peeled off, there was only one person in front of me and one person behind me that I could see. I quickly passed the person in front of me...and then found out the SWEEPER was right on my tail! The person who had been behind me caught up and started complaining. We actually had "plenty of time" according to the 7 hour cutoff but because we were the last people in the marathon the sweeper was with "us". He did NOT like that! He kept telling her to back off and saying how rude it was for her to be running with "us". I couldn't get far enough away from that guy! Other than his incessant complaining, that was such a LOVELY course!! The front half is mostly on paved roads but the back half is mostly on dirt roads. It ran through the estate and gardens, and through all the farms and the vineyard! It was so pretty out there! The worst part was the last couple of miles are this LONG out and back through a park. You go RIGHT by the finish like twice. It's so long and straight and flat I wanted to just stop. But I was happy that I passed like 15 people in those last few miles for a 6:15 finish! Again, I was pleased with that overall. I will say the thing I did NOT like about that race was the fact that they had PACKED UP POST RACE FOOD before I got done!!! Dwayne finished at just over 4 hours and they were packing it up THEN!!!

😡😡😡

I also had to pay for my post-race massage! That felt foreign to me since I've never seen that done before. But...it was also the BEST post race massage I've ever had! I was thankful for it because we drove back right after we were done (about 5 hours).

Two weeks after that came the Knoxville Marathon. It's been long enough now I can say I loved that race! That is one HILLY course. Start to finish. Hills. The half splits at like mile 12.5 or something and from then on I was pretty much ALL ALONE. Except there were still people at every aid station with PLENTY of aid and there were STILL people CHEERING on the course!!

I think the thing that hurts is the fact that there are about 2000 people who do the half and only about 600 who do the marathon. I could not get over just how ALONE I was the second half. And, it was so FREAKING HILLY. It was HARD. SO HARD.

At about mile 20 I hated everything (except the AMAZING people who were still out there cheering!) I actually called Dwayne and was talking to him when I realized the course was going onto a HIGHWAY ONRAMP!!! I was telling him I thought maybe he should come get me. I don't think I would have really allowed him to come get me but I really didn't know if I could make it another 6+ miles ALONE.

And then my watch started buzzing...(it's connected to my phone so I can see my texts). Apparently Dwayne made a facebook post with my live track asking for people to send me encouraging messages.

It worked. I actually starting crying. I wasn't alone anymore. I had people who were with me every step that last 10K. Cheering me on and being so encouraging.

I came in at 6:54. It's interesting because I can't say that I ever really wanted to quit and I didn't ever think I wasn't going to finish but it did make me doubt if I ever wanted to run another marathon as long as I live! But here I am wondering if I can train to run it better next year! Did I mention how HARD it was? But the people on the course were AMAZING. The town was AMAZING. And...there was SO MUCH post race food when I got done!! And, because of my sweet husband making a post and my sweet friends responding en masse with SO MANY texts, I can now say it was a great race overall. HARD but really good. I think I kind of have to do it again...

Somewhere along the way I saw the medal and shirt for the Bridgestreet Half Marathon. I didn't look at the timing of the race...I was just blinded by the awesome shirt and medal so I signed up.

It was one week after the marathon of marathons! But it also has a four hour cutoff so I figured I'd surely be fine. I ran with a friend who kept me running even when I didn't really FEEL like it to come in WAY under my A goal of "sub 3" ...2:40 to be exact!! I was STOKED!! That 12:13 pace was probably the fastest I had run in over 3 years! For 13.1 miles! After completing 3 marathons in the previous 5 weeks!!!

I felt like I was on my way BACK!! Finally!

I'm three years post-diagnosis. I've been off steroids almost two years. It seems like it's WAY past time to be coming back from all of this.

Post run photo!

Then...on May 2nd I did something I haven't done in all that time...I ran a FULL 5K!!! Ran the whole thing! I didn't walk even ONE STEP!!

Relive 'I ran a whole 5k!!'

I actually still can't believe I did it! 11:40 pace for 3.1 miles! NOT FLAT miles either.

I was so very happy. I thought ahead to Cotton Row and I got excited! My goal for CR10K was to run a mile and take a short break the whole time, walking up the big hill. But with this run under my feet I felt like anything was possible!!

Then, exactly one week later I got sick. Here I am 17 days later...still sick! Turns out it's likely walking pneumonia!! I have been on 2 prescriptions for coughing, 1 breathing med (that I couldn't take because it really hurt my stomach!), 1 antibiotic, 1 steroid shot and 1 round of prednisone. I do feel slightly better now than I did a week ago but I'm still coughing and still can't get a deep breath.

