Race Report: California International Marathon (CIM) – 3:35:16

Posted by Chen

My marathon career is officially a quarter-century old! #25 is in the books with a 3:35:16. Not my best, but certainly not my worst – 5th fastest time overall. Do I wish I hadn’t taken so much time through the water stop at mile 24, causing me to miss a BQ by 16 seconds? Maybe, but given that 3:30 was my original goal, my mind wasn’t really focused on a BQ anyway.

Another one to add to the collection! It seems the ribbons are getting longer over time. Are human necks getting thicker? If so, I blame McDonald's.

I knew going into this race that a sub-3:30 would be a pretty big stretch. I knew I had the endurance, having done one 18-miler and five 20+-milers throughout my training cycle, but I also knew that I didn’t quite put in the speed work that I’d normally do before a goal race. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was basically starting from scratch 16 weeks ago, so it took me over half of the training cycle just to get to the point where 8-minute miles felt somewhat comfortable again. So, I wasn’t all too surprised during the race when 8’s eventually felt unsustainable, and I was forced to slow down in order to avoid a major bonk. And given that I ran a personal worst (4:11:15) at SF just over four months ago, I’m pretty darn happy with what I was able to accomplish this time around.

Marathon morning began like any other: 3:45am wake-up call. Bathroom duty. Break toilet with bathroom duty (Will and I make a great team. Sorry, Paige…). Breakfast of bananas and baguette. Out the door by 4:30am to meet Matt, Justin, and Bertram. Board shuttles to the start.

After what seemed like a way-longer-than-26.2-mile bus ride, we arrived at the start at 5:45am. We had a ton of time to just hang out on the bus and use the 300 porta-potties available (one of the many reasons I love CIM!). While hanging out, we overheard a couple people chatting about their Ironman experiences, and it totally made me nervous about drowning and/or flipping over my handlebars. Luckily, I wouldn’t have to deal with either of those sports today. At 6:30am, we finally got off the bus for good for one last bathroom stop, followed by bag check and lining up at the start.

I positioned myself between the 3:30 and 3:35 pace groups, and at 7:00am on the dot, we were off. For the first few miles, my main goal was to stay calm. Race nerves earlier this week caused me to have near-panic-attacks during my short easy runs, and I knew that my race would be over if that happened today. Looking around at the scenery helped calm me down, and I fell into a groove, running right around 8-minute pace.

Somewhere in these early miles, I saw an old man in a large white tutu gettin’ down to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” It was awesome. He would later make a reappearance somewhere in the 20s, and it was just as awesome then. I hope to be that cool when I’m 70+ years old.

I remember thinking that the course was a lot more rolling than I’d remembered. I was hoping that all of my hill training over the last year would come into play (living in Twin Peaks, EVERY run I do is a hilly run), but for some reason, my legs were feeling like I was pushing it just a little too much. Still, I was able to stay on pace for the first 13.1, and I crossed the halfway mark in 1:45:14.

1 – 7:55
2 – 8:06
3 – 7:59
4 – 8:00
5 – 7:57
6 – 7:58
7 – 7:59
8 – 8:05
9 – 8:05
10 – 7:54
11 – 7:49
12 – 8:02
13 – 8:04

My plan had been to keep it just above 8:00 minute miles for the first half, and then if I was feeling good, I was to drop it down below 8:00 for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, I could feel the fatigue starting to set in, and I knew I would have to slow it down to a more comfortable pace in order to avoid a major blowout. I never hit a wall, but I also never found my way back into the low 8’s after mile 16.

Miles 16-20 were probably the hardest for me, as I wavered between frustration, harping on myself for not doing speed work, and feeling like I should just give up and walk. If 25 marathons have taught me anything, though, it’s how to fight off negative thoughts and focus on the positive. I reminded myself how awesome it was that I was running my 25th marathon. 25! I distinctly remember a conversation I had in high school when my friends asked me if I’d ever run a marathon. My response: “No way. 26.2 miles is SO. FAR. Maybe I’ll run a half someday. Maybe.” Little did I know…

Funnily enough, I also kept reminding myself of how much worse the run will feel at the end of the Ironman next July, and then I’d all of a sudden not feel so bad for myself in the moment ☺.

Slowing down definitely helped, and by mile 20, I fell into a pace that still felt slightly uncomfortable but definitely sustainable. I focused on making it from one water stop to the next, and before I knew it, I had 2.2 miles left. I did the math and realized that if I picked the pace back up, I could still BQ, so I did what I could to use whatever energy I had left. Unfortunately, my legs were too heavy and also on the verge of cramping, so I couldn’t quite speed up enough. I crossed the finish line in 3:35:16, and my 25th marathon was complete.

14 – 8:11
15 – 8:15
16 – 8:04
17 – 8:11
18 – 8:28
19 – 8:14
20 – 8:32
21 – 8:19
22 – 8:29
23 – 8:30
24 – 8:44 (I think I had a small feast at this water stop)
25 – 8:25
26 – 8:24
26.2 – 7:52 (0.34)

Garmin stats:
26.34 miles
3:35:16
8:10.4 pace (8:13.0 official pace)

These stats nicely hide just how much I died.

I think I can safely say that out of all of the women 34 or under who were finishing around me, I was probably the happiest with my time (I can only imagine the disappointment of training for a BQ only to miss it by a matter of seconds). I know what I did wrong (ahem, skipping track. Like, every week), and I know what to do next time (um, go to track). I still believe a sub-3:30 is in me; it’s just a matter of time. And maybe timing.

But for now, it’s time to fully shift gears. IT’S IRONMAN TRAINING TIME, B*TCHES. HOLY CRAP.