2012 Kalamazoo Marathon Race Report

Stomach was bugging me night before the race and I woke up at 3am with it still bugging me. I was real nervous about this race, but wanting to have some fun more than anything else. I had a goal in mind, but was very prepared that a PR might not happen on this one as my training wasn’t as good with all the cold weather and school. Plus this course was a lot harder. I should mention I got my hair done with pink hair braided in and had my pink running skirt and bright pink socks along with my supermom shirt. I was all psyched to have some fun with this one since I wasn’t sure that I was going to do well.
Get to start line and line up with the 4:15 pace group. That was fun. I talked with the people there and kept up with them for quite a while. Note to self – Don’t wear a shirt that says Supermom to Seven Cheer Me On unless you are prepared to answer the ages of all your children to every single runner that comes up behind you. By mile 10, I seriously started telling people that was taking too much mental energy and I just couldn’t do it. I had 2 pace tattoos, one on each arm, one for 4:15 pace and one for 4:30. I was just behind the 4:15 pacer at mile 10, but stopped to use the bathroom somewhere around there and got stuck waiting. I should have just kept going, but wasn’t sure where another one would be. By the time I got out the bathroom I saw the 4:30 pacer going by, but got going again. I was feeling tired there and was a little overwhelmed by the idea of having 16 miles left to go. Get to mile 11 and then mile 12 goes really fast and I make up a little time with a nice downhill. I lost track of the uphills. They weren’t awful, but they weren’t easy either and hills were a big area of weakness for me coming into training. I realize at this point that I was doing okay and should be able to finish under 4:30 – a time I could live with on this course. I kept plugging along. The crowds were amazing! We ran through several neighborhoods here and I cannot get over how much cheering and support was out there. I got a little emotional seeing the little kids out there with their “Go Mom” signs and really wished my kids were there. I seriously almost started crying on multiple occasions. Running a marathon in and of itself is emotional, but really these people were just something else. I must have waived at every camera too, haha. I figured I might as well have fun if I couldn’t be fast.
Miles 13, 14, and 15 went pretty smooth. I felt like I was going slower than molasses and I wasn’t going fast by any means, but I wasn’t embarrassingly slow either (well not to me anyway). Mile 16 was a very welcome downhill! I cruised right along there and took every fast mile I could find. By mile 16 I just wanted to get to single digits. Somewhere about there the sun really got warm and I was feeling the effects of the humidity. I just kept telling myself 10 miles, easy peasy, but it wasn’t feeling real easy. I think that’s when I had a little bit of a panic realizing I wasn’t feeling strong and started to freak a little about finishing this one. There wasn’t a lot of crowd support between miles 16-18 and there were a lot of people starting to walk. I know I was walking parts at this point. I was just trying to finish without a horrible time and didn’t care about a PR at this point. I just wanted to be done. I was still having fun, sort of, but just the same I was ready for the finish. Mile 22 was a big hill. I remember saying I wasn’t running this one I was walking it and some young guy next to me says it’ll be faster if you run it and me thinking screw you. He was actually a nice enough guy, but that was my thoughts about running up that hill. Of course, he wound up walking parts of it too, lol. Honestly by mile 20 everybody and I mean that literally, everyone was walking. You’d start running for a bit, they’d start walking, you’d start walking, and they’d start running. I think the hills and the heat were getting to everyone at my pace ability. Mile 23 there was a lot of crowd support again and I know I must have been quite the site having out loud conversations with my legs begging them to cooperate just a little bit longer. I also must have asked at least 3 complete strangers if I could borrow their legs for the last 3 miles. That was no game so I kept pushing along. They had another big hill at mile 24 or 25. Who puts a hill there? Ugh, I can’t say I ran that one. I did run parts of it and that was good enough for me. The last mile I was talking to another guy and his PR was 4:41 and I told him if we could just move along a little we could probably still make it in 4:30something. I finally got to the last .2 and the finish line in site and I am telling you my little legs started moving. I was determined to finish in 4:30something, anything. I was so thrilled to cross the line in 4:39:29. Not anywhere close to a PR, but I had a lot of fun with this race. I think I did my best and that’s all I can hope for. My legs don’t feel like death right now either so that’s a good sign! I am ready to start training for another one.
I finished 29 out of 46 in my age group, 166 out of 282 for women, and 470 out of 702 overall. Happy that I’ve firmly moved up to middle of the pack runner now. Making progress.