Running the Houston Marathon

After four months of training, everything came together for my first full marathon on Jan. 30, 2011.

Throughout training I dealt with a sciatic nerve injury and therefore inconsistent training. However, thanks to my amazing chiropractor/PT, I felt as close to 100% as I was going to get. Eating enough was another big challenge for me throughout training as well. I lost roughly five pounds in the last two weeks leading up to the race, which being 5’3″ and going from 115 to 110 pounds is significant. It was probably a combination of eating at weird times since I work a night shift and general anxiety.

Pre-race

Three days before the race, I made a conscious effort to eat really well and try to gain a little weight. The day before the race, I ate an absurd amount of food — for me, anyway. Before noon, I downed a bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and honey, two bowls of honey bunches of oats cereal with almond milk, a slice of pizza, about three bottles of water, one with a nuun tablet. After noon, I had a 32 oz bottle of gatorade, an Odwalla bar, half a peanut butter sandwich, two healthy servings of shrimp alfredo and mixed veggies, more water and nuun. Dinner was chicken picatta, a small greek salad and bread. By this point, I was pretty tired of eating. I gave it up after dinner.

I woke up around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning, got dressed and headed to the Four Seasons to meet up with the rest of the Gazelles. There, I ate an Odwalla bar and drank a bottle of water. I felt good and ready to go.

Race

The first couple of miles were packed with runners and it was a little frustrating trying to weave through. The mugginess in the air was heavy and thankfully, it finally started to rain. Kendall, Chrissy, Andrea, Meredith and I managed to stick together through the first five miles though, which was great. I skipped the first water stop because I knew it would be chaos. And it was. In fact, the first two water stops were awful. Not enough volunteers handing out water/gatorade. I was thankful they were there, but we sure did need about three times as more. I grabbed water after mile two and at the next stop.

Around mile 4 I started to feel a stitch on my right side. It took a couple of miles for it to go away, but I’m still sore from it.

I took my first powerbar gel at mile 5 and an accelgel at mile 10, which I regretted. The accelgel got a little too liquid-y (from body heat I assume) and as I tore it open with my teeth, it squeezed into my mouth and down my windpipe. I started choking and gasping for air. I’m sure I looked pretty stupid, but I managed to recover (proper breathing and my dignity).

I broke away from the group at some point around mile 8, but I saw Kendall again after mile 10. I think we were in the theatre district? Not sure. I grabbed a stick of petroleum jelly from one of the aid stations because one of my gels on the side of my sports bra was stabbing me. I took a quick port-o-can pee break around mile 12 and kind of felt amazing after that. I was clocking an 9:00/mi pace around this time and felt strong. I took another gel at mile 15. This was the one covered in petroleum jelly. Yummy.

At mile 16, I saw my boyfriend and his brother, which gave me a nice little bump of encouragement. This was when I remembered feeling really hungry. The Odwalla bar at 5 a.m. wasn’t enough. Nor the vaseline-covered gel.

At about mile 18, I remember smelling breakfast tacos coming from a restaurant we ran by.

Mile 20 I took my last gel. This is when I noticed a lot of people around me beginning to walk. The rain had stopped at this point and the sun was poking its head. I was a happy and hydrated gal though. I tried to slow down at the water stop to drink more water instead of having it splash all over my face, but my legs tensed up and I decided slowing down was a horrible idea. By this point, even though I felt OK, I knew I wasn’t going to reach my goal time of 4:00. I had not kept a consistent pace. I had slowed down significantly. I think this was an inexperience issue that I’ll work on in future races. So I ripped off my pace bands and kept the smile on my face.

Mile 24 I saw Kendall again. We shouted some words of encouragement to one another and I ran past.

Mile 26. I told my legs to go faster. I managed to sprint through the chute, running past a few people. I remember the announcer saying my name wrong. My name has an unusual spelling, so I heard a lot of Maria instead of Maira throughout the race. Anytime someone pronounced my name correctly, I felt pretty awesome. I think three people got it right. One of them was the DJ for some Spanish-language radio station.

Mile 26.2 – 4:14:08 I ran across the finish line with my arms in the air and a giant, goofy grin on my face. I can’t wait to see those race photos. Undoubtedly, I’ll look like a dorkazoid, but I was ecstatic. I’m happy with my time. I can’t wait to run another and aim for sub-four hours.

Splits

1. 9:53
2. 9:39
3. 9:16
4. 9:37
5. 9:16
6. 9:18
7. 8:29
8. 9:14
9. 9:34
10. 9:00
11. 9:03
12. 9:06
13. 9:25
14. 9:29
15. 9:37
16. 9:56
17. 9:30
18. 9:38
19. 9:37
20. 9:51
21. 9:57
22. 10:07
23. 10:34
24. 10:31
25. 9:57
26. 9:20

Post-race

I was really happy with the way I prepared in the days leading up to the race. The weather wasn’t ideal, but I don’t think it hindered me. I need to eat a little more the morning of the race in the future. I was very well hydrated. I’ll never use accelgels again. I want to be more consistent with training for my next marathon.

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