You know those goals that seem totally crazy and probably’never going to happen, but it would be cool if it did’ ?!? Well- I HAD THE BEST DAY ON SUNDAY! I never thought I would be ‘fast enough’ to run a Boston Qualifying time (I mean, I always thought that it would be cool and yeah sure maybe some day), but here we are! New 11-minute PB 3:25:14!! I think I’m still in disbelief. The coolest part is that I always thought about a BQ as a stepping stone towards greater things. Sub 1:40 half’s, sub 3 hour marathons- the real big scary goals that I know I can get! So, it’s pretty nice to be putting in the work and actually getting the results. I’m just going to recap the race here, but am already planning on doing a separate post all about my marathon progression and why I think it finally happened for me!

Let’s start with the days leading up to the race. I had a pre-race call with my Coach (Cara from Lift Run Perform https://liftrunperform.com) who thought I could run 3:28 or better. We had a plan to start out conservative on the steep downhills and then slowly build faster. I knew the course since I grew up 10 minutes from Conway and knew that miles 9-13 would be hilly (was looking forward to the downhill reprieve). I also was so excited to finish at the Ice Arena (I skated at the rink from basically its opening day in 1997 until 2008 when I graduated high school and then transitioned to coaching there until I had the girls in 2021!). So the finish area was super special to me. I had an amazing training cycle (lots of hills!) and felt strong. I raced more during this cycle, so doing the marathon just seemed like another race day to me (that helped build up my confidence!). I worked with Featherstone Nutrition https://www.featherstonenutrition.com , which also helped me nail down my race day nutrition and fueling! I did the same thing that I had practiced during training (also helped build up my confidence come race day). So, 3-day carb load it was!

We stayed with my mom who was 15 minutes from where the buses were loading (as well as where the expo/finish line was). We arrived to her house on Friday afternoon. Flatbreads for dinner that night (obviously!!) and an early bedtime for me. I woke up Saturday around 6am and decided to get my shakeout run in early. 20 min shakeout at 10:30 pace felt perfect (no breaking records the day before a race!). I came back, showered, and ate breakfast (bagel- obviously) before the girls or Alex was awake. We got to the Expo a bit after it opened (10:15ish). It still wasn’t busy then , which was nice! I love how the Revel expos aren’t overwhelming, but they also always have amazing purchasable swag (this was my third Revel- I did the Revel Rockies as my 2nd & 3rd marathons).

Alex and I took the girls to the local park after the expo to get some energy out. Parking for the expo was easy and a short walk. After we all ate lunch (PB&J on a pretzel bun for me), the girls took a nap and I also napped for over an hour and a half (putting Harry Potter on for background noise is my new napping secret weapon 😂). We played outside for most of the afternoon and did an early dinner of pasta & butter. This was my first carb load where I ate a majority of my carbs before 6pm the night before the race, which I think also helped (I also knew it was an earlier start time than other races too). I was in bed by 8pm, but didn’t really fall asleep until probably after 9 (I don’t think I woke up until my alarm at 3am too!).

I got to the buses a few minutes before 4am and I’m glad I did because it was starting to get busy. Finding a bus was easy and seamless. It took just about an hour to get to the start line and I remember thinking that the music the bus was playing was awesome (90s throwbacks), as well as how perfect the weather was going to be (mid 40s and cloudy)! I could just feel it was going to be a good day. I got off the bus around 5:05 and immediately found a porta potty line (it seemed really long already!).

I waited for a porta potty for sooo long. I started getting nervous that I would miss the drop bag time so I managed to get my things together and bring my bag over (thank you to the kind runner that held my spot in line) before the last call. I was still waiting for a porta potty at 5:55 with 5+ runners ahead of me and I decided to just go to the start line and not go. I knew it was mainly nerves (I didn’t need to go number 2) and knew that if I really needed to go, I would hit a porta potty probably around mile 3. This was the first time I’ve never been able to go before a race or have times to stretch! Crazy to think that I waited 50minutes and there was still a crazy long line! This didn’t happen to me at other Revel events. I decided to start with music from the start line (normally I used to do playlists then music). Taylor Swift favorites were a good majority of my songs for the first half. I stayed conservative through the steep downhill sections early on to save my quads, but I also remember thinking that my quads were already sore at mile 3 😂. I took a Maurten 10min before the start and alternated Mairtens with caffeinated GUs every 30min during the race. I took in 20oz of scratch through mile 20 , tossed my bottle, and did water at the final two aid stations. I upped my fluid intake for this race and I think it paid off.

Miles 0-6: I was feeling good and glad that Revel provides you with throw away gloves! I wore mine until mile 14 maybe? I also remember thinking how beautiful of a morning it was and also remembered it would be my last ‘early morning run for a bit’, since I knew I would be taking some rest days post marathon. That always helps put the race into perspective for me! I had a lot of people pass me and I didn’t stress- I kept reminding myself that I’m a seasoned marathoner! They’ll come back to me and we’re all on our own race plan.

