Race Recap: Edinburgh Marathon Marathon 2013
Even though it has been barely 24 hours since I crossed the finish, I am repeating those words over and over in my mind in order to make it feel real.
The honest truth is that this was not the race that I wanted. Six months of training, I was feeling stronger and fitter than I ever have. My legs were feeling good, the quads weren't too tight and the piriformis was holding back. My IT band was feeling a bit looser and maybe most importantly, my mind felt strong.
And then I pulled I ligament stepping out of the shower two days before my last scheduled 20 mile run. As I fell towards the bathroom floor, all I could think about was my RACE. The unfairness of the situation that I would injury myself doing something that I do every, single day four weeks before my first marathon.
I thought I would spare the internet a picture of my injured ankle, so here is an artist’s impression and by artist, I mean me + a strong dose of Tylenol’s 3s. Also, those brown things represent chocolate buttons - my other medicine of choice the night of the incident.
I had to take a full 10 days off running and couldn’t cross train either, since moving my ankle up and down (or side-to-side) caused major pain. That ruled out – swimming, the elliptical, spinning, yoga or any other activity that involves your lower body.
Maybe you noticed that I disappeared off the internet there, not even to whine or freak out about my injury. The reason is quite simply that a few days after my run-in with the bathroom floor, a dear runner friend of mine was in a terrible accident while riding his Vespa into work. He suffered a dislocated ankle, a broken collarbone, a fractured nose and a minor head injury. Frankly, he was lucky not to be killed. He called me from the hospital and asked me to come to the hospital to pick up his stuff but I had no idea how bad the accident was until I came into urgent care and found him very battered and bloody.
He has been told it could be three months before he is walking without the cast and potentially a year before he is running.
I truly feel grateful that I could run this marathon at all and as hard as it was to line up three corrals back from where I wanted, I just knew this wasn't going to be the race I had been training for.
The week leading up to the race, I dipped my toes back into running. I managed a 9 miler last weekend and while I was uncomfortable the next day, it was my quads and IT band that were the angriest. Three weeks off yoga meant a lot of stiffness had moved in. The result was a terrible run Thursday night that was cut short after 2 miles and a panicked email sent to a massage therapist for Friday night. She fit me in for the last appointment of the day and in addition to loosening up my quads and hip flexors, she was kind enough to tape up my ankle and calf with KT tape.
I thought I looked badass and intimidating. My flatmate disagreed and suggest that hot pink wasn’t the best choice for looking tough, even if it matches your race day outfit.
I managed a comfortable 2 miles at race pace on Saturday morning before getting myself off to the train up to Edinburgh. I was on a 3:00 pm train, so I got my carb on for lunch – eating a pretty big salad with chicken, baby potatoes and avocado. I've learned now that I am better off with a big, carb-y lunch the day before a long run, rather than a big carb-y dinner. I just don’t sleep well with a big meal inside of me and um, there are more likely to be bathroom issues in the morning. I ate a few substantial snacks on the train too, including a large fresh fruit cup, a Greek yogurt and some plain salted chips. I then had a large veggie omelette and two pieces of toast with a glass of pink lemonade Nuun for dinner. Oh and some oat cakes with humus as a snack.
I slept really well Saturday night, falling asleep just after 11:00 but waking up bang on 5:05 am. I think it was nerves, so I ate a spoonful of peanut buter and a banana before drifting off back to sleep. I woke up again at 7:00 and bounced out of bed, feeling pretty damn rested and excited to see clear skies and sunshine outside.
I slept really well Saturday night, falling asleep just after 11:00 but waking up bang on 5:05 am. I think it was nerves, so I ate a spoonful of peanut butter and a banana before drifting off back to sleep. I woke up again at 7:00 and bounced out of bed, feeling pretty damn rested and excited to see clear skies and sunshine outside.
I got showered, dressed and ate a peanut butter and jelly toasted sandwich with about a quarter cup of coffee. I was staying with a friend of my mom’s, who was kind enough to come down to the start with me and carry around my post-race bag, so that I could skip the bag check. We arrived about an hour before the race start at 10:00 and I was able to use some portapotties before the lines started and get stretched.
