Race Report: 2008 Hartford Marathon - Part 2 - The Full Report

Warning: This is ridiculously long because I want to be able to look back at it and remember what I did in detail. Feel free to skim away!

I took Friday off from work to pack and travel to Connecticut for the 2008 ING Hartford Marathon. We left Massachusetts around 1:00pm, but got stuck in some toll traffic and didn't make it to Hartford until 3:30pm. Once we got checked in we walked over to the Expo to pick up my bib number and do a little shopping. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the expo because it was so small, but the only marathon expo I had to compare it to was Boston and well I don't know if any expo will beat the Boston expo. So we did a little looking around, but didn't buy anything (hey, we are in an economic crisis I'm not spending $30 on arm sleeves or $45 on a sweatshirt). We went back to the hotel and waited to meet the rest of the running group for dinner. While we waited I nervously paced around the room unpacking and getting everything organized for the morning. Dave finally yelled at me and told me to sit down and relax so I laid on the bed and got comfy for about half an hour and then it was time for dinner.

Dave and I met up with the rest of the running crew - John, Paul, Sarah and their families - and headed to Vito's By The Park for dinner. Sarah gave a great toast and then we settled in for a night of water, bread and pasta. We had a few issues with the restaurant in that all the runners had to order the meal of pasta and an extra side because the portion was so small (so I had two orders of penne with marinara). Then we had some issues with over charging on the bill and our waiter was just a little distant, which I didn't really find a reason for because they really didn't seem that busy - there were tons of open tables. The company was great though and that made the dinner excellent. We took a few group photos when we got back to the hotel and then called it a night.

Dave and I headed upstairs and I got in my PJ's with my book, Triumph, and sat in bed reading. I fell asleep at about 10:00pm. Dave stayed awake with his three beers that he got from the bar downstairs and brought back up with him and watched the Red Sox game. I slept really well from about 10:00pm - 12:00am, but then tossed and turned a bit until about 3:30am when I fell sound asleep until 5:50am. I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off so I just got up and started getting ready.

I made my oatmeal using the hot water from the coffee pot, got dressed and then headed down to meet Sarah. We then walked over to Bushnell Park where the race starts to meet John and Paul. We got in line to pee, looked over to the line next to us and there was Bill Rodgers. Bill Rodgers! I said to Sarah, "don't they have special lines for people like him? Why is he in the normal people line?" We couldn't quite figure it out, but gained a little extra inspiration from seeing him. After the bathroom, we took about a 5 minute jog around the block to warm up and then headed over to the start line.

The start line was a lot crowded and it took a few minutes to find our pace guy, but we did. We jumped in line and immediately shed our long sleeves (it was about 50 degrees at the start) because it was so warm with all the bodies. The gun sounded and we were off. I couldn't believe it. I was running my second marathon and my first attempt at a BQ. I was nervous.

Sarah and I ran together and were trying to keep our 3:40 pace guy ahead of us, but we were also trying to dodge people who were walking ahead of us (learn how to line up at the start people!). We managed to keep up with him through mile 2, but then noticed that he was running about 7:40 for mile 2 and 3 so we dropped back knowing that we had each other to get us to the finish. My Garmin was messed up from the get go so we relied on Sarah's for the duration of the race. 

I felt really relaxed in the beginning of the race. I was talking water/Gatorade at just about every 2 miles. I am slow out of the water stops and definitely need to work on that. Sarah and I met a first time marathoner around mile 6-8 (forgive me, all the miles blend together after awhile). She was breathing pretty heavy, but was very nice and I'm sure she hung in there to make it to the finish. Just before we crossed the timing mat at 10-miles and were seeing the first place runners coming back through on the other side. I always find this inspiring because I can see the absolute focus and determination in their eyes and I love to watch their strides. I also love seeing the people ahead of me because it makes me realize just how great of a sport running is. People of all ages, heights, weights, and shapes were running by and it just gives me that extra boost that anything is possible with some hard work and determination. 

