It has taken me longer than I would have ever expected to get around to writing about the day I have been dreaming about for years: the day I qualified for the Boston Marathon. But honestly, I found myself wanting to keep it close to the vest to just revel in it for awhile. Four months later, I’m dying to tell you all about my experience running the Eugene Marathon!
Training Cycle
My training cycle for Eugene Marathon was not ideal. I was traveling multiple times per month for work, and when I wasn’t traveling, I was working extremely long hours. Early mornings and late nights were the standard routine, which cut into my sleep, as well as time for my morning runs. Being a working mom with two kids, the only window I have for training is from 6:45-8:00 (yes, I’m always 30 minutes late to work). So I missed runs. I cut runs short. I didn’t sleep as much as I should have, or eat as well as I should have. I did 22 mile long runs on my treadmill because we had the coldest and snowiest winter on record. But honestly, I think these imperfections are what led to such a great race.
Because I was busy, I didn’t have time to stress about the little things. I didn’t have time to pick apart my runs, or worry about my splits. I just ran, and was thankful for what I could squeeze in. And as the weeks ticked by, I was realizing that I didn’t feel like what I was doing was hard. It was actually my escape from the insanity around me, and at the same time, I was training for a marathon.
Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of times when I sent my husband text messages like, “I don’t even know why I do this, I hate running,” or “I feel like a pile of garbage and will never be able to BQ. I should just pull out of Eugene Marathon now.” Those texts did happen, but overall, my training really did go well!
Fast forward to race week, I was hellbent on doing all the little things right. I actually slept for 8-10 hours a night. I ate as healthy as I could, and counted my macros to ensure I was getting the right level of carbs, proteins, and fats from the right sources. I drank over 100oz of water a day, which is continuously a struggle for me. And lastly, I flew out to Eugene a day before my husband did to ensure my legs weren’t feeling heavy from the flight, and make sure I was as stress free as possible.
The Marathon
Ok, let’s cut to the chase. RACE DAY! The marathon started at 7am, so we woke up at 5am to board the 6:20am shuttle from the hotel to the starting line at Autzen Stadium. We stayed at the Inn at the 5th which provided a private shuttle to hotel guests, and was really close to the starting line. We got to Autzen Stadium with plenty of time to stand in line for the bathrooms, do my shakeout run, and line up in the corral at my goal pace.
Everything was falling into place from the minute I woke up. I slept well and I woke up feeling like, “I’ve got this.” The temperature was cooler than I anticipated at 38 degrees, which led to some cold warmup miles and some frozen fingers, but it was absolutely perfect running weather. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be my day.
I lined up with the 8:00/mi pacer. My strategy was to stick with the 8:00mi/3:30 pacer until mile 20, then if I was feeling good, pull ahead and try to go sub-3:30. The time I absolutely needed for my BQ was a 3:33 (at worst), but was secretly shooting for a 3:28-3:30. Right out of the gate, the pacer started running 7:30s, so within 100 yards, I let her go and decided to run my own race. I have gotten burned by pacers before, but this time I was smarter than that. It paid off.
The first five miles were still faster than I had planned. I was throwing down splits of 7:46, 7:59, 7:54, 7:44, 7:49. But it felt good. I was holding back. I tried slowing down to an 8:00 mile, but quickly realized the 7:47-7:55 splits were feeling more natural and easier than the 8:00 pace, so I went with it. It was here that I noticed the first shift in mentality as a marathoner. Usually I’d be afraid of what these paces would do to my later miles. This time, I kept reminding myself to not fear the later miles, and just take each mile as it comes. Whenever it gets hard, I knew I was ready to fight. Note: even with these paces, the 8:00/mi pacer was still far, far ahead of me.
There are two significant hills along the course, one at mile 4-5 (didn’t bother me), and one at mile 10. The motto I decided I was going to roll with was, “get past the 10 mile hill and it is downhill from there,” even though I knew that wasn’t totally true. This marathon is marketed as flat, and although I do agree with that, there are still some hills. If you’re used to running hills at all, you will not have a problem conquering this course. Total elevation gain according to my Garmin was only 400ft.
