Appletree marathon race recap

On Sunday, September 8th I ran my third marathon. It was my favorite race I have ever run and one I won’t soon forget. Why Racing puts on this race and they did such a great job! The race is set along the waterfront in Vancouver and it is essentially two out and backs. I wasn’t sure how I would like going out and back on the same course twice, but it was actually awesome. In August I ran a two-looped half marathon and also really enjoyed that, so I knew mentally that I would be good with it. In many ways having the opportunity to break a race into two chunks is really helpful. I looked at the marathon as two half marathons and broke it up even beyond that as it was out about 7 miles and back a little less two times.

The weather was forecasted to be a little warmer than I had been looking forward to for a marathon and I anxiously updated my weather app all week, but it turned out to be cooler and all of the smoke from the day before had dissipated. I think the weather at the start was about 62 degrees and overcast. The whole race ended up being overcast and the sun came out just after I finished, so it was perfect timing!

I arrived at the race area about an hour early and got great parking and then made my way to the porta potty. With so much time to spare, I walked back to my car and just relaxed for a little while and listened to music. About 30 minutes before the race was supposed to start, I got my running singlet and bib on, put fresh socks and my racing shoes on my feet, and stuffed my pockets with gels. I got my headphones out and my water bottle with my Nuun in it. As I walked towards the starting line, I saw two of my good friends who had come to cheer, and we walked together. I was able to get in the porta potty line one more time but by then time had sort of slipped by and I didn’t have time to do a warm-up. Luckily, I was able to stretch in line and took my gel about 10 minutes before the start.

Lining up at the starting line, I saw one of friends that I had trained with and coached and stood next to her. I also saw my friends who came to cheer me on, and it helped so much to see them and to laugh and smile as I was starting. The first mile went out a little fast, but it didn’t feel fast at all, it felt really good. I had a tracker set up through an app that the race provided, and it gave mile splits, estimated projected finish time, and little cheers that friends and family sent me. I settled in and got in a great rhythm, feeling strong and excited. The miles kind of clipped by and I was really enjoying myself. Since it was a smaller race, it started to string out a little bit and there were fewer people near me at certain spots, but also there were people coming back toward me who were leading the race, and then when I turned at the first turn around there were people I was coming back toward, so that was fun. Everyone on the course was so friendly and we smiled or cheered or encouraged one another with a thumbs up. There were a lot of aid stations, and I was able to use my hand-held bottle for the Nuun and took cups of water from the aid stations. All of the volunteers were so friendly! One volunteer on his bike even road up and parked near an area with wasps and warned runners as they came by.

Around mile 9 or 10 or so, I ran up toward two runners who were talking and kind of just joined them. They were running a good pace and let me join them, so we ran together for quite a while. My friends were on the course at about mile 11 or 12 (and again at mile 24 or 25 (I think)) at an out and back point, and it was so fun to get to see them twice on each lap. We ran through the start/finish again and started off for the second half. Right after the start/finish line, I quickly saw my parents! It was so exciting and if the race were any bigger, I likely wouldn’t have seen them.

My tracker stopped working at about mile 13 and so I no longer got the mile splits or estimated finish time, I did see splits on my watch, but didn’t focus on them a ton. The last estimated finish time the tracker gave me was 3:37. I tried to focus on effort mostly. I looked down occasionally to make sure I wasn’t running a lot slower than I thought I was, since sometimes effort can be subjective when you’re running that long. One of the people I was running with said she was going to try and shoot for 8:05 min/mile for the next 5 miles. I thought that sounded fast and a bit tough, but told her I would give it a try. Surprisingly, I felt so good and just keep plugging along. Around mile 16 or 17 our little trio spread out from one another again for a while. I couldn’t believe how strong and focused and relaxed I felt. It was just crazy to me. I was able to take a gel every 30 minutes and alternated SIS Beta Fuel and Precision. I think this made a huge difference for me because my energy was completely sustained the entire race and I never hit the wall. With the gel at the start of the race, I took 9 in total. On the first and second hours I took two salt tabs each, but beyond that I didn’t take anymore salt because I had my LMNT in my bottle around the halfway point. Since fueling was the huge downfall for me in my first two marathons, I focused so heavily on this in training and in all the half marathons I’ve done since. It paid off!!!

When I was close to making the turn back toward the main Vancouver waterfront by a restaurant called Who Song and Larry’s, I realized that I was close to being on target my BQ time! I was just seriously shocked, since my goal was to run a sub 4 hour marathon and thought I would run closer to 3:57 or something. I truly thought that 3:45 was even out of range for me, just simply based on how rough my first two marathons were. I was still on track for about a 3:37 and started to push. I knew that even if I got it down a little closer to my BQ time of 3:35, it still wouldn’t be enough of a buffer to get in, but how exciting to be that close! How was I over 20 miles in to the race and feeling so amazing? At the last out and back, I think it was around mile 25, I got another boost and just pushed even harder. I literally told myself out loud, “I got this. I can do this!” Then, I looked over and all of the sudden my husband was running with me! He was encouraging me and telling me where my family was at the finish and just gave me even more love to get me up the last mile of hills. My friends were also right there at the last hill encouraging me to push to the finish (one said, push like the last push of having a baby! It was motivating!)

Once I saw the finish line, I just charged with all I had and felt a huge rush when I saw my kids holding a poster they made me and all my family and friends at the finish screaming for me! It was the best feeling in the world. At the finish line I was completely shocked to see 3:37:29!! I exceeded my goal by a ton and felt so happy to have had the strongest, most fun race I can remember. I truly don’t think I have ever felt more proud of myself for putting in the effort the entire race. I was so fortunate to never have tummy issues, injuries flare, chaffing, blisters, lost toenails, etc. It just went so smoothly. In the past, I couldn’t wrap my head around how people can run so fast for such a long time to get a Boston qualifying time and it just seemed like an elusive thing to me. I totally get it now. I know I worked really hard in training and made a lot of sacrifices to get to where I got on race day. So many things went right and so many friends and family members supported me. I have an even bigger fire lit in me now to see what I can continue to do with hard work and dedication.

Reuniting with my friends and family and getting big hugs from my babies was incredible. I was so emotional and so happy! My dad read the results to me, and I was excited and again, surprised to hear that I had gotten 10th woman in the race and 3rd in my age group. It was just surreal. My sweet friends made me awesome signs, gave me flowers, balloons, and hugs! We took pictures and soaked up the moment. After, we made our way over to the park and celebrated with my two cousins who had amazing races and one who BQ’ed himself. Why Racing had a great after party with food and an awards ceremony and people just relaxed in a beautiful park.

This was an 11/10 experience that I would totally recommend to everyone!!