Elevation

Elevation
State 31
West Virginia- Freedom’s Run
4:01:45

Harper's Ferry

When picking out my marathons, I tend to plan them around seeing loved ones.  I knew I could maximize states around DC, and finally went out to cross off West Virginia.   I didn’t really realize how beautiful and historical this run would be until the week before.    The run was point to point, starting and ending in West Virginia but we were in Maryland for a large part of it.   We went through 4 national parks including a battle ground.    We will get back to this later but let’s back up some…

 

This summer I didn’t get a half ironman completed and I’m fine with that.   Danielle and I had done a handful of our own triathlon Saturdays.  Much cheaper and pretty fun.  With that, Erin and I got many long runs in, but with our schedules we were together about every other weekend.  We would run anywhere between 12-15 miles but as she was taking a break from working towards Boston, I wasn’t pushing my mileage without her.  Once I signed up for the marathon (a month before) I got an 18 miler and a 22 miler in.  While Danielle and I got our endurance fixes in and I do plenty of two-a-days, I didn’t know how conditioned I was for a strong 26.2.  Of course I didn’t think about this until the night before the race.

 
I got to DC Thursday night, had one night with Marie then went out to Virginia to see Rachel, Matt and Madeline.  For the first time, I decided to do race day packet pick up.  The drive from Fairfax to Harper’s Ferry, WV was likely a beautiful drive.   However, I drove it at 5:00am in the rainy dark weather.   There was a lot of traffic on the road for a Saturday Morning at 5am!
 

I looked at the course elevation beforehand and I knew part of it was on trail but didn’t give my race plan much thought.  I think this was one of those runs where I forgot 26.2 miles is a long distance- until I got there.    Once I started thinking about it I figured this would be a “run fast and let yourself burn out” sort of run given the fact Erin and I run fast together but no more than 15 miles.   

 I got to the start and picked up my packet and shirt.   I got there early because I didn’t want to be stressed on not being able to get my race bib.  This went flawless so I had a lot of time to kill.  The race director was rattling off a bunch of information about the run- when to look for good views, when to slow down for slippery areas etc.  He also was giving many plugs for local shops.   They brought in some coffee from a coffee shop that got started by a man who ran this marathon in a previous year.  He loved the course and the towns so much, he decided he wanted to move there and move his coffee shop there.   He also told us about an ice cream shop 2 miles from the finish where if you wanted to stop it only costs $2 for 4 heaping scoops of ice cream.  Then there was the historic stuff:  We would be running through 4 National Parks.  We would be running through Murphy Farm, an out and back where we would run around  the place John Brown's Fort once sat.  We would be running though the Harper’s Ferry National Park, we would be running along the Shenandoah River and over the Potomac River.  We would be running on the C&O Canal National Park Trail (alongside the former B&O Railway- you know, Monopoly!), we would be running through the Antietam National Battlefield (Home of the  single most worst day in battle in American history.  Over 23,000 were killed on Sept. 17th 1862), through Sharpsburg  (aka the bloodiest town) and ending in Shepherdstown.    

Murphy's Farm -
Old John Brown Fort Site

The race started, no chip timer at the start, just a clock that started.   This was an honor system sort of run.   You feel you missed Boston by 20 seconds and feel it took 20 seconds to cross that start line?  Talk to the race director, he would likely adjust your time.     It was point to point, but an option to cheat a mile or two if you stuck with the half marathoners- there were no check point timers, they just trust that you are doing this, you mean business- runners are honest- so-  be honest cheating only hurts yourself.

 So we were off.   The first 4 miles had a lot of rolling hills with a slight net increase in elevation.  We got on a trail as we went to Murphy’s Farm.   The moment I hit that trail I just was in this happy zone, enjoying the experience.  This is tough to remember to do when you are on state #31.  Being a smaller marathon, something about it reminded me to enjoy it.     At one point we hit the historic town of Harper’s Ferry.  This is a place I definitely would want to go back to visit.  It was just so cute!

