Eugene/FIRST Marathon Race Recap

I've been a terrible blogger up to this point, but I know I should definitely write down all my thoughts from our very FIRST marathon, before I forget ALL the juicy details!! So here goes!

Saturday
Saturday we got up at a decent hour (8am) to pack our stuff and start on our journey down to Eugene. We got on the road at a decent time, and made it to the Race Expo at the Eugene Hilton by noon. We found the packet pickup where we picked up our bibs, timing chips, goodie bags, and shirts. Nothing looked too enticing as we passed by several booths, and it seemed a bit crowded for my taste, so we were in and out in no time.





We picked up a course map at the expo, and decided to drive the course as best we could, since much of it is on the path along the Willamette River. First stop was Historic Hayward Field, where the race start and finish are located!



As we were driving around the Mile 16 mark, we accidentally found out where Autzen Stadium (home of the Duck's Football team) was, AND that there was something going on there on Saturday, at about the time we decided to drive by. Oops!!

We made our way through most of the course, and then it was finally time to check into our B&B (The Secret Garden Inn), located only about 2 blocks away from Hayward Field. Our room was not "spacious" but it was perfect for us! Cute and cozy, and perfect for resting!

Cozy!

Our friends made it down later in the day, and we met up at Track Town Pizza, for a delicious pre-marathon meal. Many of our long runs were preceded by a delicious meal of pizza, and we didn't want to stray too far from that! :)



And of course, our pre-long run meals always include a delicious beer...Mmm...(J and I split a pint)
Finally we headed back to our room and got our gear ready to go for the next day.
After we were prepared for the next morning it was time for some relaxation in bed, including an awesome Timbers game. Although I slept through most of the second half, I woke up just in time to see them cinch the win! I slept really good marathon eve, for some reason, and woke up with my alarm, ready to go!

Sunday/Marathon Day!!
5:45am came not so bright but early. J and I ate our oatmeal, and suited up for our first full marathon. I knew it was going to be cool for the start (~40°), but that it would warm up in no time. It was actually quite reminiscent to our first half marathon a little less than a year ago. All our training, and even the week leading up to the race was cool and wet, and then come race day, the warmest day of the year thus far and no clouds in sight!! Not so nice when you can't handle running in heat...(We're the opposite of most fair-weather runners!)

I tried to go into the race without any time expectations, as I knew it was going to be tougher than any race we had ever done. I knew if I went in with certain expectations, I would probably be disappointed, but I also knew I wanted to do the best that I could. I know that I am capable of a sub-4 hour marathon, but I wasn't sure today was the day for it. We hadn't done any speed work in our training. In fact, we hadn't actually run at a sub-4 hour marathon pace at all during training. But I wanted to start out at a decent pace, and see how we felt!

We got to the race start with about 10 minutes to spare. The lines to the potties looked immense, and I was starting to get nervous, so I opted out of the lines, and we went to line up instead. We found the 4-hour pacer, and thought that was as good a place as any to line up. Little did we know the race would start 11 minutes late...

Miles 1-7:
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, a little girl sang the national anthem, and then the gun went off. We shuffled across the starting line, and waited for the crowd to loosen up a bit. The first mile or so was a bit of a cluster, but we didn't try to push through it, or wind through too many people; we just took it easy, we still had a LONG way to go.

I knew my friend, K, was waiting for us at about 1.5 miles. We saw her and waved, and I handed off my handheld, as I wasn't expecting to need it until later on, and didn't want to cart it along with us the whole way. It was at about this point that the 4-hour pacer took off. And I mean TOOK OFF!! I know he was a bit behind the pace, but holy moly! There were plenty of miles to make up time! It was probably at this point that we let him go on ahead, and we didn't see much of him at all later on. Oh well!

The next few miles were fairly uneventful. For the first few miles, we could see the fasties on the other side of a green patch (through some tree branches) which was pretty cool. We looped down and around, and made our way back up toward the University, grabbing water or gatorade at every aid station along the way. This part of the race seemed to go by really fast, and we were able to keep a good pace going.