Just in time for my 10th straight Cotton Row 10K!

I checked with the doctor yesterday to make sure there was no medical reason I shouldn't do the race. She said I would cough the whole time...I can live with that. I don't know if the people around me will appreciate it, but I can deal with that annoyance so that I don't break my streak!

It's really not even a question IF I will.... I WILL finish. I might be the VERY LAST person to finish, but I WILL finish.

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around!

Getting My Money's Worth

Ever since I saw the size of the Little Rock Marathon's medal (BIGGER THAN YOUR HEAD), I knew I wanted to do that race! Okay, it was ONLY because of the medal, I grew up in North Little Rock and love Little Rock...but that medal is HUGE!

The race is super fun because they change the theme every single year. They make a big deal about announcing the theme and revealing the medal. Every year I've had something going on around the time of that race that prevented me from doing it but I had it on my radar last year as I started trying to get my endurance back up. And then they had the big theme reveal:

The whole idea of a "QUEST" was right up my ally. I decided right then I was going to register.  But I had to wait until December to register and to see the medal:



The idea of doing a marathon is all well and good, but the actual training and running of it is quite another. When I registered I put together a training plan for myself and set out to make my comeback my "quest"...

However, my return into the world of endurance sports was not what I expected it to be. I realized I simply do not have the energy or strength that I really NEED in order to properly train.

Leading up to this race I keep reminding myself that it has an EIGHT HOUR cut off time!! They ENCOURAGE walkers!! With my marathon PR being 4:2?, and having done that talking the entire time, and speeding up the last two miles, the thought of doing an EIGHT hour marathon was a little sad but the thought of being able to do a marathon at all after all I've been through the last two years thrilled me to my core! I spent a lot of time in the beginning of the year on my walking treadmill (it only goes up to 2 miles an hour!). One day I got a full FIVE hours on that thing!

I did a few "long runs" but really I think my longest was only about 6 or 7 miles until the Hot Chocolate 15k turned 7 miler. My training was woefully inadequate to say the least. But ...EIGHT HOURS to WALK a marathon? To me, that boiled down to mental toughness.

I was right.
And I was wrong.

My daughter, potato2ironman was signed up for her first half marathon so we planned to stay together until the half/full split at mile 11. Her cutoff was four hours. Her training was as inadequate as mine was. Really it was even less because she wasn't on the walking treadmill leading up to the race and she didn't have the benefit of past experiences to draw from.

Also doing the race was a guy I've adopted as my brother and (a well seasoned/experienced marathon race-walker), his daughter (for her second marathon), a friend from Huntsville doing the half, an athlete I've been coaching since I first started who is now more of a friend than "an athlete I coach", and my husband! Originally he said he was going to do the race WITH me, but that was when he thought I'd be running more than walking!

My "frathlete" was coming from Canada so we rented a house for the week she was going to be in town in my all time favorite part of town, Hillcrest. I got to see my best friend (sister) and my son before she got into town and then we settled in until Dwayne, Ashley and her boyfriend got there the next day.

The expo was AMAZING!!! It was exactly what I like race expos to be--LIVELY!! It was FULL of cool vendors (90% of which had something to do with running), and FULL of participants. That's fairly easy to do when you have like ten thousand people doing your race weekend! (I don't know how many they have doing the race, but they have a 5k, 10k, half and full marathon plus a kids race.) They had a cool stage area with big self stations, and really cool vendors. I had two favorites...a lady selling race charms (like for necklaces) and another one called 73Threads. I'm not going to gush over just how much I loved them, but I did spend a good bit of money at their booth...and I did invite them to come to the Rocket City Marathon expo...and I did a happy dance when they said yes!!! :D. ((The pendant person can't come to our expo because she is from Dallas and their marathon weekend is the same as ours...bummer.))

We decided to just go to the grocery store for dinner foods since we all had different pre-race dietary needs. And then we turned in fairly early.

Race morning we were all up and about well before sunrise and at the race start in time for the obligatory bathroom stops and photos!

Ashley and I lined up at the very back. We sough out the 8 hour pacers (who we found out were NOT the sweepers*). After what happened to us at the Hot Chocolate 15k turned 7 miler, we didn't want to take any chances with cutoffs. As we lined up I went to make friend with the cops who I thought would be following us all day* and then I met someone who, little did I know, would come in handy closer to the end of the race... a self proclaimed "Fire Ball Aid Station".

