Where do I even begin? I ran a marathon. I've been quietly training for 20 weeks, hoping I could make it to and across the finish line. I almost got derailed by exposure to illness, a stomach that eschewed food, and tendons on both of my feet that caused pain, but by God's grace, I finished!
I chose Tucson Marathon because it was basically the last marathon I could do this year. I could not see training for anything else in the intense summer heat. It was also small, and I could drop down to the half, if needed. The course was mostly flat (though it changed to more downhill last minute) and seemed accessible.
We drove down to Tucson Saturday morning, visited the expo (which was really just bib and shuttle wristband pickup) and then visited with my aunt. We spent most of the afternoon outside, and I tried to stay hydrated with water and LMNT. I packed all of our food because, "Nothing new on race day!" My husband was kind enough to eat packed food with me, including cold pasta!
I ate dinner about 5:00, snacked at 7:00/7:30 pm and stuffed with carbs, went to bed at 8:30 pm. (I did a three day carb load of over 400 carbs a day, and after three days, I was done!) I slept a little fitfully, but woke up a few minutes before my alarm.
Race morning
I got up at 4 am and after doing physical therapy for my hand/arm/shoulder, ate my sourdough bagel, and drank my decaf coffee with collagen, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt (for electrolytes). I toodled around and then got dressed. I wrote the word, "Every" on my left wrist in honor of the work I do, and "ILYS&P" and "ILYVM" on my right wrist for my parents (two messages they often tell me-"I love you stacks and piles" from my dad and "I love you very much" from my mom). I sunscreened, grabbed my water pack and drop bag, and was off at 5:30 am to catch the shuttle.
We stayed at the El Conquistador Tucson resort, and they had a very nice coach class tour bus shuttle to the start line. That was nice, as it took a little bit to get up to the race start at Biosphere 2. It was very dark and the poor driver had trouble figuring out where to go! They made us get off the bus at the drop-off, but we discovered that the Biosphere 2 building was open. I found a bathroom line and immediately got into it. It took until about 6:45 am for me to get through that line, and I decided to go get in the outside porta-potty line before the race start. (I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom during the race, if possible!). That took until right before the race. I slurped a pumpkin spice GU at 7:05 am and was ready to start at 7:15 am. I placed myself between the 3:50 and 4:05 pacers, hoping I could pull off a 4:00 marathon.
Weather
It was forecast to be 45 degrees or colder at the start. I thought I might go with the sleeveless tank I wore for my half marathon, but then I decided to go with a black tank. I debated arm warmers, but eventually decided against them. It was 48 degrees when I woke up, and getting to stay inside The Biosphere 2 meant I did not even need the space blanket I brought! I did bring hand warmers and put them inside my gloves. They were not really that warm, though, so I chucked them at the first aid station. I really just wanted hands warm enough to open my gels, and they were! I wore gloves through about halfway, and then took them off and shoved them in my pocket. Temperatures with in the mid-60s and felt great.
The Course
The Course was a little bit up and down out of the Biosphere, and then almost all downhill. Somewhere in the first mile, my shuttle wristband must have slipped under my watch, turning it off. I didn't realize until at least half a mile had elapsed. I got the watch back on for pacing, but it was too late to have an accurate read for the whole run. I think that was God's grace, though. I didn't know my time and couldn't hyperfixate on it. I just knew my pace and could control that.
Most of the course was open road with sun, but the last half was on a bike path and that had some shade. I have never given thanks for hills until now, but every little bridge hill on that bike path gave me cause for celebration, as it relieved my every increasing quad pain. The course was marked with distance flags, and that helped me know where I was since my watch was off.
Hydration and Fueling
I wore a water pack that held 1.5 L of water. I put an entire package of LMNT raspberry flavor into it, and sipped as a ran. "Early and often," was my motto. I took gels every three miles throughout, using exclusively GU energy. Some people hate on those gels, but they were the cheapest ones out there, and I liked the flavor variety. I purposely put my favorite flavors later in the lineup, and I was glad I did! (My order was vanilla, campfire s'mores, salted caramel, pumpkin spice, vanilla, campfire s'mores, chocolate, and birthday cake, if I remember right.) I kept telling myself that I needed to do things right the first time. I did not want to question what I could have done if I had fueled properly. Control the controllables!
Miles 1-13.1
From the get-go, people were passing me left and right, but at a speed of 8:50/mile, I knew I should not go any faster. (Even that was faster than the 9:00-9:09/mile I planned.) I thought I might need to go to the bathroom, but kept praying and checking in with myself. If it did not get worse, and my stomach did not clench, I thought I could make it. I prayed at each porta potty stop and when I saw them full each time, took that as a sign from the Lord to keep going, and by His grace, I was able to do so.
