Race: San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon
Date: May 31st, 2009
Location: San Diego, California
Notes:
I’ve always reminded myself that I wouldn’t run this race as ‘hard’ as I did the one a few weeks ago. This was to be my recovery race, if there’s such a thing as a recovery marathon! Hehehe. This was also the first time I’d be running as a “Coach” to a friend who was running her first marathon, so I didn’t want to be selfish about besting my personal record five weeks after I did.
Well, the experience was rewarding, humbling and definitely something that I may do again. Being a (now) six-time marathon runner (and this was my fifth San Diego race), you go through the motions in your mind of what may happen and wondering if anything you felt at the previous race will happen again. For a first-time marathoner, this wasn’t the case — the entire race is unknown and despite the training that one goes through, you’re never really prepared mentally, if not physically! (though I hope it’s just the former).
Running at a pace that’s about a minute and a half than what you’d normally run (for 26.2 miles and at a different running interval) is also a somewhat misleading. You’d think that it’d be fine the entire way because you think it’ll be “easy” but you really start feeling the pounding on your legs and knees the last few miles of the run. However, other than the shoulder tightness that resurfaced towards the end of the race and well into my Zero Week, keeping your mind focused on someone other than yourself helped make for a race that was relatively trouble-free (for me, anyway).
That doesn’t mean that it was an easy feat, though! My friend, Sheryl, whom I was running with, hit her “wall” around mile 15. Still, we both listened to each other and humoured me when I asked her to start running again during our intervals. Then, when she’d ask for an extended walk break, I naturally obliged. Throughout the race, I made sure that we’d, at first, finish our targetted time, but adjusted accordingly when our pace got slower and the fatigue had set in.
Despite her feeling the aches and pains that came with long distance running (and the fact that she’d only had 2 to 3 hours’ worth of sleep the night before!), Sheryl was indeed a trooper. She remained strong until the very end, especially when we upped the pace at the last quarter mile! LOL. Okie, that was entirely my fault, they moved the finish line a few hundred yards back, so when I told her, “this is it,” we were really far from over! But man, she ran that last stretch and made it look really easy!
It was truly a different San Diego experience this year. The funny thing is, Sheryl ran quicker than me when I ran the race last year! LOL. Remember, I finished over 7 hours. Not too shabby for her first marathon, eh?
Congrats again, Sheryl!
