Athens Ohio Marathon: train for an 8k, race a marathon?

Athens Ohio Marathon http://www.athensohiomarathon.com/
Sunday, April 9th, 2017
Goal: pace with Todd, race for the win in later miles
Result: 3:07:00 for first female, 1:32:14/1:35:46

     On a whim last fall I decided to enter the 2017 Athens Ohio Marathon with training partner, Todd Smith, and new running buddy Jon. Their goal was to Boston qualify for 2018. Todd needed a 3:07 and Jon needed a 3:02. The plan was to train for a sub 18:00 track 5k up until February and then transition into marathon training while maintaining track workouts for speed.   
     My plans changed when I hurt my back in late December and had to take the first two weeks of January off to rest it. Then I had two weeks of just over 30 miles where I found that I had lost nearly all of my speed. I wasn't even able to hold 6:20 pace for 1000 meter repeats. This was a problem because I was hoping to be on the Team Ohio "A" team for the Bank of America Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8k and I needed some speed for that. Becki assured me that it would all come back and to let the workouts do their job. Sure enough, my workouts started getting faster and I was able to hit my 8k goal pace of 6:00 for several of them. Knowing that I also had a marathon looming, I tried to get to 20 miles in my long runs but my back wouldn't let me. My longest run was 18 miles in a 7:30 average with a marathon paced workout with my teammate, Amanda, worked into it. The trip to Chicago and racing with my team was an epic time and I'm looking forward to doing it again. I ended up just a few seconds out of my "A" goal of breaking 30:00 but it was technically the fastest race I have ever done in my life so I tried to be happy with that effort.
     Before I headed down to Athens to race with Todd and Jon I made the mistake of plugging in my 8k for a marathon prediction. I got 2:54. Without marathon training that wasn't possible, even on a flat course, and I tried not to let that number stick in my mind. I really believe I can run a marathon somewhere in the low to mid 2:50s but there's a lot of work for me to do before that happens. I went into this marathon with the mindset to stick with Todd and survive 26.2. If I made it to the later miles feeling good, I would try to win.
     I had a track fundraiser to go to Saturday night but I was in bed by 9:30 p.m. and had everything set out for our 2:30 a.m. wake up call. I took the kids down with me and we had an afternoon of activities planned for after the race. They were troopers with waking up so early and driving three hours down to southeast Ohio. We arrived just after 6 a.m. We searched out the porta potties, much to the kid's disgust, and I showed them the finish line with instructions to start watching for me at 10:50 a.m. (8 a.m. start). I had my oatmeal and coffee in the car and made sure I had fresh body glide on everything, arm warmers on, watch connected, gel flask filled and shoelaces tightened and double knotted. "I can't believe I'm doing this," I told the kids before I headed out to meet Todd and Jon at the start. They just nodded in agreement over their netflix and snacks (thanks Ohio University guest WiFi!).

Before the start. Lots of pre-dawn Thursday morning miles shared with these guys! Photo credit: Rachel Smith

     I met up with Todd (and Rachel and Ethan) and Jon at the starting line to get a light 10 minute warmup in. The weather was perfect for the start at 42 degrees, light wind and sunny. Our warmup included some of the famous Athens hills. I normally like hills but I was glad I wasn't running a marathon on them that morning! The course follows the Hockhocking-Adena Bikeway for most of the race and is pancake flat. I was hoping this would help me have a decent race despite my lack of marathon training.

