Today was really Joe’s day. After nearly 2 years of training and three canceled races, he FINALLY got to run his first marathon!!! We got an Air BnB not too far outside of downtown and drove up on Saturday morning. We took a leisurely stop at Cracker Barrel on the way and arrived mid afternoon. Mom and I pretty much immediately took off to do some reconnaissance. I did live in Columbus for 4 years - this is where I went to veterinary school - so some parts of town and like home to me, while others are not as familiar. First, I needed to know how to get to the start line in the morning. This involved driving into the arena district. I was unaware that there was both a Columbus Blue Jackets game AND a festival at the baseball stadium - so traffic was insane! (Turns out it was a BEER AND DONUTS FESTIVAL!!! I’m so sad we missed it, haha). I chose our parking garage and then headed up 315 to Upper Arlington to a west campus lot where I’d determined I should be able to meet Joe on the course around mile 18. Then we went to another spot on Grandview which seemed fine that night but turned out to be completely inaccessible on race day due to road closures. Then we came home for Subway and an early bed time.
SO - here’s the boring race report, more for my benefit than anything else:
The weather for race day was absolutely perfect! It started in the 40s until the sun came up and then up into the high 50s. Full sun but never too hot. Of course, it was dark when my alarm went off at five AM! I did drag a little but got everything together in time to leave by six. I chose a sparkle skirt and a 3/4 sleeve ORTC gold and black shirt and a 4-run-2 hat.
Nutrition: I wore my Nathan hydration vest with 24oz of bottled water and 2 scoops of caffeinated raspberry Tailwind. I had 1 scoop of chocolate UCAN and 1/2 banana blended up and took it with me to the starting line. I ate the other 1/2 banana and a little no bake cookie at the house before leaving. I drank the UCAN in the start corral around 7:00 and then had my double shot of BB energize at about 7:15. I sipped tailwind only until about mile 5 when I opened my vanilla honey stinger waffle and nibbled that between miles 5-10. I didn’t eat anything else until after the finish.
In the start corral (D - I’m slow), Joe and I hung together. I hit the porta-potty right when I arrived, but at that time it was too early yet to drink my energize. The caffeine in it usually hits me right in the guts fairly quickly, so I was soooo relieved when Joe said to me “I’m going to duck into a potty” as the faster corrals were crossing the start line. It was dangerously close to our start time, but we had no line and got in and out in plenty of time to still be in a thick crowd as we crossed the start line. Getting that out of the way, I felt confident that I’d be fine for the race. This is where it’s so good to know your body and its patterns. I’m glad my body did it’s usual thing on race day, haha.
Joe’s target pace was 11min/mi, which was well within my ability. I did have some concern about the durability of my legs and my stamina, though, coming into the race. I’ve been triathlon training and have not yet fully ramped up my running since my hernia surgery in the end of June. My hernia mesh hasn’t given my any issues but I’ve reluctantly taking every run easy just to be sure I don’t over-do it and get hurt before the race. I really wanted to run this one, even if it meant walking a lot of it. Because of this, my longest run up until race day was a bit over 8 miles - and that was last week. The week before that, I ran 8 miles but it was split between an easy pace 5 and a fun fast 5k. The rest of my training has been on my bike trainer and in the pool. I was worried that the fitness I’d gained there would not translate over to a longer road race. Thankfully, I ended up being more than fine.
As the miles ticked by, Joe managed to keep his enthusiasm and pace in check. We didn’t talk a whole lot, but he stayed near me most of the way. He initiated a potty stop around mile 5-ish and we were stopped for about 3 minutes. I had a pace pro plan on my Garmin for straight 11’s - when we stopped, we were over a minute ahead because we had made the unspoken decision to sit around 10:45. In the next few miles, we crept back into an even 11 overall pace by continuing at that 10:45ish pace. As per usual, my caffeine all hit me right around mile 5 and I was giddy and full of energy. I love that part of the half !!!
