*note* This is an old race report that I’m adding. It currently sits on my website and I wanted it included in my blog archive. If you haven’t read it, then go ahead. This was Nikki’s first marathon! *end note*
Tecumseh Trail Marathon
Pre-Race: – The start time for this race is 10:00am, which is one of the nice things about this race. Even though you have to board the bus at 8:45am, the later start time allowed us to wake up a little bit later and not worry about getting our breakfast in. So Nikki and I woke up around 6:30am and started to drink our Ensure. We got ready and headed to the finish line to board the bus at 7:30am (which is later than many races start times!).
We boarded the bus at 8:45am and took the hour long bus ride to the start line. This is the first point-to-point race Iâve done. I liked it because the bus trip allowed me to meet a few runners, which is always nice. One thing I didnât know what to think about were the stories that past runners of the race were telling us. One of the guys told us to add an hour to our slowest marathon time to estimate our finish time for the race. Since this was Nikkiâs first marathon, we didnât know what to do? We had hoped that we could do 6 hours, but with that knowledge, I thought maybe 6:30 would be expected?
At the start we had to wait a little because three of the buses hadnât shown up, but the race only started several minutes late.
The Start: – The start was exciting as they always are, so I kept in mind that this was Nikkiâs first marathon. I also kept in mind our walk/run race strategy that I had used to develop Nikkiâs training plan. This was difficult at the start for both of us. At 10minutes I looked at Nikki and said âItâs time to walk.â She kind of looked funny and said, âalready.â âYep,â I said. So we started walking.
The discipline to walk at that point was tough because the trail was just starting and it was still flat terrain. I kept saying to myself that running the last 8 miles is more important today than running the first 8. Nikki looked at me and said â18 more to go,â which is a saying we developed in training that meant no matter how far we have run, always approach it like you have 18 more miles to run. I smiled and said, ânot quite yet.â
The race was advertised as a tough race. The hills were said to be something you wouldnât think of when you think of Indiana. There were reports we read about lots of stream crossings and log crossings; the runners we talked to on the bus ride to the start confirmed those reports. It is also December and the weather report called for rain or snow. Even with the mental preparation for these conditions, I will admit that this race was A LOT more difficult than I anticipated, even if the weather never turned awful. (Nikki said that she mentally prepared for the worst and that it wasnât as bad as what she thought it was going to be. I guess mental preparation and perception can change everything.)
Mile 13 âThe Hillâ: – As we went through the aid station around mile 12, I began looking for the âgigantic hillâ at the half-way point. Coming from Kentucky, I couldnât imagine that it would be worse than what Nikki and I trained on when we looked for hilly runs at home. I WAS WRONG! As we came around the bend, we caught a glance at a long line of runners snaking their way up this incline. The lady that we had been running with said, âIâd like to see you run up that.â The challenge was very tempting, especially because not a single person was jogging. Everyone was walking. But wisdom prevailed and we walked too. We took a look back from the top and the line of runners continued to stop and walk. It was pretty awesome to see what we had just accomplished and then realize we had 13 miles to go!
Mile 18: – There was an aid station around mile 18. Nikki and I stopped to get some Gatorade and food, plus I looked at my watch. It read approximately 3:40! âNikki,â I said, âwe can make it in 5 hours!â She responded, âWe would have to run 10 minutes miles, I donât want to think about it.â âYouâre right. Thatâs pretty quick, especially on the trails here. Letâs see where we are at when we get to mile 24.â
Mile 22: – We came to another aid station and Nikki kept saying she was feeling good, so we were not walking as much. I looked at my watch again and it read 4:20. I was hesitant to say anything to her again about time, but we had a continuous dialog at this point about how we felt running. The truth is that I think she was stronger at this point then I wasâ¦. But I was not about to tell her that!
Mile 25: – To be honest, I had given up on the time by this point because I thought the aid station was supposed to be at mile 24. And if we hadnât reach mile 24 by that point in time we were not even close to making 5 hours any more. As we ran down the hill towards the last aid station, the volunteer said âMile 25, one more mile to go!â I looked at my watch, 3:49. âNikki, we have 11 minutes.â She looked at me and said, âLetâs do it!â Then she took off running like she had just started a track meet. I grunted and begged, âThis is way too fast!â She smiled, âYouâre right, we could slow down.â
The Finish: – At 4:55 we started to run up the last hill, which hurt quite a bit with the effort we were putting in. But it also felt good because we were passing people pretty quickly and one of the other runners yelled out, âYou are going for 5 hours.â âWe are tryingâ I responded, trying to smile. I lost almost all hope by the time we got to the top of the hill though. We had less than 3 minutes to finish and the turn to the finish line was still quite a-ways-ahead. Running down the last stretch, I saw we had 30seconds to 5 hours. I wasnât into the sprint finish, knowing we were too far away, but as we got closer it seemed more and more possible. I grabbed Nikkiâs hand and said, âWe can do it!â We sprinted down the gravel road into the finisherâs lane and crossed at approximately 5:00:04! I havenât seen the official times yet, but Nikki did remind me later that because we started in the back of the starting pack, that by the time she started her watch at the start line we would have been under 5 hours. (Too bad they didnât have chip timing. Smile.)
It really doesnât matter to me, because we expected 6 to 6:30 anyway. Plus it was a great experience to complete this very challenging race, side-by-side with my wife. What a good experience for any newly married couple! I am also inspired by the dedication that Nikki had to the training program I developed. She admitted later that she was nervous that the longest she had run was 15 miles. It meant a lot to me that she trusted me as a husband and âcoachâ and didnât listen to all the nay-sayers that thought she should be running more.
She also asked me later that night, âso does that mean I could have run 4 hours at a normal marathon.â I smiled.