Just before the start. Photo credit: Athens Ohio Marathon

Miles 1-9: 6:46, 6:59, 6:59, 6:57, 6:56, 6:59, 6:50, 6:58, 6:54
     We almost missed the start because we were taking the pic above and I didn't have time to get my watch connected. So my watch splits were a little off. The above mile splits are off Todd's watch. I ran with Todd nice and relaxed for the first 6 miles. This pace felt so, so easy compared to previous marathons where I've tried to maintain under 6:50 pace. Todd had to keep reminding me to slow down because I kept wanting to drop to a 6:40 pace. There were two women running ahead of us and I assumed they were in the half because we were the first three females in both the half and full. I took a sip of my Cliff gel flask right before every aid station and a few sips of water and Gatorade at each station. My stomach did not like the Cliff gels but I forced it in anyway. I started feeling legit nauseous by mile 10. Mind over matter, I told myself I wasn't allowed to throw up until the finish. My arm-warmers were getting hot and I had to take my watch off to get them off. I wasn't able to finagle that watch back on my wrist and I stopped looking at it. When we finally reached the half marathon turn around I realized that the two women ahead of me did not turn around. Cue panic. The winning times from previous years were nowhere near 3:00 and they were on pace for a very low 3:00. I thought the girl ahead of me might be overreaching a bit based on body language. I put my head down and decided to catch her by mile 10. I still feel guilty for dragging Todd through that quicker 9th mile but I had gone hunting and there was no turning back.
Miles 10-18: 6:51, 6:55, 6:55, 6:53, 6:59 no data
     I caught the second female right as I passed the 10 mile sign and immediately zoned in on the next woman. She was more than a minute ahead and looked like she was running smoothly. From this point until I caught her all I did was look ahead and watch the gap shrink. I was pissed with every aid station because I had to grab fuel and disrupt my focus. I was running with a male runner at this point who ended up staying with me until about 22 miles. We didn't talk very much as I wasn't in the mood but we did pace together pretty well. Rachel and Ethan were cheering at about 15 miles and I dropped off my arm-warmers and watch. I was so thankful for that. Starting at 16 miles I began to feel the lack of marathon training. My feet ached, my IT started tightening up, my glutes felt like were going to cramp up at any moment and I had to focus on not letting my form fall apart. But the gap kept shrinking and at 18 miles I passed into first. "Good job," I grunted at her, unable to even turn my head. "Good job," she grunted back and I moved ahead at my steady 7:00ish pace.
Miles 19-finish: no data but I ran a 1:35:46 second half
     The guy on the bike followed me as I took the lead and this led to an entertaining last 8 miles full of walkie-talkie relayed information about who was in the lead, what checkpoint they were at, who was dropping out and who was looking strong, complete with bib numbers and names and a bunch of walkie-talkie jargon that I didn't understand until I noticed patterns. I listened every time it went off off but I didn't turn my head to either side unless I needed to sight out someone at an aid station to ask for water. I stopped taking nutrition after I passed into first and only had a few sips of water in the last 8 miles. I was too nauseous to take in any more Cliff gel and there were a few points where I considered stopping just to have a quick puke to get it over with. "No walking!" I mentally shouted to myself. I made it a goal to not walk for the first time in a marathon. I've walked a lot in my previous ones. I caught Jon right around mile 19 and he ran with me and the other male runner for the next two miles before gradually falling back. He still managed a strong finish in 3:09.

    Thanks to the walkie-talkie I knew I was far ahead of the second female by this point. Starting at 22 miles I told myself, "you can jog 4.2 miles, no problem, just jog." Starting at 23 miles I was done. That finish line needed to be there but I had 3.2 miles to go. When I got into the 24th mile I started looking ahead to landmarks to make it to before I stopped and laid down on the side of the path for a nap. Speaking of this path, it was never going to end. And I couldn't see another marathoner ahead of me. The only runners were a few half marathon stragglers. At the last aid station I splashed water on my face to get rid of the sleepy feeling that was taking me over and launched into the final two miles. People tend to talk about breaking through mental barriers at this point in a marathon but I say fuck. that. My body was trashed. No mental games were going to help me out at this point. What I needed was to stop running. I was already 7 miles past my longest run in 6 months and my body was in revolt. I made it to about mile 25.5 before I walked. I asked the guy on the bike how far I had to go and he said about half a mile. That seemed impossibly far but I started jogging again. At this point a guy blew by me, practically sprinting his last mile. Once I got in sight of the track I saw Rachel on the side of the path and decided that I didn't want her to see me walk so I would keep jogging to the finish. She offered to take my gel flask and I dropped it on the side of the path. Honestly, she was amazing for helping out with these things! As I rounded the turn of the track I saw that I was still in the 3:06s. I couldn't muster the kick I needed to make it under the clock in 3:06 but I didn't really care. I was so glad I could stop running that I laid down on the track on the other side of the mat, fully intending to take a nap. The race director made me get up and directed me to medical. Why does everyone always think I need medical attention and not a nap, or at least a few minutes to lay down?

Well, I don't look good. Photo credit: Athens Ohio Marathon

     The kids greeted me on the other side of the fence with flowers they had picked, a reporter asked me a few questions about the race for the Athens Messenger, Jon finished, I got a massage, Todd finished and before I knew it a half hour had passed and I still hadn't taken in any nutrition. By the time I started trying to drink and eat my body was in a full-on electrolyte imbalance and I was dehydrated. The rest of the day, and really the past few days have not been pleasant with struggling to get in good nutrition. Taking Todd's advice the next time and having a Gatorade to chug at the finish. If I puke it up, that's fine, I'll drink another one, but I have to make sure I take in nutrition after I race.

Ultra-runner Michael Owen won for the men in 2:38. Photo credit: Athens Ohio Marathon