“The starting point of all achievement is desire”

Picture courtesy of Glenn Schofield

I set a goal back in December: Break 3 hours in the marathon. At the time my PR was a 3:06:55. I knew I was asking a lot of myself. I’d only have 3 months, and I’d have to run ~15 seconds per mile faster than I’d ever run before…and do it for 26.2 miles. Shaving 7 minutes off of my personal best time would not come easy. I was going to have to work REALLY hard for it. But I’m a dreamer and I’ll always shoot for the stars even if I fall short. I’d rather try and fail than not try at all….I have my parents to thank for that. 

I weighed my race options and narrowed it down to two: I’d attempt sub-3 at the Go! St. Louis Marathon in April (at the National Black Marathoners Association Summit) or I’d do my hometown race, the OneCity Marathon. Anyone close to me knows how special the One City Marathon is to me. It’s more than just some race I’ve won twice. It’s in my hometown, on the streets I run through every day. It’s where I met my wonderful sponsors Point 2Running Company and Flat-Out Events. And it’s really what connected me to the running and bike community in Hampton Roads. Choosing One City was a no brainer. But I’m not going to lie, it’s scary coming back to a race you’ve won before. There’s added pressure and high expectations of winning again. But I'll never not do a race out of fear of losing. 

 

Lucky for me, I have an awesome coach that was totally on board with my goal. Not once did she ever say “that’s a bit of a reach.” She designed a plan that would put me in the best position to run sub-3. I just needed to execute. Let me tell you .. those freakin workouts were HARD!! She designed them to play to my strengths. I like to negative split – go out conservative through the first half of the race and then run much faster over the second half. Here’s an example of one of my toughest workouts:

20 minutes warmup easy pace

15 minutes at 7:00 mile pace
20 minutes at 6:45 mile pace
30 minutes at 6:30 mile pace
20 minutes at 6:15 mile pace

20 minutes easy cool down

And of course speed work…I HATE speed work!! Wanted to kill her every time I saw it on my training log.

15 minute warmup
5 minutes of dynamic exercises

4 X 400 on 1:25 with 1 minute rest
4 X 800 on 2:50 with 1 minute rest
3 X 1600 on 5:40 with 2 minutes rest

20 minutes EASY cool down

And no, I did not hit all of those splits. In fact, most of my splits were nowhere near those times. Often times I found myself laying on the turf beside the track gasping for air thinking “there’s no way on God’s green earth that my butt is getting under 3 hours on March 12th.” But you know what? A funny thing happened…I got fitter and faster each week and my body began to adapt #PatienceIsKey #BeConsistent

The Mind

Two weeks before the big day I began to unravel emotionally. I had fears. Fears of losing, fears of not reaching my time goal, and fears of disappointing those closest to me. I wanted so badly for everything to go right. I had invested three months into one race. I had even put triathlon on the backburner. Not to say I wasn’t swimming and biking regularly. I was. But you can only dedicate so much time to two other disciplines when you’re specifically training for a marathon. I began to have a lot of doubts. The goal was to go out in 1:31 and come back right under 1:29. This began to sound outlandish. I had only run 2 half marathons last year and they were both in 1:28. And here I was expecting to run a ~1:29 after running 13.1 miles!!

I tried to be confident. I tried to believe in myself. But it got worse and worse and worse. And then came the newspaper article…there were a slew of super fast women coming to race One City. Some of them were 15 minutes faster than me! And let me tell you it’s no fun seeing the list of entrants and even reading that someone wants to break your course record. Oh gosh…it was brutal. But this is when you rely on those closest to you…to talk you off of the ledge (Thank you Sheedy haha). My Coach also got me in touch with a mental prep coach for athletes. It was a God-send. I learned how to channel my thoughts and visualize how I wanted my race to go. But one of the most valuable things I learned was that everything I was feeling was completely normal and that nothing was wrong with it!

The Turning Point

I was pretty much staying off social media heading into the race, but I decided to do one Facebook post. It was a simple post. And it was an honest post. When I read it now, it reminds me how vulnerable I felt at that moment.

