Did I Olympic Trial Qualify?? CIM Marathon…

Today is race day… Our wake up call came at 4 a.m. I was able to wake up real quick! So were the other 2. We all had the nervous, jittery thing going on. We caught the elite bus at 5 to head on up to the starting line.

It was a good morning, nice cool weather, 100% humidity (which was a bit much but ok) and I felt good. The starting line was amazing… The atmosphere of many of us trying to qualify.

The race started right at 7… We had a pacer with us the entire way… Chris Mocko and Kim Conley (ran 20 miles) the Olympian. They were 2 of the best pacers I have ever ran with! So great and motivating!!! The first few miles we all felt great and there were about 30 women in the pack.

Amber Green was right there with the pack and Emily Jameson pulled ahead after the 3rd mile. At about mile 8, I see Corom there cheering me on and then I noticed a sign with all my girls names on them! I was a little confused because I already passed Corom up but as I got closer, I noticed Rachelle Wardle and Amber Dunford there (my running buddies from home). They surprised me by driving to California the day before. I was so shocked and so happy! Such amazing friends. I saw the 3 of them throughout the course a few more times… I came across the 1/2 marathon at 1:21.21. At mile 16, I started to go through a mental breakdown and I fell a little behind from the pack. I noticed that there were not too many women left in the pack (about 8).

It took about a minute or 2 to realize this is way to early to be dropping from the pack, so I somehow got a “2nd wind” (with a little pep talk to myself) and caught back up. At that moment I knew I had it! I kept thinking… This is the day! I felt good and I only had 10 miles left! Soon… A 10k left and I still felt good… Still with the pacer, going strong. At mile 21 1/2 to 22… Ahhh… A different story. I Hit The Freakin’ Wall!!! I kept telling myself to dig deep, and I can do this… Well I couldn’t do it! 😦 I was mentally struggling along with the physical. At mile 25… I see Rachelle and she ran a little ahead of me to give me someone to chase (she didn’t want to run with me so I wouldn’t get disqualified but at that point I didn’t care about anything except for finishing). I was able to pick up the pace a little seeing her in front but my legs were done! (That’s Rachelle in the blue.) 🙂

I finally finished with a time of 2:48.43 (I believe)… A 6 minute PR but 5 minutes away from qualifying! A bitter/sweet race. As I was finishing I heard my parents cheering me in. 🙂 I looked over and it was so good to see my dad give me a thumbs up sign. At that time I was feeling so down, so it did put a smile on my face.

I was able to find Amber G. and Emily J… Emily was so sad about her race. She had to pull out at mile 17 and Amber was 43 seconds short of qualifying. So bummed for the 2 of them!!! We were all happy to have had the opportunity to be with each other and to get to know each other. But it is so hard to train so hard for 1 race and not have it come together! Very emotionally draining. I was happy to be done but wish I could go back to the last 4.2 miles (but don’t we all). I had a great support system and was around amazing people.

After the whole marathon ending experience, I showered up and Amber D, Rachelle, my parents, Corom and I went to a late lunch. We soon left to visit Corom’s brother and his family for a little bit and then off we left for home. We drove back with Rachelle and Amber. 🙂 We made a few stops on the way home… One was to McDonalds. I ordered our food and realized Corom had the card, so he made me run into the bathroom (no one was in there) to get it… He took a picture of me as I opened up his stall, so I took a picture of him. Sorry! 😉

We didn’t leave until 4:30 California time (5:30 for Utah). Yep it’s going to be a long drive home. It’s about a 10 hour drive. I will update this post if any exciting thing happens or if any new pictures are taken. Well it’s been quite a few hours after the race and I am still bummed about my race but a lot more happy about it too!!! Thanks everyone for the support! There is always a next time.