Lakefront Marathon - RunMarathon

When the gun went off, I was happy enough to see I had positioned myself with the right pace group of runners and didn't have too much encouragement to run too fast. I started up my Ipod early on so I had music. It is really cool seeing the mass of people off in front of you. It was so fast and all of a sudden I was turning to corner and the first mile marker was there. I decided to ditch my headband at this point!
Mi 1: 12:17

This mile was pretty uneventful. The crowd was certainly thinning out and then around mile 1.75, I hit the first little challenge of the run with a train blocking my way. I am not exactly sure how long we waited, it could have been a minute, I also heard 3:30 minutes, but then I was finally able to get in my way and get to the end of the mile. I also met a couple of cool runners who got started talking about Ironman with me... one lady said she was racing 2012 and she nicknamed me Irongirl.
Mi 2: 14:05

I didn't take water at the stop around here. My buddy Paul was just at the corner taking pictures and I yelled at him about the train. I just kept slow and steady at it. Did I mention I was doing 3 minutes run, 2 minutes walking and planning on doing it until I couldn't. I also picked up the pace to make sure my train time didn't kill my time. I also ditched my gloves at this point.
Mi 3: 11:16

Early on in this mile, I passed my Ironman friends and we all came across a man in his front yard planning an accordian!! He was very cool! This mile was just a straight forward mile. It was starting to warm up which was nice! I also got ready for my first gel and a bathroom stop.
Mi 4: 12:46

I took the bathroom stop and then took the gel. I seriously at this point thought about dropping my running pants because they were just a touch warm, but then I decided I would wait until I saw my family. Just kept moving along this mile realizing that I was almost to the 10K mark. Right before the next mile marker, I got to see my parents for the first time since the start. That was much needed and I filled them in that I was doing really well even after hitting that train!
Mi 5: 12:02

I felt really good after seeing Mom and Dad so I just fed with that energy for a while. It was shortly after this mile that I realized I had been dropping a few gels as I was running off my new gel belt :( I took the final ones that were still on there and there was enough to get me through the race and stuck a few in the back of my pants and the other ones in my top. I continued to leap frog a few racers and a few of them I was starting to drop for good. Having my music was also helping make the miles go by. I was actually kind of dancing out there :) ASI photographer just off to the side right before the mile marker and this was also were the relay exchange was with GU so I was happy to see lots of people. Put my best smile on!
Mi 6: 11:57

I took a gel from the volunteers here and also got my water and stuff as we ran through Concordia University. Again, continued to pass people and was still feeling really good. I was almost 3 minutes ahead of pace at this point and had a feeling I really needed to stay strong because I was probably going to need that time at some other point.
Mi 7: 12:22

At the beginning of this mile, we came across a group of dancers in someone's front lawn who were dancing for us. It was a very nice distraction and I had that song bounce through my head for a long while. Otherwise except for a little bit of rain, this mile was very boring.
Mi 8: 12:40

Another very easy mile. I was starting to get very hungry!! But I kept it together and kept going. We had our first uphill of any size and I took it in stride. It was somewhere in this mile that my garmin decided it was sad and sick and died :( At this point I was really glad I had kept pressing the lap button because I was now going to be pacing the hard way.
Mi 9: 12:09

There was a really cool aid station early on in this mile and I fed off their energy for a while. Just past this aid station, I thought I had spotted my parents up on top of the hill. I had my great Italian dance song at this point and liked running up the hill towards my parents. I yelled at them that my garmin had died but that I was still doing well. There was a downhill into the next mile marker.
Mi 10: 12:03

This next mile was slightly harder as I was starting to get a little bit tired and not eating anything solid that morning was starting to drive me crazy. I just held it together the best I could and kept going knowing that the half way point was coming closer. I believe I joked with the volunteer as to where the nearest McDonald's was.
Mi 11: 12:14

Middle of this mile, I saw my parents again and told the racers in front of me who they were when my mom yelled big time. We had a good downhill here but I could not see the mile marker for the half way and it was driving me crazy. I just kept pushing until it came into view which is why the mile was so fast.
Mi 12: 11:57

Got to the halfway point and had a moment where I took a deep breath and realized I was only halfway through. Because I took a gel at the aid station just after mile 12 and one not to far before that, the two hit me hard and I started to feel sick and wanted to seek out a bathroom. I passed my parents right around the end of the mile and somehow managed to look okay.
Mi 13: 12:36

I kept moving as best as I could even though I needed a bathroom here. I hit the bathroom in the middle of this next mile, the time was still good. I was also given some beads at the aid station and told they would give me energy. I put those around my neck as they were also Packer colors and the game was on at noon. Just kept on moving along; the bathroom stop had helped.
Mi 14: 11:46

