I came. I saw. I conquered. In all honesty, I think the Cleveland Marathon may have conquered me. It took everything in me to finish this particular 26.2. It was hot, humid and the sun was blazing on high. It wasn't my best time but it definitely wasn't my worst either. Hey, in a red flag heat advisory, I think anyone who finishes is a winner.
We got on the road for Cleveland at about noon on Saturday. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day for traveling. I was in high spirits and was pumped up to get the the expo and pick up my goodies!
It was a quick hour and a half and we were pulling into the IX Center in Cleveland. I had no idea this place was so gigantic! I have run the Detroit Marathon the last three years and their expo is held at COBO, so I should have been expecting a big venue... Just wasn't expecting it to be THIS big!
As we entered, there were course maps and informational signs greeting us. It was a well-organized expo and it was very easy to find the booths where we picked up bib numbers, goody bags and race shirts. There were various vendors and booths promoting other races as well. The expo was held on both Friday and Saturday and my only complaint is that with us arriving a little later on Saturday, the majority of the official Cleveland race gear had been picked over and it was really slim pickings. I was hoping to pick up a cool T-shirt or hoodie commemorating my experience, but no such luck.
Once we left the expo, we headed to dinner at Macaroni Grill. I had the mushroom ravioli and artichoke potato cakes as an appetizer. I left my phone in the car or I would have snapped a pic so all you readers could drool!! So go ahead, close your eyes and think about how delicious it looked. ... Ok, now focus and read on... We wrapped up dinner and headed to check in at the hotel.
Since my registration for the marathon was rather late, we were unable to book a room immediately downtown within walking distance of the start/finish line. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Rockside in Independence. It was a quick 10 minute drive to where we needed to be in the a.m. so it was no problem. The bonus of not staying downtown is that onsite parking was free and the hotel rate itself was substantially less.
I got as much sleep as I could that night (which wasn't much) and woke up at roughly 3:30 a.m. so I could eat, relax and take my time getting ready. I had some coffee, half a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, a little Gatorade upon waking up and some oatmeal on the way to the start area. We had to leave the hotel by 5 a.m. to head downtown. They started road closures at 6, so we wanted to make sure we were there in plenty of time.
(This is me prior to leaving the hotel. You may notice that my Garmin was not on my wrist. That is because I forgot it and we had to turn around and go back the hotel to get it once we arrived downtown. Yep, leave it to me to forget something.)
As we left the hotel that morning and headed downtown, it was overcast and in the low 60s. It was perfect running weather. I will tell you what, Mother Nature is one tricky lady. She had all of us fooled.
Upon arrival, we all decided to get in line for the first bunch of porta-potties we laid eyes on. We had plenty of time to spare and didn't want to risk waiting a little while then jumping in line when it got to be too long. While we are on the topic of porta-potties, let me say this ... We all know that before a big race, we all tend to get a bit nervous and want to empty our bowels so we don't need to do so while out on the course. With that being said, no one wants to see your poop. If you go #2 and it is totally visible on top of the blue water, please take some toilet paper and drop it on top of it so the next person doesn't have to look at it. A) If I can see your poop in the porta-potty without toilet paper on it, it makes me think you didn't wipe your butt. Gross. B) It makes me gag. Please be courteous to other runners and their sensitivity to other peoples excrement. Thank you.
Enough about poop, it was on to the start line. Like I said it was in the low 60s, overcast and with a slight breeze. It was a little on the humid side but nothing unbearable. I decided I was going to start out with the 3:35 pace group like I had at Glass City and pull ahead of them once I started getting in the groove of things. The national anthem was performed, a moment of silence was held for Boston, the hand cyclists began and then we were off. It was go time.
The first few miles felt great. I was feeling strong and was surrounded by good conversation that I was NOT participating in. I am not much of a talker during races. I like to listen though. You learn a lot about people you are running with ... And sometimes you hear the same runner repeat the same story to different runners 147 times, but that is irrelevant right now (can you tell that is a pet peeve?).
(I like hearing people's stories... just not over and over and over...)
