It was a beautiful, slightly-breezy morning in Baltimore on Saturday morning. I took the light rail train into the city, arriving about an hour before the start of the Baltimore Marathon.

I was surprised to find no lines at the port-o-pots. Excellent! I wandered around, chatted with runners, and made use of the facilities again (no lines at all!)  before it was time to walk over to the start. I ran into a friend and we chatted as we made our way to the start line on the other side of Camden Yards, but we were running different paces. Once we started running, I was on my own.

I know I said I was going to take it easy during this marathon. And for the most part, I did. I was quite a bit faster in the first half, but I never felt like I was pushing too hard — I just felt good! As we ran my pace matched up  with a college student running not just her first marathon, but her first race! We stuck together for a few miles and she was doing great.

Around mile four, we ran through the zoo. Zoo staff brought out animals so that was cool — I loved seeing a penguin and alligator along the course!

I know you’re never supposed to do anything new during a race … but when they had Dunkin Donuts munchkins at one of the water stops after the zoo, I had to grab a couple. Yum!

Though maybe they didn’t agree with me. I got a side-stitch during a rare downhill stretch around mile six or seven that I had to walk through. Someone asked me if I was OK even though I had only been walking a few seconds — I’m sure it was because he was wondering why anybody would ever walk DOWN a hill on this course! While I hated having to stop, it didn’t seem to hurt my pace much. I recovered and was able to resume running.

Around mile 12, there was a woman in the crowd cheering how great we were doing … and that we were almost done. Huh?  Some of the other runners and I yelled back, “No we’re not!” There was another spot on the course where a man was encouraging his toddlers to shout how we were almost done. Also not true. Just cheer us on and tell us we look awesome!

I hit the half marathon split just under 2:16. While not on pace with my PR (that I wasn’t going for, anyway),  it was definitely faster than I expected to go. Sure, my ‘A’ goal was a finish in the 4:30s … but I that would not fit with my ‘run easy’ approach.  I didn’t have to consciously slow my pace. The  was starting to get harder as we approached the halfway point.

I carried my water bottle, but was sticking to my plan to walk through the waterstops, grabbing Gatorade along the way. So by mile 15, when I noticed just a short line at the port-o-pots, I mad a pit stop.

Even before that stop, my pace was slowing down. Between the hills and the concrete streets, my body was aching. It was especially rough when the full and half marathoners merged.

The Baltimore Marathon is organized so that full and half marathoners finish together. The full marathon starts at 8am, and the half starts at 9:45. The courses are separate for the first three mile of the half marathon, and then they merge and run together to the finish from around mile 16 of the full marathon course.

For faster runners, they were being passed by half runners on fresh legs. But my pace group matched up with the the half marathon walkers. I was aching and desperately wanted to just start walking … and here were all these people walking around me. It was discouraging.

I managed to keep moving, though there was definitely a lot of energy wasted passing all of the walkers. Whenever I walk in races, I make sure I’m on the right or left side of the road so runners can get through … but it seems the straight walkers don’t practice the same etiquette.

So … I was tired and aching. My pace slowed so much during the 18-24 mile stretch that I’m sure my water-stop walk breaks got longer, and I added a few extra walks. This course is pretty challenging, and I was definitely feeling it!

I managed to pick up the pace a tiny bit for mile 25. As I was  approaching mile 26, a wave of emotion passed over me and I got a little teary. This was my fourth marathon, but its power has not worn off yet.

Mile 26 was almost back up to my earlier pace.   And for the final push (.39 on my Garmin) I was at my 5K-pace. For the last three minutes, I no longer felt any aches and pains. I was passing people left and right, and it felt amazing!

Chip Time: 4:44:05
Overall Place: 1976 / 3207
Gender Place: 657 / 1192
Division Place : 90 / 167

My ‘B’ goal was to come in under five hours. And I actually really wanted it to be at or under 4:45.

I’ll call this a success!

Wow. Where have I been?

