I was reminded on Sunday that any day you complete a marathon is a day to celebrate because man, marathons are hard! These are two things that have remained true throughout my marathoning career and you can’t convince me otherwise.
One thing that is no longer true about my marathoning career is prior to Sunday’s Chevron Houston Marathon, never had I ever thrown up in a workout, race, or anything to do with running. But at mile 22.5 of Sunday’s marathon, I gagged on my fifth and final gel and proceeded to vomit multiple times by the side of the road. Luckily it was short-lived, and somehow I still managed to run under three hours.
Part of the problem was that my order containing the gels for my race didn’t come in time (despite placing the order 8 days prior to leaving, which apparently wasn’t enough over the New Year). So instead I had to buy gels at the expo, and they didn’t have everything I had planned to use. I ended up buying Maurten and Gu Roctane gels–all of which I have used before in marathons, but for some reason, my body/throat revolted at that viscous Maurten gel at mile 22.5.
The stop was only about 70 seconds but enough to slow me down and have to forego my B goal of a PR. I fought for everything I could and still achieved my C goal of the day, which I am proud of.
But let’s back up to the beginning . . . .
Craig and I flew to Houston the Thursday before the race. He hasn’t seen me run a marathon since 2021 when I first broke 3 hours. I swear he’s my good luck charm, so I was optimistic I would have a good day. Training went really well overall. I did have a small bump in the road at the beginning of December with a calf strain, but I rebounded quickly. And the cold weather, snow, and ice presented their challenges in November and December, but I was still able to stack some really solid workouts.
In Houston, we stayed downtown near the start and finish at the Cambria Hotel, which I would definitely recommend. The location was great, and we even got upgraded to a corner room when our first room started leaking water from the ceiling. Friday and Saturday were chill days prior to the race. We did go to Des and Kara’s live podcast recording, which was so fun. My husband had no idea how witty Des is.
Race morning I got up at 4:30 a.m., which didn’t feel too crazy-early. I took a shower, put a little make-up on, threw my hair into a messy bun, and put on my race kit. I ended up wearing this On sports bra and these Bandit split shorts. I had quite the fiasco figuring out what to wear as I kept ordering items that didn’t work or didn’t come in on time but I LOVED both of these pieces for racing, and I would definitely wear them again. The On sports bra has a large pocket in the front for gels, plus two small pockets near my arm pits for gels. (You can see in this video how I carried my gels.) I had no problem carrying seven gels in it (one that I took in the start corral, five during the race). My shorts had four additional pockets in the back for gels, which I carried one extra gel there in case I dropped one.
Craig and I then headed to the race start at 6:00 a.m. It was less than a 10 minute walk to the start, and I easily found my corral. Race morning it was 38*F and breezy in some areas, but I knew that would be perfect for racing. I did a few warm-ups, went to the bathroom one last time, gave my warm-ups to Craig, and hopped in my corral. I did keep a long sleeve throw-away shirt on, but I was freezing while we were waiting. You would think this would have felt warm to me after training runs before zero (F), but I was shivering.
I saw couple people I follow on Instagram, so I said hi and wished them luck, and after waiting about 20 minutes, we were off.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to run with the 2:55 pacer, but I found them in the start corral, so I figured why not. I trailed right behind them from the start, and they were keeping a pretty conservative pace, which I appreciated and was glad as a lot of pacers seem to go out too fast. For several of the first miles they were with the 1:30 half marathon pacer, so he was definitely running on the slower side, but I also didn’t want to go out too fast, so I stuck with them.
I was really trying to run based off feel rather than be a slave to my watch. This was something my coach and I discussed in our pre-race call. I definitely still checked my watch at the mile markers and then maybe one other time during the mile, but I didn’t feel like I checked it as often. I do think this resulted in some slower beginning miles, but I knew being conservative usually pays off.
Mile 1 – 6:51
Mile 2 – 6:49
Mile 3 – 6:43
Mile 4 – 6:45
The first several miles of the course were very crowded. Almost too crowded since we were also with the half marathoners. Someone said that after two miles things would thin out, but I really didn’t feel like that. It wasn’t until we split from the half marathon after mile seven did I feel like I had ample room to run.
My fueling strategy was very similar to that of my last four marathons: a 3-day carb load; a hearty breakfast on race day starting 2.5 hours before the race; and a gel every 30 minutes during the race. My first gel was right around mile 4, which was a Maurten 160 gel. I really tried to get more fuel in on this race, so I did take a couple Maurten 160 gels, which has 40 grams of carbs instead of the Maurten 100 gels, which has 25 grams of carbs.
Mile 5 – 6:40
Mile 6 – 6:38
By mile 5 I was at the pace I wanted for the marathon. I was feeling good at this pace and the miles were clicking by quickly. There were a lot of people cheering. (Not to the level of a major marathon, but a lot for the medium-sized race that Houston is.) I even heard the song Pink Pony Club playing and it made me tear up because it reminded me of my dance parties with the boys. There were a few things that happened that morning that lead me to believe I could achieve my A goal of a sub-2:55, so I was optimistic, and my mantra for the race became: BELIEVE!!
