Napa Valley Marathon

Overall, Napa was a wonderful experience. I decided to do two separate posts - one about my race and one about the trip in general. Since the whole purpose of the trip was my race I'll give the race details first.

I suppose one of the draws (if you can call it that) of running a marathon (or any distance race) is that you never know what will happen over the course of the race...

Napa was the perfect marathon for so long... but then it felt like the forces of the Universe conspired against me and denied me again. What happened was a complete surprise. There was no rain, no wind. No Garmin problems. No hamstring or glute issues. No GI issues. No one ran into me. I didn't lose my footing or turn an ankle. The course was far less hilly than I expected. No fueling issues. No fatigue. I was just cruising along then BAM!! It was over.

So here's how race week running went...

Sunday - Rest.
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 4 miles. Easy. I was really tempted to do a pace run but didn't.
Wednesday - 4 miles. Easy.

Thursday - Rest. We flew to California and it took the ENTIRE day. We got up at 5:30 am and I looked at my phone to find a text from John saying "You are famous in Napa" and a link to THIS ARTICLE. I had a moment of panic before I opened the link but thankfully it was more about him than me. Our plane got delayed out of Indianapolis right away so it was actually 11:30 am by the time we actually flew out. We missed our connection in Denver by over an hour but got on the next plane to San Francisco. We finally got into San Francisco at 5:30 pm their time (8:30 pm Indy time), just in time to hit rush hour traffic. It took another 3 hours to go the 60 miles to Napa. My left leg was killing me by that time with all the sitting I had done all day. We finally got to John's house after 11 pm Indy time. Scarfed down some food and collapsed into bed.

Friday - 2 miles. Easy shake out run in the morning than a nice massage in the afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised by the massage. I had asked John to book a sports massage for me as I figured I would be stiff from traveling all day on Thursday and was worried when I found out it was booked at the golf resort/club next to his house. I have never had a good massage at a resort. In fact, some of the crappiest massages I have ever had have been at hotels or resorts. This one actually turned out pretty good.

Saturday - Rest.
Sunday - RACE DAY!

Napa is a point to point race so John and I got up at 4 am so we could be at the finish area at Vintage High School to board the buses to the start in Calistoga by 5:15 am. Calistoga is a small town and they didn't want any more race day traffic than necessary so his wife and my husband just slept in while we left in the morning. We got to Calistoga shortly after 6 am for the 7 am start.

My plan was to take a GU and water at the start, then every 4 miles as I had done in Charleston, alternating with Gatorade. The aid stations at Napa though weren't as regular as they were in Charleston so it actually ended up being, one GU at the start, then GUs at mile 4, 6.5, 12, 16, 21 and 24 with Gatorade at the stations at mile 2, 9, 14, 18, and 22 - or so that was the plan.

The bathroom lines at the start were loooong. We went as soon as we got off the bus but then I wanted to go again. Then it became obvious I was not going to get into a Port-a potty before the race. I took my GU while waiting in line but ended up squatting behind a bush with about a hundred other people before making it to the starting line in the middle of the National Anthem. I didn't get a chance to drink any water and I was a bit more rushed than I wanted.. rushed enough I almost forgot to turn on my Garmin. I was VERY relieved it picked up a satellite almost instantly when I turned it on.

It was cold at the start - high 30's. Much colder than it had been in Charleston. John and I both took off our throw away jackets at the start but then spent the next two miles commenting on how our hands and feet were numb. By mile 4 though we had warmed up, the sun was up and it was perfect.

We cruised for 19 miles, chatting like magpies about everything under the sun. It was like old times, just out for a run together. It was almost too easy. We talked to a woman who had had a stem cell transplant last year for her cancer and got a deferral into this year's race. We talked to another woman about our watches. John was constantly slowing me down because for some reason my Garmin kept telling me I was going too slow (8:50 pace) and his Suunto was showing our pace to be about 20 seconds faster. He told me that when we got to the red barn around mile 23 that I could do what I wanted but until then he was going to keep the reins on me.

Mile 1 - 8:47
Mile 2 - 8:34
Mile 3 - 8:35
Mile 4 - 8:23
Mile 5 - 8:34
Mile 6 - 8:26
Mile 7 - 8:42
Mile 8 - 8:31
Mile 9 - 8:37
Mile 10 - 8:47
Mile 11 - 8:39
Mile 12 - 8:46
Mile 13 - 8:34
Mile 14 - 8:56
Mile 15 - 8:35
Mile 16 - 8:42
Mile 17 - 8:43
Mile 18 - 8:35
Mile 19 - 8:42

I missed my fluids at the mile 14 aid station. I wanted Gatorade and all the aid workers kept telling me it was on down at the end. The stations themselves are pretty small and I got all the way down to the end and there was nothing at all so I ended up just continuing on. I got my water and took a GU at mile 16 as planned and Gatorade at mile 18.

