I put off writing this race report all day yesterday. It’s so hard to write a report of something that was so long and so emotional. I thought a lot about my race yesterday. I second guessed some of the decisions I made, I thought about the amazing, gorgeous, words-can’t-even-describe-how-beautiful-it-was course, I alternated between being grateful and happy for my race and mad at myself for not pushing harder mentally the last 5K. In the end, I ran a marathon. My second marathon but not my last. I smiled and laughed more than I didn’t. I spent four hours with a new friend who has now become a good friend. And that is all that really matters.

Onto the real report. Let’s start from the beginning…

The night before I laid out all my stuff like always. I had my race outfit, my fuel and everything I would need to use before leaving the hotel like deodorant, sunscreen, body glide and vaseline.

I was wide awake when my alarm went off at 5:00 AM. I crawled out of bed and got all my stuff ready, made some coffee, choked down a bagel with PB and a banana and tweeted a photo of my race outfit and told people to yell if they saw me. So glad I did this because Stacey, Jackie and Erin all spotted me and said ‘hi’ to me because of this! I knew lots of twitter/blog friends who were running the marathon and it was fun to read all the tweets with the #runvan hashtag before leaving my hotel!

I left around 6:15 and walked the 2 km to the skytrain station where I was planning to meet Brittany. There was a huge line-up of runners waiting to buy tickets to get on the skytrain. At 6:50 AM there were still a bunch of half-marathoners in the line-up too (their race was at 7 am). Finally someone who worked there just came up and said “just get on, you can buy your tickets at the exit” Thank goodness they did that or a lot of people would have been late for their race. I think it’s awesome that translink was so accommodating to the runners.

Britt met me on the platform and we both got on the skytrain and right away someone said “Amber?” and it was Stacey! We have been tweeting back and forth about our training for a few months now so it was really cool to see her. We all ended up walking to the start together and getting a photo – Twitter friends are seriously the best!

We saw the half-marathoners starting as we were walking to the start and that was exciting too!

I also ran into my friend from high school and tried to meet up with two people from my running group but couldn’t coordinate meeting them. It was awesome to see so many people I knew before starting and really helped calm my nerves! Check out the pretty mountain view while we were waiting around.

Britt and I headed to our corral shortly after arriving at the start line and waited around there. We did a long run together a month before when I was in Vancouver and had both been training for a 4:30 marathon finish so we decided to run together and stick together for as much of the race as possible. Running the race WITH someone was the BEST THING EVER and I’m so glad we did this.

Anyways, before we knew it we were inching our way to the start (which I neglected to take a picture of) and we were off. The course started on a hill and then moved into some rollers and I felt really anxious and “off” at first. It took me a good 6-7 K to finally feel like I was settling into a pace.

Mile 1 – 9:57, Mile 2 – 9:43, Mile 3 – 9:51, Mile 4 – 9:35, Mile 5 – 9:50

We were doing 10 and 1′s (10 minutes running and 1 minute walking) and cruising along when we made it to the hill I had heard so much about.

While I am glad this hill came so early in the race it was a killer! I had just settled into my pace when we climbed this thing and it totally threw my pace off again.

Mile 6 – 10:47, Mile 7 – 10:40, Mile 8 – 11:01, Mile 9 – 10:16, Mile 10 – 10:27

The next few miles were through the UBC campus and we were on a wide road with huge trees on both sides. It offered some really nice shade and was really pretty! Around mile 8 I sent my first tweet saying we were feeling good. Britt and I were still together and chatting away.

We had a nice downhill right before reaching the halfway point. And while it felt really good we were conscious to not go too hard and kill our knees and quads.

We reached the halfway point in 2:14:29, which was perfectly on pace for our 4:30 goal. We were both feeling awesome!

  

Mile 11 – 10:13, Mile 12 – 10:11, Mile 13 – 9:55, Mile 14 – 10:16, Mile 15 – 10:34

The next few miles were a bit of a blur. We ran along the Spanish Banks, Jericho Beach and Kitsilano beach. This part of the course followed the same route as the Scotiabank Half-marathon (which I ran in 2009) and it was gorgeous with some amazing ocean and mountain views. There were a few tough points in here where Britt and I were basically counting down to our next walk. We kept saying 5 minutes to go, 4 minutes to go, 3 minutes to go etc.

I felt really, really crappy around mile’s 15 – 17 (25K – 28ishK) and neither of us were talking much other than to say “we’re running a freaking marathon!” “we’re awesome!” “best time ever!” and a few random cheers to get our morale up. I also started counting down until we would see Eric as he was waiting for us at km 32 (mile 20ish).

Soon we were hitting the Burrard Bridge. Another decent climb. I knew we’d see Eric shortly after crossing the bridge but we were both in pretty low spirits by this point so to pick ourselves up we came down off the bridge and started cheering and waving our arms like crazy for the race photographer – can’t wait to see the photo!

