Prairie Fire: Pre-Race Prep and Panic

Part 2 of the Prairie Fire series!

Going into any race, I typically have pace plans and a general strategy.  However, race plans can never be 100% complete ahead of time since there are variables that I won't know about until I get into the race - a big one of which is the pace and positioning of other runners in the event.  I always look at past results of an event to gauge whether I'll be likely to have other runners around me or not.  Most of the races I run have pretty thin (sometimes nonexistent) fields at the paces I run, and I've gotten a lot better at pushing myself when running alone, but there is a lot to be said for pacing with others, especially in longer races!

Pre-race with our "lucky" bib numbers

I typically don't get super nervous before races, which I think is related to having run so many over the past 24+ years and to understanding that I'll always do my best on a given day and that's the most anyone can do.  The main pre-race stress I had before Prairie Fire was related to whether or not I'd have other runners to pace with.  I started thinking a lot about this 6 days prior to the race, on Monday.  I knew that historically there had not been that many runners under 3:00 there (and for those that were, some were way under and all of them spread out quite a bit), and that the field would likely be thin at the pace I planned to run.  There would be a chance I'd be running alone during the race.  But, they had 3:00 pace group, so I thought maybe I'd start with the group.  I researched their strategy a bit, and the general information I got was that they were going to start with 7:10, 7:00, 7:00 for the first 3 miles, then settle into about 6:50 pace for the remainder (with some tiny variations for the slight elevation changes on the course).  They were also going to aim to get in the high 2:59s (because who wants to run a 3:00:00 marathon?!).  While that seemed smart and like it would work, it was also 40 seconds behind pace at mile 3.  It was enough to make me uneasy, even though I knew that no one ever said, “Oh, gee, I wish I’d run the first 3 miles of my marathon faster!”

I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I should plan to run with the 3:00 group, and also talked to my coach about it.  His advice was to start with a couple of miles at 7:00, then go down to 6:50-6:55 until mile 10, then down to 6:45-6:50 for the remainder (he also gave me more exact splits that added up to 2:59:36).  He said if I ran with the 3:00 group I would be fine so long as I came through the half no slower than 1:30:20.  He also reminded me that I shouldn't count on the pacers, because they were only human and could be having a bad day.  On Monday when all of this information-exchanging was happening, I never really decided whether or not to run with the pace group, but kind of left it at wondering whether or not it was worth those 40 seconds at the beginning (really just 20-30, because I’d run the first mile 7:00-7:10 anyhow) to potentially have a group to run with.

Then on Tuesday, I checked Prairie Fire's Facebook page, as they'd had a lot of good race-week updates that I looked at most days in the week leading up to the event.  They'd added photos of the pacers, so I thought I would see who would be pacing my potential group.  There was no 3:00 group - it changed to 2:57!  I learned from other's comments that the race dropped all of the pace groups by 3 minutes in order to help with Boston qualifying times (since you really need to be 3 minutes under your standard to get in now), even for the groups this was irrelevant for like the 3:00 group.  While this made very little sense for the 3:00 group, it was a sweeping across the board change.  I also couldn't believe they make that change 5 days before the race!

I had liked the idea of the 3:00 group because I could press ahead if I felt good, but hang with them the whole way if I didn't.  I didn't like the idea of a 2:57 group, because I knew I didn't want to go out aggressively.  So at that point I decided I was for sure going at it alone, and then my pre-race panic really subsided.  I guess that trying to plan what I couldn't plan was stressful, but once I accepted that I was going to run my race and just hope I had others around me, I felt better.  I wrote a panicky post on Monday and Tuesday that I never published because it made me seem nuts, haha!  Tuesday evening through race morning was mostly worry-free.  Some of the things I thought I'd be worried about -- a big one being the illness I had 10 days out from the race -- I chose to just not think about!

I still visited the pace group table at the expo to see what strategy the 2:57 group had planned, in case maybe I could run the first half with them or something.  Their strategy was basically a slower first 5 miles, 16 miles in the 6:30s, then a slower final 5 miles.  This information made me more confident I was making the right decision by not running with them (plus the guys at the table were kind of rude; they were not the 2:57 leaders, but they acted like I didn't have any business looking at a sub-3:00 pace plan or mentioning that I didn't want to bank time like that group planned).  I'd made my pace band (shown here), and knew if I stuck to it, I would actually be ahead of the 2:57 group for the first few miles, then they would pass me when they dropped to 6:30s.

I really like having people to run with, so knowing I could be out there alone was a little disconcerting, especially since I had a pace partner for all of my 3:0X marathons (two of those were planned, my friends Jamie and Liz in Dallas and Portland; one was Julie who I met and came to adore over the 16 miles we ran side by side, and two were female lead cyclists at Bass Pro!).  I hoped that I would find someone running a similar strategy and pace to me out on the course.  I also knew we would run the first 6.5ish miles with the half marathoners, and also pick back up with the half runners a couple of other times later in the course, which could be a good or bad thing (good having people to pass, bad if they were blocking the way). 

Aside from all of this pace group analyzing, I otherwise did my usual pre-marathon things with relative calmness.  I followed my scheduled taper, I aimed to sleep a little extra every night in the week leading up to the event, I emphasized carbs on Thursday and Friday and ate normally but lower fiber on Saturday.  I tried to sleep an awful lot of Friday night, planning to not sleep a great deal on Saturday night.  I sipped electrolyte drink throughout the day on Saturday.  I wore compression socks while traveling and laying around, I foam rolled as usual, and I did legs up the wall pose on Saturday and not much else (seriously, all I did on Saturday was run 2.2 miles with some strides, go to the race expo, and lay around my parents' house).  I prepared all of my gear and gels, which I'd packed and double checked multiple times during the week leading up to the race.  I even slept pretty well the night before, going to bed at 8:30 p.m. and sleeping from about 9:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m.  

My race day alarm was set for 5:30 a.m., and I rested until about 5:15 a.m.  I then got up and had my pre-race 2 scoops of Generation Ucan with almond milk and an electrolyte drink, got dressed, Vaselined my feet, etc.  My family was out the door by 6:20 a.m. and parking at the race site around 6:45 a.m., prior to the 7:30 a.m. start.  I did my typical pre-race routines with regards to a couple of bathroom trips (I was super well-hydrated!), and also jogged a warm-up mile at the advice of my coach (I took it really easy, it was around 8:30 pace).  I ran into a couple of friends who were running, took pictures with my family, did last minute leg swings and drills, debated whether or not to start in arm warmers or a shirt, decided I was fine in my racing outfit of a sports bra and shorts with gloves at 52 degrees and light wind, and got to the starting line ready to do it and hoping I could execute my plan and somehow glorify God through my race.

With my awesome friend Tanya pre-race (she ran a half PR!)

Great shot my mom took of the start and sky - thankful for cloud cover

I am in serious contemplation about the arm warmers here

In the starting corral before the final call