I think it’s no coincidence that I stopped blogging after my office moved. With a longer commute, I have to leave significantly earlier in the morning. Which means I have to go to sleep earlier at night.  There goes my computer time!

I ran a bunch of races in September that I wanted to write about. How my relaxed pace at the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon was so much more comfortable and fun than my just-failed attempt to go sub-two hours last year. How my first trail half marathon was A LOT harder than I expected, and I was actually happy with my 2:50 finish.  How fun it was to race and party in Nashville at the Women’s Half Marathon.

But I probably won’t get around to that.

Instead, I wanted to write about my marathon goals. Because holy cow, I’m running a marathon tomorrow!

A few months back I wasn’t sure the Baltimore Marathon was going to happen for me. But my foot got better, and I pretty much caught up with training.  Only one 20-miler and not as many as I would like in the 15 – 18 range, but I should be fine.

I’ve got the Marine Corps Marathon in two weeks, so I’m not planning on running too hard tomorrow. If I happen to feel comfortable at a fast pace, well that would be fabulous! But I’ll be taking walk breaks — definitely through all of the water stops, and possibly up hills.

I won’t go so far as to blog or tweet during the race … that’s too distracting. But I want to have a fun race tomorrow, where I don’t stress out about my pace. I’ll wear my Garmin, but I don’t have strict time goals.

I’m not planning on chasing last year’s 4:22:22 PR that blew my mind. If I can get in the 4:30 range, that would be awesome … but really, anything under five hours would be great too.

And if not, whatever. As long as I finish smiling!

Last week I started running again. Two short runs during the week went well — minimal pain and my legs felt good. While I could still feel that spot on my heel, it was only sporadic … and I didn’t have any pain afterwards.

I was a little nervous about my long run on Saturday. I joined a few people from my training group to run an 8K course that was mapped out for a race the next day.  It’s a cross country route, going through fields, asphalt and trails. While they’d be doing three loops, I figured I’d be happy with two.

I was hoping to run one loop and run/walk the second, but I felt good enough to run both (with walk breaks at the biggest hill … which I always walk even when racing this course).  While I was running out of steam at the end of the second loop, I finished only a minute slower than the first. I’ll call that a successful run!

Still, I’m a bit behind in marathon training. I took off three full weeks, plus the last week before the break I cut my long run in half. I know I need to be careful as I jump back into training.

While my long runs aren’t where I want them to be at this point, my base was good up until my injury. I’m optimistic that  I’ll still be able to get back on track, but I am also aware I may have to make some changes.

When looking at my calendar this week, I realized I have a conflict on the day of the 50K I wanted to run.  Turns out I have a choral performance that night; there’s no way I will be able to be ready to perform at 8pm. The race is an hour away, starts at 8am, and has an eight-hour time limit (that I may need to use all of — being my first ultra, I have no idea!).

So now I have a decision.  Do I want to find another 50K? There happens to be one the next day in Virginia, though again the concert the night before is not ideal race prep. There’s another nearby in December , but then my marathon placement isn’t right.

With my training setback, I also realize that this might not be my time for a 50K. I can try again next year or in the spring.

But where does that leave my marathons?

I originally was only going to do Baltimore (October 15), but added Marine Corps (October 30) thinking it would be a good training run for the 50K.

Without a 50K, do I still want to run two marathons in two weeks?

I can drop Baltimore to the half but would have to decide soon — once the race is sells out (it’s close!) I won’t be able to switch. If I do drop to the half, it gives me more time to get into marathon shape for Marine Corps.

Then again, my mileage will be up to ~20 miles by then anyway … so I can change my strategy and run Baltimore as a training run.

Or I can drop Baltimore to the half, run Marine Corps, and add a late-November marathon to train for the December 50K.

What would you do?

I’m pretty sure I’ve made up my mind as I’ve been typing up these scenarios, but you may be able to talk me into a more-sensible (or ridiculous!) decision!