Wow. What at week! I’m still soaking it all in, but I think the feeling of surrealism has subsided and has been replaced with certainty. Just 7 days ago I woke up for a race for which I had worked so hard, and I woke up knowing I was going to get the job done. I was mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for the task at hand. I had decided what I wanted to do, I was committed to it fully, and all that was left to do was execute the plan.
Just. One. Second. When the 2016 Marathon Olympic Trials qualifying time was changed to 2:45:00 back in 2015, just one week after I ran 2:45:01, I was known as the girl who missed the OTQ by one second. It was a difficult reality to swallow at the time, but I quickly bounced back confident that 2020 was going to be my redeeming year and I wasn’t going to let the past define my future… little did I know my dream of qualifying for the 2020 Marathon Olympic trials would happen at my first attempt this past weekend at the California International Marathon (CIM).
This fall I came off of a great summer of heat training, a half marathon PR, and a very memorable and painful (to say the least) race at Boston. I entered my training cycle with a new mindset and a plan to train to be a physically and mentally stronger runner, committing to every muscle in my body to ensure that I was ready to toe the start line healthy and ready to achieve my goal. In past marathons (Boston for example), I have let the nerves and excitement get to me. This training cycle I made a pact with myself that I was going to practice patience; patience with my body, patience with my training, and ultimately, patience in executing my race plan.
In order to finish strong on this course, I chose to focus on three things besides marathon pace training. The first thing I did differently for my training runs that I feel really made a difference in this race was choosing to finish each speed workout and tempo run FASTER than the rest of the run. My marathon pace was supposed to be sub 6:18, so finishing long training runs at 6:02 and 5:55 was a huge confidence booster.
Fueling during my run was also very important to me this training cycle because at CIM in 2015 I chose not to take any energy besides water until it was too late, and my body couldn’t recover. I practiced taking fuel earlier than I needed it in my tempo runs and I did a little research as well. I learned at what rate my body was burning my fuel stores, and I figured out at what points in the race I needed to fuel in order to keep ahead of the depletion point so I could avoid crashing or ‘hitting the wall’ like I have in past races. In this race I took HoneyStinger gels at the 10k, 20k, 32k, and 37k.
Lastly, my positive self-talk was extremely helpful when my legs were getting tired. Having something to mentally access that will ground you and keep you focused in a race as long as a marathon can be valuable – for me, it’s those four words that lift me up: “you are fit, fast, focused, and recovered”. This positive affirmation steadied my breathing when I was loosing focus and the rhythm of the affirmation kept me from getting a side-ache (a first for me in a marathon!).
Toeing the line for this race, I had my eye on the 2:45:00 pacer and my plan was to stick with him for the first 20-21 miles though the rolling hills. CIM is a FAST course, but if you are not conservative in the hills, the flat 6-mile reward at the end is wasted.
The race in general was very calm. I stuck with the pacer for the first 21 miles as planned and I was so fortunate to have a large group of women (and men!) to work with and draft off of. We were all shooting for the same goal. I was not going to lose any time to wind or any outside force…"save it for the end" I told myself. I basically eliminated all of the variables that could affect the outcome of my race one by one. When we hit the bridge at mile 21, my body started pulling me along, telling me “we can do this.” At this point, I left the pace group and started working my way up to the next group of runners.
The next couple of miles were pretty quiet in my mind, until I hit Cowbell Corner where the Oiselle team was cheering their hearts out. When I entered their cheer tunnel I felt like I was back in Boston again - running by the Wellesley girls, my adrenaline spiking, my body shaking…a powerful and familiar feeling. I took that moment in, but quickly grounded myself. There were so many moments like this in the race, where I would have adrenaline rushing through me, especially as I pictured the finish (in some cases even holding back tears of excitement). Each time I knew I had to quickly pull myself back to reality, forcing myself to calm the excitement and wait for the line to celebrate. Just 3 miles to go.
Racing the last three miles was exactly how I imagined it in my race plan. I maintained the pace I wanted, I was present in the moment, and I was ready for that hairpin turn. As I entered the finish shoot, I couldn't help but smile – I have never worked so hard for something in my life and here I was, achieving a goal I had set out to achieve 4.5 years ago. Twelve minutes and over 5000 marathon-training miles later, I’m going to the Olympic Trials!!! When I crossed that finish line, I was no longer the girl who missed the OTQ by one second; instead, I am a stronger, more confident competitor who beat the OTQ by 45 seconds (2:44:15), and I am so excited to race my heart out again in two years!
Thank you everyone for your support - especially my coach, Rick Lovett, my training partner, Lyndy Davis, my husband, Tom, and my super fans, Annie and Geoff! TBIYTC – The Best Is Yet To Come
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Finishing strong was one of my goals this race and I was very successful! Below is a mile-by-mile comparison of my race between 2015 and 2017:
