If we’re being honest, putting my fingers to the
keyboard to type up a recap of last weekend is an extremely daunting task. I
hope you’re somewhere comfortable, or have something that you’re really trying
to avoid doing, because this is going to be long.
I spent all of last week slowly packing. By Thursday
night, my Vera Bradley duffel bag and my backpack were stuffed with every
running-related item that I owned, “Just in case.” Ice packs, ace bandages, icy
hot, compression socks, foam roller, 4 different outfit possibilities, 3 pairs
of sneakers – and did I mention all of the food I brought? My own Ziploc bags
of quinoa, oatmeal and carrots (none of which I ended up eating, for the
record). There was pita bread and Gatorades and 6 pairs of socks (because
obviously you can’t buy Gatorade in Pittsburgh…) It was a small miracle that I
contained everything to two bags.
Friday at 3 I left the office (got a good luck hug from Tiffanie!), walking slowly under
the weight of all my extremely necessary luggage, and made my way uptown to
Peter’s apartment, where his parents had just arrived to drop off his car for
us. We settled in for a long drive (Long
Drive – Jason Mraz, quality song that you should download) through the
incredibly large state of Pennsylvania.
Our first stop was somewhere in Jersey because Mr.
Caffeine needed a hit. As we left Dunkin Donuts, Peter told me to, “Do
something funny in front of my car!” Naturally, I climbed onto the hood of the
silver car in front of me, only to realize as a man walked by that I was in
fact sitting on the hood of a stranger’s car. Good one, Lauren.
Once we got out of New York/New Jersey it was smooth
sailing. We made another pit stop in the Poconos at, you guessed it, Dunkin
Donuts, where I changed into my comfy clothes and squeezed my legs into
compression socks.
Next stop was dinner near State College aka Penn
State aka Peter’s Alma Mater. I loved listening to his trip down memory lane
and seriously wished I had toured
Penn State as a high school junior/senior. I had zero interest in going to a
big school, but damn, that place is kind of amazing. We sat and ate at Panera
and I was reminded that Panera is an underrated fast-casual restaurant that’s
actually really really delicious, healthy and wholesome. I had half of a
turkey/cranberry flatbread and the chicken hummus power bowl – I loved that the
salad was legitimately baby spinach, cucumbers, tomato, chicken, hummus, and a
lemon. Not drenched in some fake dressing that probably would have wreaked
havoc on my stomach come race day.
Around midnight, we made it to Sewickley, the suburb
outside of Pittsburgh where my friend and roommate Erin grew up. Her and
Melissa had taken a bus there earlier in the day. Erin showed us where we would
be staying in her giant, beautiful, amazing, maze of a Victorian house and we
went straight to sleep with plans to wake up around 9 to head out to the expo
and Saturday market nice and early. Right before bed Peter gave me a note to
read that got me really excited for Sunday, calmed some of my nerves, and
reminded me again of just how glad I was that he was there for this, even
though he couldn’t run the half marathon like he planned. The note ended with
my favorite running quote lately,
“Who of us hasn’t considered how our peers will react to our performance in a given race, whether good or bad? And in those moments, whom are we ultimately running for? The sport is difficult enough as it is; doing it for anyone but ourselves makes it unsustainable.”
I woke up, showered, and went downstairs with my Ziploc
back of oatmeal to find Melissa, Erin and Erin’s mom standing around a griddle
making banana and strawberry pancakes. Erin’s family makes their pancakes with
oil instead of butter too (the best way to make pancakes, trust me). I chose
pancakes over oatmeal and Melissa and I did some serious damage – soo many
pancakes were consumed in the pretty sun room while the new Australian Shepherd
puppy Sophie provided entertainment (Erin’s parents picked her up on Friday and
she was the sweetest thing ever!)
(Flowers, puppies, pancakes - perfect start to the day!)
It took us a little longer to get going than we
anticipated but eventually, we piled in the car and made our way to Pittsburgh.
