It's been quite some time since I've gone into a race without being excited. Especially a marathon. I typically love marathons. But I haven't been feeling very “fresh” lately running-wise.
I wanted to take advantage of the pace groups at Rehoboth, but since they didn't have anything between 3:35-3:50, I was leaning more towards the 3:50 in the weeks leading up. It was slower than what I thought I was capable of right now, but 3:35 felt like a tad too much.
With me being in a funky headspace about it and waking up with a training readiness of 4 (out of 100 😬), I was all in on the 3:50 when I made my way to the start. There was a little sadness that I wasn't going for a BQ for the first time in forever here, but I locked one in at a very hot Berlin in September so I gave myself some grace.
I knew I'd made a good choice after the first couple of miles. I was working more than I care to admit to get warmed up and felt like I was going to be in for a long day.
My stomach was rumbling and I hoped that after I locked into what I was doing that everything would feel less icky. I carried a handheld for the first time ever at this race and slowly sipped some Skratch.
Thankfully, after about 30 minutes things got a little better. I saw the faster half racers going past in the opposite direction and spotted Roger, but he was very much in the zone and didn't see me.
My headband flew off by accident near the split and by the time I'd realized it happened, I didn't want to go back and get it. I felt bad that I left it, but at least it was next to a water stop.
Once we got on the Gordon Pond trail, I accidentally got ahead of the pacer for a while. It was okay since he was still within earshot and I knew that it was good to give a small buffer so I could slow down a bit at some point to let the group catch back up.
Near the boardwalk I decided to let them get caught back up so I could settle into the pack. It was still a big group then so I went to the back to not have to jostle for position. I love running in a pack in a marathon, but it can feel chaotic. I knew that the pack would be very different by mile 20 so it was time to just stay relaxed.
It took me until about mile 10 to truly get into a groove. Then I finally felt more like myself and my body calmed down a bit. It may have been all of the Dogfish Head beer from Friday leaving my body finally.
I started to engage a bit more with the group, talking a bit to the runners around me and turning my headphones down to hear conversations. Once we got to the turnaround by the ferry, there was something psychologically good about heading back.
I started looking at the other pace groups going by, counting down the ones until I saw Elaine who gave me a high-five! Of course, this energized me even more for a few minutes.
The trail on the way back to town always seems to take forever and this time was no different. It's miles ~15-18 which is generally the time people start crashing in marathons. I felt good, but it still seemed to drag on.
Back on the pavement, we were in single digits territory and I considered going ahead since I knew I could probably lop off some time. But then I second-guessed myself and the time didn't really mean anything at this point anyway. So I committed to staying with the pace group until the end.
Passing by the finish line at mile 19 is always rough. So close, yet, so far. I scanned the crowds to see if anyone was still out running that I knew or had come to spectate, but had no success. After that though, I started talking even more to the pacer and baby new year so I was happily distracted.
Our group stayed together as we entered the trail portion and even held pace for the pacer while he dug a rock out his shoe. I love flag alley and almost always get a little emotional near it because I'm both happy and sad that the marathon is almost over. This year, I kind of needed that swift kick of joy after not feeling that way about racing.
All of us in the pace group were riding high on life going into the final few miles. It's funny how the pacer’s job was to help people run a specific pace and how the reason I stayed in the group was a completely different one.
As we made our way into the final stretch, he realized we might be pushing a little too fast so he told us he had to slow down in the finish chute. We were like, “okay, we'll slow down too!” So the 3 of us jogged it in to cross the finish line together.
Thanks, Rehoboth. You're always reminding me the parts of running that I love about running that have nothing to do with the actual running. Which is really the magic of running.
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