Rehoboth Beach Marathon Runparty #10 - The One Where I Ate Humble Pie

Running a marathon so shortly after a 24 hour effort went reasonably well last year. But, I didn't have it coupled with recovery from UTMB and this year, I could feel that everything just felt a little tougher on the few runs I did in between. 

Rehoboth has traditionally been great racing weather and I've finished the race a few times still wearing gloves. But as I checked the forecast to figure out packing, I saw it was going to be much warmer this year. Ugh. More on this later though. 

Rob and Roger were waiting at BWI when I landed Friday morning and we went to pick up the rental car. After a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts, Angie texted that her plane had arrived so we picked her up and were on our way. 

We shopped for snacks and dinner items at Wal-Mart and arrived in Rehoboth shortly before our rental was ready. I asked if we could get the keys anyway and it wasn't a problem. We picked up our bibs and then went to the house to drop off the groceries and put our gear away. 

I tried to do a shakeout run, but about 5 minutes into it, rain came pouring down. Normally, it wouldn't bother me, but I was wearing my race shoes and really didn't want to start a race with wet feet. So I turned back and changed so we could go to Dogfish Head. Mr. Bacon got there right before we were going to leave and once at the restaurant, we met up with Abby and Clark and squeezed into a booth for beer and snacks. 

I had a beer and a half and then had to run back to the house to change my email forwards for work at 5pm. Jen and John arrived shortly thereafter and soon we were all hanging out in the kitchen, catching up and making dinner. I reminded Abby she had to sit next to me for good luck. 

Race night is usually a pretty uneventful affair and this one was no different. We laid out our race clothes and started to head to bed around 9pm. Despite my early alarm, I couldn't fall asleep right away and listened to the rain until I eventually dozed off. 

I woke up way before my 6am alarm and decided to go get coffee and breakfast downstairs. The house started to come alive as we all went through our prerace routines. A little after 6:30am, Roger, John, Bacon, and I all walked over to the start line.

Much like the year prior, I wanted to stay with the 3:35 pace group for as long as I could. I spotted the pacer in the starting line crowd and kept an eye on him once the gun went off.

It immediately felt like I was working a little too hard in the beginning to keep the pacer in my sight and I came up on Abby rather quickly but didn't see her until she said hi. I knew it was stupid to sprint the gap between myself and the pacer so I tried to methodically reel him in. Within the first mile, I was within 15 steps of the pack and finally felt relaxed.

Things felt good along the boardwalk as I warmed up and woke up. Rob spectated this year and was offering words of encouragement as we passed back by the start area. 

At 7:30, Adam's alarm clock went off and changed my Spotify playlist to “whale sounds.” I fumbled around with my phone for a minute and changed it back to my running playlist. I laughed when I realized that I was in the same exact spot last year when this happened, but I couldn't figure out then why my music stopped.

At the turnaround, I realized what a slog this was going to be because I was already so thirsty. The gravel section is really pretty, but definitely slower and I found that I was really working to stay on pace. It was much easier once we hit the road and I had a few good miles on the highway section. 

As the faster runners started passing by on the opposite side, I kept my eyes out for Roger. When he came by on the other side, he seemed to be in good spirits and I was happy he was having a good race. Bacon was the only other one in our group running the full aside from Roger and myself and he looked calm and comfortable running just a few minutes behind me.

As I got to the halfway point, I began to get frustrated that I was sometimes only able to get Gatorade because the water stops were a cluster running with the pace group. I knew that I needed to be strategic to get water when I got off the trail and probably 2 cups if I could. I was soaked from the humidity and wished I had raced in just a sports bra instead of a singlet.

I took the time to get water at around mile 17 and watched the pace group put a bit of space on me. At first, I thought I was going to be able to slowly get back to them, but I was really just keeping up with them through town. 

I saw Angie in the final half mile of her race and veered over to give her a high five. Shortly thereafter, I saw Rob and said something about how shitty I was feeling. Coming through the mile 19 aid station, I watched the pace group leave me in the dust. And suddenly, 7 more miles seemed really, really long and far. 

I stopped to walk a few times trying to get my life together and settle my stomach. I knew I needed to choke down another gel, but I could feel myself gagging just thinking about it. As I entered the final trail section, I opened up a very innocuous vanilla GU and took tiny tastes. I saw Roger again and he looked tired, but was still moving well. 

Things seemed to be going ok for a mile or so, but then my body immediately and forcibly rejected the gel. I stopped and leaned over the fence, puking my guts out. I walked a little bit and then had to stop again to get it all out of my system. Puking in an ultra is pretty normal for me, but a marathon? Ugh.

I walked briefly to collect myself and then started jogging. After the turnaround, I started to feel better with a clear stomach and while I wasn’t running fast, at least I was running! I saw Bacon shortly after the turnaround and gave him a high five. 

The last few miles felt long as these things always do. I had kind of given up on 3:40 at some point, but had rallied enough to be close if I didn't completely fall apart. Suddenly realizing how close I was, I found another gear. A BQ, assuming I finish Boston #10 in April 2024, is allegedly all I need if I've finished 10 consecutive Bostons. I won't need to worry about the cutoff.

Therefore, getting that 3:40 became really important! I forgot I had started about a minute back so I gave it everything I had once I saw the finish clock, thinking I had cut it even more dangerously close than I had. 

Oof.

I felt horribly nauseous when I finished and had to sit down to try to calm my stomach. Roger had already gone back to the house so I waited to see Bacon finish and hobbled over just in time to catch him coming down the chute. 

We saw a few of our friends as we started to make our way back to the house, waiting for us to get back to the beer tent, aka, the real reason we go to Rehoboth every December!