I have been wanting to run another marathon, and luckily I was able to convince two of my running buddies to train with me! This would be a first for both of them! Tiffani, April and I began training in August. I loved running every Saturday with these ladies! Training with friends is always my favorite, even though it's a little time consuming and exhausting. We drove down to LA area (Asuza) for the race on Friday morning, picked up our race packets and went to Habit Burger for dinner. Woke up at 3:30am Saturday to catch a bus ride up the mountain we were about to run down. The first half of this marathon was literally switchbacks straight down a 4000ft mountain road. It was totally different than any other running I had done previous. Originally we had signed up for Santa Barbara's rolling hills with a nice short downhill finish. But that marathon got cancelled three weeks prior. We were lucky to find this race the same day, and decided to try it even without really training for a downhill race.
The top of the mountain was breath-taking, and freezing. We huddled together and tried to stay warm with the emergency foil blankets along with the cheesy goodwill warm clothes we brought to drop at the top right as the race began. The first half of this race was fast, and a killer on the legs. My quads were screaming at me at mile 6! I tried to adjust my form and take it a little more in the calves, but it was hard to doing a sub-7 as we flew down. April and I ran across the 13.1 mark, clocked a 1:34 half marathon, and started our first big ascent, and Tiffani was only a minute or so behind. I sunk down, eyes on the ground and powered up using my arms, digging deep. I didn't realize until I was coming down the first hill that April wasn't with me anymore. I really wasn't certain whether she was in front or behind me. It was a shock to the body to have to climb after running down for so long. My legs were on fire and starting to cramp up. I took each hill the same, power up and dig deep, telling myself I will find relief at the top. There were 4-5 really big climbs before the road finally flattened out for the 3 mile homestretch. Around mile 23, the 3:25 pacer passed me and although my body rebelled, my spirit felt a new sense of exhilaration at the prospective time possibilities. See the goal get the goal...and then another small hill in the last mile. My whole body went numb, from my toes all the way up to the hair on my head. I felt the blood leave my face, and it was literally one foot in front of the other. I saw the finish and I soared through with a goofy grin on my face staring up at the clock as I crossed. It was most certainly a fast marathon course. Anyone who thinks fast-equals-easy is very misled. Hardest marathon on my body, but I don't know if I will ever be able to repeat that time on any other course. I guess that means I will have to do it again!
We stayed at Tiffani's aunts house that evening. She fed us a delicious home-cooked meal, and I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone walk. My body took weeks to recover, my quads were literally shredded. It was worth it!
Last long training run before race day
My sweet friend made me a good luck poster!
Expo and packet pickup, Friday night evening.
Crossing the Finish!
So proud of these two! Rock solid times for their first marathons!! Love Love them both!
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