Sometime during mile 19 was the first inkling of trouble. John and I were still running and chatting when I suddenly had a Charley horse in my right calf. It only lasted a split second. It was so sudden it made me gasp mid-sentence and stumble a few steps and I thought, "What the hell was that?!!" I have never EVER had a Charley horse while running or, for that matter, any kind of hard sudden cramp while running. Sudden hot poker pains yes, but cramps no. My problems in the past have been things tightening up more gradually as I run to where they are so tight I'd have to stop... on my own terms. I've never had a sudden cramp before. I've had Charley horses in my calves in the past but I only get them at night when I'm sleeping. The pain wakes me up and then I get my legs to relax. I actually haven't had one in several years though.

Anyway, the first one lasted a split second and made me stumble. A short while later it happened again in my left calf, and I stumbled again. I commented to John that this was really weird and he pointed out we were running a slight uphill grade and maybe we should slow down a little.

I was wearing a pace band as well as my Garmin. I was looking at my Garmin for my pace and mile splits but the actual course mile markers were a little bit farther out than what my Garmin was reading so what I'd do is look at my actual time as I passed the mile markers and compare them to what was on my pace band. Since we had been running slightly faster than 8:46 pace for most of the race, by the time we got to mile 19 I was actually a little over 2 minutes under my 3:50:00 goal time... so we backed off the pace a bit.

Mile 20 - 9:04
Mile 21 - 9:02

I continued to get the split second hard cramps and continued to stumble. Otherwise though, I was still running fine. We even started to joke about what kind of pharmaceuticals I might need to make it though the rest of the race... Valium... Dilaudid... Ketamine...

I took a GU at the mile 21 aid station and took an extra cup of water even though I didn't feel thirsty. I remember thinking just a little over 5 miles. I've got this!

Just before mile 22 though, things changed and it was not a laughing matter anymore. I suddenly got a hard painful cramp in my entire left leg. My toes were stuck and trying to cross, the arch of my foot was curled up, my calf was hard as a rock, and, interestingly, so was my left inner thigh. This left my left leg frozen in a semi-flexed position where I couldn't straighten the leg nor could I push off with my foot or even bear weight. All this happened in a split second and when it hit I screamed and almost fell. I've seen people fall down screaming in other races but I've never understood what was going on until it happened to me. It hurt so bad all I could do was stand there and scream. It felt like all the air was getting squeezed out of my leg. I remember someone stopping and asking me if I'd like an S-tab but I shook my head. I've never had an S-tab and I didn't think it would help at this point. Once I got over the shock I just stood there as precious seconds ticked away trying to calm down and will my leg to relax so I could straighten and stretch it out.

As soon as I could straighten the leg we started running again. The problem was that I was now starting to get Charley horses in both calves and this time they were not fleeting. They hurt like hell and I was trying to run through them as long as I could push off with my foot. I remember running and screaming "No! No! No!" as they got tighter and tighter until finally I couldn't push off anymore and I'd have to stop. Once I got going I could run at a 9:00 pace but all the stopping and stretching was killing my time. We got to the mile 22 aid station. I drank two cups of Gatorade and took off running again.

Mile 22 - 9:44

After that things got WAY UGLY. My entire left leg was cramping again and all I could do was stand there and scream until it passed. I didn't even care what people were thinking. I think the only thing that could have hurt worse was if I had broken something. I was angry and frustrated and felt that my body was betraying me but, more than anything, I was panicked. Time was slipping away. As soon as I could start running I would start running as fast as I could because I wanted to go as far as I could before the next debilitating cramp hit. I remember standing and screaming with the red barn in sight thinking this can't be happening to me!

Mile 23 - 10:19
Mile 24 - 9:32

Things became a blur after that. I stopped looking at my watch. All I could focus on was staying upright. It was getting harder and harder to get the cramps to stop and even after my legs relaxed they were still painful. I remember John trying to coax me to go a little faster, telling me that we needed these seconds. He was doing the same thing I had done to him at Western States, running just a couple feet ahead of me, trying to pull me along with some invisible magic thread. I remember passing the 25 mile marker and telling myself that I was not going to stop until I got to the finish line no matter what.

