Marathon 2.0

So. I ran another marathon. Like, a month ago. I've been totally blazy (blog-lazy) lately, and I knew this would be a long post, so I just never got around to it. And I've been a bit busy moping about it, too. So I've finally decided to just get it over with. Here we go.

Dear Harrisburg Marathon,

(Yes, Anna, it's one of those posts.)

You suck. I hate you. Please don't advertise yourself as "flat and fast" when clearly, you are neither. Also, please don't hand out maps that show water stations every 2 miles, and then set up the course so that there were multiple stretches of 4+ miles without water. Also? You suck. Did I mention that already? I hate you.

Sincerely,
Alyssa

Ok, now that I have that out of the way, I'll give you the deets.

My time was an embarassing 5:23. No, not five minutes 23 seconds. 5 hours and 23 minutes. Oh. My. Freakin'. Goodness. I'm really ashamed to even post that. It's 28 minutes slower than my first marathon. If Oprah had been running this race, she would have kicked my Trash. And ya know what? I probably walked a total of 2 miles, intermittently, throughout the course. That, more than anything, really had me upset. I didn't walk a step until about 16 or 17 miles in, when the hills got INSANE. I knew the only way my body would make it to the finish was to walk up the hills. And at about 24.5 miles in, my right hip started doing this thing that it sometimes does, where it feels like it's dislocated, but it's probably not, but it still hurts like crap anyway. And by 16 miles in I was ridiculously dehydrated due to the lack of water stations. And I threw up twice on the trail through Wildwood Lake. The whole thing was just a mess for me.

Sounds pretty horrible, right? Well, yeah it was. And I've spent quite a bit of time being bummed about it. But then Christy sent me a virtual slap upside the head and helped me realize that,

DUDE. I RAN TWO MARATHONS BEFORE I WAS EVEN A YEAR POST PARTUM. AND THOSE MARATHONS WERE 28 DAYS APART.

So why am I still struggling to grasp that? Because I can be ridiculously competitive, even if I'm not really "competing" against anyone in particular. Being an athlete for almost all my life, it's just my nature. So, when I went into the Harrisburg Marathon hoping to improve the time from my first marathon, and instead had a completely dismal day, I was just disappointed in myself. And embarrassed. But really, my expectations were completely unrealistic.

A) I had the swine flu for a week, followed by bronchitis for two weeks, all in the three weeks right before the race. I was still recovering from the bronchitis on race day.

B) I did exactly two "training runs" between the first marathon and the second. The longer of those two runs was only 5 miles.

C) I ran by myself. I did have my ipod, but it was no replacement for Darin, who of the two of us, is someone who actually has an internal clock and can tell what kind of pace we are on. I missed her:(

D) I never really re-hydrated after being sick, so...duh. That was dumb.


So, yeah, anyway, I should have known it wasn't going to be a stellar day. I think I would have been less bummed about my time, had there been a better atmosphere about the race, like there was in Steamtown. But Harrisburg was just...dead.

BUT. There were tons of great things about the race, that I am realizing outweigh the crapitudinousity of it.

1) My pace for the first 12 miles was totally kick-butt. And my time at 13.1 miles was 9 minutes faster than my 13.1 mile time in the first marathon. Had I not been coming off of sickness, and dehydrated, I seriously think I could have done some damage to this course! It has also motivated me to train for a half, and maybe some 10k races in the future, and train more for speed, rather than sloooooooow endurance:)

2) By the time I got to mile 14, I was in tears because I was so very lonely, and I had it set in my mind that there was no way I'd finish the race. And I was really sad about that. And also, there was no sag wagon, so I was worried about how I'd get back to my car. But THEN! At mile 15 or so, wouldn't you know it.... BIRD, DEB, and Bird's friend JEN showed up, holding some totally Kick-A signs, advertising the love that the UMC has for me!!! And it totally brightened my day. They were screaming, yelling, etc. and it got me so excited!! I stopped, gave Bird my long sleeve shirt (it was blazing hot that day!! too hot for such a long race!) and gloves, and she gave me a powerbar and sport beans to replenish my stash.

3) I saw those three ladies like, 4 or 5 more times before I got to the finish line. They were awesome! They even cheered for me when I came out of the potty!!

4) Darin. Oh Darin. How I missed her on this run. But as I was turning the corner to come down to the finish, there she was!!! I almost started crying right then, because I was so stoked to see her cheering for me. But then I rounded the corner and Deb yelled at me for crying, so I stopped.

5) Donuts. They had donuts at the finish line. Dear Harrisburg Marathon, you redeemed yourself. Sort of. I still hate you:)

So, to finish. It was a crappy day. BUT. I don't feel so crappy about it. I am proud of myself for running 2 marathons in 28 days, less than 1 year post-partum. I have never really been a runner. Athlete, yes. But you don't cover much distance on a volleyball court, and the javelin runway isn't that long. So, just finishing these races is a major accomplishment for me. And I'm proud that I did it:)

The End.