I couldn’t believe all the messages I received. Sometimes social media can actually be a blessing. I cried. I’m not even embellishing. I couldn’t believe how wonderfully encouraging everyone was. Plus I received amazing advice: Run your own race; don’t count yourself out; ignore rankings; focus on yourself and your goals.…and tons of well wishes. It reminded me that I’m one lucky woman to have so many genuinely kind and encouraging people in my life.

With Lisa Davis. One of the most humble women I’ve ever met. We had lunch the week before the race and I left totally inspired.

The 2017 One City Marathon

Sunday morning was frigid. With the windchill factor, it was below freezing. For me, the colder the better when it comes to marathons. I’m a northerner. I went to college right outside of Boston (Tufts University). I CAN handle the cold.

As I stood in the elite athlete tent at the start, I must have looked like a frightened deer in headlights. I will never forget this advice…Wayne (Parfitt) saw me and said: “Sika, it’s just you and your watch. Run your own race and everything will fall into place. Stick to your pace.” I kept repeating it over and over again…”just me and my watch…just me and my watch”. The horn blew and we were off. I went through the first mile super conservatively (7:05). I remember feeling grateful that the race was finally underway. No more second guessing, no more build up and anxiety. I could finally let it all go and race. I absolutely love to race. I hate everything I go through beforehand! But I 100% LOVE to race. It’s a chance to test your limits and see what you’re made of.

The race stringed out pretty quickly and I went through the second mile in 6:52, which was followed by another mile in 6:45. I was dropped by the top women and found myself in 6^th place. I knew if I had any shot at a sub-3 I’d have to scale back. And if I ran a smart race there was a chance that a couple women would come back to me over the last few miles. I went through the fourth mile in 7:07 and then I found my rhythm. I was running side by side with another runner so I asked him his goal. To my surprise he said sub-3. I couldn’t believe it. I had someone to work with! And to make things even better he said he had a secret weapon – one of his friends planned to meet him at mile 15 to pace him to the finish. PERFECT! I told him that my goal was to go through the half in 1:31, but I knew I’d have a better shot at breaking 3 if we stuck together.

“We’ve got a better chance of survival if we work together” (Gladiator) bahaha

Mile 5: 7:00

Mile 6: 6:55…I saw my co-worker and good friend Chandra on the corner and was super excited! She stood at the corner of Lucas Creek freezing her butt off at 7 am to cheer on Catherine (going after a Boston Qualifying time) and myself. Friends are the best!

Mile 7: 6:50…. Flat Out Events is a class act. They try to make it the best event possible for their athletes. This was the first time they had Elite Fluid Stations on the course. I was able to have my own electrolytes (I prefer EFS-PRO) at miles 7, 14, and 21. This was huge for me since I don’t train with Gatorade. As I approached the table I saw one lone bottle. It was mine. And it was kind of demoralizing. I felt bad for my bottle LMAO. But I was grateful. I took a few swigs and grabbed the Clif Shot I had attached to it.

This is what the table looked like. Imagine a little bottle on it .. looking lonely!

Miles 8-10 (6:55, 6:54, 6:56) weren’t so great. I felt like I was working pretty hard. And I began to doubt that I could even hold that pace for 16 more miles. The idea of running 6:30s/6:40s over the last 10K seemed unfathomable. I figured it was a bad patch (you will always go through them in the marathon) and that I would come out of it. As I approached the 10-mile marker people were screaming my name and cheering like crazy. It’s amazing what words of encouragement can do.

Thank you Rich for capturing this moment and getting the crowd to cheer me on! I'm actually smiling here :-)

I quickly climbed out of my funk and felt more in control. And I decided to break the marathon up into chunks in case I went through another bad spell. My next goal was to get to the halfway point.

Mile 11: 6:52

Mile 12: 6:58

Mile 13: 6:55

I made it through the first half marathon and I saw the clock: 1:30:30. My original plan was 1:31, but sometimes you have to make slight changes in your race plan in order to reach your final goal. I’d rather run slightly faster with someone than a little slower and working all by myself. I knew the next elite fluid station was coming up at 14 so that was my next focus: Relax and get to your fluids at 14 and then you’ll have a pacer at mile 15. Again, my neon green decorated bottle with a clif shot attached was the lonely sole sitting on the table (mile 14: 6:57).

