Numbers

There were 1755 Steamtown registrants, but only 1490 finishers. Once my actual chip time came through (4:50:20), I moved up one rank to #1317. 86th out of 96 women 35-40.

Splits: 1-10:18, 2-10:41, 3-11:13, 4-9:56, 5-10:35, 6-10:24, 7-11:33, 8-10:37, 9-11:39, 10-10:32, 11-11:03, 12-10:56, 13-10:41, 14-11:27, 15-10:58, 16-11:46, 17-10:50, 18-11:53, 19-11:28, 20-11:35, 21-15:10 (changing socks!), 22-9:58, 23-11:07, 24-11:06, 25-10:04, 26-10:42, 26.2-2:23. Average 11:08 pace.

Thanks to a combination of the bib number list, the finishing list, and the race photos, I've found everybody I remember from the run except the Gallowalkers. Emmy, my neighbor at the start, finished in 4:41:57; the loud young teacher in 5:19:55. Donald Teague did 5:05:58 and didn't even place! He's placed in his two previous Steamtowns because there were no more than 3 in the men 70 & up. The oldest woman was 65. I definitely want to run a marathon when I'm in my 70s so I can finally get a win. But by the time I'm that age, many more older women will be running and I'll still get shut out...

Celebration!

When we got home, I took a shower and examined my feet. Not too bad! No blisters, just a little chafing on one foot. My 4 black toenails definitely looked like I'd pushed them a little further over the edge, and the end of both next-to-smallest toes are rubbed a little raw. Other than that, no problems. I certainly felt somewhat sore and stiff, but not on the verge of collapse or anything. I made celebratory phone calls & otherwise just relaxed and basked in the joy of accomplishment.

The best thing that happened Saturday, which I didn't even mention yet, was related to the champagne I asked Jonathan to get for our Sunday celebration. When I got home from the expo, he said it was chilling and said "I hope you'll like the brand." I didn't think much of it--we like the same stuff, I was sure it would be good--but he repeated it a little later and finally said I should look at it. So here's what I saw:
[that's a custom label he made with my "running puppy" logo (itself a Jonathan drawing from two decades ago)] It made me cry then and it made me smile extra on Sunday night! And here's the "I did it!" photo:
It was an evening of perfect happiness.

I had to take some ibuprofen to get through the night comfortably, and on Monday I definitely felt more sore than after my long training runs. But I went for a nice long hike in the woods to keep myself stretched out, and that was great. I feel almost back to normal today (Wednesday).

I wore my medal to work Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'll stop now. My co-worker Betty and her husband Bob (a surfer) gave me this great cheesy surfing trophy:
It says "Steamtown Marathon/Hilary/'Placed Good'"!

The photos are finally up today! They're at runphotos.com. There are 9 and most are OK, but the prices are so high that I'll probably just get one or maybe two. It is great that there were so many photographers out there & so much to choose from, but I wish there was some kind of discount package...

Reflections

What went right?

• Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer is the greatest!
• I followed the schedule to the letter.
• The weather was absolutely perfect.
• Training on the hills around here paid off big-time. In fact, the Montrose 5K is much harder, in terms of terrain, than Steamtown--it's got worse downhills and uphills.
• The way I broke the race down psychologically worked like a charm for me.
• My hydration schedule was fine.
• The superb organization & crowd support really helped.

What would I have done differently?

• Don't risk missing a water stop!
• Just my name on both front & back of the shirt.
• Put on fresh socks w/blister power right before the race starts.
• Use the lace tabs on the tongue of my shoes!
• I probably wouldn't bother to change socks next time; it wasn't worth 4 minutes.

Was it worth it, all the time and energy and money? Absolutely. It was a peak experience, just like I wanted. I have to say that I don't feel like it's changed my life, though. Maybe it's partly because my race went so perfectly that I didn't ever "go to my very limits and beyond." Jonathan thinks that's a silly thing to regret, and it's not exactly that I regret it; I just wonder, when I read about Mark's heroic struggle, would I have be able to do that? And I tell myself, YES, I am a marathoner!...but it's not quite the same as having experienced that dark place and come through it. "OK, so just run another one!" Although I have some marathon goals for the future--I'd like to run New York with my brother some day, if he ever seriously wants to, and if I ever got fast enough to have a shot at qualifying for Boston, I certainly would want to do that--I can't see doing it again soon. Maybe before I turn 50. Just too time-consuming. But I will certainly keep running! It would be cool to be able to do an 8-12 mile long run every week, but it's going to be hard to get any more than 2 miles in on a normal weekday. I'll try, though. I want to run a 10K for the first time, and eventually beat 1 hour if I can. I'd love to break 28 minutes for a 5K. I'll be into running more shorter races. And biking--I'll do more biking.

I will get faster if I work at it. I didn't do any speed training; I also could lose some more weight without becoming emaciated--not entirely sure it's worth the effort, but it would help my speed. I didn't take the time to seriously get into the ChiRunning principles, and I think that could help.

What's next?

I am flirting with the idea of doing National Novel Writing Month as a crazy follow-up project to this one. There are so many things that appeal: the logo is a marathoner carrying a giant pencil! the guy who started it suggests wearing a special piece of clothing to help you be in the frame of mind to write, and I can wear my medal! this is supposed to have taught me that I can do anything if I set my mind to it! (and Jonathan told me very seriously that if I want to, he has perfect faith that I will) I've written more than the word goal per day (1,667) in this blog since the marathon! But I haven't decided yet. I don't want to commit myself if there's a chance I'm just setting mysef up for failure.

At any rate, I don't know how much longer/what I'll write in this blog. But I'll leave it up and hope that it helps one other person the way Hollie's helped me. It's been great--and I'm telling you, if I could do this, ANYBODY can!
- posted by Hilary @ 10:30 PM