After St. George with the mistakes Deb & I made with carb loading the day before and the way that race played out, I knew I needed another shot at the marathon before the year was over. I had run the Tucson marathon before and I thought that would be a good place to try and throw down a Sub 3...so the training resumed and intensified. There were so many early morning, solo, cold runs, tempo runs, grueling speedwork...but call me crazy I was excited about all the training and where it would lead me. Each new training day was a new challenge and to-do item that I would nail and check off my list. All of this would be done most days by 7am so I started the day feeling accomplished, stronger and happy! Does anyone else love training for those reasons too?
The training went so well. I ran a few half marathons and could see that the training was working and I was gaining some speed that I would need to accomplish my goal. I focused on recovery and got as much sleep as I could. I would eat my vegetables too like a good girl! My body was feeling ready and I was getting excited.
Race week came! I still worked out but the duration was shorter and the intensity was overall more like recovery. A few workouts would have a few bursts of high intensity, short intervals...just the way it should be. The week was busy and flew by. Kids were needing to be places, laundry needed to be done, my husband is in a very busy time so there was lots of work I did to help him, babies to be chased after. Just the normal routine of things.
Before I knew it, the time came to pack and get on a plane. We flew out on the Friday before the race and arrived in Tucson around 5pm. We checked into our hotel and then went to find some dinner! We ate at Olive Garden and I got their Chicken with Asparagus and mashed potatoes. Went heavy on the breadsticks and light on the salad! Went to Walmart where we picked up a few things like, Gatorade, bananas, bread for my PB & Honey, etc. Then we headed back to the hotel when we saw a Gelato store next to our hotel so we walked over! No...I did not get Gelato but I did get some good grapefruit and strawberry sorbet. On our walk back to the hotel we noticed a massage place so we went in and see if they had anything open. We were greeted by about 5 very happy, energetic and smiling Chinese women and you probably know where this story would go if I shared. I will say it was one of the most interesting massages I have ever experienced...maybe becuase it was Asian massage parlor style!! Haha! After this experience, we decided the safest place was in our hotel room so we headed there so we didn't stumble upon any other first time, new things there in Tucson!
Saturday, December 5, 2015 - The day before the race.
Slept in until about 8:30 and laid around until 9. Then decided we had better go hit the breakfast before it ended at 10am. I love a breakfast buffet the day before a race. I got pancakes, eggs, some potatoes, oatmeal, fruit and also took a few items for throughout the day and on race morning.
When we got back we put on our running shoes and went out for an easy little jaunt to loosen the legs and get a feel for the Tucson air! I really love getting out and hitting the pavement with Trent. I love sharing with him what I love and just chatting as we run! Then we came back and went to a movie, dinner where I had salmon and rice! Plus I probably drank 3-32 oz gatorades and over 100 oz of water throughout the day because in addition to racing a marathon, my body still needs extra fluid because I am nursing/pumping for my 5 month old! When we got back to the hotel I made sure everything was put together for the morning and then was in bed around 10:00pm.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
It is race morning!!! My alarm went off at 4:30am. I got up and got dressed and made sure I had everything once again. One neat thing about this race is that if you stay at one of the "host" hotels, a bus actually comes and picks you up from the lobby. The last bus left our hotel at 5:20am. After everything was all ready, I pumped at the very latest time I could before I boarded the buses because I knew that would be it until after the race...that part made me nervous a bit but it was what it was and I would deal with whatever that curve ball threw at me during the race! 5:20 I was down in the lobby but there was no bus...there had been too many people on the bus so they went ahead and sent it. So I had to wait for another one to show up. It ended up being about 5:45 that I finally got on a bus but I didn't care because this bus had a toilet on it so there was no rush to get to the start to stand in line for a port-a-potty...it was right there for me! How lucky was I??? We got up there with about 15 mins to spare so I sat for a minute on the bus, went to the bathroom one more time and then started to make my way to the start line. I took off my extra clothing and dropped my bag at the truck on my way! On my walk to the start I ate an entire bag of Honey Stingers and popped 2 salt pills so I would be fueled for the first part of the race! Nerves really started to hit and I tried to shake them off. I kept thinking how long are they going to make us stand here...start the race already! I was ready to run! I needed to run the nervous off! FINALLY...it was time to start. 