Yesterday was my 4th marathon, and it was a doozy! Along with some of my BRF”/ mainbitchesforlife, I have been training for a 50k later this month. The marathon was the longest run of the training. It all started out really good. I have never run a marathon with friends, so I was so excited. We stayed down in Colorado Springs so we could get a little more sleep before boarding the bus to Monument to the start. Our mantra was sleep, poop and don’t die. We didn’t sleep, but had high hopes for the other things! We met up with a friend Jeannene at the start, and it felt like a really cool, small race on what appeared to be a pretty trail through the Air Force Academy. The first few miles were great. We actually had to slow down few times, probably because of the slight downhill. For me, around 18 miles, the wheels began to fall off. I started to get really sick to my stomach. No idea why, but it just got worse by the mile. Eventually, Amanda and Amy pulled away from Amy and I. They looked a lot better than we were feeling. Around 20 miles, we ended up on mainly concrete. That really started to hurt. I felt like everything was broken. That last 10k really did feel like the second half of the race. It was hot, smoky from the fires all over and everything just sucked. There was so much swearing in those last miles, and lots of questioning why in the hell we were even thinking about doing a 50k. I was totally like, “oh hell no, there is no 50k happening”.
Today, after a good night of sleep, of course I feel much better. There will be a 50k, but probably no more marathons. I kind of prefer the food and more laid back feeling of the trail and ultra races. I also realize that some races just suck. It’s hot, smoky and concrete just feels awful after running 20 miles. Also, comparing myself to people who seem to have a great race, every single time, is just a complete waste of my time.