Venture outside your comfort zone: the rewards are worth it! KSellers88’s Journal (Comments Welcome)

[DopeyBadger]

It's interesting then and I think something you could track moving forward (if you want). Clearly your pace vs HR situation has improved quite a bit. That's a major step towards getting faster because your heart can work less for the same pace.

 

[KSellers88]

Snickers Marathon Race Recap

Hello everyone! Long time, no posting in this journal. I debated on posting here or not since I haven't updated in so long, but so many of you played such a big part in my training for previous races and have encouraged me so I wanted to provide an update. I also thought we could all use a break from the craziness of Coronavirus, which is reeking havoc on so many people's race plans and makes me sad/relieved that mine squeaked in prior to the cancellations.

I ran the Snickers Marathon in Albany, GA last Saturday (March 7). As most of you know, I've been trying to break the 4 hour mark in the marathon for a while now and this was my 4th attempt at getting it done.

We got to Albany Friday afternoon and after realizing there's literally nothing to do there, we went to the expo, picked up Papa John's and just hung out at the hotel. I woke up before my alarm on Saturday, ate breakfast and walked across the street to the start line. As usual for me, I made a horrible decision and hopped in a porta-potty right before the start, which is where I was when the starting gun went off. I was able to tuck in behind the 4:30 hour pace group by the time I got out and just decided not to worry about running with a group and do my own thing.

Miles 1-20 were pretty steady overall, great weather (40-50 degrees and little wind), but the course was very curvy. It ended up adding an additional .3 miles to my total, even with running the tangents as best as I could. I was on my own for the majority of the race. Even though it is a top BQ race, there are still only around 500-700 finishers. Missing starting with the 4 hour group probably hurt me a bit, but you live and learn.



At mile 20, I was supposed to speed up a little which went well until mile 24 when the wheels started to fall off. I was eating my energy chews out of my handheld water bottle when they flew out and hit the ground. I knew I couldn't stop and pick them up and keep moving so I left them and decided to just eat my last Huma gel, until I dropped that too and it flew into a sewer. This is when I started to have some really negative thoughts and wanted to just give up, but I knew I was SO close to that 4 hour mark so I got over myself and got my butt back in gear.


The final 1.5 miles were my fastest miles of the entire run. I passed my husband right at mile 26, rounded the corner and saw the finish line. The clock still had a 3 in front of it, but by the time I crossed the line it read 4:00:32. Based on chip time and my watch though, I finished in 3:59:34 and FINALLY got that elusive sub-4!





I think if there had been more people in this race, more course support or if I had been able to run with a group it would have been more than a 26 second buffer. I am just very excited I finally got it done. I can't thank you all enough for your support over the years, especially @DopeyBadger who has provided countless training plans and support over the last 4 years. I didn't follow one of those plans this time, but I know without building on his plans I would not have been able to get it done.



I plan to take a bit of a break from marathons again (it's been almost 1.5 years since my last one and I enjoyed the break), but I'll be riding this runner's high for a while! Thanks again to everyone for believing in me and providing support all this time!

 

[TeeterTots]

Wow!!! Congratulations! Job well done! You deserve this! We’ve missed you! Best to you in the future!!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

So impressive and so happy for you! You've been working on this for so long and you deserve it! I was waiting for the results to come in with abated breath. I'm so so so happy you were able to get to do the race before everything went down in the world. You put in a tremendous amount of training and you deserved the opportunity and accomplishment.

 

[SarahDisney]

I was so excited when I saw the result! I know how much sub-4 meant to you and how hard you worked to reach the goal, and I'm really happy for you. Congrats! You deserve all of the Sprite and Reese's PB cups.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

Congrats on the sub-4!

 

[avondale]

Congratulations! Way to stick with your plan when there were some issues toward the end. The hardest part is at the end, and you crushed it!

 

[KevM]

Awesome! Congratulations on sub 4!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Amazing job!

 

[disneygpa]

Wow!!! Amazing job! Congrats on the sub 4!

 

[KSellers88]

Wow!!! Congratulations! Job well done! You deserve this! We’ve missed you! Best to you in the future!!!!

Thank you so much! Updating weekly got to be too much, but I will continue to be around!

So impressive and so happy for you! You've been working on this for so long and you deserve it! I was waiting for the results to come in with abated breath. I'm so so so happy you were able to get to do the race before everything went down in the world. You put in a tremendous amount of training and you deserved the opportunity and accomplishment.

Thank you so much, Billy! Truly could not have done it without you and you are so right, I am so lucky my race squeaked in before the Coronavirus craziness.

I was so excited when I saw the result! I know how much sub-4 meant to you and how hard you worked to reach the goal, and I'm really happy for you. Congrats! You deserve all of the Sprite and Reese's PB cups.

Thank you so much! I've been eating plenty of those, LOL!

Congrats on the sub-4!

Thank you!

Congratulations! Way to stick with your plan when there were some issues toward the end. The hardest part is at the end, and you crushed it!

It definitely is, thank you so much!

Awesome! Congratulations on sub 4!

Thanks!!

Amazing job!

Thank you!

Wow!!! Amazing job! Congrats on the sub 4!

Thank you so much!