Harper's Ferry

 Around mile 4 we started a HUGE descent.    Now with such a big drop in elevation, you ask yourself, how will you take that decline?   The best way is you shouldn’t waste energy by resisting it, you should just let your legs pick up the speed, lean forward and go down. The problem is- all that pounding is going to make you feel it later on in the race.    I did my best to not resist the down.  Part of this down included a few flights of stairs after you crossed the Potomac River.   They warned us that with the rain we had before the race started, this would be slick and to take it slow (metal steps).   Slow I did- I held onto the railing and walked it down.   This is the point I should have pulled over and re-tied my left shoe as it was loose and with the trail coming up- having those shoes tightly on so I’m not overcompensating in my ankles, would have been good.   But- I just wanted to keep on moving- so that’s what I did. 

 



Steps down to C&O Canal

Now we had a good 13 miles of flat.   I decided I should try to slow it down for a bit to make sure I had enough fuel left when we started to hit the hills.  At this point I was averaging about an 8:20 with one full mile of the descent being a 7:40.   Given the lack of training, I didn’t think this was a smart pace to hold.   So I slowed it down to a 9minute mile.    However, I had a battle in my mind going on as I did that.   Part of me said “Well you need to push it til you can’t anymore and just embrace a crash and burn given your lack of high mileage running” and another part of me kept saying “you know when you pace yourself better, you always finish feeling so great, you should do that”   but then I would go back to “but the hills in the future are going to be hell no matter what, you should just go fast on the flat and then walk the inclines and enjoy the view. 

 

C&O Canal Trail

 I finished mile 7 in 59 minutes and a fast song came on my ipod, there were also some men on my tail, so I picked the speed up to lose them.   This mile ended up being an 8 minute mile- when I finished it, I turned off my music and noticed these men were still with me.    Now as a woman running, you could take this a few ways- or really just one.   They didn’t want a girl to out run them- so they just had to keep up!    There are a few ways to handle this and if it weren’t a marathon, I would have let them pass, keep them in eye distance and then when you can tell they are slowing, pick it up and pass them all the while saying not so nice things in your head about them.    (yes road rage does exist in this form).    But, this was a marathon, and at the faster speeds, it’s harder to find the people who are willing to talk- and all you can do is try to make conversation with someone until you find someone who is cool.  So, when they made a comment about the 8 minute mile they just clocked so they better slow it down, I turned around and said- yeah same here- I had a fast song and just decided to let the energy take me away- no matter how dumb that might be this early on.   They said a few words but not many- so I figured they didn’t want to be my friend.     We ran through a water stop and I turned my music back on- and apparently they decided they wanted to talk.  

 We ran together for the rest of the trail portion.  These guys were in their 40s all have run at least a handful of marathons, with one guy being an Ironman and has run many more marathons than me.  We talked about other races, we talked about their kids, how their wives will sometimes run, where they all have lived etc.   Didn’t get names or even say goodbye when we hit the hill.    I was hurting already given with the trail came jumping over debris, slipping on muddy spots, running around puddles of water and just the extra work it takes my weak weak ankles to not roll.  (Someone needs more BOSU ball work to get stronger stabilizers!).

 

Elevation Profile from a Garmin

So the trail was over we were at mile 15 and I re-tied my left show.  My ankles and calves were hurting, and I embraced the walk the inclines to save your energy plan.    If you have ever heard of “the wall” in running.  That’s usually around mile 20 and that’s when your body feels dead- like it has run out of juice.  I’ve never felt this in a dramatic sense in a marathon.   This race had a new sense to “the wall” and it was mile 15 (Alaska had a wall like this too).   Erin and I compared it to Tans drive,  but what you see on the elevation profile isn't reality- the first climb was much steeper but shorter  (above is another elevation profile from someone's garmin )  Did I walk this?  Yes I did.   The idea here was to preserve enough energy for the last 6 miles of the race.   Sometimes when I walk, I get in a bad mood- ugh I’m walking- what is up with this?  But this was pre-planned.  I wanted to enjoy the battlefield we were making our way to so I wasn’t about to ruin my mood.