Mile 16 – 10:20, Mile 17 – 10:41, Mile 18 – 11:05, Mile 19 – 10:54, Mile 20 – 11:10

Before we knew it we were at the Inukshuk and km 32! I came down around the corner and saw Eric standing there and started waving wildly at him. I was sooo happy to see him!

Look at those smiles! Can you tell we’re in a bit of pain here? Ha!

We dropped our water belts with him, I gave him a quick (and super sweaty) kiss and we were off! Only 10 km to go. But I knew from my last marathon that these would be the toughest 10 km of the whole thing…and they were.

 

I was excited to enter the seawall as I knew it would be flat and gorgeous. But I was also tired and my legs were getting pretty sore. We were just tried to keep up with our 10 and 1′s and keep smiles on our faces.

I actually started to feel pretty good about 2 miles after seeing Eric. Unfortunately, Britt was having some stomach issues so after running for 21 miles (33 km) together we said our goodbyes and promised to meet up at the finish line. I plugged in my music for the FIRST time the entire marathon and off I went! I felt really good for about 2 more miles and then it all went downhill from there.

Mile 21 – 11:14, Mile 22 – 10:50, Mile 23 – 11:04

Around mile 22.5 (36ish km) I started feeling really nauseous and off and also had to pee really badly. I told myself I only had 5K to go and I could do this but I wasn’t feeling very mentally strong at this point. Finally when I came up to the mile 23 aid station I decided to pop into the porta-potty. I had been on pace for a 4:30 goal this ENTIRE race but that bathroom break put me about 1.5 minutes behind my pace band and, in a moment of mental weakness I felt really discouraged and just threw it off.

The next 5K were brutal you guys. My stomach was cramping. I wanted to puke. I knew it was only 5K but I just didn’t have it in me to push anymore. I walked a lot. At mile 25 I tried to call Eric and was almost in tears. I was so mad at myself and was being super negative in my head.

Mile 25 – 10:56

I finally got out of Stanley Park and came up around a corner and was heading uphill (meanies!) back into the city again when I saw Karen on the edge of the road cheering! It was so great to see her smiling face and I gave her a hug and said “this is SO HARD” and she was like, “you’re almost there!!!” so I took off again.

I had to go up the block a bit further and around a corner to get to the finish line. At this point I looked at my watch and knew if I kept running I could make it under 4:40 and at least have a time that STARTED with a 4:3x so I got my butt moving.

Mile 26 – 11:40, Mile 26 – 26.2 – 10:34

Eric was waiting for me at the end and got this photo of me coming in.

I crossed the finish line and immediately bent over and put my hands on my knees. I was sure I was going to throw up. A medic came over and encouraged me to walk around so I walked down and talked to Eric through the fence but told him I wanted to wait for Britt. I went and got my medal (who I happened to get from a girl I went to middle school with – I knew she’d be there since I saw on Facebook but still small world!)

Once Britt crossed the finish line I gave her a HUGE hug and then we walked out of the finish area to find Eric so she could get her cell phone and call her husband. I immediately started eating some salty potato chips and felt 100x better within a few minutes of eating them. I then felt really upbeat and was super energetic despite the fact that I’d just ran a marathon!

We went back to our hotel so I could shower and then checked out and got on the road, with a quick stop for some very greasy – and very delicious – pizza!

Final Stats:

Chip time: 4:39:07

Age place (19-24): 68/102

Gender place: 1126/1838

Final Thoughts: 

I’m not going to lie. I’m disappointed I didn’t hit my 4:30 goal time. I know if I’d pushed harder that last 5 km I would have done it and while I was battling nausea and stomach cramps I also didn’t push myself mentally at all. I would say the last 5 km of this marathon were equally as hard as the last 5 km of my half-marathon in October where I ran sub-2. The difference was I dug deep mentally during that half-marathon and I didn’t during my marathon.

However, I smiled and laughed A LOT this race. I had a little bit of trouble miles 15-17 and then didn’t really feel crappy again until mile 23. The course was beautiful and it was so well organized with tons of aid stations and porta-potties. And we literally could not have asked for better weather. It was truly a great day.

What went wrong with my stomach? I’m not really sure. It was a warm day out there, about 17 C, and the sun was bright and hot. I took three GU’s, two packs of shot bloks and drank A LOT of gatorade in an attempt to stay well fueled. I think I may have OVER-fueled and the sugar wreaked havoc on my stomach. I also might have been lacking in sodium considering how amazing those potato chips tasted by the end. I took water every aid station so I’m pretty sure I was well hydrated, but it’s hard to say for sure.

I’ve tweeted with a few other runners who missed their goal time as well and the general consensus was that it was a warm day and that was hard on the runners for a variety of reasons. Also, while this is considered a FAST course (lots of downhill) I would not call it a FLAT course at all. There are plenty of rollers out there to beat up your legs.