Along the way Erin showed us the ginormous homes of people like Sidney Crosby
and Mario Lemieux (no big deal, just a hockey rink complete with Zambonis in
the backyard!) We also stopped at Sheetz which is like a 7-11 on crack.
Apparently Sheetz vs. WaWa is the big debate in Pennsylvania. I didn’t end up
trying anything from either, so I can’t make any judgments.
We entered the city and it was so much prettier than
I had expected – 3 rivers, tons of bridges, and a beautifully sunny day –
Pittsburgh was picture-perfect. We parked near the Strip District and walked
along all of the booths/shops. I was overwhelmed by all the delicious food, but
I was still so stuffed with pancakes that I managed not to buy anything (except
a toothbrush, because I somehow succeeded in forgetting something while
simultaneously packing everything).
With my eyes, I ate baklava, pastries, lobster
rolls, olives, fudge and more. Then, we walked over to the convention center
for the EXPO! After seeing the Boston Marathon expo just two weekends earlier,
the Pittsburgh Marathon had a lot to live up to – overall, I thought it was
pretty good! We first walked in and got our bibs which was easy enough.
Unfortunately, I had ordered a small shirt instead of an extra small since the
ones from Wineglass were so teeny tiny and when I went to swap it at the shirt
exchange table, there were no extra smalls to be found. Oh well! Another thing
Melissa and I were bummed with was the fact that the girls and guys shirts were
different colors – the guys had green and the girls had pink. Sexist! Although
green is my favorite color, I still like the pink shirt.
After walking around and having some samples (why do
protein bars taste so bad?) I fell in love with a Nike Pittsburgh Marathon
t-shirt but convinced myself I have a million exercise clothes and don’t need
any more.
Peter was still really sick, but being a trooper as we dragged him
around. We sat down while Melissa and Erin got the car and we made our way
home.
I made a turkey sandwich, did some organizing of all
my things, painted my nails, and had a serious discussion with Melissa about
which of my four outfit options I was going to wear. After a lot of back and
forth, some modeling for the group and some jogging in place, I decided to go
with the same outfit I had worn for my first marathon. Original, Lauren. But at
least I knew that I would be comfortable and it was one less thing I had to
worry about bothering me during 4 hours of running.
We sat outside on the beautiful porch for a little
while before heading inside to watch the Kentucky Derby! It’s crazy to think a)
how long the race has been going on b) how much money is at stake c) how short
the jockeys are. I still have so many good memories from going to Saratoga when
I was younger and I’ve really been meaning to make a trip to Belmont one of
these days! Mainly for the outdoor drinking if we’re being real.
Anyway. Erin and her parents went out for a family
dinner and Peter, Melissa and I headed to the grocery store for dinner
supplies. Since Peter’s throat was hurting so much, his dinner was a lot of ice
cream and soup. Melissa and I made a pretty delicious meal of rotisserie
chicken and sautéed veggies. Easy peasy. I ate my chicken on a whole wheat pita
with guacamole and had some veggies on the side. We each had a spoonful of
Phish Food ice cream because – because.
Next up was reading the card Rebecca had given
Melissa and I and attempting some foam rolling.
All the foam rolling did was make me panic about tight/sore spots which
Peter reminded me weren’t going to go away at this point so it was no use
worrying about them. What was going to happen in the morning was going to
happen. But while I was foam rolling, Sophie totally thought I was another puppy and all she wanted to do was play/attack me. TOO CUTE I TELL YA!
I went up to bed and Peter and I read through “The
Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances” quickly. I’m so glad
Peter thought to pack it because it was just what I needed – to laugh at the
craziness that is training for and running marathons, to remember the amazing
sense of accomplishment and peace I feel while running, and to remember not to
take it all so seriously. Shockingly, I fell asleep pretty easily. I woke up a
couple of times throughout the night to use the bathroom, so I suppose my
pre-race day hydration had been successful.
At 5 a.m., my alarm was going off. The first thing I
did was read the card from Kayla and Jess. Then, I was pinning a bib to my
shirt, putting on my throwaway sweatshirt, grabbing my bag, and walking down
the stairs for breakfast. Ok, there were a few other steps in there, like
brushing my teeth, putting my watch on, etc. But you get the point.
