2017 NMBA Summit / Go! St. Louis Half Marathon

With Jackie Joyner-Kersee! 

Meeting her was EVERYTHING. Running / Triathlon has brought me to amazing places and has given me the opportunity to meet some of the world’s most inspiring people. I will forever be grateful for my introduction to these sports. If you are contemplating doing a 5K, Marathon, Triathlon…don’t think. Sign up. Just do it. It will be worth it. I promise. The end.

As you can tell by that big smile on my face, my weekend in St. Louis, MO was awesome. It was filled with laughter, bonding, honoring….and a crappy race lol (more on this later). I had one goal: HAVE FUN. I’m usually all business. I have splits (hold 6:30s), time goals (1:24/25), and places (top 5 female) that I aim for. This time, I just wanted to socialize, catch up with friends that I only get to see once a year, attend the banquet, meet the Hall of Fame Inductees, and last but not least, not put too much pressure on myself to perform well in Sunday’s race. The last statement is laughable. I’m incapable of not putting pressure on myself. I can’t NOT test my limits every time I toe the line.

Representing NBMA

Thanks for the shirt Alex!! If you haven’t noticed, pink is my favorite color. I’m the girliest tomboy you will ever meet.

After checking into the hotel I did my usual “stock up on water/snacks, grab lunch, and browse the city” ritual. Unfortunately my legs were super sore (again, more on this later) so I decided to head back to my room and relax before heading to the race expo.

View from my room

The St. Louis Gateway Arch. Why do I always think of Nelly when I see this?

At the Expo w/ NBMA ladies

Always fun representing Point 2 and Flat-Out Events

In my quest to have fun I decided to drink wine and stay up late Friday evening. It was allll good until I woke up Saturday morning in a total panic. You would have thought I took a muscle relaxer that wouldn’t wear off for days. I was totally freaked out. I can’t remember the last time I drank so close to a race. Mission: Failed.

I had a short workout to do that morning so I jogged to the race course and did a quick tempo workout along the Mississippi River. I quickly noticed a few things: it was windy, way warmer than what I’ve been training / racing in, and my body was fatigued. I reached out to my Coach. She instructed me to find two or three people I could draft off of who could help block the wind and we also decided to scale back on my time goal – go out in 1:27 half marathon pace and see what I have left over the last 5 miles.

Saturday Night

The Annual Black Distance Hall of Fame and Awards Night did not disappoint. It’s such a pleasure to meet and honor those who have recently accomplished extraordinary things, and induct those who have paved the way for us. Highlight of my night: seeing Tony Reed get inducted! 

Thanks for the interview Timothy

With Lisa Davis and Isaiah Douglas

When you’re with these two it’s like you’re hanging with celebrities.

With Ella Willis

 

Youngest person, male or female, to win the Detroit Free Press Marathon. She’s run under 3 hours for the marathon more than 10 flipping times!!!!

And the moment you’ve been waiting for …. The Race

Marathon Recovery + Triathlon Training Fatigue = A Very Slow Sika

I’d prefer to not even talk about this race. Ugh so embarrassing. I hate making excuses! Nonetheless, my list of excuses are below ;-)

First excuse – I did the Newport News One City Marathon a few weeks ago. Not only did I race 26.2 miles, I gave every ounce of myself – mentally and physically. I literally left it all out there on that course. And you know what? It was worth it. It led to a nearly 7 minute PR and I came agonizingly close to breaking 3 hours (final time: 3:00:06). To put the time in perspective for my non-marathoner readers: to qualify for the Boston Marathon I would have to run under 3 hours and 35 minutes. A few weeks ago I ran about 35 minutes faster than the Boston Qualifying time. Now I don’t know about you but I can only give that level of effort a few times a year. I CANNOT do that every race. And I'm not rattling off my times to brag. I have friends that are way way faster than me. I'm just trying to paint a picture.

