It’s now been about 6 weeks after my first marathon and I still can’t believe it happened. It feels both like it just happened yesterday and like it happened 6 months ago. It was everything and nothing like I thought it would be.

The day before the race, my husband + 2 friends and I piled in my car and headed west. The drive was long and made longer by all the restroom stops I had to make – I was chugging so much water because I didn’t want to be dehydrated on race day and I know that I tend to drink less water when I’m driving so that I won’t have to stop. We arrived in Marathon, TX mid-afternoon, stopped for pre-race fuel at Big Bend Pizza, and then drove to Alpine, TX to check into our Airbnb and rest. (If you’re looking for some good pizza in the Big Bend area, Big Bend Pizza is legit, it was delicious.)

That evening we drove back towards Marathon to pick up my race packet and enjoy the pasta dinner that the race organizers host the night before the race. Marathon2Marathon is small so there’s no race expo like you might expect for larger races. I saw the runner roster of all the people who registered, which made me think the race was going to be larger than I thought, but it turns out that the roster included the runners for ALL the distances. The number of people running the marathon was quite small after all. We ate our pasta dinner, took obligatory race finish line photos as the sun was setting to get pumped about the race and called it a night early so that I could get ready for a very early start.

Things I needed to prep that night before crashing:

  • Running attire: tank top, lightweight tights, compression socks, sports bra, sports undies, running shoes, hat, sunglasses, hydration belt, feathers.
  • Early breakfast and hydration: cold water with Nuun Energy + rolled oats with soymilk and half of a banana + a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter.
  • Race nutrition: 3 packets of Gu in Campfire S’mores, 3 packets of Gu in Roctane Sea Salt Chocolate, one 18-oz bottle of water mixed with Gu Roctane Energy Drink Mix in Tropical Fruit AND one Gu Stroopwafel in Caramel Coffee.
  • Post-race hydration and nutrition: water mixed with Nuun and various fruits and nutrition / protein bars. Though there was a post-race festival with food, it was heavy on the meat, which doesn’t fly when you’re a vegetarian. My plan was to rest, hydrate, snack and then head back to the Airbnb to eat a more solid meal.
  • Side note: I’ve used Gu and Nuun throughout my training cycles and I’m a hardcore believer in those brands and products. I STRONGLY prefer Gu’s chocolate-flavored energy gels, including the Gu Roctane Chocolate Coconut energy gel. I tried to get into the fruity flavored gels but I just couldn’t – chocolate all the way! That being said, these are products that work for me and everyone has specific needs so test and test again and determine what best works for you.

I felt like a ball of nerves on race day. I got dressed, I drank my water with Nuun, I ate my breakfast, I did some warmup / mobilization drills, I had help from a friend with braiding my hair and adding the feathers & then we were off. It was in the upper 40s that morning so I was shivering as I waited for the race to begin. As we were waiting, we heard a crash and then there was a wave of dread that moved through the group as we realized that a car had just hit a cyclist. I don’t know details of what happened, but my biggest recommendation for the race director is that they need more signage and more lights to let cars on the road know what’s going on – we were gathered just past the crest of a small hill so if you’re flying down the road, you’re going to come up on a decent size group of people real fast.  I do know that the cyclist was responsive after the accident so I hope that they ended up being okay.

There was no big fanfare after the start – a person at the starting line just instructed us to run through the poles that would recognize our chip to ensure that it recorded our starting time. I started off slow in the first couple of miles since we were going uphill and then got to enjoy a slight downhill until about mile 8. I slowed down again as we started going uphill and then fought to maintain my goal pace for the next 10 miles since it was relatively flat. This race was such a mental test – much more than physical. In the beginning I had to fight the urge to run faster and get carried away with all the folks who were flying out. When I hit the half marathon mark I felt pumped because it was now officially longer than I had run continuously for a race. My husband and my friends were also there to cheer me on, which was a huge morale boost. And then the struggles happened…

Once the sun got stronger, I felt so grateful for my hat and my sunglasses. I was grateful for the hydration I carried for myself. I was even more grateful that I planned smart and wore the right amount of layers – I saw people on the course wearing ONLY long-sleeve shirts and long leggings even though the high was going to be in the low 70s. I think that wearing a hat and sunglasses can make a world of difference when it comes to reducing the kind of mental fatigue you can begin to experience from having the bright West Texas sun beating down on you relentlessly. Because it is ruthless.

I think it was at around mile 18 or so that I first started feeling the middle toe on both feet cramp up. Why the middle toe? I’m not entirely sure, but I suspect it was perhaps a combination of needing more water and/or electrolytes. I had planned on taking a couple of Gu Roctane salt pills immediately before the race, but ultimately forgot them. I think I also tend to have very active toes when I run, so it might be a matter of working on my toe grip strength so they don’t cramp up during my next race. 

The people holding signs and cheering folks were angels. The people volunteering at the water stops were angels. I don’t remember her face, but I remember the woman who told me at one of the stops to slow down and breathe so that I could get the water safely down. At one of the stops, I asked for water, then Gatorade, then more water, but not to drink it – to pour it on my head – which drew some laughter from the people there. I remember the man at another water stop who urged us to keep going, to not stop, that we could do it. I remember the single tree by the side of the road that provided shade as I passed under and how much I relished all two seconds of that cool shade. I remember listening to the voice messages from my niece and nephews wishing me good luck and telling me that they loved me and drawing so much strength and courage from that. I remember willing my toes with all of my heart to stop cramping so that I could push through it. And I remember that final stretch of road heading into town. I was so ready to finish and I was so tempted to stop and walk but I could see the finish line and I knew that I had to keep going. 

After I crossed the finish line I felt so shaky that I had to ask one of my friends to fill my bottle with water so that I could hydrate. I walked to an open grassy area and sprawled out on the ground and just said “I feel so wrecked” and I asked my husband “do I really want to run an ultramarathon too”? My little toes on both feet are what hurt the most, of all things! One little toenail eventually turned black but it’s back to normal now – no toes or toenails were lost in the making of this journey. My shoulders were also incredibly (and strangely) sore, presumably from all of my vigorous arm swinging.

When I visualized myself crossing the finish line, I thought I would get really emotional but I think I was already so emotionally, mentally and physically spent that I just did not have the capacity to cry in that moment. The crying came later. It hit me when we stopped by the starting line that was sprayed on the road on our way out of Marathon. It hit me when I took a picture by the Marathon 26 sign by the road. And I felt so incredibly proud of myself in a way that I don’t know I’ve ever felt before. I tested my limits and proved to myself that I could make what felt like an unbelievable dream become something real.