Columbus is roughly an out and back course where parts of the course pass by. We saw the front runners coming through on our way out and their way back. That always makes ya feel inadequate, haha. On our way back, there was no one remaining on the “coming” side. We did see the sweep vehicles - plenty far back to know that they’d never catch us - not today. Joe started to speed up so twice I made him stop to take pictures of me with spectators. He was pissed 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂. Both times I told him I did it because he needed to slow down, haha. Here’s one of the offending photos, because I know if you read his race report, you’re going to hear about how stupid they were:
In the 10th mile, Joe took a walk break to attend to his nutrition and take some salt tabs. As soon as I dropped to a walk I noticed a niggle in my right glute - a tiny little cramp. As the next couple of miles went by, that cramp continued to slowly intensify. It rarely hurt badly, but it was always there on the edge of my consciousness. At times when I activated that glute, it would flare into ungodly pain. But if I laid off my glute and didn’t “use” it, things were status quo. At the same time I was attending to this, Joe began to take off. I decided to be a “good pacer” and allow him to decide if he wanted to stick to his plan or not - so I capped myself at 10:45 and stayed there. We were coming back into the city and the spot where the half and full courses split. There were an increasing number of spectators and the atmosphere was getting more intense. I noticed that the runners around me all looked very tired, yet I felt spry and ready for more. My BFF always says “I’ll do a full marathon if I ever finish a half marathon feeling like I could do more.” I could hear her voice in my head and knew that today I definitely could do more. Especially if my damn glute wasn’t cramping up. As my watch ticked over into mile 13, my Pace Pro plan announced “FINAL SPLIT 1.1mi // goal pace 11:00/mi” and I realized that it was almost done!! I always lose track of things between mile 9-finish. Joe slowed (or did I speed up? I think it was both) because we were together again. I told him not to speed up - I planned to run to the point where the courses diverge to get video of him passing through. It felt very good to have so much left in me. I ran up the street passing lots of folks like they were standing still and I. FELT. AMAZING! I got to the split and saw my husband off on his way, then I set my sights on the finish line. It was probably less than a half mile away. I took off “comfortably hard” which turned out to be about 9:30 and enjoyed blowing by everyone on my way to the finish. They were doing that “end of the race everything hurts and I’m dying” shuffle and I was smiling ear to ear and feeling so proud of myself. Honestly, I was always looking beyond the finish to getting into my car and out to our support stop in Upper Arlington.
I crossed the finish line and my official time was 2:23:43. When I ran this race in 2019, I was “taking it easy” because I had just had a thyroid biopsy the Friday before (so… less than 48 hours before the race). It had hurt like a MF and I had concerns that I’d start bleeding if I over-exerted myself. I ended up running alone, because on that day both Joe and Molly were there but chasing PR’s. I ran 2:29ish that day with an average HR of 167. Today, I ran six minutes faster with an average HR of 162. On top of that, I felt like I could easily do more! These stats make me very happy :) Clearly I lost nothing in my transition to multi sport.
I crossed the finish line (complaint - the last tenth of a mile is uphill, jeez) and moved into the athlete only finishers area. Before I even made it to the medals, I was absolutely socked with horrible leg cramps - everything from my hips to my toes was suddenly shooting with pain. This was very new to me. I’ve had a little cramping and discomfort after races. I nearly threw up on the poor ROTC kid who put my medal around my neck in Anchorage. These leg cramps today were BAD - like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I could barely walk. If I had been smarter, I would have stopped right there and stretched. I was so laser focused on exiting the area as quickly as possible and getting to mile 18 with Joe’s water bottle belt that I kept moving. Get the medal, the heat sheet, the banana and bag of other goodies. Stop for the professional photographers to get my photo (fake a smile while my legs feel like they’re literally on fire). I thought they’d let up but they just kept on going. Groaning, I gathered all my goodies and walked like a stiff-legged cowboy straight to my car. In desperation on my way there, I housed a little bag of plain chips (is it a salt issue? I dunno, the chips didn’t do much). Mom was waiting there and I immediately drove out of the lot headed for the highway. I got caught in awful traffic waiting to get onto 315, recalling that the right lane was closed too late and having a bunch of heartless bastards refuse to allow me to merge over. Sitting there in traffic for 15 minutes with my legs on fire with horrible pain and my body coming down from the adrenaline and dopamine of crossing the finish line was definitely my low for the day. I fretted that we wouldn’t make it to 18 to make the handoff that Joe had requested.
Thankfully, it turned out that we arrived in that west campus lot about 10 minutes before Joe did. There were a handful of spectators and some volunteers with a water stop table at the entrance to the lot. While waiting for Joe to appear, I FINALLY stretched my legs out and dispelled the cramps. I also noticed that I had only drank about 2/3 of my tailwind and wondered if there was an electrolyte issue. In any case, Joe arrived (also looking a bit cowboy-ish himself…) and we swapped his empty belt for a full one and jogged to the end of the lot. After he was off, I ordered coffee from the Starbucks down the street only to find that it would be 100% impossible to access due to road closures associated with the race. We also would not be able to get back to the route to see Joe before the finish, so we headed back downtown. I got our order filled at the Starbucks in Nationwide Arena and made a quick call to Paula, who was camped out at the finish line with the kids. They were starving, so I grabbed some donuts from T-Ho and headed to the wall to wait. It really didn’t take all that long before Joe arrived, sauntering up to the finish line with perfect form looking more like he was on his first mile, not his 26th!
Recovery Report…. One week post-race
After the cramps subsided, I also noticed that I felt a blister on my left “ring toe”. I didn’t know how bad it was until I got home and took off my socks - the entire tip of my toe was engulfed in a big fat blister. It hadn’t hurt at all during the race. I decompressed it and it’s been fine - no pain since. Race night, my legs were tired and mildly sore but nothing terrible. My right glute hurt - it was no longer a cramp, just the residual pain of having been “not right” for at least 5k, maybe longer. I stretched and rested. The day after the race (Monday), my legs were much more sore than they normally are after a half. My quads made the stairs un-fun. I had a 45 minute easy run - my legs felt like wood and I developed pain in my right outer metatarsal area. This is another thing that hadn’t manifested during or even immediately after the race. I think it was brought on by the fact that I wore my mizunos instead of my brooks (I was hoping to not continue to irritate my blister but I think I caused new foot pain to pop up). We did karate - I was sore. Tuesday I worked - this consists of ten hours of up and down and walking about. My legs were still sore but a little better. The pain in my foot continued. I had a suspicion it might be a cuboid issue, so I took some ibuprofen, iced it, and then rolled the bottom of my foot with a racquetball. This hurt like hell but it did help tremendously. The pain lessened each day until Friday it was completely gone. I ran for the first time again on Saturday with no pain. I did skip a mid-week run just to be safe. I was so tired Tuesday morning that I neglected to do my prescribed bike session and then I didn’t run on Weds (but I did swim). I did my bike session on Thursday and swam again on Friday. Saturday I did my long bike and first post-race run - just 20 minutes off the bike. My legs and feet feel 100% back to normal.
