I made it to race day! By the time I publish this post, I’ll already have hopefully completed my 35th marathon, but I don’t want to miss the recap of this ‘important’ week, the week of the race.
Here’s how things went in the week before the marathon:
Monday: Easy 6.2 miles before work 9:15 min/mile average. My friend Christie is building back after her injury and was cleared to run 30 minutes straight, so we planned a route where I ran to meet her, ran with her for 30 minutes, and then ran home.
I went to a PT appointment at Viverant for some dry needling to stay on top of my Achilles tendonitis. It hurts/feels so weird when I get it done, but I really think it helps.
I received an email that due to the excessive heat in Idaho, our race time would be starting even earlier! Yikes. That psyched me out a little bit.
Tuesday: Last little baby workout: 3 mile warmup, 3×1 mile at marathon effort with 2:30 minutes jog in between, cool-down to 8 miles.
Wednesday: 5 easy miles, 9:14 min/mile average, part of the run with Christie again. So glad she’s back!
Thursday: 4 easy miles, 9:15 min/mile average. The humidity was back in Minneapolis with a vengeance!
My Volee race crop arrived just in time for the race. Isn’t it pretty?
Friday: Rest day.
Morning flight to Sun Valley; my first flight since Atlanta in March 2020! Felt so strange to be on a plane again. We went from Minneapolis to Salt Lake City to the Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Idaho, about 30 minutes from Ketchum/Sun Valley.
Flying is dehydrating in itself, so I drank a lot of water during the flight and lots of hydrating when we arrived too, as Ketchum is at about 5800 ft of altitude.
The disappointing news of the day was that my sister Erin woke up really sick; it turns out she had strep throat, which meant she wasn’t joining us for the marathon. She had trained really hard and was really bummed not to be able to race. What terrible luck! I was really looking forward to hanging out with her too, we always have a blast together. Hopefully we will be doing marathons together again soon Erin! We are registered for Tulsa, Oklahoma this fall, and she plans to join for that one.
We had some time to kill in the afternoon, so we drove the marathon course. It definitely was nowhere near as drastic of a downhill as Big Cottonwood nor quite as cool at the start as I would have hoped, but it was helpful to see what I was in for (especially for the hills and flat in the second half.)
For dinner that night, we went to Smoky Mountain.
Saturday: There was a great running/bike trail right by our hotel (Hotel Ketchum), so we jogged over there for a shake out run, 3.5 miles, 8:35 min/mile average. I did 5×30 second strides in the run; I could feel the altitude a little bit when sprinting! Dustin said it was all in my head though 🙂
The Sun Valley marathon was split over Saturday and Sunday, so after our run, we walked over to the finish line to cheer on the Saturday racers. There were only 250 runners each day, so definitely a quieter finish line! But nice to be at the finish and feel some of the emotions of the finish line ahead of time.
The rest of Saturday was pretty low-key; lots of relaxing our legs pre-marathon, before going to the expo (held from 3-6 pm at the Sun Valley Lodge.)
The SWAG included a “Tru Flask” mug, gloves, the finisher’s t-shirt, a couple for a free beer, and more!
Sunday: Race day! Check back later this week for a full race recap! Bottom line, I finished. Marathon #35, state #24!
That’s a wrap! I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner ; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration!
huge congratulations to you and your husband! I am really looking forward to reading your full recap this week. wow that’s an early start time!
So early! But it helped with the heat, especially for those finishing in the 6-7 hour range. It got really warm!
Congrats on your 35 marathon and 24th state – that’s so exciting! I can’t wait to read your recap!
BTW, I love your striped tank from your Wednesday picture!
Thanks Debbie! The tank is Run Rabbit brand.
Congrats to both you and Dustin!!! I’m anxious to read your recap. But wow, what a beautiful place to run!
Idaho is very pretty!
Congrats on marathon #35! Very impressive!! I already know how the hubby did (via Insta), so I’m really eager to hear how your race played out. I”ll be looking for your race recap 😉
Thanks Kim!
Okay, I can’t wait to read the recap! But I feel TERRIBLE for your sister- how disappointing for her! I’ll be interested to hear if the heat and altitude played a factor. Hope you’re relaxing and celebrating tonight!
I know, I was so, so sad for my sister. She trained really hard!
Such a bummer about your sister 🙁 I hope that she starts to feel better soon – strep throat is no fun!
Congratulations on another marathon finish! Loved following your journey for this training cycle.
She’s feeling better already, after being on meds!
That scenery is gorgeous! I hope the early start worked in your favor. Bummer about your sister — did she get sick there, or did she stay home?
Can’t wait for your recap!
She woke up sick at home and didn’t come to Idaho.
What a shame for Erin – but a sensible decision. Is she going to run a virtual, like I did when I missed Manchester with The Cold To End All Colds? But well done you and for getting on all the planes and doing all the stuff, too. Can’t wait for the race report!
I don’t think this race had a virtual option, so nope, not this time.
Oh, no, sorry, I didn’t mean an official virtual – when I and a friend missed Manchester we were so disappointed and had all the training in our legs (that still remains the best training cycle I’ve ever had!) that we just ran around 26.2 in Birmingham instead. Race report if you fancy it: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2018/04/16/not-the-manchester-marathon-report/
Oh, got it! I misunderstood. Thanks for sharing your recap!
That sucks that your sister got sick.
Congrats on your finish. Love that pic on 26.2 with your medal. can’t wait to read the recap.
Looks like a beautiful area to run in.
It does suck…she was very disappointed.
Congrats on your race! I would be so nervous knowing it was so hot that they had to start the race earlier. But that was probably a really smart option! That looks like such a beautiful place to visit and race!
Idaho was lovely! Highly recommend it.
Great recap and “early” congrats on the marathon! Great to see that Christie is able to be running again as well. Looks like a fun event and some nice swag, as well. The Volee kit looks sharp!
I’m happy Christie is back to running!
Yes, the Volee gear is great!
Great swag! On the one hand, it’s crazy that the heat forced the start time earlier, but also so glad that they accommodated.
Congratulations on 26.2!
It was great that they were able to accommodate the earlier start. Definitely helped a lot of runners out!
Dustin is wrong! Altitude is not in your head! Can’t wait to hear about how the actual marathon went.
That’s so sad about your sister. 🙁 Another time, right?
I’m also kinda impressed you took a flight from SLC to Ketchum . . . we drove, but then I always leave time before a race for exploring (and elevation acclimization). We had a lot of fun in ID, hope you did too!
Hopefully another time, but she was pretty bummed.
It was a tiny plane from SLC to Ketchum!
Congrats on number 35! Looking forward to reading your recap!
Thanks Michelle!
Congratulations! It’s been fun following along on your training. I cannot wait to read your recap.
Thanks Zenaida!
Congrats Jessie! I’m bummed to hear Erin could not join you. I was thinking about you and the heat. What are the chances?? Can’t wait to read the whole report!