Kellett's Korner: Phoenix Marathon

The Phoenix Marathon was a great race. From start to finish the entire experience was fantastic. The race started early at 6:30 AM so I was up by 3:30 AM to catch a bus to the starting line. The race began in the Usery Mountains of Mesa which were beautiful but a little chilly. Fortunately the race directors had fired up lots of heaters and bonfires so I spent the pre-race hours huddled around the heat along with hundreds of other runners. As I was chatting with a few people, many were surprised I had come all the way from Boston for the race. I told them it's pretty hard to find a race in the Northeast with decent weather in the winter and they began to understand!

When it was time to start, the race directors set off lots of fireworks which looked especially neat in the early morning hours. I was thrilled to get running and see what the course had in store.

The first half of the race was my favorite--lots of downhill, lots of adrenaline, and cool temps. The only unfortunate hiccup I ran into was accidentally shorting out my right ear bud at mile 2 so I had to run with one working earphone the WHOLE race. I met my parents at mile 14 for a new water bottle and was feeling strong and confident. I was shocked by how fast the first half had flown by and I hoped it would continue that way. As I made a left turn after seeing my parents I faced a massive headwind. The weather forecast was calling for rain and wind so I was expecting the wind to hit at some point, but I was definitely surprised at how strong it was (I finished before the rain came though). Fortunately I learned from Baystate to get behind a tall man and conserve energy as much as possible. I stuck to that plan and it worked well for the stretches that the wind was in our face. The wind was definitely still mentally challenging and unfortunately did slow me down, but I think I managed it as best as I could.

During the second half of the race I was still feeling strong, but I could tell my quads were worn out from the downhill and nerves, and I was having trouble fueling while running because my mouth was extremely dry. I had to stop to fuel and stretch a few times, but I figured it was a short term loss for a long term gain. I definitely hit a mental wall around mile 18 as the miles seem to pass slower and slower. I kept my legs moving though and soon enough I remember coming up to mile 23. At this point I told myself, "You trained through the worst winter in Boston history--this is nothing! Suck it up and finish!". I caught a bit of a second wind for the last three miles and finished my last mile at 8:20 pace.

At the finish line I couldn't have been more excited to see my family and friends. They helped me finish strong and getting hugs from them brought tears to my eyes. I was a little disappointed by my time 3:35.25, only because I needed to be under 3:35 to qualify for the Boston Marathon. It was still a best time for me though and a really great race. I learned a lot about racing and what strategy works for me and I'm excited to run another one! My time did auto qualify me for the Chicago Marathon though so I'm looking forward to that race in October. For now I'm happy with how things came together and I'm hungry to train (in the sun!!) and get faster!