The Story Starts

In August of 2006, I was invited to join a running group that was raining for the 2007 California International Marathon. 25 people ran 7 miles that day. I loved it, and kept with the group through the Autumn of that year. A woman named Amanda had developed the schedule that included the 2007 Journal Jog, the Meridian Gold 10k run, several long runs on the weekends and weekly runs on our own. Having been a non-racing runner all my life, I adapted quickly and loved the camaraderie of the group. The usual injury of some form of tendinitis started to set in, so I went to a physical therapist, an acupuncturist, a podiatrist, as well as a masseuse. These measures got me to the starting line of the big race on 12/02/2007. My training pace had gotten down to a 7:30 minute mile, running comfortably, so I envisioned I might finish the race in about 3 hours and 20 minutes or so. Qualifying for Boston (required a finish time of 3:15 for my age at the time, was not on my mind. It was my first marathon after all. What I had not accounted for was the elevation training I had been doing. I had also been running up and down the hills by my house in the south part of town. I hadn't included the hill training for any particular reason, except that my house is on a hill. The California International Marathon (CIM) goes from Folsom to downtown Sacramento and has a net elevation drop from about 400 feet to 20 feet. I had no expectation that the elevation training would give me any benefit. I hardly slept the night before, I was so excited. I got up around four, met my friends (the group was down to 5) and we got on the bus for the hour-long ride from downtown to Folsom. I placed myself among the 6,000 runners and the gun went off. Within the first 15-20 minutes I felt completely comfortable and guessed I was running a 7:30 minute mile. I looked down at my GPS watch and was running at a 6:50 pace. My heart skipped a beat, "I'm gonna have a great day". I decided then and there that I would keep my pace at 6:50 doe 26.2 miles. Having no experience with this distance, it may have been a naive thought, but it was worth a shot. I crossed the halfway point (13.1 miles) in 1 hour, 30 minutes and about 46 seconds. HOLY COW!! and i said to myself "I could break 3 hours. This meant I needed to make up those 46 seconds. I knew i needed to pick up the pace, but was feeling comfortable at the time, so I kept my new pace around at 6:48 or 6:49. This race has pacing groups. This means there is an experienced runner who will carry a sign (the whole race, amazing) and finish AT the groups target time. At about mile 20, a spectator yelled out that I was closing in on the 3 hour group. I picked up the pace again, but had long since stopped looking at my watch, too much energy. I was plucking off racers left and right as I continued to pick up my pace. Back at mile 18, my quads started to hurt. I decided that I was not in enough pain to slow, but man, they hurt more at the faster speed. I was NOT giving up. In front of the hotels along the park (where the capital is on the other side of the green); I saw the 25 mile marker. 1.2 miles to go and I looked at my watch. I had 8 minutes to get to the finish in under 3 hours. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do high math at that moment and calculate a "safe" pace to get me there, in this distance at that time, so I sped up again. I am NOT taking any chances, not now. The course turns two 45 degree corners to reverse direction to the finish. I rounded those two corners and saw the finish line. The time on the digital clock above the finish line read 2:59.46. "are you kidding me?" I broke into full sprint and crossed the finish line in 2:59.59. Unbeknown st to me, my partner had taken a poll of all my running friends, who all though I would cross the finish line in 3 hours. He found me immediately to whom my first words were "I'm never doing that again". At the same time, I was so elated that I just lost it. There was such a feeling of accomplishment that I cannot even describe. Wait a minute... "had I just qualified for Boston?" Yes I had... I got food, drink, my warm up clothes and went back to the finish line to greet my running buddies. My friend Kristen crossed in enough time to qualify for Boston as well, under her required 3:35.00 time. Awesome. Over the next month, I walked every day on the treadmill on the gym, working out the soreness. I'm not sure y'all know how much your quads are responsible for going downstairs, but it was tough for over a week. It took me over 3 months to learn that I had developed a tibial stress fracture from the marathon. It is now 5-6 months since I took 4-6 weeks off all weight bearing exercises (I did laps in the pool); September 2008 and it looks like I am healing appropriately. Stay tuned for entries regarding my training.