 

I made it up the first climb, and knew I had about 3 more real bad ones per what everyone was telling me.    If it was just a roll, I would run it, if it was one of these big hills- I slowed it down and walked it.   The % grade of inclines hurt my calves even walking.  But the views were amazing, the battle grounds, the brick and wood fences that lined the roads were beautiful, the monuments along the way were cool to see with random signs pointing off in directions to tell you something about the battle field.    We joined up with the half marathon for a while, and it’s always a good feeling as you pass the back runners.  Where you can motivate them.  I’m such a motivator not a motivatee!

 

The temperature actually dropped, the wind picked up and I kept hesitating on putting my throw away shirt back on.  I never did because I didn’t want to play that game of taking it off and putting it back on.   I just decided I needed to keep running more.  At this point I was still running between a 9 when I was running, and averaging a 9:30 with the walking.   I knew I could still finish in a 4 hour time though it would be pushing it a bit.   There was no slowing down allowed from my current strategy.  

 I had one moment of almost getting crabby.   As this was a smaller race and on trails –the water stops were pretty far and few in between, so we all had our own bottles on us.   Around mile 20 I was all out of water with no sight of a water stop.  I was thirsty, and I wanted water!  Luckily at that moment someone said water was .25 miles away so I stopped my almost bad mood and ran to the water stop.   I stopped, and refilled and in this time 4 girls passed me!!!!! WHAT!?   

 

Okay backing up here… I have always tried to just be self-competitive, but with all the age group placing I have been doing in the last year (even if it’s 3^rd it’s still placing!)  .. I have started to notice my surroundings.   Who I think is a “competitor”    I had already had 2 girls in my sights early on-  that I still could still see one ahead of me and now-  4 girls who all seemed competitors pass me as I take an actual stop to fill my water bottle at the water stop.   Now- I decided I needed to just run- no more playing around.   The goal is to keep them in sight for as long as possible and then if possible- pass them! (I ended up finishing 10^th in my division- had I finished sub 4 hours I would have been 5^th and had I finished 2 minutes faster than my time, I would have been in 3^rd. 

 

So, I continue to run- at this point as long as I keep a 9:45 average, I will be just fine on the sub 4 hours.  However, I ended up having to walk a few times and my legs were moving at a 9:30-10 without the walking.   These walks weren’t “I’m tired” walking-  it was more like-  I start to pick up the speed and get a charlie horse like cramp and have to walk.  There was a girl I was leap frogging with and I should haves started to talk to her to just see if that would distract me enough to get me to the finish. We talked after the race and she finished sub 4 hours (not my age group).  

 We made it up and over the river and coming into Shepherdstown, it was another cute town!   Now the Elevation profile is compacted so you don't see all the little rolls, but the last few miles still had significant climbs in them, so don't let that elevation profile fool you.

I turned on my music for the last mile to 3 of my newest purchase songs, the last one being a “Joe song”.   I knew it would distract me keeping me from being upset that I was finishing just over 4 hours.   We hit the turf of the football field, which was squishy and soft, usually something so great, but once again I had to work on not rolling my ankles and not stepping just wrong to get another Charlie horse.   I crossed the finish at 4:01:45 – never being upset or disappointed during the run- a small waive of emotion hit me after I  crossed the finish but overall ended up content.

 

Sheperdstown

State 31 was a beautiful one.  It makes me want to do more trail running, and it makes me excited for all the other smaller states I have yet to complete.  I technically ran in 3 states, but West Virginia is where it started and ended and it’s a the only state of the three I had yet to run.    I started the year thinking I would run 3-4 this year and have settled on 3.   I have run 3, of those 3, two have been sub 4 hours which his a victory from the two I ran last year, both ending in disappointment.   I knew I didn’t fully train for this, so while I decided I would end the year at 3, part of me wants to add a 4th   using this marathon as the training for another good race.   I guess I will just start price shopping for flights in states I haven’t run- and if something comes up that I can make work- then I’ll do it.   If not-  oh well.    There is a lot of other good stuff planned for the rest of this year, the rest of the states might just have to wait.