Windermere Marathon Recap

Hello all!!

As you all know I did the Windermere Marathon Sunday/yesterday. Marc did the half. He did amazing for his first half marathon with a PR of 1:38:03!! So proud him. I was sad to miss his finish, since I was probably close to mile 14.5 at that point (and wishing I was done). I did see his parents at mile 19 and they told me his finishing time.

This race is flat, with some quick inclines at the beginning of the race. I thought I could handle 26.2 miles on a strained ITband, but I was mistaken.

I stayed the night with my sister since she lives a mile from the race start to get an extra hour of sleep, but I didn’t sleep at all. I was so nervous about running and kept second guessing doing the race.

My sister dropped me off at the start 15 minutes before the race started, which was at 7 a.m. I dropped my gear bag off and was ready to go.

It was breezy and cloudy at the start and only 43 degrees. The whole race we had a headwind, but it wasn’t too bad and the temperature was perfect. It warmed up as we got closer to Spokane. The course is on the  Centennial Trail, which runs along the Spokane River, a point to point course. It is pretty, but a small race, so you run miles without seeing another runner.

The first 7.4 miles through Liberty Lake were great. My knee felt good and I was cruising, with 6:45/6:50 minute miles. Once I hit the trail head, my knee was hurting. I dialed back to 7 minute miles and held that for quite a while, staying in second place out of the females. Right before mile 12 there was a sharp shooting pain in my knee. I ran with that for the remainder of the race, trying to ignore the pain.

My first half was fast at 1:30. That’s actually my fastest recorded half marathon ever. The above picture is me at about mile 19. Marc’s parents took the photo. I am smiling because they were at the perfect spot. The pain was so bad and I was wanting to walk, but I knew if I walked it would be to hard to run again, so I kept trekking. It was great to have someone cheering for me.

There weren’t a lot of spectators on the course. At times I was ok with that, but at other times I wished someone was there to encourage me along.

I finally hit 20 miles and felt a second wind, I credit that to seeing Marc’s parents.

The man who took these photos came up to me after the race and asked if I wanted some of my race photos. He captured some cool photos.

I was close to mile 21 here.

Then I decided to talk to James, the camera guy, as I approached mile 22 because he was wearing a Boston Marathon jacket.

I yelled at him, asking if he did Boston. He started laughing at me and said “Yes.” I yelled back “Me too.”

Hence the reason I am laughing. I wanted to make small talk and it helped take my mind of the pain.

I remained in second place until shortly after mile 22, when I was passed. My legs were so dead and my knee was throbbing, I didn’t have any fight left in me to stay with her. The miles were dragging on. I was thrilled to reach mile 25.

Marc met me after mile 25 and ran the last mile with me, as I was passed by another women, putting me in 4th. Usually I get competitive and go, but I couldn’t.

Here’s Marc and I nearing the finish line.

He was such a sport helping me through the last mile after he just finished 13.1 miles himself. Those last .2 miles were a killer, but as the finish line got closer I was elated!!

I knew once I stopped running the pain would be even worse and it was. I could barely walk and couldn’t bend my leg. There wasn’t much for post race food, which was disappointing, but they did have free finisher photos.

Sorry it’s so grainy, I took a photo of the photo. I hate this photo, but since I love Marc so much and he did so great, I decided to share it.

My official time was 3:11:31, with new PR (only PR’d by 6 seconds). 18th overall out of 358, 4th women overall out of 213, and 2nd in my age group out of 11. Not too bad all things considering. It wasn’t the sub 3 I was hoping for, but it’s better than expected.

They had my time listed as this:

If that was my real time that would have been sweet. After the race you could enter your bib to see your official time and your placement, but they got mine mixed up with the overall male finisher. I felt like an Olympian, until they fixed it :). It was updated later as other runners finished.

Last night was a restless night because of my knee pain. I saw my physical therapist this afternoon and I am not supposed to run for a week. I don’t know how that’s going to go over. I have my Ragnar Relay in a month, so I need to keep my knee strong for that.

It was quite the feat trying to get in and out of cars yesterday and today, and shower and dress myself. Praying my ITband heals fast so I won’t have anymore knee pain and can continue to run happy.

Put some miles in for me since I am not supposed to run for a week. Happy Running….

Anyone else have any races this weekend?