All that being said, I LOVED the course a lot. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will run it again one day. This was a brand new course for Vancouver and the organizers did an amazing job showing off the best parts of a very beautiful city. I cannot recommend it enough. Especially if you’ve never been to Vancouver and want a destination race.

I have a 4:30 in my legs and now, after this marathon, I know I have it in my mind. I will be running another marathon in 2012 (stay tuned for details!) and that 4:30 or faster goal will be at the forefront of my mind and training, whereas this time it was just to finish injury-free and have a good, fun race (which I did)!

I loved running into so many twitter/blog friends and having Eric there was the BEST THING EVER! It really was a wonderful, fun day.

A huge, huge thank you to Britt. I have never ran almost an entire race like that with someone before and I loved it. It was so great to have someone by my side to chat with and scream with and yell “WE’RE RUNNING AN F-ING MARATHON!” with while chugging up hills!

And thank you to all my readers and twitter followers. I was overwhelmed with tweets, facebook messages and texts of encouragement. They meant so much!

XO

Bright and early this morning Eric and I got in the car and drove to Vancouver for the marathon tomorrow! In hindsight, I kind of wish I’d booked our hotel for two nights and we’d come down Friday after work so we could have had this morning to relax in Vancouver and visit the expo at our leisure. Oh well, live and learn!

On the way to the expo from the parking garage we saw the finish line!

Once at the expo I picked up my race bib and then it was time for the Sports Blogger Q&A Panel I participated in with Cori and Brian. It was really fun to participate on this panel and talk about blogging, running and social media. I really enjoyed being a Run Van Blogger and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do this!

I will post more details about the panel as well as some of the questions I was asked and my answers next week!

       

I then spent a little bit of time walking around the awesome expo! The Vancouver Marathon organizers really did a great job putting together a fantastic expo!

       

I am so, so, SO excited about running this amazing new point-to-point route. I found out today that it took 18 months to plan this route!

I also ran into two friends from high school who are doing their first marathon and half-marathon (hi Veronica and Michelle!) It was so cool to hang out with them a bit after all this time (I graduated from high school 6 years ago now!)

After I was done at the expo we went for dinner with Eric’s friend and one of his groomsmen. He took us to this awesome little pasta place where the servings were HUGE! I was planning on just ordering pizza to our hotel room tonight but I’m glad we went for pasta instead, and I definitely feel sufficiently carbo-loaded.

Once we got settled into our hotel Eric and I walked the block to where he’ll meet tomorrow at the 32 km – 20 mile – mark of the race. I know I will be SO READY to see his face at that point. How gorgeous is this area too?

The weather forecast for tomorrow literally could not be more perfect…

See you on the other side! Don’t forget you can track me at www.sportstats.ca and my bib # is 5015!

Yesterday evening was my last run with my marathon clinic training group! Didn’t I just write this post yesterday?! My how time flies! We had a super fun run going “down memory lane” as my coach put it. We ran out to the compost (where we used to go every Wednesday during all of our slow, base building 10K runs at the beginning of training) then to the track for 1 km at marathon pace and then to our old hill stomping grounds for one hill repeat. It was especially fun to run down the compost road in the daylight since the last time we ran it in February it was pitch black!

Here is a photo I got of my group after the run. Only one person is missing!

I felt really terrible last night when we first started our run. My legs felt heavy and tired and my stomach was off and I just felt slow and sluggish. I’ve been through taper many times with all the other long-distance races I’ve trained for and the one other marathon I did but it still messes with my mind every. single. time.

Apparently after all the high mileage we’ve been doing our legs get “crud” built up in them and that’s why a some runs the week of the marathon to fine tune things is good. I am planning on resting completely today and doing one more small run tomorrow morning. Other than that the next few days are for hydrating, tiger tail rolling, sleeping and eating! Sounds OK to me!

I haven’t really talked about my goals for this marathon yet. I’ve tossed around my 4:30 goal time quite a few times and it is something that’s at the forefront of my mind. However, more than anything I just want to have a good race. I want to smile and have fun and I don’t want to be in tears when I cross the finish line. Even if I run it 20 minutes slower as long as I feel good and I have fun, I will be happy and it will be a “PR” in my eyes.

When I ran my first marathon I didn’t really know what to expect. I remember Lisa (who I ran it with and who had ran a marathon before) told me that she felt like a mother about to have her second child and I was about to have my first. You just cannot adequately explain to someone what the experience is like. I am going into this marathon with a much better feeling. I know I’ve put in the training and I know that it’s going to be really hard at points, but that I can get through it.

I am so excited. 3 sleeps! 

By the way, if you are running Vancouver I am going to be participating in the Sports Blogger Q&A panel during the Speaker Series from 1 – 2 PM on Saturday afternoon on the Expo Main Stage at Canada Place. More details here! Hope to see a few people there