I decided that at this race it was imperative that I hit every water station because it was considerably warmer then when I ran Glass City three weeks prior. I didn't want to take the chance of dehydrating. Apparently the pace group was on the same page as I was since they seemed to slow down a notch, but still keep pace, while hitting the water stations. I stayed on pace with the 3:35 pace group past the halfway point. I believe it was the 14 mile marker that a side stitch (cramp) hit me hard. I had to slow down considerably to tough it out. The cramp left me and I caught back up with the pace group. I ran with them for another 2 miles or so and and the cramp was back.
This is where things really started going downhill. I lost the pace group entirely and this is where I noticed how HOT it really was. The sun was high and there was NOT a single cloud in sight. When this exactly happened, I am not sure. That nagging cramp had finally left for good after slowing way down and now I was just roasting.
I successfully made it to the 30k (18.5 miles) point in the race without walking. My time had suffered, but I hadn't walked ... until this point. My legs were heavy, I was a sweaty, soaked mess (from sweat and dumping water on myself) and the sun was beating down on me like I was in the middle of the Sahara. I had seen a couple people on the side of the road puking and two people getting assistance by EMTs. I decided that I did NOT want to be one of those people. I was seeing very strong-looking runners WALKING ... and there were a lot of them. At this point I became chatty with a few of them and realized that I wasn't the only one whose time was suffering. I don't consider it throwing in the towel at all. I consider it being smart. I held on as long as I could, but from the get-go I told myself and others that I was going to listen to my body. I knew this was THE moment I needed to listen the most. From the 30k marker until the 25 mile marker, I walked for about two minutes every half mile or so.
Once I hit the 25 mile marker, I saw a woman on the sidewalk with a sign that read "Oprah Made This Mile Her Bitch." I laughed out loud at the lady and decided it was go time. I was going to end this race running and that was final. It wasn't the fastest mile I have ran, that is for sure but it will definitely be one of the most memorable.
I don't know who talked to whom first, but a nice, tall, young guy ran up next to me and asked if I wanted to finish the race together. I agreed wholeheartedly. His name was Cyrus and he seemed like he needed the motivation just as much as I did. We chatted briefly about where we were from and expressed our gratitude for helping each other get to the finish line running (NOT walking) and in one piece. We rounded the corner and headed toward the finish line. The end was in sight and decided to finish hand in hand. I had known this guy for less than 10 minutes and he was already my friend. We just finished a marathon together, for crying out loud! It was amazing! We hugged, got pictures together and we were on our separate ways. I will tell you what, runners are AMAZING people...
This is the first marathon that I didn't cry at the finish line. I was all smiles because quite frankly, I was just glad it was over. I dumped roughly three bottles of water on me and lay in the grass like a dead fish. I had chocolate milk, popsicles and more water brought to me (thank GOD I didn't have to move).
I learned that it was about an hour and half into the race that they raised the red flag and the race went into heat advisory. It was in the low 80s when I crossed the finish line. That made me not only feel better about my not-so-great time, but kind of made me feel like a real bad a$$ for even finishing!! Not just finishing, but still beating my worst marathon time!! I will take it!
Once I cooled down, it was back to the hotel to shower and change. We stopped to grab a quick bite to eat and we were back on the road to Toledo. What a great, quick trip to Cleveland! I will ABSOLUTELY consider doing this race again and just hope for cooler weather. It was well organized, a beautiful course and the crowd was outstanding! A definite must if you are thinking about a full marathon and you want a flat course! Highly recommended!
Even with completely tanking the last eight miles of the race, I am pretty proud of the numbers that I achieved. I have to give myself credit considering the circumstances. The weather was brutal and I truly don't know how much of an effect running Glass City three weeks before had on my performance in Cleveland. Either way, that is marathon number five under my belt!
(36th/145 in my age division of 30-34, 190th/845 out of all females and 799th/2250 overall finishers... with a 9:26 pace)
Oh, and I failed to mention that somewhere in those final few miles I had to utilize a porta-potty located past one of the water stops. Those Roctane GUs apparently caught up with me along with my Powerade intake... Don't worry readers, I made sure that no one would be subjected to what I saw in my pre-race porta-potty visit. I covered up my poop. I am, after all, a courteous runner.
(one last image for our readers... you can definitely tell this is a marathon trash can!)
CLEVELAND ROCKS!
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