I was so worried about my stomach after the
Wineglass Marathon and Brooklyn Half Marathon. I just prayed #2 wouldn’t be an
issue this time around. Like I said, I never really figured out my nutrition
situation, so I was winging it. I had some Kashi cereal and crossed my fingers.
Then it was time to put on my Tattly temporary tattoo! It said, "OKAY LETS DO THIS" and I loved it.
The four of us hopped in Erin’s car and we were off.
The traffic was fine and we drove to the second or third parking garage off the
highway and had no trouble finding a spot. Just like at Wineglass, I had a last
minute struggle about using my Goodwill Chobani half-zip as a throwaway and
decided against it. Unlike at Wineglass, it wasn’t freezing cold out. I was
fine in my shorts, arm sleeves, and heatsheet from an old race. I left my phone
behind with Peter, but had decided to run with my Spibelt – 3 gels, a tampon,
ID and debit card. I was ready.
We walked towards the corrals and I gave our adoring
fans (Erin and Peter) hugs and kisses goodbye. (I hugged Erin, kissed Peter, in
case there was a question about that…)
Melissa and I ran into Taylor in line for the
portapotty and chatted while I anxiously awaited the moment of truth – would I
be able to go to the bathroom before the race, and would that be enough? (If
you’re not comfortable reading about my bodily functions as they relate to
running, then you’re probably not going to love around mile 17 of this race
recap, just a heads up). Answer: I was able to go. I breathed a sigh of relief
and we walked to corral B.
The corral was a little bit of a mess. We couldn’t
find any pacers. I had told myself I wanted to find the 3:40 pacer to go out
conservatively and if I felt amazing somehow, I would chase down the 3:35 group
later in the race. Qualifying for Boston was a goal I wouldn’t even let myself
consider because I knew I would most likely end up disappointed if I went in
with that as my goal. Of course, the only pacer I saw in the entire corral was
the 3:35 pacer. And of course, I couldn’t resist lining up near him to see how
it went.
Without much fanfare, the race started. And it was
packed. It was hard to run very fast at all, and dodging people to keep the
pacer in sight was stressful. Eventually, I started to notice everyone around
me making comments about our group – wondering why we were so far back. I
pushed it out of my mind and tried to ignore it, but if became more and more
obvious that we were fighting to navigate through a crowd of people that were
much slower than us. At some point in the first 1-2 miles I saw Melissa which
was exciting. But then it was back to worrying as I literally heard someone
say, “That pacer’s broken!”
The first 3 miles flew by. Literally, I don’t know
how they went by in such a blur. It was on the first bridge at mile 3 that I
finally took some of the words Peter had said to me and decided to go with
them: “Run your own race.” The whole
pace group situation was stressing me out and I didn’t want to be mentally
frazzled, especially since my legs were feeling good. So I took off on my own.
Another girl who had started near me did the same, and we chatted for a brief
moment about how concerned we were the 3:35 pacer and how off he already was. I
wish I had gotten her bib number so I could see how she finished, because I
know she kicked my butt and I should have stayed with her!
Anyway, with the pacer behind me, I picked up speed.
Too much speed. While my first 3 miles with the pacer were 8:37, 8:27, 8:18 (totally
not a reason for me to have been freaking out, by the way…) my pace dropped to
7:26 when I went off on my own. Sure it felt fine at the time, but to think
that I was going to be able to sustain that was stupid.
At around mile 4, on the 2nd bridge, I
started looking for Peter and Erin since they planned to be there. Eventually,
I spotted them standing on the side of the bridge. I yelled, but neither of
them saw or heard me. So I jumped into the air, waved my hands, screamed Peter,
and got their attention. I was so excited. Maybe leaping into the air and
flailing my arms like a crazy octopus wasn’t the best energy-conservation
strategy but the pay-off – getting a second to make eye contact and smile at
both of them, was totally worth it.
To be continued!
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