I ran my first marathon on Saturday September 20th in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Equinox is a trail marathon with about 4200 feet of elevation gain. I started getting into running back in November 2013 after I had lost about 50 pounds (gained some of that back now, but I quit smoking and ran a freaking marathon so who cares?). After I found out I could run more than 2 miles without dying I decided I wanted to train for a half marathon. So I started Hal Higdon’s novice half marathon training program (I can’t really remember when I officially started the half marathon training program- maybe January/February, 2014?) About March 2014, I had worked my way up to 5-6 miles and decided that a half wasn’t going to cut it for me. Why? I don’t know. I’m stubborn. If they could just call the 13.1 mile distance ANYTHING other than a HALF marathon I probably wouldn’t have had such a strong desire to complete a full marathon. I ran the half on July 27, 2014 in 2:41. After that I just kept growing my long run up to 20 miles which I did three weeks before my marathon.

I started getting really discouraged in the 16-18 mile long run range because those distances were extremely difficult for me for some reason. The last two miles of any long run between 16 and 18 miles ended up with me near tears from my back aching and just this feeling of absolute despair. In hindsight, I was STILL running too fast on these and I was bonking. I had a realization that it probably wasn’t going to be possible for me to run a full marathon at a 10K pace. So I slowed it way way down. My 20 mile run went absolutely beautifully and it gave me the confidence I needed to complete a full marathon.

The week prior to the marathon my husband and I loaded up the truck with the dogs and camping gear and we did a nice road/ferry trip from Juneau to Fairbanks. We took 3 and a half days to drive 16 hours. The weather was gorgeous and we stopped and took pictures and explored areas of Canada and Alaska we had never been to. I relaxed. Tapering was tough on me. I had a lot of anxiety during the taper and was very irritable and emotional. I also came down with a cold two days before we left on the trip and I was totally freaking out. Well, maybe it was more of an extreme pity party. I remember thinking stuff like “of course I get sick before my race, nothing I want ever happens right, God hates me, etc…”) I think the road trip really helped me to take my mind off running for a while.

Because we left home a week before the marathon I still had an 8 mile long run to do while we were on the road. The first morning after camping I took off with the dogs down the dirt road we had turned off to poach a makeshift camping site by a beautiful river. About a ¼ mile down the road I saw a lot of bear scat and I freaked out and headed back to the camp site. I did get my 8 mile run in the next morning. The majority of the run was at 6:30am on the highway in the middle of nowhere Yukon Territory, Canada. It was a really amazing run in the midst of one of the most beautiful sunrises and bright yellow leaves I have ever seen. I was completely and utterly alone for almost 2 hours. One good thing about running THAT alone is you can call out “HEY BEAR!” without any shame. I did a lot of yelling that morning! Other than that, the only sound was my footsteps, my breath and the rustling leaves.

After we got to Fairbanks, I did a couple more very short runs with my last one being on Thursday. I did a lot of resting and recovering from my cold. By race day I was feeling about 80%. The night before I took about 2 hours to figure out what I was going to wear. I had a little panic about clothing due to the fact that I was running in a very different climate than I had trained in. I had trained in 60 degrees in pouring rain and was expecting to run in full sun and 35 degrees in the morning and 70 in the afternoon. That night I slept better than I thought I would but still not very well.

Race day morning I woke up at 5:30, drank some coffee and ate a banana and an everything bagel with cream cheese (that will ALWAYS be my race day breakfast since it worked so well for two races now). I had three GUs mixed with water in a flask, an oatmeal cream pie, and some Ritz cheese and crackers. I prefer to eat real food when I run but sometimes a GU is the only thing that is going to get the job done. I shudder thinking of the taste of them. I also took salt pills.

The morning of race day it started raining- completely opposite of what I was expecting. I thought “no biggie, this is what I train in!” and it really wouldn’t have been except for the rain at the top of the mountain (which I will discuss in a minute) and the mud. Oy the mud. On a dirt trail where hundreds of runners had gone before you equals mud. Sometimes over the top of your shoes, mud covering tree roots, holes and rocks. I really am very lucky I didn’t break something although I did fall once. There were people who had bloody faces. So, all that said, it didn’t go bad. I walked up hills and where the mud made it too slippery to run. At the top of the mountain and the end of the treacherous and rocky “out and back” around mile 17, it got cold. Really really bone chillingly cold. I was wet and muddy and TIRED and cold and the fog was so thick it seemed like you were alone in the world. But, the aid stations up there had oreos. If it hadn’t been for those oreos…

I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard. It was hard but I never ever felt like I wanted to give up. It just wasn’t even a thought that crossed my mind- although I’m told there were a few DNFs that day. Around mile 23 I was overcome with this elated feeling. All of a sudden I realized I WAS going to make it (granted not in the time I was hoping for). I had been running for hours and hours and I was just ready to be done. The last mile I encountered a mini hill that I actually had to claw up with my hands because I couldn’t get any grip with my shoes due to the mud. Anyhow, I finished in 7:16:58. About 50 minutes slower than I was figuring/hoping for which is understandable due to the conditions. A guy who had run 18 Equinox marathons in the past said it was the worst weather he had ever seen for race day.

After I drank three mini bottles of chocolate milk, ate two bagels and two bags of chips I went to work cleaning my legs which had about ¼ inch of mud caked on them. I took my shoes off and was told my feet resembled “hamburger”. Really though, my feet were in good shape. I couple small blisters but my shoes are the most awesome shoes I have ever worn- Brooks Cascadias- love love love them.

That night I was sore. So very sore, but not broken anywhere. I touched my bicep and thought “why the heck is my bicep sore?” My entire body was exhausted and sore. I hobbled for a couple days afterward but feel fine now except for I pulled a muscle on the side of my calf which I can’t figure out a way to stretch…

I do think I have more marathons in my future. I think this one went very well and maybe it’s because I built it up so much in my mind after seeing it on lists of the toughest marathons in the country and even the world! I had heard and read story after story of people bonking in marathons and was really expecting it to be the worst day of my life so when it turned out to be not THAT bad, I was pleasantly surprised. My next one is going to be flat though! Thanks for reading!