Mile 25 - 10:54
Mile 26 - 9:28

The only thing I remember about the last half mile was putting one foot in front of the other as fast as I could and watching them go over the blue and red timing mat at the finish. I slammed my hand on my Garmin and saw that the first three numbers were 3:55 and knew I hadn't qualified. As soon as I stopped in the finish chute, I couldn't stand up anymore either. Both my legs completely locked and two volunteers grabbed me. Once they grabbed me and I got my head up, I realized I was having problems seeing too. I was seeing little black dots all over the place and felt light headed. It was then that I realized I might be having a heat problem too. But was I? Your blood pressure can drop suddenly if you stop running too fast too and you'll have the same symptoms.

The temperature was in the 60's when we finished and there had been no shade for the last third of the race. I felt it was warming up but I never felt like I was overheating while I was running. It was basically the same temperature it had been in Charleston six weeks ago; the only difference was that I was running faster. I must have looked really glassy-eyed because I got taken to medical where someone asked me the date and year. I felt much better in the shade but just really fuzzy headed. I just wanted to sit and try to stretch my legs. I finally gathered myself enough to stand and stretch, then found John and walked back to the car.

On the way to the car I checked the official results. 3:55:03. I already knew I hadn't qualified. I just wanted to know the time. I am disappointed but not devastated. I would have been devastated had running 3:55:00 guaranteed a Boston entry. However, it didn't matter whether I ran 3:54:57 or 3:55:03, neither would have gotten me into Boston. There are no more squeakers anymore. Realistically, I feel that I need to run 3:53 or faster to get in. It's almost better that I know I need another race than have run something like 3:53:30 and be in that gray zone where you've run the qualifying time but you're on the bubble and not sure if that time is fast enough to get into the race.

What next? I don't know. One of the best books I've read lately was Stan Beecham's sports psychology book Elite Minds. In his book he advised not having a Plan B. His premise was that if you had a Plan B then you may give up more easily on your goals if Plan A isn't working out. By not having a Plan B you can focus totally on your goal. So... I don't have a Plan B... quite...

I live in a world where work schedules get made two months in advance and if you have any inkling of getting a particular weekend off, you better get your days off requests in six months in advance. I have the weekend of the Derby Festival Marathon off. I even have plans to share a hotel room in Louisville with one of my on-line Sole Sisters. My plan was to be in Louisville that weekend to hang out with my running friends. In an ideal world, I would qualify for Boston in Napa then I would have fun in Louisville and run the half, maybe try to get a half PR. I certainly had no desire to run the full marathon again and tackle Iroquois Park in the middle of the race. However... that option is still out there and available for me right now.

I haven't registered for any more races yet. I need to figure out what is going on with my calves first. They are still incredibly sore. On Sunday night I was actually worried I was developing some sub acute compartment syndrome because they still had quite of bit of tone (hardness) and if I stopped moving for any amount of time I couldn't push off my foot for awhile. I iced them all night and wore compression socks on the plane ride home. They are loose now but still painful. I'm not sure how much damage I did by trying to run on them in a cramped state. I'm still having problems pushing off my feet. I'm going to give it a couple days and see what happens.

Plus... what the hell happened to me? I had plenty of long runs in. I felt like I did plenty of marathon pace and faster runs too. The outdoor runs I did here prior to the race were far hillier than the Napa course itself. I was fueled. I wasn't even breathing hard. I wasn't wearing a heart rate monitor but John and I were chit chatting along the whole race just like we were talking on the phone. I did go from 10-20 degree weather to 60 degree weather but I had also done most of my runs the last two weeks indoors due to bad weather and I figured it had to be at least 60 degrees indoors. I don't think I was dehydrated either. I generally run "dry" when I train, meaning I don't drink anything unless I'm running over 2 hours. I have a friend that calls me a camel. I just don't get thirsty. I'll purposely drink more often on some of my training runs just to make sure my stomach can handle the fluid. The first thing I had to do after I left the medical area after the race was go to the bathroom. If anyone has any ideas on what happened I'd like to know. Should I just carry a vial of pickle juice in my next race to ward off the evil spirits? Do tell!

I feel like I am more than capable of qualifying for Boston. In fact, I still believe I am more than capable of running a sub-3:50 marathon. So... for now... I guess the "BELIEVE 3:50" banner is going to stay up on my Facebook page for a while longer.