3-2-1 it was 7:02am and we were off!The first 4 miles flew by and I was holding a steady 6:50 pace. There were 3 girls in front of me and I didn't really care where they were at that point in the race. I didn't even care if anyone passed me...I was going to follow my pacing plan and it felt great! At mile 4 I grabbed my bottle of CarboPro and took 1/3 of the bottle which is about 100 calories. Then at each aid station I would grab 2 cups of water. Then at Mile 13 the plan was to grab one water, one gatorade. Got to the first checkpoint at Mile 5.9 and my overall pace was 6:50. This was right where I wanted to be! I was feeling good but I knew Biosphere Road still waited for me. This was from Mile 10-13.5 and it is a lot of hills and rollers! Mile 8 came, another 100 calories of CarboPro and a salt pill. Still feeling good! Before I knew it I hit BioSphere...and then I was at the turnaround and I thought to myself...where were the hills I was so nervous about. I was really feeling good and my body hardly noticed the climbing I had just done. It was holding pace just like I wanted to. Mile 12, on my way out of BioSphere, another 100 calories of CarboPro. First bottle of CarboPro finished. Second Checkpoint came at mile 13.1 and I was at a 6:53 pace overall...still feeling good and felt like I was getting stronger! I had got 2 out of 3 hilly sections of the course out of the way and now for the next 7 or so miles I just needed to run strong and steady. During this time I passed one girl so I knew there were only 2 in front of me. Mile 16, another 100 calories of carbopro and a salt pill. I could see the second place girl in the distance ahead of me. This gave me alittle jolt of adrenalin because I was going to get her. Then IT HAPPENED!!! (Quick note: In this marathon for a good 10 plus mile section you only have the shoulder of a 2-lane highway to run in. You have traffic running both directions to the right of you so for me, I hug pretty close to the left of the shoulder to be as far away from cars as possible.) Mile 16.73 there was a man trying to hurry out back on the race course from peeing in the bushes and he cut right in front of me, almost taking me out completely. I saw it coming but he didn't see me so I tried to dodge him and by doing so went off the shoulder of the road into the dirt, rolled my ankle and landed in a cactus bush. The guy said sorry as he was running out and that is all I heard from him. He didn't look back to see what had happened or if I was even okay. Two guys who had been running around me the entire race stopped to help me up and make sure I was okay. One of them told me I was bleeding! I wasn't as concerned with that as I was with how my ankle was aching! I pulled out my phone, started to run again and called Trent with tears in my eyes and told him what had happened. He said, "Jess, you are posting awesome times. Try and shake it of and just keep moving!" I hung up the phone and gosh dang it, that is what I was going to do. I gave it an honest effort...one more mile. I could see Mile 18 just in front of me. I could tell my stride wasn't right and neither was my ankle. It hurt...it really hurt. I stopped and called Trent again and told him it wasn't worth it. I was in pain, I was limping when I ran and by that point my shin was throbbing from the cactus spikes that were stuck in it and leaking their poison into my cuts and scrapes. I surrendered to my body, pulled off my race bib, maybe cussed a few times and told him to come and pick me up! I cried, I screamed, I wanted to go find this guy and trip him and leave him to the cactus but I knew it wouldn't make me feel better. I needed some time and some moments. I couldn't bring myself to go to the finish line. I wanted to just go back to the hotel, clean up my shin and have some moments. I was having a great race. I was doing what I had set out to do until that moment in the race when it was taken from me. I was accomplishing my goal and then like that...I couldn't! I was done!
Lots of tears were shed, lots of words were said. I would be okay for one moment and then playing out all the what ifs the next moment which would make me angry!!!! Instantly I wanted to find another marathon to do and accomplish the goal I had set out to do. I needed to do it NOW! We got all our stuff together and headed out to the airport to go home. We stopped for lunch where I may have eaten 3 pazookies to help cheer myself up..they were mini ones though! ;). I talked to my kids who are my best cheerleaders. I cried some more and just wanted my head to turn off. We got back home to Utah Sunday night and I wasn't myself. I wanted an un-do or re-do button so bad and was just bummed at the situation.
Monday morning came and to be honest...it really stunk. I felt bad for myself, I spent all morning researching races and trying to fit it into my schedule because I just HAVE to get this goal. I am trained. I am ready. I should be able to do this. It wasn't until Monday afternoon when I finally took a step back and thought...Jess, you need to SLOW down! So I took a moment to evaluate where I was at. As I sat there thinking I wondered why I was in such a rush to get this goal. What happened to me on Sunday was a freak accident and it is what it is. It sucks but it happened. Yes, I probably could have got my goal, but there is a chance I could have also blown up and tanked. One positive thing that I learned from Sunday is that I know I can do what I wanted to do. Even Saturday night before the race I sat looking at my pace band, wondering if I could run that fast for that long. I questioned if I had it in me. But what that first 18 miles proves to me is, that I can!!! I CAN do this! So I asked myself once again...Why am I rushed to try and fit a race in. Did I really want to recover and build back up and do the training for the next 6-7 weeks that I knew I would have to in order to be ready? And to be honest...I don't. I want to enjoy the Christmas season and not worry about getting a "certain" workout or training run in. I want to give my body a break and let it truly recover.
And just to throw it out there another goal of mine that I am getting anxious for is Kona. I want to go to Kona...but after this weekend I am needing to evaluate things and see if that is really what I NEED and should do at this time or if I am trying to Rush and pack too many things in. I have no doubt I will accomplish the goals that I set out to do if the timing is right. So for the meantime, I am going to keep doing what I love. Running and working out, getting a sweat on, training and coaching and helping others to their goals and enjoy the holidays with my family and friends.
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