Eat Drink Run Woman

Given all the hubbub over that little race I ran last month (the one that starts in Hopkinton), I’ve neglected to mention the other races I have planned for the year.  I’ll update you in another post, but wanted to share my thoroughly enjoyable experience at this year’s Tacoma City Marathon held this past Sunday, May 3.

I had no intention of running the race — I had chosen the Capital City Marathon in Olympia for my May race — but I’m easily swayed by fellow Marathon Maniacs.  When I mentioned CCM to one of them, his reply?  “That course sucks!  You should run Tacoma.”  However, another Maniac came to CCM’s defense, so of course I signed up for BOTH of them.

For those of you looking for a Washington state race, I highly recommend TCM.  Sure, the fact we had absolutely gorgeous weather certainly increased my enjoyment, but it’s a very well-organized, Maniac-centric race (the race director is Tony, Maniac #3).

In its third year, TCM is known for its hills, but also for its spectacular views of Commencement Bay (Tacoma is about 35 miles south of Seattle).  It’s small (237 finishers this year, although at least double that run the half marathon), and there aren’t a lot of spectators.  But what it lacks in crowd support it more than makes up for in volunteers.  They truly are fantastic.

Since Boston took a lot out of me, I ran TCM as a slow training run.  Going in I thought I could possibly pull off a 4:30 time, but I certainly wasn’t going to push it.  I ran/walked with my fellow Maniac Marie (we’d take a .1 mile walk break every mile marker, as well as walk through all the water stops).  She had just run a 50K on April 19, so she too wasn’t interested in a particular time.  We chatted throughout the course and the miles seemed to fly by.

Various parts of my body started talking to me from the get-go, but nothing was severe enough for me to stop.  During some of my long runs I’ve been getting some pain in my groin, and it was particularly prominent on the downhill sections (it felt like my body would split in two.  I’m no doctor, but I don’t think that’s a good thing).  Fortunately Marie didn’t mind slowing our pace even more.  However, I found once I hit the uphill portions and my hamstrings could take over some of the work, I was fine.  In fact, I’d power up the hills and then would wait for Marie at the top.

Just before the halfway point I saw a sign, “106 miles to Chicago.”  WTF?  I had no idea what it meant.  But when I saw the second sign, “We have a full tank of gas,” and then the third, “And a half pack of cigarettes” I knew what was up ahead.  Soon I heard the opening bars of the “Blues Brothers” theme music and then saw the members of the Interurban Runners Club in full Blues Brothers regalia.  I don’t know how I managed it, but I started the high-stepping dance of Jake and Elwood (uphill, no less!) to the thrill of the volunteers.

As I mentioned, we really dodged a bullet with the weather.  Rain was predicted all week, and we were caught in a downpour as we drove down to packet pick-up the day before.  But race day dawned and it was blue sky with just a few clouds.  Figuring it would be cool and/or rainy, I wore my Boston race shirt with my Maniac wind-breaker over it.  But just before the start I ditched the jacket; clearly rain was not in the forecast.

We got hit with a bit of wind during some stretches, but overall the weather was perfect.  The cherry trees were in full bloom, as were the tulips.  The course winds through several residential sections, but the homeowners were quite welcoming, encouraging us from their porch fronts.

At mile 24 the course heads downhill, and I decided I’d run it in.  It was gradual enough not to aggravate my groin, or perhaps it was simply a matter of the runner’s high masking my pain.  Either way, I managed to pick up the pace considerably.  At mile 25 I spied another fellow Maniac, Rick, ahead of me.  He and I typically leap-frog each other in races (I normally beat him in the end), and I decided I was going to catch him.  But despite running mile 26 in 8:46 and the final .35 miles at a 7:31 pace, he was too speedy (I believe I finished about 20 seconds behind him).  Just as I was rounding the last bend I saw my husband cheering me in, which provided enough of a boost for me to sprint to the finish (4:41:49).  No. 16 in the bag!

The best part?  Pizza and beer at the end!  Mind you, the beer was Michelob Ultra (the race sponsor) and the pizza was from Domino’s, but they both tasted like manna from Heaven to me.

I’m already signed up for next year’s race (it’ll be the Maniac reunion and will feature Dick Beardsley as guest speaker the night before).  I hope to see you there!