My Fit Foods Woodlands Marathon Race Report

This was my first time running The Woodlands Marathon (also my first time ever running anything in The Woodlands) and actually the first time in 19 years since they've had a marathon in The Woodlands.

As my three readers know, I did not finish The Livestrong Austin Marathon, but I was determined not to let all my training be for a DNF.  With a little interwebs research I found The Woodlands Marathon and begged for a spot (they were sold out). 

Here's the summary:

Packet Pick-Up: A

Goodie Bag Stuff: B- (there was this interesting drink called iChill and I drank it the night before and maybe it helped me relax). 

Technical Shirt: A++  (a cute and simple white shirt - halleluiah!)

Race Day Organization: B (there were some oddities)

Course: A (for flatness) and C (for interestingness) 

Water Stops: A

Crowd Participation: C

Post-Race Food: F

I drove to Houston on Friday evening and picked up my packet without much ado.  I never really spend time at a race expo and this one seemed pretty typical.  I checked into my hotel, ate some pretty crappy room service and was in bed and asleep by 9:00 (I did like that iChill thing we got in the race baggie).

Race start time was 6:47 so I was awake at 5:30 getting ready (this included eating my snack, brushing my hair and pooping - not all at the same time).  I was out the hotel door by 6:15 - it was a .2 mile walk to the start line and that did not suck.  I was wearing my goodwill purchased sweatshirt and the temperature was in the mid-50s and cloudy.  

The course was a 13.1 mile loop (so as a marathoner, I did the loop twice) and the elite runners started at 6:45, the marathoners (including me!) started at 6:47 and the halfers started at 7:00.  This was one of the oddities. The entire (and I mean entire) first loop I was passed by half-marathoners.   In theory, half-marathoners should be faster than marathoners so if they wanted to do a staggered start - I'm not sure why they didn't start the half-marathoners first.  They really should have asked my opinion.  

The course was incredibly flat (like me circa 1988) and uninteresting.  It's was a 13.1 mile loop on asphalt streets, lined with trees.  Every so often I'd see a house or Taco Bell, but that was the highlight of the sites.  Thankfully I don't run for the scenery.  

The entire first loop was great.  It was cloudy and cool (I actually took off my goodwill sweatshirt before the start) and I was going my slow pace (and getting passed by marathoners and half-marathoners).   The race had water stops every 1.5 miles or so and Cliff gel spots (which are the ones I use!!!) at mile 4 and mile 10 (so again at mile 17 and 23).  There was more crowd support than I expected and my FAVORITE sign said "Oreo Speedwagon" and there were kids handing out Oreos - it was awesome.  As it turns out, I run pretty well fueled by Oreos.  

As I started the second loop, there were considerably fewer runners (I believe total runners was 6,500 and total marathoners was around 1,500).  Somewhere around mile 14 I discovered that I was running a little ahead and sometimes a little behind the 4:45 pacers (they would walk the water stops and I was running them, so I'd get a little ahead).  I decided that I should try to stay around them for as long as I felt good.  One of the pacers was kind of chatty (but I was listening to my book so I didn't really hear him).  

Around mile 16 I decided that if I was feeling good at mile 22, I'd start listening to music.  I usually run faster when listening to music, but I didn't want to turn on music until I was closer to the end.  I was listening to Divergent (another dystopian young adult novel - a la - The Hunger Games) and really enjoying it.  

During the second loop it seemed like all the spectators went home.  Thankfully, the "Oreo Speedwagon" was still there, so I grabbed another Oreo (yum - for some reason crunchy tasted so good after all those gooey-gel things).  At some point during the second loop it started to rain, but just a little and it kind of cooled things off (it was a cool rain, not the gross Houston muggy rain).  

I got to mile 22, ate a Cliff gel and switched to music.  As soon as the music came on, I started to cry - apparently when I'm running (in a race) music makes me cry and run faster.  I was pretty close to the 4:45 pacers and I was feeling really good (for having already run 22 miles).  I cruised for the next 2.5 miles.  Around mile 24.5 I started thinking that maybe I had put my music on a little too soon - the excitement and energy of the music had worn off and I was starting to feel tired.  The sun had also been out for the last several miles (since around mile 20) and I was starting to get very hot.

I knew if I walked it would be difficult to start running (jogging) again so I pushed through the last 1.5 miles by thinking about the wonderful shower I was going to take when I was done.  It worked and I crossed the finish line at 4:46:13 (my goal was to go under 5 hours) - a new PR by over 20 minutes!

The end of the race pavilion was beautiful, but the end of race food was crap.  I wanted a bagel or a banana (or both) and they had spicy rice and beans (I cannot imagine anything more disgusting to eat).  There might have been other food, but I couldn't find it and all I wanted to do was take a shower (the one I had been dreaming about for the last 1.5 miles).

I walked back to the hotel (again it was great to be so close), took a shower and drove home to Buttin and Cub.  

I'm really happy that I gave it (a marathon) another shot and The Woodlands Marathon was a great place to do it. This marathon was also my first time to raise money for a race.  Maybe you read (about five hundred times here or on Facebook) that I was raising money for Girls On The Run and that I surpassed my goal (THANK YOU!).  Girls On The Run sent me a technical race shirt to wear (among some other cute stuff) and although I'm not usually a fan of wearing something new on race day - I did - and it worked out great.

 

Here I am!  See, lots of just trees.

Cub came home sick from school today (low fever and runny nose), but after a FOUR hour nap - he was outside playing in the rain.