Race #204
Marathon #15
2023 Race #1
2023 Marathon #1
Houston Marathon #1
I have unfinished business with this race.
Why?
Life sometimes throws you curveballs a little more than 12 hours prior to the race start.
For reasons I still do not completely understand, on Saturday around noon I managed to tweak my back while trying on some shorts. In the moment, I did not think I had done much but the muscle decided to spasm quite significantly for the entire walk back to the hotel. This led to hours of unknown, trying to find a helpful position, attempting to figure out what happened and trying everything I could do to make it better.
At times I thought for sure that I could not possibly run in the morning, even to the point of attempting to go home early. Things incredibly improved to the point where, after a massage from Ellis, I made a plan with Mom. Since I could manage movement on every plane except forward, that I would take cautious steps towards starting the race in the morning and go as far as I could.
Race morning came with a lot of stiffness. I moved slowly, still able to move in every direction besides bending forward. The walk over to the race start also helped my muscles warm up and loosen. Once we got into the corral we had only a few minutes to wait, about 15 before we began a rather long journey from the corral to the start line.
Going forward, unlike in other recaps, I will not include splits (although I will include the overall time). I did not run this race for time, despite the training that I described in three previous posts. This entry will likely end up shorter than other marathon recaps because I focused on surviving rather than performance.
The first seven mile felt like they took forever, starting with the first few strides where running felt so strange. Nothing hurt but it didn’t feel anything similar to how my stride normally feels. This stride consumed so much of my brain power. I could not get into the run which made the miles drag out to what felt like interminable lengths. Throughout these miles, I thought about the possibilities of race volunteers allowing me to drop down to the half because I could not imagine how long the rest of those miles would feel. If the turn off had come later, I might have actually attempted it but after mile 7, the split came so I kept going, determined to take each mile as it came since the body felt physically fine (apart from the tight back of course.)
The other thing I noticed was, of course, the much warmer and more humid temperatures than expected and what I wanted in a January race. We made sure to hydrate early and often, including refilling Gatorade in our bottles at a stop around mile 8 or 9.
I do not remember exactly when but some time after the split from the half marathoners, I started to get into the run in a way where it felt more like an actual run. I don’t know how to explain it better other than also adding that I no longer devoted so much mental energy to every step.
Also through these miles, my back muscles started to loosen up. This meant that even though I thought I maintained my pace, I actually started to increase that pace just slightly, noticing that Mom started to run a little behind me. This gap increased as each mile went on until around mile 19 when Mom was so far behind that I had to turn around several times before catching her eye. She waved me on and I took off, at least as much as one can take off for the final seven miles of a marathon.
I felt so good during this section. Since I knew I had the fitness and training, I decided to just go for it and walk only at water stops. My pace kept speeding up as each mile ticked by. I also passed so many people at this point which definitely felt good. I even could throw on a “sprint” at the end so that I could make sure to finish as far under 5 hours as I could.
At 4:48:58, I finished over an hour after I wanted to but I still feel proud that I pushed through and completed the run. I have lots of thoughts as I reflect on the race but I will save those for another post.
