My goals for this race: (Order of importance)
1. NOT hurt myself
2. Finish the race
3. Go for a Boston Qualifier
Two weeks leading up to the race I'm pretty sure I got Sciatica.
Sciatica: pain affecting the back, hip, and outer side of the leg, caused by compression of a spinal nerve root in the lower back, often owing to degeneration of an intervertebral disk.
Although I didn't know until the Wednesday before the race. I only ran a total of maybe 15 miles in those two weeks because I was scared of hurting myself further. Would I have done better at CIM? Yes. Would I have qualified to Boston if I had? Probably not. I think the best I could have done would have been 3 hours and 20 minutes (7:37 mile pace) but the Boston Qualifier is under 3 hours (6:52 mile pace) so I would have went out the same either way.
Here is my mile by mile summary:
| DISTANCE | MILE SPLITS | TOTAL TIME | |
| MILE 1 | 6:52 | | Even in this first mile my hips felt so tight |
| MILE 2 | 7:04 | | I found a glove but chose not to pick it up this time |
| MILE 3 | 7:08 | | I already lost Peter by this time and decided to hold back since I'm already feeling twitching in my calf. ALSO, I give my pants to RacheI, thanks Rachel! |
| 5k | | 0:21:57 | |
| MILE 4 | 7:13 | | I had to pee soooo bad for the first 4 miles so I just stop and pee behind a tree. Take first gel. |
| MILE 5 | 7:37 | | Miles 5-13 its a lot of me trying to hold on and struggle to put something together. Still a lot of tightness in my hips |
| MILE 6 | 7:25 | | |
| 10k | | 44:52:00 | |
| MILE 7 | 7:27 | | |  |
| MILE 8 | 7:41 | | take 2nd gel |
| MILE 9 | 7:56 | | |
| 15k | | 1:09:02 | |
| MILE 10 | 7:48 | | We run through Fair Oaks, cute town. |
| MILE 11 | 7:56 | | |
| MILE 12 | 8:11 | | take 3rd gel |
| MILE 13 | 8:19 | | |
| HALF | | 1:39:37 | Half Marathon PR (I've only ran one official half marathon race though) |
| MILE 14 | 9:25 | | double quad cramp! |
| MILE 15 | 9:55 | | Right calf cramp. take 4th gel. |
| 25k | | 2:02:23 | |
| MILE 16 | 11:08 | | I make the decision to not run through the pain and to avoid getting hurt as much as possible. If I felt a cramp coming I would stop immediately to avoid injuring myself. So there was a lot of walking in mile 16 to the finish. |
| MILE 17 | 11:12 | | take 5th gel |
| MILE 18 | 11:21 | | |
| 30k | | 2:37:53 | |
| MILE 19 | 12:25 | | |
| MILE 20 | 12:35 | | Take 6th and final gel |
| MILE 21 | 12:46 | | |
| 35k | | 3:16:42 | |
| MILE 22 | 12:13 | |
| MILE 23 | 13:21 | | |
| MILE 24 | 11:30 | | "Hey Donut you got it!" |
| 40k | | 3:54:26 | |
| MILE 25 | 10:53 | | |
| MILE 26 | 12:22 | | |
| FINISH | | 4:10:15 | The End... Or the beginning of LA Marathon TRAINING
|
The reason I signed up for this race was to qualify for Boston so I made sure I prepped that day as if I was. I attacked the race with that intention but unfortunately I'm just not strong enough yet. I signed up for this race in January 2023 but the 2022-2023 school year I lost a lot of my fitness since I was so focused on work and was plagued by injury. I didn't get solid training until the last 4 months and it wasn't even good marathon training either. It was more that I felt good about running again for the first time in a long time.
I knew it would be a long shot that I qualify for Boston so I was prepared to hold it back once I definitely knew I had no chance of qualifying. At that point the goal would be to SURVIVE and finish without hurting myself. Coming into this race I didn't even think I would finish because of my sciatica. I'm still very proud of my run and that I went in with intention and shot my shot. I learned a lot and will now prep myself for the LA Marathon to shoot my shot again. Next week will start my training to give myself some well needed rest.
On the BRIGHTEST side my friend Peter qualified with a minute to spare! So proud of you buddy! LETS GO!
The start:
MILE 2.8
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