Excuse number 2 – I’m in the middle of a heavy block of triathlon training = fatigue and soreness. I did two workouts last week that left me physically depleted. The first was a 4,000 yd swim workout which included A LOT of 200 meter repeats at race pace. And the second workout really did me in. I did a super hard effort on the bike on Thursday. Not to get too technical…but it was a 20-minute Maximal Lactate Steady State (MLSS) interval to measure my FTP/Power on the bike. It pretty much mimics climbing a hill for 20 minutes straight. Needless to say, I woke up Friday morning incredibly sore. It was as if I had raced.

Last excuse – Work! Yes, that thing we must do to make money. I had a particularly busy / stressful week at the office. Lots of organizational changes going on. Plus I have a laundry list of projects I’m working on. Thank goodness I love my job.

My new CycleOps Hammer Trainer

I’m working with TrainerRoad this season to help develop my bike fitness. This is the first time I’ve trained with a power meter. It’s a learning curve but I’m excited to see how well I progress over the next couple of months.

Start of the race....

All I could think was "this was a bad idea...a very very bad idea." You see...my previous race time got me into the elite field. Which means I was starting with some very fast, talented runners. With prize money on the line and looking at past results I knew that there was a small chance I could place well. Physically I'm in the best shape of my life so of course a small part of me thought that I could run through the pain and come away with a time in the 1:24 range.  

Here I am thinking "oh $h*#"

Could I look anymore tense??!!

My Dad says I look like a buff Ethiopian hahaha!!

Starting with the elites is a unique experience, but in this case it probably wasn't a good idea. We started a few minutes before the rest of the thousands of participants. Because there were so few of us and I wasn't fast enough to keep up with the women I practically ran alone for 13.1 miles. Within the first mile we had to run up a pretty steep hill. I knew IMMEDIATELY I was in trouble and that this was going to be a LONGGGGGGGGG race. As you can see from my splits below I struggled to find any semblance of a rhythm. 

The course was deceptively hilly (net incline). And my freakin legs were in agony. Every time I saw a hill I pretty much wanted to cry!! It’s a good thing that the race didn’t go by my hotel because I totally would have peeled off the course and gone straight to my room. Had I not been in the middle of downtown St. Louis for the majority of the race I would have shamefully dropped out. At one point in the race, I think it was near mile 6, a (black) guy shouted “you go my sista”. I was too messed up to even respond. But of course in my head I was thinking “dude, believe me, you don’t want to be claiming me right now.”

Running alone through the streets of St. Louis.

By mile 7 I was in agony. My quads and glutes were on fire. I began to slow to a jog. My body was wrecked. A guy ran by and told me to stay tough. I decided to latch on to him. I thought to myself "just stick with him for a mile." At this point I was just pleading with my legs to keep turning over. I knew there was a long decline at mile 10 so I promised myself that I would get there. And I did :-) With 5K to go I knew I was going to make it to the finish line. For me, that's my magic number. No matter what race I'm in I know that I can get through the last 5K (3.1 miles). I've raced that distance more than any other.

I finished!!!!!

So there it is. 1:28:09 ... 6th woman overall. 

 Love this picture. I'm a mess LMAO

Here I am explaining to Alex why I sucked so bad.

Looking back now, I honestly don’t know how I made it to the finish line under 1:30. Now that I've had time to process everything this is actually a good thing...a very good thing. My half marathon PR at the end of a Half Ironman is 1:34. I think this race shows that I can in fact run faster after the swim/bike.

And on that note, so long road racing. Triathlon Season - I'm ready for you! My first race of the year will be the Kinetic International (an Olympic Distance race in Lake Anna, VA). 

I get to represent Virginia / Maryland Triathlon Series this season!

Last but not least, please take this 3 minute survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FY73DRP

It's for a friend's college research project. There's very little data on African Americans in triathlon and it would help a ton!! You do not have to be Black or a Triathlete to take the survey. And if you actually read this entire boring blog, then you have 3 minutes to spare ;-)

Good luck to everyone racing Boston next week! 

“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.