I began to feel sick again during this mile and slowed down my pace again. I didn't want to slow down too much but I knew if I didn't, there would be no way I would finish running. There was a good uphill in this part and I took it the best I could by walking.
Mi 15: 14:19

Started to feel a bit better so I picked up the pace again to 3/2 and started passing people like crazy. Very boring mile in the woods.
Mi 16: 12:27

This was the bad mile. Even though I did get to see my parents, I had to find a bathroom early on and it was there that I killed all the time I had built up from earlier on in the race. The gels had caught up with me and even though I was able to settle part of my system, the other part was not feeling good. I put on the best face I could for my parents.
Mi 17: 17:13

I did the best I could and resorted to 1:1 when my stomach felt like it was beyond bloated. I knew I needed to keep moving as quickly as I could, but the pain and sickness was starting to get bad. We had an aid station later in this mile and I completely ignored it. Mentally I wanted to be done sooo bad because I was starting to feel so sick and I knew I had like 8 miles to go and that seemed like it would take forever. I was still in the 3rd hour and I knew I would not finish until the 5th.
Mi 18: 12:32

Total meltdown hour even though my time does not show that at all. My stomach was beyond sick and all I wanted to do was throw up. But of course, I couldn't make myself. I tried to keep on the 1:1 and after awhile, I finally hit the bottom and ended up dry heaving on the side of the road. Very little liquid but more just gas and that was what I needed. After about an 1/8 of a mile doing that, I felt fine. I felt actually great. Must be why the time turned out okay.
Mi 19: 12:58

My legs were starting to hurt really really bad so this mile was a tad bit slower until I hit an aid station and took in some gatorade. There was no gel in my future but the water and gatorade was good and built back up my energy. Also hitting such an important mile was so important.
Mi 20: 14:27

This mile consisted of a lot of passing other people and staying on the 1:1 pace. Because the gatorade was starting to kick in I knew I could pick it up a bit and so I did.
Mi 21: 12:06

Even though I had a really solid time, this was probably the saddest mile because I saw my first person on the ground who was getting help and was not doing well. I did a lot of thinking after seeing this what exactly races like this can do to you. It reaffirmed to me that I need to train hard and keep going.
Mi 22: 12:41

We finally could see the turn coming up and I started to get so excited to the point that I started picking up my pace. We went from the road to the sidewalk, through a great aid station and caught sight of a huge downhill that put the art museum off in the distance... in other words the end of the race. I pushed the pace down the hill and it hurt bad, but I knew the faster I moved the faster I would get to the finish!
Mi 23: 11:55

I took the time to enjoy this mile, passing people and bouncing to my music. I knew I only had a bit to go and I just kept on moving the best I could, which wasn't nearly as fast and my muscles were certainly not happy about it.
Mi 24: 12:07

It was during this mile that I realized I was going to kill my Disney time and got the song by Whitney Housten called I Didn't Know My Own Strength. It really caused me to break down and cry and be proud of the season I had had after dropping out of Ironman in 2009. This mile felt like it took forever even though I knew I didn't have too far to go.
Mi 25: 12:13

Finally passed the last marker and really started to celebrate and push the best I could to keep passing people. We had a half mile marker here and I took off my headphones so that I could hear what was going on and so many people cheering me on by name. They kept leading us out towards the water before finally they angled us back in.
Mi 26: 12:02

We passed that last marker and the finish line was right there and people were starting to scream my name and cheer and I saw my parents taking pictures and cheering and I kept running towards the finish knowing that my time was crazy good and my hard painful race was going to be amazing!
Mi 26.2: 2:12

I had a great race even dealing with a lot of problems. Longer distance training would help more, but really the limiting factors taht kept me from killing my 5:30 time were things I couldn't do much about but dealt with the best I could. You can't plan for GI problems or stomach problems. Trains you certainly can't do anything about. I handled the problems well and that is what made this an amazing race. I couldn't be happier knowing I could have easily killed my time and came so very close!

Got a high five from my buddy Paul before getting my medal and walking through medical people. Got my Mylar blanket and got my gear bag before getting a bottle of water. Picked up the few things of food they had before finding my way out and getting big huge hugs from my family. Then we found a table to sit down at and talked about the day!!!


The train, the GI and stomach problems.... a lack of a few long runs.... but honestly after taking 45 minutes off my previous marathon... the race was amazing!!


The volunteers were amazing. They helped encourage and push on the racers. The event was on time and it was awesome being able to go into Grafton High School that morning before the race. I was a little upset about there only being water and Gatorade on the course because by the half way point I could have really used a cookie or banana or something. The food post race was rather horrible considering the fact that we ran a marathon and there was no activities going on accept for the music at the finish. It was nice having a change tent there to get out of the wet clothing. It was the spectators and volunteers that made this race special!