We crossed the half marathon and were still pretty close to on pace and were still feeling good.  Starting at about miles 18-19 I started feeling... something. I wasn't really feeling bad at these miles, I was just starting to think "am I there yet? Can I really do this?" It's that mental doubt that started to creep in and I did my best to quiet that inner negative voice. Another girl joined us around these miles as well. This was her first marathon too and she said she hadn't planned to go for a BQ, but she was sort of on pace for it so she thought she'd give it a shot. I don't know what happened to this girl - where she finished - but I know she came in after us so I'm hoping she got the BQ and had a great time. 

Just before mile 20 there was steep downhill onto a bike path and a super motivational band that gave me this huge boost. I then hit the 20 mile mark and just kept thinking 10K left. However, my body wanted about 1K to be left, if anything, so my huge mental battle began here. Luckily I saw Dave at mile 21 and he gave me a little boost of confidence. Family and friends as support are really so important in giving that extra boost and it's great to have them there.

The last six miles included, if I remember correctly, four short steep hills left and I didn't like them. There were a lot of people walking up them and it's just not fun to see that because it makes my mind give up even more. Starting at mile 22 I was mentally telling myself to walk and that it didn't matter I could BQ some other day. However, Sarah was right next to me running and looking strong. I could not stop. I could not leave her and let her finish this on her own. I told her in the earlier miles that if we made it to mile 24 together then I wasn't going to let us lose each other. This wasn't mile 24, but since we really only had each other because we lost our pace group, we had to stay together.

For the last 2 miles, I kept checking in with Sarah, "just two miles?"... "so about 1/2 mile now right?" And she would answer me each time. When she told me just half mile I knew I had to hold on. I had to let my legs carry me to the finish. We turned the corner and saw the arches that we cross under. I tried to make my legs turn over as fast as they could. 

I saw the finish and I just went for it. I threw my arms up in the air and crossed the finish. Sarah and I looked at each other and hugged in complete excitement! We had both BQ'd!

I set my foot up on the bench for the volunteer to remove my chip. I had to apologize because I didn't use the velcro to put it on (they wanted us to use velcro to make it easier to take them off, but I didn't trust it). She said she didn't mind and congratulated me on finishing.

We then found our families, met up with John, Paul and their families and grabbed the free food and had a little picnic on the grass of Bushnell Park. All four of us met our goals and we couldn't have been happier.

Dave put together an ice bath for me when we got back to the hotel and I soaked in that for 10 minutes. It was not fun because it was wicked cold (he really enjoyed the fact that the ice machine was just two doors down and also took advantage of that by filling the tub with pretty much all of the ice from the machine). Then I took a hot shower and we headed back to Boston.

Fortunately, I didn't come out with too many injuries. I went in with a blister on the back of my left heel and needless to say I ripped that up really bad. I tried to tape it up, but ended up getting another blister just below the front of my left ankle from the tape. I also have two blood blisters (a small one on the left pinky toe and a big one on the right toe next to the pinky toe).

I was so happy with this race. I would recommend it to anyone. It's really well organized and a beautiful course. There are a few bands along the way and it's good for spectators as well. 

I spent Saturday trying to move around so I didn't stiffen up. Dave got me a big roast beef sandwich for my post race lunch and then we went to a bar later on and I got buffalo chicken nachos and two Blue Moon's. The Blue Moon put me right to sleep so I went home around 10:30pm and he stayed out with the group we went with to watch the rest of the Red Sox game.

Sunday I spent watching football so got some more needed rest. I am feeling much better today. My blisters don't really look any better, but I am hoping they miraculously heal so I can start running again. I don't have much muscle soreness. The fronts of my kneecaps and my hips were sore on Saturday and Sunday, but they feel better today. I have a little discomfort, but nothing very much at all today. I'm happy to see that my legs feel better already.

When I started looking at the official splits, I realized that Sarah and I actually negative split the course, which is a nice little added bonus.

I will head out of an easy 20 minutes tomorrow to see how everything feels and see where I stand.

Official Results

Gun Time:  3:40:52

Net Time:  3:39:02

Pace Overall:  8:22 min./mi.

10-Mile Split:  1:23:56 (8:24)

13-Mile Split:  1:49:40 (8:23)

20-Mile Split:  2:47:15 (8:22)

Place Division (F25-29): 19/128

Place Overall: 461/1942