Mile 1: 9:49 (Thick crowd)
Mile 2: 9:13
Mile 3: 9:04
Mile 4: 9:10
Mile 5: 9:14
Mile 6: 9:00
Mile 7: 9:03

Miles 8-11:
Our friend K had planned to see us again in front of South Eugene High School, just before the "hill" at mile 8. I passed off my arm warmers (I was plenty warm at this point) and she told us to keep going. Then came the "hill", which wasn't much of a hill, really, and actually crested at our B&B, "See you later!"
We came back by Hayward Field again, and we decided to hit up the potties while we knew there would be no wait. I probably didn't *need* to use the potty; it was more mental than anything, but it didn't take us too long. Soon enough, we were crossing over the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river, and parting ways with the half marathoners.

Mile 8: 9:12 ("hill"?)
Mile 9: 10:00 (pit stop)
Mile 10: 9:12
Mile 11: 9:23

Miles 12-16:
Definitely the most boring part, at least to me...Neighborhoods, and a long...boring...road. I kept waiting for Centennial Blvd to turn in to MKL, because I knew that meant we were almost to Autzen Stadium, and almost to the River Pathways. After what seemed like forever, we were finally there! My legs started to feel a bit tired during this stretch, but that could have been a bit due to the long boringness of it...I'm pretty sure this is when we decided to settle in to our 9:20 pace, since our bodies had already.

Mile 12: 9:25
Mile 13: 9:25
Mile 14: 9:12
Mile 15: 9:20
Mile 16: 9:20

Miles 17-21:
Although the scenery was better, all the pedestrian bridges leading to the other side of the river were dirty teases, as we had to continue on straight ahead. I was definitely getting more tired, but no more than I had expected. I was also started to feel warm, and more thirsty than the water stations were appearing. Luckily K, and our other friend M (who had just raced to a PR in her half marathon) were going to meet us at the mile 21 marker to run with us for a few miles!

Mile 17: 9:41
Mile 18: 9:39
Mile 19: 9:51
Mile 20: 9:53
Mile 21: 10:00

Miles 22-24:
K and M met us just in time. I was so thirsty, and needed a good distraction. M told us about her PR, and K told us about the other friends she'd seen out on the course. They told us how strong we looked (which I strongly doubted, as I felt anything but strong at that point...) I got my handheld and kept drinking at every aid station. Soon enough, though, our 2 miles with friends were over, and we continued on on our own.

Marathons are hard!!

Mile 24 was probably the most difficult, as we were so close, but not close enough to know the end was near. We were passing several people walking, and although I wanted to walk, I really just wanted to get it over with! And I knew I could finish if I just kept running!

Mile 22: 10:05
Mile 23: 10:05
Mile 24: 10:12

Miles 25-26.2:

Coming into the finish

When I saw the Mile 25 marker, I knew I could pick up the pace, and I knew we would be finished soon. I just kept running, and when I saw the final turn on the path, that would take us to Agate Street, through Franklin, and onto Hayward Field, I definitely picked up the pace. On we went, and then I saw the stadium, and really picked it up! It got closer and closer until it was finally there. We ran onto the track, around a curve, and booked it as best we could through the finish line!

Mile 25: 10:25
Mile 26: 9:46
Mile 26.2: 8:08 avg pace

Garmin Results: 4:10:50 (26.27 miles)

Official Results: 4:10:43 (26.2 miles)

After we crossed, we collected our race medals, and slowly/painfully made our way toward the exit to meet our friends. We were done! The legs were not working so well, though. We collected our congratulations from our friends, and slowly made our way back to the B&B to shower/change. (It took AWHILE!!) We made it out eventually and ate lunch with friends at Lucky Noodle, and then some gelato at The Sweet Life. Yum! Not walking so well:

From the back

From the front

Overall, I'm very happy with how we did. Yes, our pace dropped off, but I think we still finished strong. I think a lot of the difficulty (for me) in the last 10k or so was mental, and not knowing what to expected from myself in uncharted territory. But I think I was still able to remain strong, even during those tough times. Its kind of funny to look at our split times, compared to others running the race (check out our "rank" for our first few splits compared to the "last 10K" split, even though our pace dropped significantly, our rank improved!):

10k: 58:10 (pace: 9:22 , rank: 115)
Half (13.1 Mile): 2:02:09 (pace: 9:20 , rank: 116)
20 Mile: 3:07:41 (pace: 9:24 , rank: 105)
Last 10k: 1:03:03 (pace: 10:09 , rank: 102)

I think it was a solid first marathon, and although I'm suffering from quite a bit of soreness right now, and felt like I was suffering through most of the end of the race, I'll definitely run a marathon again (and I think J is up for it, too!) I now know I can make it the whole distance, now it's time to see how fast I can go!

Marathoners!!