Quebesmiles: The sub-three. 2:55.28!

Here we go with the most ultimate race recap of all recaps (for me, at least!). The day I finally broke three hours in the marathon...I did it!!!!! After 14 marathons, 10 years, and 2 kids, I finally caught my white whale. Check it off the life-goal list, cause I. did. it.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I burst into tears. It seemed unbelievable. I worked for soooo long for this moment! Did it really just happen?!

Yes. Yes it did.

{teary-eyed at the finish line}

{epic stop-the-watch moment}

I did a lot of things differently this time, and I can't believe I didn't do them sooner. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well...for years i'd been driving myself crazy, unsuccessfully "running in circles" in what felt like a very frustrating marathon hamster wheel. I'm so grateful my coach, Emily, inspired me to make changes in my training. Thank goodness for her because it made all the difference.

Things I did differently this training block:

- slow runs slow

- fast runs fast

- hydration. liquid intake at every water stop

- additional GU, every half hour

- new Nike carbon shoes ;)

The concept of running my easy days easy was the most difficult thing to learn. I never realized how important slow recovery days are, and it took quite a bit of humility to remind myself that a "pedestrian speed" (as my old coach called it 😬), is not actually that. Instead it's a very integral and beneficial piece to the training puzzle.

When I started the race, I felt strong and comfortable. I knew the first half needed to feel easy because the second half always breaks you down, unexpectedly fast. In a marathon, you're completely fine until you're not. I desperately wanted to avoid hitting the wall this time, and the key to that is an extremely conservative first half. In all my other marathons, I was either undertrained and couldn't hold the pace, or I went out way too fast and couldn't hold the pace.

So. My first half was smart, calm, conservative, easy, and very focused. I was not screwing this one up, especially since I knew my fitness was there. I came through the half in about 1:28.30. Perfect. The last half of the course was flat compared to a nice downhill in the first half. It wasn't too hard to maintain my pace through the second half, and I was still holding back a little bit, out of fear of the bonk. I still felt strong but didn't dare let loose. I picked up the pace slowly from about mile 16 through the end, chipping away each mile. I hit mile 24 at 2:40, and that's when I finally knew I was going to do it. I had almost twenty minutes to finish two miles, and I was feeling really strong. No wall. No bonking. It was finally mine. My last mile was my fastest mile in a 6:34. I was free flying through to the finish.