Faster as a MASTER: PR at Glass City Marathon!

We flew into Detroit on Friday night and stayed there overnight before driving to Toledo, Ohio in the morning. I found a nearby park for us to do a short shake-out run on Saturday morning before we headed out though.

Atwood Park

The drive to Toledo only took about an hour, and we met up with our teammate Melissa T. and her husband for lunch when we arrived. Then, we headed over to the University of Toledo basketball arena for the race expo. After picking up our packets and checking out the vendors, we walked over to the football stadium where the races would finish the next day.

 

The races finished on the 50-yard line of the football field

After a quick pit stop to check into our hotel, we met up with my Oiselle Volée teammates for pasta dinner at 5th Street Pub in Perrysburg, just south of Toledo. Having teammates all across the country to meet up with when I am traveling for races (or other reasons) is definitely one of my favorite parts of being on this team! Most of the gals were local, so I got some insight into the next day's race (and other area races).

 

After dinner, I finally had some time to settle in at the hotel and get my gear ready for race day while Kurt visited with his family who had come up for the race.

We had an early start on race day to ensure enough time for parking and for Kurt to go through his pre-race routine. We didn't necessarily account for time needed to get ice off the car windshield though! That bode well for the morning temperatures during the first part of the race. Cold is my superpower in running!

After grabbing a couple of pre-race pictures at University Hall near the start line and dropping our gear bag, Kurt and I said our goodbyes and lined up in our respective corrals. I had been thinking about starting with the 2:00 hour half-marathon pace group (since there wasn't a 4:00 hour pace group for the marathon) to keep me from starting out too fast. The half and full courses split off between miles 8-9 so I figured I could re-evaluate my pace from there. There wasn't much space between the 3:55 marathon pace group and 2:00 half-marathon pace group, so I just lined up in between and hoped for the best. Let's just say that I never saw the 2:00 pace group once I crossed the start line. I found the first few miles to be incredibly congested, and I even got tripped up by someone to the point that I could easily have lost my balance and fallen in the first mile or so. That was all the impetus I needed to pick up the pace and get moving!

I knew my Garmin was already slightly off distance since it beeped even before I hit the first mile marker. With that in mind, I wasn't paying much attention to the mile pace as I ran, and I focused instead on calculating overall pace as I passed each mile marker. That gave me a rough idea that I was running just under 9-minute pace until the point that doing the math got too hard for me to calculate. :)

I went into this race feeling confident about my training and my fitness level based on my workout performances and half-marathon times this season (1:56 in Phoenix in January; 1:55 in New Orleans a week later; 1:52 in NYC in March). I have really worked on my mental game too. So, I just kept running a comfortable pace and just kept pushing as the miles ticked off. I knew I was making good time, and I felt GOOD doing it! I went through the half in 1:56, maybe a bit ambitious but still within my fitness level.

It wasn't until I hit the 30k mark that I had the first true feeling that things were starting to get harder. The temperatures were warming up with full sun exposure, and I was definitely getting hot. I had been steadily reeling in the 3:55 pace group, and while that gave me a confidence boost, I think I also let that get into my head mentally (You're not a 3:55 marathoner, what are you doing close to them?). I let them pull away as I walked up a short rise (not even a hill or true incline) just before mile 19. From there, I started walking through most water stops - 1 cup of water to drink, 1 cup to pour over myself, and 1 more to drink before I started running again. I was surprised to see Kurt's sisters around miles 20 and 21 when I was in the park area, which was a nice boost.

Yes, I walked through that water stop

I hit 20 miles in 3:00 hours. I'll be honest, this was the point where I let my mental game go and I lost my sub 4 marathon. I told myself that I needed to run 9-minute miles for the last 10k to come in sub 4, which I convinced myself was impossible at that point. Looking back on it now, I wish I had the wherewithal to tell myself that I could run 9:30 pace and I would still come in sub 4. That might have seemed more manageable and kept me in the hunt during the last 10k rather than simply throwing in the towel the way that I did. Obviously there is still room to improve here.

As I passed the 25-mile marker, a guy said there's only 12 more minutes to go. I responded "That's a PR!" I saw K shortly after that point, and I flashed him a thumbs up sign because I knew that I had a PR in the bag. He told me later that he's never seen me smile at mile 25 of a marathon before.

Unfortunately, we had to essentially pass the football stadium and loop around the outside campus before making our way back to the finish.

Pure focus in the finishing chute

4:02:18 PR!!!!

K met me in the finisher's area then we saw Melissa T. who had finished a few minutes ahead of me, also with a PR in 3:57.

Team Mac in O-H-I-O

Kurt ran 1:21 for 15th overall, 1st AG in the half-marathon

Then, we met up with Kurt's family and a former classmate from his hometown who had paced the 3:20 marathoners in the race.

I had seen these signs around town when we arrived in Toledo the day before. I told Kurt that if I did run better here that I was definitely going to get a picture after the race.

Yes, yes, I did!

By the numbers:
4.3 Miles	7:45:20AM	00:38:42	08:54 min/mi
6.7 Miles	8:05:15AM	00:58:36	08:44 min/mi
9.4 Miles	8:29:48AM	01:23:09	08:51 min/mi
12.9 Miles	8:58:12AM	01:51:34	08:37 min/mi
16 Miles	9:27:19AM	02:20:40	08:48 min/mi
20.9 Mile	10:14:18AM	03:07:39	08:59 min/mi
Finish	11:08:56AM	04:02:18	09:15 min/mi