Nike Women's Marathon - October 18, 2009

I coached Nike on Sunday, and it was a great experience. The weather was perfect for running/racewalking/walking. I'm not sure of the exact temperatures, but it FELT like mid 50s to low 60s, and it was overcast/foggy to start. The fog lifted and the sun did come out for a bit, but then it was overcast again at the finish. I wore my Race Ready compression shorts (spandex! ;)!)

From Nike_Women's_Marathon

packed full of Swedish fish, Gu, jelly belly sports beans, body glide, a camera, my phone, a list of my participants, and my hotel key. I did get a photo of the shorts --- I felt like a pack mule with all that stuff in there! I also wore a long sleeve shirt over my TNT short sleeve shirt, because I knew I'd be going slowly at the start. I wish I'd had my gloves too. I thought it was warm enough to do without them, but my hands were cold for the first several hours, even when racewalking. They did eventually warm up, and it was warmer than last year, thankfully, so it wasn't too bad.

From Nike_Women's_Marathon

I started w/the early start (5:30 am) walkers; I had 4. I got lucky enough to spot John "The Penguin" Bingham at the entrance to the early start corral, and snagged a photo op :). I enjoyed the relative calm of the early start, with only a few hundred people instead of 20,000.

Soon we were off, and I walked slowly for 2.5 miles with the group. My first 2 early starters did plan to run a bit, so they began to run after a few miles, and I racewalked them up the big hill in the Presidio at mile 6.5-8. Then I went back to help my other 2 walkers up the hill. Even though I had a COACH bib, people kept telling me I was going the wrong way. That always happens, and it always amuses me :). I walked them up the hill for quite a while, all the way to about mile 9ish. About that time I knew I needed to go back for my runners who had started at 7 am.

I walked back down to mile 8, and after 5-10 minutes I saw my first runner, Stephanie. I ran with her (she does 8:30-9 min miles to start, then slows down, and she was going pretty fast up the hill) up to about mile 9 or 9.5, and told her I'd see her later (she's a full marathoner). Then I went back down the hill and soon after met Wendy, who was having knee pain (arthritis) and said "DON'T RUN WITH ME! I NEED TO CONCENTRATE!". She is usually really nice so I knew she must be hurting, but she didn't want any help, so I wished her good luck and let her go.

From Nike_Women's_Marathon

A few minutes later I saw Cara, and knew that the next runners would be quite a ways behind her, so I went with her for about 4 miles or so. I ran up the hill with her and then racewalked down at mile 10, where we ran into my friend and fellow coach Glen. My left foot started to hurt at this point - more than in Portland, probably due to the hills and the running. Oh well. Not much to be done about it, so I kept going. At mile 11 in the park, I left Cara to take a shortcut, since I'd already done about 16 miles. She was looking good so I told her I'd meet her at mile 12.

I saw Wendy again and she still wanted to run alone, so I wished her well. I was hoping to see Stephanie again at this point (it was also mile 15 or so in the full marathon) but somehow missed her. So I waited for Cara and then racewalked with her for a bit, until she was about 0.3 miles from the finish. I congratulated her and then went back to try & see my full marathoners. I missed seeing Stephanie & Julie in the crowds here, but kept looking and saw Sue with her sister Nancy (Sue was doing the 1/2 with her, and then would help me with the full marathoners). I went with them for a bit, but then wanted to find Laurie, my last 1/2 marathoner. Soon she came into view and I racewalked her in to the finish.

From Nike_Women's_Marathon

I kept going back & forth on the stretch from mile 15-16.5 on the full marathon course a bunch of times, looking for people. I saw my early start walkers again, and also saw almost all of my slower runners. One of my runners had bad IT band trouble and had to switch to the 1/2 instead of the full; I saw her at just the right time, though, as she was in tears of pain and frustration. We stretched out a bit and she was able to walk some, and I talked to her about her options. It felt good to be able to help her, and to know exactly how it feels to have that sort of pain. I'm actually grateful for that injury now, because of the insight and sympathy I can have for someone else experiencing it.

Finally I found my last runner, Regan, and she was tight and sore. I suggested that we stop and stretch, and she was quite grateful for the help, because it hadn't occurred to her (you know, your brain just melts out there after a while!). We went from mile 16-18 and then stretched again. About mile 18.5 I saw Stephanie coming back toward us, but Sue had finished and was able to take her to the finish. I racewalked a bit longer with her, and then saw one of my early start walk/runners coming toward the finish, and since Sue was with Stephanie, I needed to go with her. I wished Regan the best and racewalked/walked with Sara for a mile or so until we ran into Sue, who took her to the finish after she finished w/Stephanie.

From Nike_Women's_Marathon

After that, I walked back and forth between miles 23.5 and 25.5 many times. I lost count, really, but at least the views were nice :). I'd take one person in and then go back for the next, cheering the other TNT people on as I went back, and looking out for those who were hurting. I really did love watching all of my participants as they neared the finish, and their courage was admirable in the face of adversity as they gritted out the last few difficult miles. Finishing a marathon is never easy.

Others I saw on the course: Walkin' Tom (a regular TNT participant whose blog I read), my participant Danielle's mom Judy and sister Sondra (with TNT Central California) - I walked with them for a while several times, and my high school friend and fellow TNT coach Glen (coaching the Seattle TNTers). Oh, and Marshall, an ultrawalker whose blog I also read, saw me on the course and introduced himself; he's a TNT coach, too. It was a lot of fun to connect with all these people, however briefly!

By the time I brought in my last runner, I'd logged 29.5 miles. Some of it running (4 miles?), some walking slowly (8-10 miles?) and the rest racewalking. My left foot was sore, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as after Portland-to-Coast; the worst part was that the top of it was rubbing my shoe and I got a nasty bruise from the pressure. I am going to talk to my orthotist about that and see if he can alter them a bit to help with that - it's from the thickness of the orthotics, but for some reason only bothers my left foot. Other than that, and being a bit tired, I felt pretty good. Oh, almost forgot... my right IT band was pretty sore but it didn't hurt until AFTER I was done. That was weird. The whole rest of Sunday it bothered me a bit, but on Monday it was fine, so no biggie. I figure it was the running on the hills that did it. I will need to keep up with my physical therapy for my hips to keep that monster at bay.

As for recovery, I had some stiffness and a bit of muscle soreness on Monday & Tuesday, but today I'm feeling pretty good. I managed a little on the exercise bike on Monday, just to loosen things up, and that helped. Yesterday I rested, and today I did 40 min on the bike plus some easy weights, which felt terrific.

Now begins my 2 months of rest. I'll miss racewalking a lot, but I know I need to do this so I can race next year. It will be a new challenge to meet, staying active without my favorite sport. However, I think the time will fly by as I take care of other areas of my life that have been a bit neglected. I'm actually relieved that marathon season is over. It was a lot of miles, and a lot of time, and a lot of training, and I need a respite.

More race photos here.

Photos from the rest of my weekend here.