I keep telling myself not to run roads and here I was, at it again. After the Dick Collins 50M, I figured I’ll give California International Marathon a go in the hope of getting faster. I don’t know how that thought got into my head. From having injury-free fun with gorgeous views on scenic single tracks, I had decided to take on black top. California International Marathon would be my third road marathon and I’d never been a huge fan of pounding that much asphalt. I even made a itty-bitty bet with my 12yo just to get me out of bed. Maybe this whole thing was busted from the beginning. A had a bunch of people tell me that running at goal pace was a formula. You make a spreadsheet, stay aerobic for a while, pound 70 miles of asphalt and then add on tempo runs, intervals, yada yada. And so I did. For two weeks. By week three, I threw out the spreadsheet and went back to running how much ever I felt like where ever I felt like. That fun-driven training totally works for me even on 100Ks. The hammer fell after I ran the Whiskey Hill Half Marathon as a little R&R. Holy moly, I missed redwoods already.
California International Marathon
And so with all this negativity building up, I pickup my bib at the expo. A dread settled over me like the dark clouds looming in the sky. It was supposed to rain the next day and I was frantically Googling to see what the best way to run in rain was. Had dinner with fellow runner Jeroen Domensino, who was going for a 3:22 (and made it!) and crashed early. Early morning, yay no rain! I Body Glide’d every little nook and corner, doubled up on my Injinji socks and laced my awesome $30 PR shoes. Boarded one of few two dozen buses that hauled us to the start line.
Post bib pickup
Anil Gorti found me at the starting line, said hello and moved up to the front. He was shooting for his sub-3:00. The light drizzle began and we started promptly at 7:00am. From mile-1, it felt like work. At least in the San Francisco Marathon, there’s gorgeous views most of the way. I got nothing against Sacramento, but endless miles in suburban Sacramento wasn’t exactly my thing. And whoever claims California International Marathon is a net-downhill is just downright sadistic. It’s a roller until about the halfway point and then pancake flat. If you don’t pace yourself, the hills suck you dry by the time you hit mile 13 and then you got no gas left.
Mile 10 of Sacramento Suburbs!
Mile 21: Bridge over troubled waters
3 road marathons down!
I wasn’t taking many pictures (not a good sign if you’ve ready any of my other blogs), not smiling a whole lot and staring at the watch incessantly to check on my pace. Mile. By. Mile. I kept a 3:20ish pace until about mile 16 when the wheels fell off. A bad case of cramps caught up with me. I stopped by an aid-station and asked for salt pills and they looked at me funny. Ah joy. Welcome to road running. Should’ve packed some S caps. From here on, it was cramp-city all the way to the finish. Rida Chow and Kelly Poe passed me at some point. Rida goes “I’m dying” and then she happily goes on to BQ! Walking, crawling, I made my way slowly to the finish line and made it just below 3:45. Wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but hey at least I didn’t DNF. I think the best part of the run was eating the Spicy Vegan Mole at John & Makiko’s house. He’s sent me the recipe and I’m so going to try soon.
I seriously want to know: What motivates you to pound mile after mile of asphalt?
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Thanks to:
Jeroen Domensino for company at dinner the night before
Anil Gorti for his totally inspiring 10-week crazy training program
Rida Chow for declaring she’s dying at mile 16 and then proceeding to a BQ!
John Onate and Makiko Yamashita for the most amazing Spicy Vegan Mole!
Hehe. 12 weeks, 800 miles of training.. and 26.2 miles later, I can only claim I’ve learnt something 🙂 Btw that guy with his hands on his hips, at the Mile 21 bridge, I almost thought it was me 🙂
I knew I wasn’t going to hit any of my major goals so I started tapering 4 weeks before race day due to lack of motivation (maybe that’s the secret?). By mile 16, I was struggling to maintain pace and just trying to keep up with anyone in front. Then Jon Olsen (3:25 pacer) catches up. We had chatted earlier when I was running with the group but I got bored and sped up a little (which is why i was dying). I learned he was leading a small group to a sub 3:22:30 finish (that would be a pr!) so I stuck with him. He told me I looked good and I rode on that high and joked around with him until my calf tightened up (wish I remembered I had salt tabs in my pocket!). It turned into a good day. Had Jon not run by, I would have thrown in the white flag.
As a person who lives in Sacramento… I totally agree… As an older person, I can run ‘forever’ on trails, but pavement pounds me down.
What motivates me? Dreams of single track!
Trail running is great, and road running is also great in it’s own way. There’s no way to get the feeling you get on a 15 mile tempo run on trails. It’s all rhythm and steady strength, nothing to think about except your breathing and your stride. The simultaneously scary and beautiful thing about a road marathon is, there’s nowhere to hide. Everyone knows exactly what 3:20 means, or 4:00 means or 2:59 means and it doesn’t matter what road marathon you apply that to, give or take a few mins if there are a couple hills. On the trails, you can walk when you’re tired, slow down if you need to regroup, come in at 4:50 or 5:20 in a 50K, and nobody except you (and maybe not even you) knows if that was a killer effort or not, because every 50K is different. You can “hide” on those steep uphills, or at that aid station with the plate of watermelon. You can justify your result and forget about 5 minutes here or 10 minutes there, and focus on that great downhill at mile 28. In a marathon … nowhere to hide. Every second wasted is a tick off your goal that you can’t get back. When you fade from goal pace, and death march your way in it feels totally shitty. You know exactly how much you failed by. But when it all comes together, and you negative split, and you hit your A goal, it feels as good or better than any trail run. In truth it’s not better or worse that trails, it’s just different and beautiful in it’s own way.
Freudian slip? You said “15 mile tempo run on trails” 🙂 See? Trails totally rock! (I see your point though)
Oops, I meant: There’s no way to get the feeling you get on a 15 mile (road) tempo run (while) on trails.
Mostly I am embarrassed by my “its” vs “it’s” errors in this text. 🙁 I need more (blog comment) training…
I have done 75k on road, 100k on road and more road marathons than I can remember and I like both for different reasons. I’m blessed to not pound very much on pavement and it really doesn’t bother me but do really enjoy technical trail. I did 5 trail ultras from 50k to 100 miles this past summer and will do Toronto Marathon on the road again in May 2016. I love it all! I agree that great scenery is what makes it nice whether road or trail. Of course you can’t beat how well stocked and prepared the aid stations are in trail ultras!
I’ve run CIM three times and this is spot on. A very good read, thank you! It’s as if this course, although fast…er than others requires training for the specific course. I’m fortunate in that my neighborhood is very hilly, so running the first half of CIM feels easy compared to the flat second half…and yes…it is boring compared to gorgeous trails. Glad the weather worked out in the end. Congratulations on yet another awesome finish with this race. ???
Mandi, congrats on the BQ!
tough day; sounds like it was a learning experience. Great feedback by Larry. I’ve done 10 road marathons & try not to do many more
I ran that race too… I get it…
Yikes! Glad you posted this. I thought there were no hills on the whole course. lol. That would have been a nasty surprise next year when I go after my sub 3. Thanks!