Splits: 8:07, 8:00, 7:50, 7:33, 7:41, 7:50

I also knew that there wouldn’t be service along the race course and that my GPS might be off, so I enabled the auto-lap feature and also decided to just go off feels too since it seemed like my watch and the race course mile splits were off (I think it said my second mile was 8:30 pace and then third mile was 6:30 pace).

The next few miles were less steep and I planned (well Coach) told me to go into the 7:55 range, but to still save my quads. I remember thinking to hold myself back and I’ll be thankful later on in the day. I think this is really where marathon experience helped me a ton. I always used to get anxious about not being near race pace from the start. I tried to smile and take in the experience as much as possible. I also am always grateful to have a few hours of uninterrupted running since becoming a mom (IYKYK)!

Mile splits 7-10: 7:49, 7:57, 7:51, 7:50

I knew miles 11-14 might be slower until I hit my next downhill section, so I focused on enjoying the out and back and went into thinking this is ‘only a 3 mile stretch’. I also kept reminding myself of how smooth and in-control Fiona O’Keefe looked at the marathon trails. I channeled her through most of the race! I started passing people on the uphill section and remembered thinking that I trained for this. I felt great. I also remember seeing the lead man and woman coming back by us as they did their turn around and that was really fun! I also remember seeing a woman running barefoot and I was wondering if she started out that way or if she got tired of her shoes and through them!?!

Mile splits: 8:33, 7:54, 7:45, 7:52

Miles 14-20: the plan was to dip into the 7:40s once I started going downhill again. I started passing more people at this time and remember thinking that this is fun! I loved seeing a few spectators on the course around this time and was also excited to finish my water bottle at mile 20 and toss it (I have always carried a half empty bottle until the end of races and finally think I got a good handle on my hydration strategy). My playlist started to get really good around mile 20 and I was getting excited to finally get to a point where I could race!

Mile splits: 7:57, 7:46, 7:39, 7:43, 7:39, 7:43

Miles 21-26: I threw off my headband around mile 22 and was basically like ‘I GOT THIS’. I was psyched, but I also knew before I started this race what my plan was and I was so confident that it was going to happen that I didn’t have to ‘dig too deep’. Maybe / most definitely I could’ve gone faster! (Which excites me). I hit mile 20 around 2 hrs 36 min and did a quick math to know that I was going to get my BQ and then knew that anything extra was icing on the cake. I thought of everyone who helped get me to this point and support me on my 10-year dream- this is when I basically could’ve gotten very emotional, but I decided to get excited instead. I always feel like I’m about to bawl my eyes out towards the end of a marathon - anyone else?!?

I wore a pink, red, & orange ribbon on my race shirt to remind myself that I run and move for more than myself. I carried my Dad (red for heart disease awareness), my gram (cancer), & grandfather (MS) with me on my run. I thought about how much they have endured and how small and minute running a marathon really is.

My shoe came untied at mile 24 🙄 and I had to bend over to tie it and quickly get back on pace. I knew that if I stopped or thought about anything besides just tying my shoe that walking or stopping would seem very easy! I used two water stations at this point after I dropped my amphipod water bottle. The aid stations were small, but well labeled. When I saw that I was in the home stretch of the Kanc, I couldn’t believe it! I was weaving through several half marathoners at this point, which was a bit tough on tired marathon legs. I wish they would have stayed off on the dirt and maybe single file. I think I used up a lot of extra energy trying to maneuver through them and wish it would have been a bit more seamless to the finish.

Mile splits until mile 26: 7:37, 7:24, 7:43, 7:41, 7:50, 7:55

I came around mile 26 and loved the crowd support. I got so happy to see many spectators and was proud of my little community that I grew up in. They showed up and I carried everyone’s cheers with me through that mile 0.2 miles.

Last 0.2 miles: 6:54 🔥

I saw the girls and Alex in my last turn to the finish (the finish line was AWESOME with a beautiful arch!) and my father-in-law who you could tell was excited. I was excited too! I couldn’t stop smiling. I had no idea I had a low 3:25 in me (truly) that day. Obviously, the girls wanted to taste my Siggi’s sample yogurt immediately afterwards and wanted to be picked up.

I got my finisher’s certificate and BQ luggage tag (so cool! I had no idea they did this)! I downed a core power elite almost immediately after I finished (I left it in my checked bag) and changed into my Oofos sandals. My legs were definitely cramping up.

A few days later and my quads still hurt and I’m still in disbelief most of the time. Some times I break out in a giant smile or tears because I can’t believe I actually ran that time that I’ve been training and daydreaming about for so many months (this was also what I had trained to run in Wineglass last Fall before the weather became ridiculously hot).

I’ll do a separate post about what I think helped me get faster to a BQ over the years. I loved this race and think Revel does a great hi! Downhill races are hard, but fun! This one also gained over 400’ elevation , so it wasn’t all downhill. The swag was awesome and medals were beautiful. I hope they decide to come back again for another year! The weather was also perfect.