My quads starting hurting about halfway through, not bad enough to quit, but bad enough that I knew I would feel it later. I also knew that if I stopped, I might not restart. I did see a firetruck and the firefighters holding up a young man somewhere around halfway. I do not know what happened, but felt bad for him! No one wants that kind of marathon day.
I wanted to see if I could run without a podcast, in order to stay present. The scenery was beautiful. I thought. I prayed. I think I got in the flow, as the miles just ticked on past. Having a gel of a different flavor to take did help pass the time.
Miles 13.1-20
I told myself that the race did not start until mile 20, and I needed to hold the pace. I also knew that my husband planned to be at around mile 20, and that gave me motivation. When I finally got to him, I gave him the "I love you" hand sign, and yelled, "I love you! By God's grace, I think I'm going to make it!?
I was hurting, but had an 8:38/mile and 8:48/mile for 20 and 21. Then the hurt really set in. I needed to finish, as one of my goals was to run the whole way, but my pace dropped. I hit 8:58/mile for 22 and 8:55/mile for 23. I ran out of water at mile 23 and took a cup from the aid station. I didn't want to take my last gel at mile 24, but I did.
I could hear the finish line music thumping at mile 24, and hit 9:15/ mile. I also started feeling like I would cry about this time. I told myself to hold it together because I needed to breathe. I was able to hold it together for a 9:10 mile 25, and then an 8:52/mile to finish. I knew that my legs were not toasted completely, because when I saw that the finish line was slightly uphill, I gunned it, and I was able to sprint past a woman in the finishing chute.
I threw my hands up as I crossed the finish line and bee lined for my husband. You could see it in my face how relieved I was. I gulped air, but I somehow never actually cried. (Maybe I was dehydrated?) I just limped over to collect food, then to get my drop bag, and finally to the finishing time tent.
Results
Imagine my surprise when I saw a finishing time of 3:52:01. By the grace of God, I blew all of my goals, A (Cross the finish line), B (Run the whole way), C (Finish in four hours), D (Run sub 4). The fastest any calculator said I could run was 3:52:57. Could I have run faster if not for the pain? We will never know, but good enough is God-blessing enough for me
After the Race
The Instagram reels of not being able to climb stairs or sit down to use the bathroom are real. I had to have my husband help me in and out of the car. I needed him to pick up anything that fell on the floor. Even several days now past the race, I remain sore. Going down the stairs at home backwards is a saving grace! Who knows how long I will be sore, but it is worth it!
My left hip flexor was very tight and sharply painful for most of Monday. My right extensor tendor felt a little sore, but not bad. Thankfully that pain abated. While I might not have hit post-marathon blues yet, trying to work a ten hour day after a marathon is not the best idea. I needed to do it this time, but I hope next time that I get to take some time off afterwards!
Final Thoughts and Takeaways
The lady on the shuttle bus told me that I would want to do another marathon after this one. "Whether it goes good or bad," she said, "You will want more." She is not wrong. I had two other marathons that I might like to do in mind, and then she told me to do New York. We shall see. Marathons like Boston and New York require qualifying times far faster than what I can run right now, maybe ever. I did enjoy the marathon experience, though, and I think I will be reliving it for quite some time.
I got questions about how I passed the time I ran. Honestly, it just kind of flew by. I thought. I prayed. I sang. I thanked God. I looked at the motivational words on my wrist. I counted down three miles to the next gel. I talked to a few people, but most people were in their own zone.s
A cool thing I saw was two middle-aged to senior men (older than me) tethered together by an arm strap. One wore a deaf/blind vest. I could hear them as they would come up behind me, "1, 2, 3, speedbump." "Aid station on your left. What do you want? How many?" They were such a great team, and fast! They definitely finished ahead of me as I struggled there at the end.
I did not get at cool "shiny tarp blanket," as my brother calls it. I did get a medal and a t-shirt. It is special to me that both feature a sunrise/sunset. That is a special occurrence to me, and a unique beauty of Arizona. I also bought myself a marathoner sweatshirt. I told myself I could only wear it if I finished, and since I did, I wore it proudly. People make jokes about marathoners wanting everyone to know they ran 26.2 miles. While I want to give God praise for allowing me to do so, yeah, it's a thing.
Will I run again? Maybe. Probably if the Lord allows me to do so. Will I run this race again? Probably not. Marathons are hard, and now I know how much this one hurts, I think I would want to hurt for another course. We shall see. Only the Lord knows. He got me through this marathon, and only His strength can carry me through the marathon of this life, let alone another race, should He so bless me by allowing it.
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