Let me explain...this participant had a full Camelbak running bladder ful of Fire Ball cinnamon whiskey!! (Yes, I did have to verify this for myself...I figured the alcohol would kill any germs from the spout...)

About 8 minutes after the "actual" start of the race, we crossed the start line...and it started to sprinkle rain! At least it wasn't freezing cold like the last race Ashley and I did together.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the first 11 miles with Ashley. She is a very fun person to be in a race with. We were cheering the spectators and dancing and cutting up. Even when it started raining much harder, she was having as much fun as I was. She had been having some issues with her shoes leading up to the race and ended up having to get new shoes so I was worried about her but as long as we were walking, she was fine. It bothered her if we tried to run much so we just kept our pace up enough to stay with the 8 hour pacers.

It wasn't until about mile 6 or so that I started doing some math. We were WAY ahead of the pace we thought we were. That's when we found out the 8 hour pacers were banking time on the front half of the course because they knew the second half of the marathon course was much slower! That was fine for me, but it meant Ashley was going much faster than she had intended. When we found that out, we slowed down.

Let me just say, I LOVED the course. I loved everything about it. It's HILLY and it has a TON of turns. It goes through some "less desirable" parts of town but it also goes by some of the best Little Rock has to offer. There's even a short bit on the North side of the river. There were lots of spectators (even for those of us in the back of the pack), and the aid stations were all ROCKING. The police were INCREDIBLY friendly, and every single road was protected by police or crossing guard type workers. There was some great music on the course and SEVERAL things to take pictures of along the way. When they say they encourage walkers, they REALLY MEAN IT!! I never felt like I was pulling up the rear of anything. ((Part of that is because I wasn't....turns out, from what I understand, they have an 8 hour cut off for official finishers, but they don't actually cut anyone off. The police roll behind the last people in there race no matter how slow they are!! I NEVER saw them behind me even one time.))

At the half/full split off I said goodbye to Ashley as she headed out to finisher her race alone, and I forged ahead, knowing I still had another 15ish miles to go! It had rained off and on the whole morning and I was pretty soaked, but I wasn't cold and I had good layers to add/subtract as needed. But I was VERY sad to lose my running buddy. I strongly considered cutting my race in half, but I REALLY wanted that marathon medal, and I wanted Ashley to have the chance to do finish this super hard thing on her own. I knew she could do it and I hoped I could too.

I decided I wanted to catch up to the eight hour pacers so I started a nice run/walk by feel. I was feeling strong but I knew there were hills coming and I still had 15 miles ahead of me.

About an hour went by when I got the text saying Ashley had finished!!! I started crying and telling anyone who would listen around me that my daughter just finished her first half marathon!!! They all cheered with me!! :D

I finally caught, and passed the 8 hour group! I was feeling really strong and full of myself but I was feeling a little bit of a hot spot on the bottom of my left foot. It wasn't a fully on blister yet, but it was certainly threatening to get there. I decided there was northing I could do about it, so I kept run/walking along. Not like I would quit over something like that....

And then we hit the real hills...and then it started POURING down rain. It was so hard I thought it might be HAILING!! I actually started laughing. I was coming up to an aid station on the outskirts of Hillcrest (only about 1/2 mile from the house had rented). There was a group of kids working it who were having a RIDICULOUS amount of fun dancing in the rain. Seeing them dancing and laughing reminded me that rain isn't a bad thing! That was just what I needed to keep me moving away from the rent house that was calling my name, bidding me to quit early and just rest!!

Up a huge hill...the one I thought would be the worst because it was SO long....through Alsop Park (the perfect scene for an episode of Criminal Minds thanks to the feeling of isolation in the woods), and down to the river.

Can I say, I love the Arkansas River? I love Rebsamen Park and the Arkansas River Trail (a greenway that runs along side the river although you can't actually SEE the river). But by the time I got there my foot was HURTING. I wasn't able to run much because that hot spot had bloomed and was a squishy, burning, full-on blister. Every other part of me felt GREAT except my stinking foot. The part of the course that runs by the river is a VERY VERY VERY long, flat, straight out and back. It felt like it would never end. When I hit the turn around point I saw the Fireball Aidstation gal!!!

Can I say, Fireball really DOES take pain away? I probably would have finished about 30 minutes ahead of where I did if I had a little flask of that to carry with me!! (Either that or I wouldn't have made it back at all...either way I think I would have been happy!)

