Buller Gorgeous Marathon

Before you read this, please take a peek at this article from the Onion:  http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-truly-sorry-for-this-but-youre-about-to-hear-al,28995/

Yup, the below highly resembles the link so feel free to skip to the final paragraph and I won't be offended. 

First, I should say, it should be titled the 'Buller Gorgeous Marathon'  with not a cloud in the big blue sky, the first 20 miles aside a river, and mountains in the distance it was as advertised 'the most scenic event in New Zealand' and gorgeous.  I've told the race organizers so lets see if the event gets renamed next year.  With the gorgeous mountain views also comes elevation changes. Aside from China this was by far the hilliest marathon route I've run. It was a tough course. Thank goodness I logged all that hill training in Dhaka (sarcasm).  

A common question when training was 'so what are your goals for the race?'  My threefold reply: finish, enjoy the scenery, and run faster than China (7hrs). Now, the super secret goal of all runners (that's maybe not so secret because I"m sure I've told several of you) is to set a personal record (PR). My personal record for the marathon was set as a 23 year old in Columbus, Ohio at 4 hours 15 minutes.  Training for Buller Gorgeous, I was using a training plan for a 4 hr marathon.  However, all running times are very course dependent and based on this one, I buried both of these in the back of my mind. 

One of my favorite aspects of marathon running is meeting people along the course.  At the start line I met Anita and Michael, a retired couple from Colorado on vacation visiting their nephew in New Zealand.  Anita had to be 5 ft. nothing and 90 lbs soaking wet and the back of her running shirt said 'no one has ever drown in sweat' - Lou Holtz.  Buller Gorgeous would be her 30th marathon. We started the climb of the first 5 miles (uphill) and I was running faster than I knew I should not taking my dad's advice to start slow.  It's harder than you may think to start slow - a horse needs to run!  I asked Anita how she felt about the pace and she said 'oh, it's good for me to be conserving like this' when I was thinking 'man I'm starting out way to fast.' Getting my butt kicked right of the bat by a woman in her late 60's!  

Anita soon sped on as I began to take my dad's advice and I paced along with Teegan, a Kiwi, wedding photographer, mother of two, and first time marathoner.  She had researched motivational saying and taped one to her wristband 'quit your whining and run.'  We chugged along at a 'conservative' pace until the 11 mile mark.  I was feeling pretty good at the mid-point and checked my watch: 2 hrs 6 minutes.  And thought, hey, I could PR!  A dangerous thought for mile 13.  I put the thought out of my mind and focused on the beautiful views and goal number 2. 

Miles 16 - 20 I had the same conversation with myself over and over and over again about every 5 minutes.  I went something like this. . .wow I'm feeling really good, I really could PR, but the body I've occupied for thirty-onederful years is really just one hill away from complete shut down. should I push? should I fall back? You don't know how fast you can go until you try.  My legs are screaming. . .quit your whining and run. Repeat.  I knew my awesome support team, good friends, and heroes, Kirstin and Eric, were going to be meeting me at some point in the last 6 miles to run with me to the finish.  I thought if I could just keep this pace until I reach them then the crowd and adrenaline will push me through the last 6. 

Then I saw it, the glorious 10k to go sign.  20 miles down. Just 6 more. I was hurting, but still on pace to PR. Kirstin's figure came up on the horizon which I was so happy to see. Not only for the company but also a running personal assistant, cleaning my glasses, filling my water, and running ahead to the water station looking for salt packets.  My body had started to go slightly numb and the equilibrium was off in my right ear as it does sometimes during long runs.  Just  9k to go, how many times had I run 9k?  I could do this.

Then it came, just at mile 21.  The hilliest of all hills on the course.  And it broke me.  I chugged along keeping pace but knowing there was little left in the tank.  Kirst passed me off to Eric around the 7k mark. I ordered him to tell me about their trip (Kirst and Eric are currently on a 6 month trip around the world/honeymoon, how much to they rock?) to keep my mind off the pain knowing I didn't have the energy to respond. We approached the 5k to go mark (3 miles left) and I was done. spent. exhausted. I had to walk. Something I hadn't done in a marathon before (except in China) and I dismissed the PR silliness from my mind. 

At the 4k to go mark I made a new goal, run the last 4k.  The next mile or so was tough and sluggish but then I found a rhythm, checked my watch with 800meters to go and it was at 4 hrs 10 minutes. I let Eric know and he said 'you got this, just sprint to the finish!!"  my reply was 'I am sprinting." :)  He peeled off at at the corner while I turned into the finishing shoot crossing the finish at 4:13:45 setting a new personal record and beating my 23 year old self.  Thank you all for your support, well wishes, and positive energy (or just nodding and smiling while I blab on about running) over the past months.  Yesterday I really felt them.

This is what a PR feels like