…. by a whole 2 minutes! Hah. Sadness. To say I was disappointed would be a major understatement. I am so frustrated. I ended up alternating the entire time between feeling completely nauseous and intense stomach cramping. Needless to say, I feel like I spent more time in the portapotty lines than in the actual race.
The first few miles were pretty good-all sub 10 min, but I knew from the very beginning that I just felt…off. Eventually it came to fruition around mile 6 when the stomach cramping came in. I think the cramping can be attributed to that time of the month, but I have NO IDEA where the nausea came from. I was only able to down a gel around mile 7, after that I knew it would upset my stomach so I didn’t have any more. Plus, it felt like the Cytomax offered along the course made my symptoms worse, so I only stuck to small sips of water now and then.
I guess I should be grateful that I did better than last year, but in reality, I’m just frustrated because I know I could have done A LOT better. The entire marathon I was absolutely miserable, but was still able to crank out another sub 10 miler at mile 25, which just proved to me that had I not had those issues I would have been so much faster. It’s funny, between mile 13 and 14 I passed my condo complex. My unit faces out to the street, so I looked up longingly at my sliding glass door. If I had had my keys on me and didn’t have people waiting for me on the route, there is a high probability that I might have just quit then. When I was running, I of course thought about how I would never put myself through this again, but as soon as I finished I knew I’d be running again. I’m the type of person that knows what I can achieve, and until I do, I won’t be happy. Plus, I HAVE to beat Oprah. I love Oprah, don’t get me wrong. But I think I should be able to beat her. And once I beat Oprah, I’m going after Diddy. Heh.
Anyways, I finished with a time of 4:57:35, hyperventilated along the route countless times and welled up like a baby at the end. I’m glad I finished though, for sure. The only issue I have now is a tight IT band from the 2 miles running up the 163. I wish they could reroute the course because I had super pains in both hips, plus the leg after those miles, just like last year.
And besides the fact that the rubbing between my thighs probably could have started a small fire, I’m happy to report that the Body Glide I tried out provided only minimal discomfort. Success!
I’ve already started researching my next marathon. I’ll definitely be doing a lot of halfs, including America’s Finest City in August and the Nike Women’s Half in SF in October. I’m looking to the Long Beach marathon as a possibility, but that’s one week before the SF half so we’ll see. As Dori says in Finding Nemo, just keep swimming, just keep swimming…
Girl…you ran a MARATHON! You should be so, so proud of yourself! When I left the base on Sunday there were still people coming in, and we were getting up to the 7-hour mark at that point. And THOSE people are amazing too. And the fact that you’re already looking for your next one…seriously, you’re amazing. You’ll meet your goals eventually, for sure
Aw thanks Hallie! I know I need to put things into perspective more.
Thank you again for volunteering! so awesome.
Hey Sarah, I’m sorry to hear about the cramping, but don’t be so hard on yourself! You finished a marathon AND PRed. You should be so proud of yourself for pushing through the pain and seeing the race through! I totally admire you!
Oh, and I’ll be doing America’s Finest City Half too!