California International Marathon - RunMarathon


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Sacramento, California
United States
58F / 14C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 20m 54s
Overall Rank = 5228/7500
Age Group = F 25-29
Age Group Rank = 339/402
Pre-race routine:

We drove up to Sacramento on Saturday. It was raining on and off all day and I was worried that we would be getting soaked come Sunday morning. When we got to Sacramento we ended up heading straight to the Expo to get checked in. The Expo was VERY well organized. It took no time at all to get checked in, get my bib, chip and shirt. The husband and I walked around the Expo a bit and looked at the booths and I got a bus ticket for Sunday morning to get to the starting line.

Headed from the Expo out to Auburn to visit our friends from grad school. They just had their third child on Wednesday so it was wonderful to visit with them and get to meet their new son. Was also a great way to take my mind off of the race. We stayed for a few hours then headed back to Sacramento to check into the hotel. The hotel was overflowing with runners and all the local restaurants had 2-3 hour waits so we drove 20 minutes away to Il Fornario for dinner. I had angel hair pasta with chicken breast, nice and bland.

Didn't sleep well the night before the race and was up at 4:15 to eat and get ready. Since the race is a point-to-point they have buses that come to all the hotels and pick runners up and shuttle them to the race start in Folsom. Our runner count wasn't correct for my hotel so I was one of the last people to get onto the first bus, and I had to stand up during the whole ride to Folsom. The bus was crowded and really hot and it was not a pleasant ride.

Once the bus arrived in Folsom at around 6am I jumped off and got in line to hit the bathrooms. Got that out of the way and spent the rest of the hour before the race started messing with my water bottle and trying not to freak out. Ditched my sweats at the sweat drop and lined up near the 5:30 pace group, and chatted with some other runners. Ran into a training partner from my CIM group a few minutes before the race started which was nice and took some of my nerves away. The day dawned cool but sunny, no sign of rain. Basically perfect marathon weather!

And like that we were off to the races...
Event warmup:

None to speak of other than trying not to vomit from nerves.
Run
  • 5h 20m 54s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 12m 15s  min/mile
Comments:

The gun went off and it took us about 4 minutes to cross the starting line. I started with the 5:30 pace group and planned to go out slow with them for the first 3-5 miles before starting to pick it up. What I didn't realize was that the 5:30 pace leader works off of gun time she paced the first 5-6 miles at a significantly faster pace than I was planning (around 11 min/mile) in order to make up the difference between the gun time and the time we actually crossed the starting line. A bunch of people who were planning to run with the 5:30 pace groups ended up getting dropped since they couldn't stick with the fast pace at the start.

I hung consistently with the pace group and chatted with the other runners until around mile 4 when I had to stop to use the bathroom. I over hydrated and only went once before the race and I was really mad at myself for needing to stop so soon into the race. This pit stop was real quick and when I was done I focused on catching back up to the pace group. It took me about a mile or two to get back with them.

I was hanging in there and feeling really good until mile 7 when my IT band started bothering me. It's been a bother on and off while training for the race and picked the worst possible time to act up. I told myself to just deal with the pain and push through it.

I hung a bit ahead of the pace group until around mile 10 when I started having GI issues. I ate my normal pre-race breakfast of a banana and pop-tarts but I think in the future I will have toast and PB rather than the pop-tarts. Sometimes the sugar from the pop-tarts bothers my stomach. Stopped at a porta potty at mile 11 and felt much better after that stop. It is what it is, but I think between the two porta potty stops I could have been around 5:15 since I had to wait in a line both times.

Miles 12-17 were a blur. I caught back up with the 5:30 pace group again and chatted with some of the other runners running with the group for a bit, ended up running through the half marathon point with them. My focus at this point was trying to hold as close to a 12:00 mile as possible. My IT was really screaming and my hips were tightening up and I started taking really short walk breaks during which I would lengthen out my stride and stretch out my hips. These helped a lot.

Mile 18 is when it turned into a mental game. My IT was hurting so much and I started to get overwhelmed with emotion. From this point on I rode waves of emotion I've never had to deal with before. One moment I'd feel awful and hopeless and start crying and the next I would feel strong and great and like a rockstar. It was so weird. Anytime I felt bad I checked in and made sure I had been fueling, but I was always topped off in terms of calories and water so it wasn't lack of nutrition that was the culprit.