Overall this race was a blast and I’m sooo excited for Joe!
I learned that I can still happily run a half marathon even though I haven’t done the traditional “long run progression” that I’m used to. I was very worried that I would suffer some kind of overuse injury since I hadn’t put those miles on my legs. Blisters and cramps are uncharacteristic for me, but honestly not nearly as bad as the injuries I had imagined like stress fractures and a recurrence of my shin splints. I’m thoroughly enjoying my transition to multi sport and TriDot training! I can’t wait to see where it takes me :)
2021 was pretty good compared to 2020. My job continues to be stable. The kids finished their 20-21 year of school in blended virtual/in-person learning. We trained. We returned to RACING! In March, Joe and I went with the kids, his parents, and our niece to Virginia Beach for the half marathon and it was brilliant! We got a condo on the ocean where, despite the cold weather, I could sit in the living room and see the ocean and boardwalk outside. On that boardwalk, we watched (and joined) thousands of other runners in an open-course concept race. The start/finish area was set up all day long. You could cross those timing mats any time you wanted. There was support on the course but not like a normal race. The roads were not closed, so some of the course was on crowded (and surprisingly uneven) sidewalks. I had to stop at a crossing and wait for the light to change at mile 12, costing me my sub-2:15 time. I finished in 2:15:16 - which was another big PR, shaving about five minutes off my time from 2019's Mistletoe half in Winston-Salem.
And then it was spring. Ever since getting my ass kicked in North Park at the triathlon, I had planned on getting a road bike. I started shopping around and found that the pandemic has made buying the type of bike I was looking for (in the $1000-1500 range) impossible. I "settled" for a much better bike than I would have otherwise and brought home a Giant Defy along with a Wahoo Kickr stationary trainer. I was getting serious about this triathlon thing... I started training with TriDot and a new coach. I completed the local sprint (New Brighton Memorial Triathlon) in a reasonable time - placing second in my age group. Unsure if there were more than two people, frankly.
We completed our first Eagle Up Ultra!! I say "first" because this is undeniably something we will do again and again and ...again! We had an amazing time taking turns with our group of mostly strangers-turned-team-mates on that hot summer Saturday. I ran three 5-mile legs and, in total, the team ran 100 miles. We finished around midnight and collapsed into our tents feeling so excited and contented. We will be back next year for sure.
...then my hernia got huge. Like big and painful and impossible to ignore anymore. Knowing that I hate long-running in the heat of the summer, and also facing a change in my insurance plan at work that would make the surgery cost much more out of pocket after July 1st, I moved forward with surgery. On June 29th, I had a "robot-assisted laparoscopic umbilical hernia repair". I know this lengthy phrase because they ask you several times before surgery to tell them what surgery you are having. Saying "a hernia repair" didn't cut it. I had to say the whole thing. The recovery was about as long as the name of the procedure. Those first few days were abject misery. All I could do was sit in the corner of our sectional watching TV with an ice pack on my belly. I took more opiates than I'd ever had before and they turned me really stupid for about a week. I was still stupid for days after stopping them, actually. This surgery was way worse than my C-section or thyroid surgery. I am SO GLAD that's over with! I started training first in the pool and then on the bike trainer about a month after surgery. I was cleared to run at six weeks but I really couldn't put any kind of volume or intensity on my training for weeks beyond that. Honestly, it's now October and I'm just now feeling like I'm "back to as normal as I'm going to get". I say that because I still do get twinges and shooting pains sometimes, but they are mild.
I started training again officially in August and, soon after, did the MMM (that's Mighty Moraine Man) sprint triathlon up at Moraine State Park. No pictures because I went by myself that day. In hindsight, that was a mistake. I really needed race support. I also got no photos. I didn't get an AG (age group) placement but that's OK. It wasn't a bad race but it wasn't my best and I still wasn't 100% back to full training yet.
Because of my prolonged absence from karate, I missed a round of belt testing. Joe leveled up to blue and Cami came to join me at green. Braden finally got that little black stripe on his white belt, but he really has lost interest. We now go one or two nights a week and try to find someone to hang out with Braden so that he no longer disrupts class.
This blog post, really, is to catch us up to today's race report for the Columbus Half Marathon :) Unfortunately, before I can type that out, I've got to get dressed and make the 3.5 hour drive back home.
