ARR Desert Classic Marathon

Pre-Race

This past weekend we went to AZ so I could run this marathon. My husband and Hallie are so supportive! I am so grateful for them. I've never had a time goal before, but I was out to qualify for Boston and needed at most 3:40.

The usually don't sleep well before races, but this night I slept great. Except I had crazy dreams. I had one dream where I was late and everyone kept telling me it was ok because it was chip timed so it doesn't really matter when you start. And then when I did start the race director said that he had to run with me and I kept thinking that he was going to slow me down. And then we had to follow all these dots and they went through office buildings and preschools and up on walls. So weird. And then I was running up this hill and I had my arms above my head and I could not put my arms down and I kept thinking "this is not helping me run fast" and then my alarm went off and I awoke to find that I was sleeping with my arms above my head!

Anyway, I wasn't late for the race, and I didn't have to run with the race director and my arms stayed down the whole time. I told Ashton that I was going to find some guy who was keeping a good pace and stick with him. And me and this one guy, whose name I came to find out was Gavin, were back and forth the whole first half, and once he passed me after the halfway mark, I knew I had to stick with him. And I did. Ashton came and ran with us a few minutes and mentioned to him that I was trying to qualify for Boston and he had his little watch that told him our time, pace, overall pace, and projected finish time. And he totally kept me on track. He led me the rest of the way to the end. Ashton was a savior too, coming to run a few minutes now and then to relive our minds off running.

Me and Gavin

There were a few things that I found particularly challenging about this course:

1. It is 13 miles uphill, and when you are running down hill, it still feels like you're running uphill.
2. Only 118 people ran the marathon (the big Rock and Roll Marathon was 2 weeks before in Tempe) and it's out in the desert. You run out 13.1 miles and then back. Because it is so small, there is virtually no one out there cheering for you. There's you, the elements and a few other runners.
3. There was a head wind the whole way back.
4. There were no time clocks so I had no idea how fast I was running. In some ways this is nice because then you just run and do your best. In other ways, if you know you're time you can push yourself.

All in all, it was a great race. The weather was beautiful. Cool enough so you're not sweating like crazy, but the sun was warm. Gavin was great. And Ashton was amazing. I'm so lucky to have him. I finished the race at 3:34:35, in plenty of time to qualify for Boston. I won't be running it this year. Registration is closed. But I'll be there 2012!

Post-race