At mile 20 I thought "oh lord, here we go," since I hadn't run further than 20 miles in training. I knew that in a little more than an hour I would be done and get to stop. Even as my pace was slowing I really pushed myself these last 6 miles. I allowed myself to walk a bit after every mile marker, but other than that I just tried to force myself to run through the pain and the emotions.

Something else happened during these miles that was really strange. I think something happened to my physically that made me feel like I had sensory overload. At this point in the race they were playing loud music along the course and usually I would love it but during the race it physically hurt me to hear it. It was overwhelming and I ended up covering my ears and crying a few times because it hurt my ears. It seemed like all my senses were heightened and I didn't want anyone to talk to me or cheer for me or get near me. It was really strange.

Once I passed the mile 24 marker I said to myself "ok, let's do this." I knew breaking 5:20 would be close so I pushed as hard as I could for the last two miles. There were more tears during this part, I think I probably cried the most of anyone at the race that day. I saw my husband and a friend from GGTC about a mile from the finish and I gave my husband a quick kiss before putting in my final kick. I had complete tunnel vision making the final turn at the Capitol building and as I ran down the chute I heard the announcer say "and here comes someone from the Golden Gate Triathlon Club, go GGTC." I pumped my fists into the air and crossed the line in 5:20:54.

I'm a marathoner!
What would you do differently?:

Not have to use the bathroom two times
More 20+ runs (a must for my next marathon)
Do a better job of dealing with my IT band (ART?) to keep it from becoming an issue on race day
Not cry so damn much
But given my training and my goal time I think I executed pretty well. I know now that the marathon is an ugly beast and I'll be prepared the next time I tackle this distance.
Post race
Warm down:

Crossed the line and got my medal and my space blanket. I loved my space blanket, it was so cool. Got my picture taken and found my husband and my friend who had already finished the race and had time to shower and change. He had a great race! Limped over and got my sweats from the sweat check, then I got in line for food while my husband went and got the car. We were trying to hurry back to the hotel so that I could take an ice bath and shower before our late checkout window ended. In the rush we TOTALLY forgot to take any pictures of me at the finish line. I really hope the pro pictures turned out good since this is one time we might actually have to buy them!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Being a marathon newb, IT band, crazy emotions.

Event comments:

This is an awesome race! The Expo was fantastic, there were tons of volunteers at all the aid stations and great spectator support. I would do this race again in a heartbeat.

My ONLY complaint (and this might just be me being a brat) were the relay runners. It was awful at mile 13 and especially mile 20 to have new relay runners join the race and be chatting to each other and being all bouncy and loud while the rest of us were in total and utter misery. I would have rather been running with just the marathoners. But oh well!




Last updated: 2010-09-09 12:00 AM
Running
05:20:54 | 26.2 miles | 12m 15s  min/mile
Age Group: 339/402
Overall: 5228/7500
Performance: Good
Lap Time Distance Pace/Speed AHR MHR 1 11m 16s 1.00 miles 11m 16s /mile 2 11m 10s 1.00 miles 11m 10s /mile 3 11m 16s 1.00 miles 11m 16s /mile 4 12m 18s 1.00 miles 12m 18s /mile 5 10m 42s 1.00 miles 10m 42s /mile 6 11m 03s 1.00 miles 11m 03s /mile 7 11m 14s 1.00 miles 11m 14s /mile 8 12m 00s 1.00 miles 12m /mile 9 12m 08s 1.00 miles 12m 08s /mile 10 12m 15s 1.00 miles 12m 15s /mile 11 14m 43s 1.00 miles 14m 43s /mile 12 11m 44s 1.00 miles 11m 44s /mile 13 11m 51s 1.00 miles 11m 51s /mile 14 11m 59s 1.00 miles 11m 59s /mile 15 12m 32s 1.00 miles 12m 32s /mile 16 12m 14s 1.00 miles 12m 14s /mile 17 12m 36s 1.00 miles 12m 36s /mile 18 13m 20s 1.00 miles 13m 20s /mile 19 12m 37s 1.00 miles 12m 37s /mile 20 12m 46s 1.00 miles 12m 46s /mile 21 13m 02s 1.00 miles 13m 02s /mile 22 13m 37s 1.00 miles 13m 37s /mile 23 12m 17s 1.00 miles 12m 17s /mile 24 13m 14s 1.00 miles 13m 14s /mile 25 12m 06s 1.00 miles 12m 06s /mile 26 11m 09s 1.00 miles 11m 09s /mile 27 04m 08s 0.37 miles 11m 10s /mile
Course: A fast, net downhill course from Folsom to the State Capital in Sacramento
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5