The guy I was running with was right. His friend was waiting for him at mile 15 (6:58) and she hopped into the race. She was super friendly and looked really fit. Apparently she did the first leg of the relay and wanted to get more miles in. She had a 3:06 marathon to her name which was ironic since that was my PR. I was listening to them chat (they’re from Richmond) and it helped having the distraction. And then it hit me. Ugh .. it always happens. Mile freakin 16 (6:57). I don’t know what it is about that mile. I start feeling like I’m falling apart. I asked her if I could drop back and pace off of her. Sometimes it helps to shadow. You feel like you’re doing less work. I concentrated on her stride which was smooth and effortless and I tried to mimic it. I made it to mile 17 (6:59) and I spotted a female up ahead.

I knew I was coming up on the hardest part of the course - Boundary Blvd. It's the only time you have to deal with hills. I knew I'd have to press hard if I was going to continue hitting my splits so I decided to go out on my own and bridge the gap between myself and the next female (mile 18: 7:02).

I made my way to her and we were running side by side through mile 19 (6:54). She's a local runner stud. She's much faster than me but it was her first marathon. I encouraged her to stay strong. She asked what our projected time was at that point (I think it was ~3:02). We were coming up on mile 20 and I knew that this was where I'd have to make my ultimate move and full out race. Plus I had a secret weapon of my own. My friend Crystal - yes, the same one who helped me win last year - was meeting me at mile 20.

Crystal on the bike yelling the most encouraging words you can possibly think of.

Mile 20: 6:44

Mile 21: 6:37

Mile 22: 6:47....I started to feel like I was dying. Some people might think it's foolish to try to run your fastest splits at the end of the race on tired, achy legs. But this is what my coach prepared me to do. And this is why I think I run so well off the bike at the end of a Half Ironman. I told myself "this is just like practice...you've done this before." Ugh it was so hard though! I didn't think I could do it. Then John Piggott appeared! He has nearly 200 marathons under his belt and countless wins. He had raced as an elite in the 8K that took place that morning. I couldn't believe he actually came out on the course to help pace me. I turned my game face on and got to work. 

Following John

Mile 23: 6:43

With 5K to go I spotted another female FAR out in the distance. I glanced at my watch. I knew I'd have to run around a 19:40 5K if I was going to make it under 3 hours. Mile 24: 6:32. John was running so fast. I started to weave around the road. I was feeling delirious. He told me to "hug the cones." Of course in my totally effed up state I literally thought he was telling me to hug the orange cones on the road. But I put 2 and 2 together. He was running the tangents (shortest points on the course). I tried to do exactly what he was doing. Mile 25: 6:27. I was gaining on the woman ahead of me. If you are within eyesight I will do everything in my power to make it a race. I've learned time and time ago from triathlons...you can get off the bike 20 minutes behind, but if you can stay strong and run hard to the very end there is always the possibility of passing someone. 

As we made the last and final turn I passed her 400 meters from the finish line. I looked at the clock and I knew there was nothing I could do. I had ran my final mile in 6:11 and the clock ticked past 3 hours.

Official time: 3:00:06

I was devastated. I know some people will shake their head and tell me I should be proud but at that moment there was no consoling me. Elizabeth was the first person I saw when I crossed the finish line and all I could do was cry. And then I saw Rich and cried some more. It's not that I wasn't proud of my performance. I went from 20th place at mile 14 to 11th place at the finish line. I gave it all I had. I truly left it out there on the course. But that's what hurts. The fact that I gave it my all and it wasn't good enough.

 

What I will take away from this race is how truly blessed I am to have the people in my life that I do. I can’t find the words to express the gratitude I have for my friends and family.

Catherine qualified for BOSTON!! Super proud of her. A perfectly executed race.

Thank you Rich for being our "sherpa". Getting up at the crack of dawn to make sure we got to the start. Driving all over the course to cheer. For letting us get drunk and being our DD.

Live life to the fullest and reach for the stars.

This will be my last marathon for awhile. I have big dreams of turning pro in the Triathlon. I have a lot of work to do in the pool and on the bike. Plus I have the opportunity to represent Virginia / Maryland Triathlon Series this summer and I couldn't be more psyched. Up next: I'll be running in the elite division at the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon and participating in the National Black Marathoners Association Summit next month. But this one will be run on very tired legs since I'll be in a full block of tri training. And then it's on to a season of triathlons.