Sask Marathon Race Weekend

Sunday, May 27th marked my second official half marathon and my experience this time around was quite different from my first one in September 2016.

Since September 2016, quite a few things have changed in my life.  I have gone from being in school to working and from living at home to living on my own in a different city.  With the changes in my life came changes to my ability to train and thus my race experience.  This time around, I was not able to consistently follow a training plan or get in as many long distance runs as I would have liked, as I was on the road for various events each of the four weekends leading up to the race.  I was also trying to figure out starting a new job, as well as starting Marissa Dawn Nutrition.  As a result, I headed into the marathon not feeling as prepared as I would have liked.

Saturday was the race expo where my Dad, who would also be running the half marathon, and I picked up our race packages, followed by the pasta dinner.  At the pasta dinner, we had the opportunity to listen to Canada's "Marathon Mom" Krista DuChene, a marathon runner who competed in the 2016 Olympics and placed 3rd in the 2018 Boston Marathon.  Krista is also a Registered Dietitian, which sparked my interest in attending the event.  While Krista did not speak much about her work as a Registered Dietitian, she spoke in great detail about her career as a marathoner, sharing her successes and challenges.  After hearing Krista speak and not knowing how my half marathon the following day would go, I set the goal of making sure my half marathon time was faster than Krista's marathon PB (personal best) of 2:28.32.  

Sunday morning, I woke up nervous and anxious about the race.  I had decided that my race strategy would be to start around the 2:30 pace bunny for the first 10 km or so, and then see how I felt and go from there.  As my Dad and friend would both be running the race as well, I told them my plan and to do what they wanted to do.  In the end, we all started together, and then my Dad and I ran together while my friend ran at her own pace.  The first 5 km went well, but then things started going down hill.  I had a couple of sips of Gatorade at the water station between the 5th and 6th kilometers, and it did not sit well with my nervous stomach.  When training for this half marathon, I had only ever drunk water while training, but I knew I had drunk Gatorade during my previous half marathon and it was ok, as long as I didn't drink too much, so I assumed it would be ok.  Sunday, any Gatorade was too much Gatorade.  I felt sick like I was either going to throw up or my stomach was going to explode.  I had to slow down; I skipped water stations, thus was dehydrated while running, and had to do the two worst things in my mind - stop to use the bathroom and walk.  

Despite not feeling good, I was making decent time.  My 10 km split was basically 1 hour on the dot until the bathroom stop at kilometer 11 slowed me down.  After the stop, I was able to run, albeit slower than I had hoped.  There were a couple of spots where my legs felt like jello, but thankfully my Dad was there to encourage me.  Somewhere between kilometer 17 and 18, everything hit me - being tired, not feeling good, just wanting to be done - and I broke down crying.  I tried to keep running but crying and running at the same time is hard, so I had to stop and walk.  Unfortunately, I do not remember what my Dad said to me at that moment, but I remember him giving me a hug.  If I had not had my Dad by my side, I am sure I would have given up.  The whole race I felt bad about having him run with me, as I felt guilty for slowing him down, but at that moment, somewhere between kilometers 17 and 18, when all I wanted to do was give up, it was my Dad's hug, words of encouragement and presence that kept me going.  

I finished the race with a chip time of 2:23.44, nearly 20 minutes slower than my first official half marathon 20 months prior.  On the one hand, I was disappointed with this time, but on the other hand, I am proud that I completed the race despite the circumstances.  I could have switched to the 10 km or given up and quit at any point during the race, but never did.  Had I not stopped to go to the bathroom, my chip time would have been about 2:18, and if I had not had to walk probably 2:15.  

Everything that happened leading up to and during this race reminded me how things aren't always going to go as planned and you won't set a new personal best every time you run, but you can always give it your best effort.  I didn't set a new PB on Sunday, but I did give the race everything I had and never gave up, and that I am proud of.  More importantly, I am thankful for getting to do the race with my Dad.

Nutrition wise, I had a strategy heading into the race of having a breakfast I was comfortable with at about 5:45, sipping water until about 7:10 when we would head to the course area, and then hydrate at every other water station starting at the second station, preferably with water over Gatorade, but knew I would and should have some Gatorade too.  Breakfast consisted of a slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and jam and an apple.  I have eaten this plenty of times roughly 90 minutes before working out, and I knew it sat well with me.  I stayed hydrated leading up to the race and hydrated at the second water station, but the Gatorade didn't sit well.  From this, I was reminded of how valuable and important it is to make sure to test out anything you are going to eat or drink before or during the race during your training.  I didn't try Gatorade during this training, and it ended up not sitting well with me, and I paid for it.  I learned my lesson, something that I should have known, but now, will never make the mistake of having something before or during a race that I did not try while training for that race.

Overall, it was a good race weekend.  The weather Sunday morning was perfect for running, some clouds and a bit of a breeze.  While my time was not as fast as I would have liked, it was in the range I was anticipating based on how my training went.  If nothing else, I learned that all you can control is that you give your best effort every time and never have something new on race day!