Steamtown Marathon Race Report

I wake up this morning to my Runner’s World quote of the day, and see this in my inbox:

I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me. But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known.

How appropriate. Anyway, the results.

Official Stats:
26.2 miles
3:29:49
3:29:35 (chip time)
8:00 average pace

415/1952 overall
52/742 females
10/91 age group

Garmin Stats:
26.36 miles
3:29:34
7:57 average pace

Race Report:
I can’t believe that after training for 4 months, the race is over, but I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results. As many of you know, my ultimate goal was to BQ in this race but because I thought I could realistically break 3:30, that is what I trained for. Especially considering the number of liberties I took with my training plan, I cannot believe how close I came to my goal. Sometime this week I will do a full review of the FIRST training plan.

My parents, Dan, Copper, and I left for Scranton on Saturday afternoon. We stopped at the expo, which was nothing noteworthy, to pick up our bibs and race packets.

I liked the shirt because it was a short-sleeved, fitted, technical shirt, but they only gave out men’s sizes so my small is huge on me. I also wished that like Philadelphia, they had put our names on our bibs. It really helps at mile 20 when you are struggling and someone yells, “Come on, Keri!” After a quick stop at the expo we checked in at the hotel and then went to dinner. I wanted to go here (because of the name):

… but we decided against seafood the night before the big race. Cooper approved of the name.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and helped my mom and Dan plan out their route to watch the race the next day. They were fantastic spectators, going to every viewpoint with water and Gu and cameras to take pictures.

I easily fell asleep early, as I have been wiped out from this annoying cold. In the end, it probably helped me to rest and get enough sleep. I think I feel asleep around 9:30 and woke up with my alarm at 4:45. I woke up feeling rested and quickly got ready then went to my parent’s room next door for coffee and breakfast. We took many pre-race photos before getting our things together to get dropped off at the finish.

That is not a peace sign, but for marathon #2

Mom and Coop

We were dropped off at the finish and then bussed to the start. We met some nice people on the bus who explained the course to us in detail, which was nice. I was pretty worried about the hills in this race. Not so much the up hills, but the down hills.

I knew there would be a pretty steep decline in the beginning, because I checked out the elevation in the beginning of training. Steamtown is known as a fast course and more than 25% qualifies for Boston. I was mostly worried because of the knee pain I had been feeling since the half marathon. The down hills were steep, and I felt my left knee from the start. I tried to control my pace, but didn’t want to expend too much energy holding back. The first couple of miles went by quickly. 7:44, 7:55, 7:48, 7:39, 7:49, 7:47, 7:56, 7:49, all pretty much down hill. There were a few ups and downs which was nice because that is what I’m used to. At first I was nervous I was going too fast, but I had settled in and felt comfortable, and I was happy to be building a solid cushion just in case I needed to slow down. Many people talked about saving energy for the trails and the hills at the end, and I wanted to be able to slow down if necessary.

I’m not sure what mile it was but I started running with a girl who had a similar goal to mine. Her sister was also running the race and the 3 of us stuck together for most of the run. They had run Steamtown 7 times so it was nice to hear about the details of the course. It was also nice to have some company because I missed running with my dad, who I pulled away from sometime around mile 2. The miles continued to fly by, and by this time I forgot all about the pain I was feeling in my knee. 8:04, 7:47, 7:52, 7:56, 7:55, 7:50, 7:52, 8:00. I hit the half right around 1:43 and knew I was on the right track.

There were two main viewpoints and my mom and Dan were meeting us at both. The first one was between miles 7-8 and was so crowded I didn’t see them there. My mom saw me and was able to snap this pic:

I am in the black and the girls in green are the sisters I ran with. I love how you can see the sunbeams in this picture and the profile shot my mom got. We entered the trails around mile 14, I think (if you ran the race, and are reading this, correct me if I am wrong). I was nervous about the trails, but the soft surface was a welcome change for my tired body. The scenery was also beautiful. I wish I could have taken some pictures of the beautiful course. The second viewpoint was during the trail portion of the race. This time I saw them, and gave a little wave.

 

Here is my dad at that same viewpoint:

Hi Dad!

I started counting down at this point. Only ten more miles to go. The continued to tick by. 7:51, 7:46. By now my legs were really hurting. Something was bothering my on my right leg, every time I extended it. It felt like maybe a tendon, not necessarily a muscle, but I’m not sure. I tried to forget about it. 7:58, 7:52, 7:56. Only a 10k to go. I can do this. I knew I could do it. At this point I knew, as long as I didn’t completely fall apart that I would get my BQ. I had 60 minutes to do 6 miles. I allowed myself to slow down a bit. 8:15, 8:27, 8:33. 2 miles to go! This is when the hills hit. They look small compared to the overall drop in elevation but up close, and so late in the marathon, they were not fun. I just put my head down and charged up them. 8:16, 8:14. Two tenths to go, another little hill. I can see the finish line, it is so close. I see the clock and I have 30 seconds to get under 3:30. I sucked it up and ran. 7:06 for that last two tenths. I made it.

3:30 is so close I can taste it…I passed the girl in the yellow.

 

I ran through the shoot and instantly felt my legs cramp up. The food line backed up all the way to the shoot but I couldn’t stand still to wait on it. I needed to move. I left the tent. I looked around for my mom and Dan and they were on the other side of the street. I was told I had to walk all the way around the block to get to them instead of going back through the tent. It wasn’t happening. A nice man working the tent let me sneak through. My mom was so excited to see me. She said when she saw me finish she went running to the finish line but couldn’t get anywhere near it. It was nice to have such wonderful support. We watched my dad finish. 3:57 exactly!

Overall, it was a great race. Very different from Philadelphia, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a first marathon. There was a ton of crowd support but it had a very different feel from the big city atmosphere of Philly. There wasn’t always that roar of support you get in a big city marathon, although the spectators were wonderful. Everyone came out and set up their own water stations with fruit or candy, etc. Many bands and cheerleaders. I also liked that the race wasn’t overly crowded. The race sold out at 2500, but only 1941 finished. Some other positives included, lots of helpful  (and pleasant!) volunteers, plenty of porta-potties, a warm gym to wait in for the start, plenty of busses, heading to the start, and the race was extremely well organized. I met a lot of very nice people and had a blast. I would say it was definitely a success!

I am very sore today, mostly my knees and quads from all the down hill pounding. I have been icing and resting. I plan to take off all week from running but hope to be ready for a short recovery run by the weekend. I was able to go for a (short) walk today with my dad with our celebratory Starbucks (Pumpkin Spice Latte for me obviously). Dan was so pooped he took off from work today. He is not a morning person and the 5am wake-up call took a toll on him. He was also nice enough to drive home so my dad didn’t have to. Cooper was pretty beat too, but missing some of the friends he made on his first trip to Pennsylvania.