Indy Monumental Marathon

Whew! Considering my longest run ever was 14.4 back in May AND I'm 12.5 weeks pregnant now (which means I've been sleeping the past 2 months instead of training), I wasn't expecting anything fantastic out of this race. In fact, beforehand I gave myself about 50:50 odds of finishing. By mile 20 I was pretty sure my odds had increased to 90:10 but I wasn't ever 100% sure of a finish until we hit mile 25.

We stuck with the 5:00 pace group through mile 11, even though we were walking 2 minutes out of every mile. We knew our 2nd 13.1 was going to be miserable regardless, so negative splits weren't something we were concerned about trying to achieve. Around mile 11 I got crazy hip pain (darn you, relaxin!) that lasted a little beyond mile 12. It sucked. We made it to the halfway mark in 2:34:31 or something like that, which we were pretty pleased with considering we had another 13.1 miles to go.

We slowed way down after that point. Our "running" segments because shorter and slower and we walked a lot more. Zach had some issues with muscle cramping but I never really had any problems other than I got hungry a few times (hello, I'm pregnant, I'm ALWAYS hungry ;). Thankfully there were lots of volunteers handing me Clif blocks and shots, Snickers, orange slices and Jolly Ranchers to keep me going!

The absolute worst part of the race was mile 19-20ish. We were on White River parkway and it was nothing but trees. Couldn't see the city, there were no fans or traffickers to cheer us on, NOTHING. If Zach hadn't been with me, I probably would have tripped myself on purpose to have a reason to call for a medic and be done LOL

After we got out of that stretch we could see the skyline again which gave me a big boost. We were still dawdling along, but at least we were moving. We had to pass Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy's and McDonalds on Meridian and I was DYING! Seriously considered stopping for a McDouble but Zach kept me focused.

We finally hit mile 25 around 5:43. So if we wanted to finish under 6 hours, we had to at least maintain a 15:00 pace for the remaining 1.2 miles. I was up to the challenge, so I willed my body to start jogging again. (By this point in the race, it seriously took me 3-4 minutes to transition from a walk to a jog. It was hilarious yet painful). We got going pretty well at a 13:00 pace but then Zach got a terrible cramp and had to walk. I was afraid to stop jogging so I just did so as slow as possible while he hobbled along. I'm sure we looked hilarious!

After a minute or so he got back to a jog and we rounded the corner past the 26 mile marker. Just over a minute later we passed the 13 mile marker from the half, rounded a corner and the finish line was in our sight! We took off our sunglasses (for the pics, of course ha) and discussed whether or not to hold hands across the finish. We opted for not.

And so, we crossed the finish line, Zach somehow 1 second ahead of me, and got our medals! We are officially marathoners (of the sloooow variety). We got hats that declared us "Finishers" which was cool. We lurched over to the food table and got apples and bagels. The chili, subs, cookies and chocolate milk were long gone, but we didn't really even care at that point. We were just happy to be done :)

Yesterday afternoon was awful and neither of us could move well at all. Today has been a bit better. Zach's doing better than I am, but he did an 18 mile run in October AND he's normally way faster than me (oh, and he's not pregnant) so yesterday didn't take quite as big a toll on him. Which is good - it means he can be the one in charge of going upstairs if the kids need something in the middle of the night :)

Very glad he decided to stick with me for this race. I know he could have done it faster on his own (he thinks maybe 5:30; he would have done the first half faster but maybe bonked harder in the 2nd half with those cramps). But man would it have been boring for both of us! Plus the weather was gorgeous and the course was beautiful so the 2nd half of our race was like a leisurely stroll through nature on a date ha ha

In May 2010 I did my first half marathon on pretty much no training. I finished in 3:01:28. I *really* wanted to get less than double that today, since I hadn't trained for anything over 13.1. Mission accomplished! I don't plan to do anything longer than 13.1 until at least a year after this kid is born, so I figure 2014 will be my year to PR in a full marathon :) At least I've set the bar pretty low for myself so I won't be too stressed during training (yes, I do plan to get off my butt and train next time I attempt one of these!).

Next up: The Mini Marathon in May (it'll be my 3rd). I'll be 38 weeks pregnant. It's gonna be hilarious!