Few things in life match the thrill of the marathon: More from Mesa-Phoenix

There is so much in my head and heart following the BMO Mesa-Phoenix Marathon that I don't think I can ever get it all on paper (or on screen as the case may be!).  As difficult as it is, I'm trying to refrain from writing a million posts about about this race (no promises)!  I wanted to mention a few more things, if only to look back upon myself (e.g., I won't be offended if no one reads this post!). 

Smiles for miles with the finishing clock in sight

I am thankful for absolutely everything about this experience, and I am so thankful to have run a marathon I don't feel the need to put an * by.  Although I was very happy to break 3 hours for the first and second times in my 2016 marathons, I wanted to * them.  As in:  Prairie Fire* (*was in Urgent Care on an IV and unable to stand without passing out 10 days before the race; ran 20 miles of the race completely solo), and Bass Pro** (**a wrong turn plus correction cost me a 2:57 -- I still beat myself up about this error today -- and I was 28 days off of Prairie Fire).  Also *** on both of them (***courses had approximately one million turns).  I just felt like I could do better.  I don't feel that way about Phoenix.  That is an elusive and wonderful feeling about race day -- and not to be confused with thinking I cannot do better in the future, as I think I can with increasing my mileage -- but this one couldn't have gone any better really.  As someone who rarely feels this way about performances, how on earth was I fortunate enough to feel like this about two races in a row?!  Clearly I need to race exclusively in Arizona.

I didn't even know I was standing in front of the wings for this one!

I loved the race course.  After my 2016 marathons, a friend asked me jokingly when I was going to stop messing around running crappy marathon courses and go get a major PR.  At that point I already had Phoenix planned, but I soon after really learned what a difference courses can make when I ran the White River Half and the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half.  I run best on courses without many turns, and elevation changes of course come into play.  It was wonderful to run a fast marathon course!  After the race I saw this post from the winner, Polina Carlson (a pro runner for Brooks from Hawaii), on Instagram.  She said "The course wasn't easy", which intrigued me.  I wouldn't call any marathon "easy", as racing all-out for any distance should never be easy, but Phoenix was by far the best marathon course I've run.  In an effort to scout for future marathons, I asked her what courses she liked better, and she said Grandma's.  My coach also highly recommends that one and it's been on my radar for awhile.  Grandma's 2018 for me it is (don't think I wasn't tempted for it in June 2017, 16 weeks after Phoenix, but I'll explain why I'm waiting later)!

Final straight

Speaking of the top women, I was 6th overall in the deepest field this race has ever had.  Most past year's winning times were 2:50-2:51, and my 2:49 would have won all past years except for two (it would have been 2nd and 3rd in those), so going into this event Jon and I thought that if I ran my goal time I'd have a chance at placing in the top 3 overall.  It ended up that I had no chance of that, but how inspiring to see amazing fast women out there!  When I placed 4th overall at Prairie Fire and saw the top 3 ladies there run 2:50-2:51, I was awestruck and inspired by them, and also thought I'd never run that kind of time.  Never say never!  Women in Phoenix in 2017 put up a really good showing, with 15 going sub-3:00 and then 4 more running 3:00:XX.

There is one thing I did that none of the 5 women ahead of me did, though, and that was negative split!  Check out the half splits in the results below.  The "20 mile" mat was in the wrong place -- I passed the actual 20 mile mark on the course in 2:10:05 -- so everyone's  20 mile split is slow and final 10K split is fast (closer to 20.2 and final 6).  However, check out my overall rankings:  I finished 27th overall (men and women), but my first 13.1 was 49th place in the field and my second 13.1 was 20th place in the field.  And my final 10K/6 miles was 12th!  I am really proud that I ran a smart race.  When I finished my fast finish 24 mile training run with a 6:17 mile, I said that I really hoped I could finish my marathon with a final mile that strong...and I finished it in 6:10, so mission accomplished.

Results

My details

The awards ceremony was a lot of fun!  After several athletes struggled to climb up the stairs to the stage or onto the podiums (or didn't even try the podium), they started announcing that you didn't have to go up there.  I was adamant that I was of course going up there!  Climbing up was fine, but going down wasn't easy -- but it was all worth it for the photo op.

I'm a dork, but this dork won AG 35-39

Another wonderful part about post-race was the people!  I met "Bangle" (Brad) for the first time after years of interacting on the Runner's World community and the subsequent Facebook group -- and after he ran a smokin'  half marathon!  I crashed the Oklahoma City crew that adopted me into their group after a mutual friend connected us.  I ran around in awe with my super supportive husband, who even in his general pessimism about both his own running and my running, never doubted me in this race (or at least never said it out loud!).  He is so amazing to make this trip with me, wait around for hours while I was bussed to the starting line and ran, and then humor all of my photograph requests post-race (there were a lot of those!)!

Best husband ever

OKC crew

The famous Bangle even let me keep stretching my hip flexors during the photo shoot!

Anytime our plans don't work out, God has better ones, although often we don't understand how exactly this all pans out.  I mentioned this here in regards to Phoenix 2016 -- I was entered in this race in 2016, but a tendon strain resulted in me pulling out of it.  It was very disappointing, but now I see what a blessing it was to go this year instead.  Last year it was hot for the race, and this year's temperatures were perfect.  I was also in much better shape this year.  I probably could have snuck by just under 3:00 last year, but not by much, and I am so glad I ran 2017 instead!  I can't wait to see what He has in store for me next - in running and in life.  He has sure given me some pleasant surprises and gifts that I never even knew I wanted or needed thus far!

If I had to sum up the entire race in one word, it would be "joyful".  I ran with joy and thankfulness the entire way.  PR or no PR, that's a great way to spend 26.2 miles.

Joy

Finally, a shout-out to Meggan Franks, who was the 3rd female in a smokin' PR of 2:45.  She is now gunning to make Canada's Ultra Team in the 50K!  I am uber-inspired by her especially considering she is a full-time working mom!

If you want to read about something even more exciting that happened on February 25, head over to my friend Liz's blog and read about Jeremy's Survival Run and the related stories.  I was sorry to miss this event, as Liz and her entire family are some of the greatest people you'll ever meet,  and her brother Jeremy has made a miraculous recovery after being hit by a truck and trailer while running last year.