Based on my half marathon results, I knew 4:00-4:05 was unrealistic and if it hadn’t been for my injury, I would have been in a good position for 4:10-4:15.
Seeing I was averaging my training runs in the 9:55-10:00 range, I decided to aim for 9:35-9:45 for the first 10 miles and then evaluate if I could speed up for the next ten or keep the same until mile 20, where I would do whatever I could to keep going forward. My goal was a 2:07-2:09 first half, speeding up for the second half but with some room for a bathroom stop or walking through water stations.
This is the story of two races run back-to-back. The first 10 miles were beautifully, evenly paced and went exactly to plan:
However, like a switch being thrown, suddenly I was NOT okay. My stomach started cramping for no reason during mile 10 and we entered a very exposed part of the course. I decided to slow down and also, picked up water from the first station I could to throw over my head. I also became aware that my right foot (the injured one) was going numb with some radiating pain around my right knee. I noticed that my landing was quite compromised on the right side, with my kneecap pointing way to the right. Miles 11-12 were pretty tough, between the heat, stomach cramping and the knee pain, so I finally gave into the porta-potty during mile 12.
Mile 13, despite being a bit speedier, is when I realized that my ankle was not going to allow me to push the pace and I resigned myself to a run/walk strategy. That was very tough to accept but I was very aware that the heat and pain was making my heart race, so if I wanted to finish, I had to manage my body’s basic needs – hydration, fuel, temperature and pain. The time had come to put aside my ego or I would end up like one of the MANY runners who were being attended by the medics on the side of the road.
Miles 14 to 20 were pretty brutal. The Edinburgh course takes you through very little of the city you head out to the coast and run along the ocean until you reach the town of Musselburugh, where the course then becomes a long out-and-back along the ocean highway. The course is pretty exposed, which means the wind can be pretty fierce off the ocean or as in the case of yesterday, the sun can really beat down on you. Also, the scenery is pretty monotonous and it made this out-and-back feel very long. The best part was when we turned around through a trail through the forest The trees offered a relief from the sun and my feet seemed to just take over being back on the familiarity of trail-style track. I am so happy that I did this on my long runs because from the number of people around me walking (try 75-80% of the people around me), this put me at a real advantage.
I had been able to maintain two miles of running before stopping to walk until mile 17, where my foot and now whole right calf would not let me keep going, as much as my quads and hamstrings were still holding together.
30km (18 mile) split: 3:15:16
The last six miles were absolutely brutal, not because I hit a wall or because I didn't have the energy or the fight but because my right foot, knee and calf wouldn't allow it. I couldn't feel pain exactly but I was very aware of my pulse, which would start to race after about 5-6 minutes of running, no matter how much I focused my effort on breathing. That gave me about 0.8 of a mile and then I would have to walk to bring my heart rate under control.
This how I managed for the last 8 miles of the race – run, feel good, feel strong and then realize my heart was pounding out of my chest. Stop, walk, stretch. Take water. Repeat. Also, eat all the jelly babies that I could get my hands on from spectators because I was so SICK of the taste of my Shot Blocks.
As it was happening, I was feeling so discouraged and upset that I had lost so much fitness during my rest from running. I was being really hard on myself and swearing to build more miles, do more cross training etc. before the next marathon that I do (spoiler alert, I do plan to run another marathon . Probably this year.)
As soon as I crossed the Mile 26 marker, I instantly felt better. I was determined to not walk that mile and was running really strong until the 0.9 mark when I had to stop for a short walk. I had been running a 9:15 min/mile pace but my final split is 9:42, so it was probably about 30 seconds of walking before I came round a corner and could hear the roar of the crowds.
I picked up running again and turned to corner to see the finish sign. Suddenly, I realized that I was a short sprint away from being a marathoner. t took off with the biggest, stupidest smile on my face.
And with that 4 hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds, I became a marathon finisher.
Next installments After the finish line (cue major calf and hamstring cramps) and recovery (still ongoing). Also, a race review of the Edinburgh Marathon course and some lessons for my next marathon.