But the Fireball anesthesia "shot" didn't last long. My foot was hurting. I couldn't really run at all from the squishy pain. No matter what I tried, I would involuntarily shift my weight which would have caused some other issues that I just didn't want to deal with. At one point I was texting with Dwayne (yes, texting in a "race"...I was WALKING for crying out loud!)...that man actually suggested I QUIT!! It was mile 23.5!! He thought he was trying to be supportive but I quickly told him that was NOT what I needed to hear.... I had less than 3 miles to go. I needed to hear him tell me to suck it up buttercup and get myself to the finish line no matter what. ((That's almost exactly what Bilbo told me when I was winging and complaining to her!))

I forgot to say that earlier in the race Ashley and I saw my "sister" and her kids along with Ashley's boyfriend. It's always so wonderful to see spectators, but it's especially wonderful to see YOUR spectators. I was feeling pretty down when I saw my cheering squad...my sister, her kids. my daughter (wearing her medal), her boyfriend and my son who drove over an hour to come cheer for me! Seeing them was WAY better than Fireball! It gave me what I needed to get through my one last challenge.

Before I get to that, can I just take a minute say, it's HARD work to spectate a race!!? You don't train for it. You don't have the excitement of the course moving around you. You have the stress of trying to be at a certain place at a certain time...a time you have no perfect way to know because your runner can speed up or slow down along the way (that is IF you have a tracker on your runner, which I did but most of the time you don't). And, it's fun to cheer for runners, but it's really YOUR runner you are wanting to see, and you only get to see them for a fleeting moment in time. It's hard work. If someone comes to cheer for you at a race...they seriously LOVE you.

When we drove the course before the race I made a point to say the long climb leading into Hillcrest was going to be the hardest for me. It's just such a long climb that never seems to end... But Dwayne said a short little hill at the end would be the worst because it was at the end (like mile 25) and it was steep. But I said he was wrong because it was so short.

Can I just say he was ...right... (again). Holy hills Batman. When I saw that thing I just wanted to cry. There was a gal close to me who asked me if we were really going the right way! (She didn't know!?) I told her we had to be since the road was closed and there were a ton of other "runners" (walkers) ahead of us! It was stinking HARD to get up that dang hill. I don't think it would have been an issue if not for that blister. I had energy (thankfully), and (other than the pain in my foot) I was feeling really good about the day. It's funny how one (not so) little thing than derail all the other things.

After I got over the hill Dwayne was telling me I was super close but it felt like I was still miles and miles away. He told me where he was waiting for me so I started searching for him. ((It wasn't hard, there was pretty much NO ONE out there, but I can't see very well...)) Right before I got to him I came upon the "Lipstick Station"! North Little Rock is home to a Mabeline factory, and they are sponsors of the race. They have a tent set up at the 26 mile marker where you can actually put on lipstick and primp before your big finish! (No, I didn't stop, but I did let her give me some lipstick that I quickly gave to Dwayne to carry!) He gave me a big kisss and I slowly jogged by my cheering section through the finish!!

Can I just say that finish was one of the sweetest moments I've had. It seriously ranks up there with my Ironman finishes and my Mountain Mist finish. Honestly, I think it was "better" than my first marathon finish. When I did my first marathon, I had trained hard. My longest run leading up was 22 miles (or close to it). I had done like 90% of the training the Fleet Feet training group plan had prescribed. I wasn't positive I could finish, but I was fairly confident. For this one, I had NO IDEA if I'd be able to finish it or not. I wasn't willing to risk injury (a blister is not an injury by my definition even though it was painful). And I had NOT trained. I felt confident in my mental toughness to get through a hard thing, but sometimes the hard thing wins.  The ONLY reason I was able to do it was the 8 hour "cutoff"...my finish time was right around 7:45!! But that's why I picked this race. Okay, the medal is why I picked it, the cutoff is why I was okay signing up even though I wasn't sure how "training" was going to go.

Can I just say I LOVED this race? I will certainly do it again. I hope I'll be trained next time. I hope it doesn't rain next time. Either way, I know I'll have a great experience next time.

Oh...and I took one ONE HUNDRED PICTURES during this race!!! Quote from Dwayne "we had a totally different race experience"... Yes we did, baby! Yes we did!! I'm so very glad I did or I might have forgotten all the wonderful memories from this race!!


Thanks for joining me on this journey!