Miles 5-13 were flying by. At mile 10 you split off from the half marathoners and leave the neighborhoods for a paved path along the river. When I crossed the half marathon point, I looked at my watch and realized that I was less than 1:30 off from my half marathon PR. I was still feeling strong and still holding my splits between 7:50-7:55. I always hope that I can make it to mile 20 before things start getting really hard, but that has never actually happened to me. Usually I have to put on my boxing gloves around mile 16, so I wasn’t about to start getting ahead of myself. Instead, I was thinking, “well, if things get hard at 16, I only have to fight for 10 miles.” The mental game is half the battle.
You continue running north on a path along the Willamette River until mile 17, where you cross the Owosso Bridge and run south along the other side of the river towards Autzen Stadium. I kept looking for the bridge, thinking it was around mile 16-17, until I realized at mile 18 that I had indeed already crossed the bridge. I don’t know how I missed it, but it sure was a great surprise to realize I was already on the path back to the stadium.
My husband was going to be waiting for me at mile 20, when runners pass Autzen stadium to do an out and back loop for the last 10k of the marathon. It was also at mile 18 that I finally caught up with the 8:00/mi pacer. I remember crossing the 18 mile marker and realizing on my watch that I was averaging 7:50 miles. Therefore, the 8:00/mi pacer was also averaging 7:50 miles at mile 18.
At this point I considered running with the pacer for a few miles to feast off of their energy. I ran there for no more than a half mile before I realized they were averaging 8:20/mile, and there really wasn’t any positive energy to take away from. I peeled off and continued running my own race.
I saw Erik at mile 20, and I had never been more excited to see someone in my life. He was tracking me on the app so he knew exactly what my progress was at any time. I asked him later when exactly did he think, “she’s got this”? He said when he saw me at mile 20 and I was still happy and ahead of the pacer, he knew it was indeed my day.
Mile 22 is where things got hard. And when they got hard, they got HARD. After running for miles along a shaded bike path, you enter an open park with nothing but pavement and sunshine. I don’t know what it was, but there was something about that pavement that felt extra hard on the feet. And there was something about the blacktop on the trail that felt extra sharp. For the first time in the marathon, I saw my first “8:xx” split on my watch. But that was ok. I had been pacing to a 3:25-3:26 marathon, which I didn’t expect to run. At this point I knew that if I could hold an 8:30, I would be sub-3:30. Spoiler alert: I went sub-3:30.
The last 4 miles were all about the mental pep talk and the constant plea for my legs to just keep moving, and it didn’t even matter at what pace. I just had to keep going for 32 more minutes, which sounded like an eternity at this point in the marathon. But, mile by mile, the clock was ticking down, and finally, I only had one more mile to go.
With one mile left, you run back in front of Autzen Stadium, around to the back entrance, and finish on the 50 yard line. Erik saw me as I ran past the stadium at mile 25.5, then he ran through the stadium and saw me again as I entered the stadium for the final .1 of the race. THIS is where I started letting myself believe that I had actually done it. It was no longer a dream.
I finished Eugene Marathon in 3:28:13, which is good for a Boston Qualifier with 6 minutes and 47 seconds of padding to my qualifying standard. I immediately started receiving texts from friends saying things like, “Are you F* kidding me right now?”, or “Is this real life? You crushed that thing!”. And, I was able to send a text to my family, FINALLY, saying, “I DID IT! I QUALIFIED FOR THE BOSTON MARATHON!”
Post-Race
We spent the next two days celebrating at local micro-breweries and visiting a few wineries. There was no better place to revel in the magic of a Boston Qualifier than Tracktown USA. This town lives and breathes running, which makes this the most energetic place to run a marathon.
After the marathon I’ve taken a few months off from any significant training. I will be running New York City Marathon this fall, but I am planning on that being a fun run. I am struggling to find motivation for what is next. Do I focus on the half marathon distance for awhile? Do I speed up my marathon? Do I do bucket list marathons only? What if I ran a really fast 5k?
So tell me, what are your big scary goals outside of qualifying for the Boston Marathon?