Mile 7 – 6:47
Mile 8 – 6:38
At one hour I took my second gel: a caffinated Maurten gel. I like to alternate the caffeinated gels because I don’t think my system could tolerate more than that. I also carried a small flask-style water bottle in my sports bra (similar to this one), and it works perfectly when I wasn’t near an aid station and needed some water. I will definitely be doing that again!
I was still keeping the 2:55 pacer in my sights, but I was seeing him start to slip away. I tried to pick it up slightly to catch up, but I think he was just pulling away at a faster pace, unfortunately. By mile 10/11, I could not longer see him, and I saw my chance of running a sub-2:55 start to slip away.
Mile 9 – 6:34
Mile 10 – 6:34
Mile 11 – 6:39
Right before halfway was the biggest climb of the race with 36 feet of elevation gain, which looked big but it didn’t feel too bad. For the most part I felt strong climbing the hill. (Kudos to my strength coach for helping me to be strong on the hills despite not having hills where I live.) It was after that hill that we started to near halfway.
My coach had told me to think about the first half as a warm-up, so that’s what I kept telling myself. My splits weren’t super even, but I thought I was sticking in the pace I wanted. Ideally, I would have liked to go through the half in 1:27:30 and then just cut a few extra seconds off to slip under 2:55, but I ended up going through the half in 1:28:12. I was still on pace to PR, but I knew I would have to keep the gas on the pedal.
Mile 12 – 6:37
Mile 13 – 6:44
Mile 14 – 6:43
Mile 15 – 6:41
Just after halfway, at 90 minutes, I took my third gel, another Maurten 160. It went down fine, and I continued on. But it was during these mid-teen miles that my thoughts start to go more negative. I started questioning why I run marathons. I told myself, “This is supposed to be fun.” “But this isn’t fun,” I countered back in my head.
I wasn’t feel terrible, but I was, by no means feeling great either. I told myself, “You never have to do this again.” But then quickly remember I am signed up for Boston. Ha! Jokes on me.
“Maybe I’m done racing competitively. You’ve already achieved so much in your career.” “Why am I not as mentally tough as I used to be?!” I thought.
I did my best to turn these into positive thoughts and remind myself that I do love the challenge. “No! You didn’t come this far (literally) and work your butt off to not give it your best.” So I forged ahead as best I could.
Mile 16 – 6:45
Mile 17 – 6:43
Mile 18 – 6:44
I tried not to focus too much on how far as I still had to go. Usually the high teens is when I really start to question why I run marathons, but actually the high teens went by pretty fast. I was told miles 18 – 22 were pretty quiet, but I did not think they were that bad. (I’ve run some very quiet races before!)
At two hours I took my fourth gel which was a Gu Roctane – Blueberry Pomegranate flavor with 35 mg of caffeine. I don’t remember too much around this point, per usual, but I know I was hurting!
Mile 19 – 6:42
Mile 20 – 6:46
Mile 21 – 6:48
I tried to do some math with less than an hour to go as to whether or not I could still PR. I am terrible with math while running, and I really didn’t know if I could still PR, but I did my best to keep pushing.
Mile 22.5 is when the wrench came in. I saw 2:30 show up on my watch for my total time, and I knew it was time to take my last gel even though I only have a few miles left. I ripped the top off my last Maurten 100 gel, squeezed some into my mouth, and as soon as it hit my gag reflex, there was no holding back on the vomit. I expelled four or five times until my stomach was empty. A volunteer saw me and asked if I needed help. I said I would be fine, threw the rest of the gel on the ground, and took off running again. Honestly, my stomach felt great after that! Ha! My legs were shot, but that’s to be expect at that point.
Mile 22 – 6:48
Mile 23 – 7:57
I swear I saw mile 23 flash on my watch with a pace over 8:00, but apparently it did not, and I only stopped for about 70 seconds. Prior to this, I had no GI issues and my stomach was doing fine. And then after my puking episode, my stomach also felt totally fine, so at least it was a short-lived episode.
My pace slipped into the 6:5x’s, which I knew was putting a PR in jeopardy. I tried to do the math, but I was having a hard time figuring out if it was possible. My best guess was that it was not, but I did my best to keep pushing. I wonder if I would have been able to keep some carbs in my system, I wouldn’t have slowed down as much because often I can push more when I know the end is near.
Mile 24 – 6:50
Mile 25 – 6:58
Mile 26 – 6:49
The last few miles of the marathon always feel long to me since in theory I know I am (relatively) almost done, but still 2, 3, 4 miles are still a ways to go! Luckily the crowds picked up here, so I did my best to distract myself with the cheers, signs, and music. I also heard my name a few times, which was so fun!
You can’t see the finish until you are nearly upon it, so it was kind of hard to gauge how much more I had since my watch was off by this time. But I knew I was close.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was spent. I was in a lot of pain but also so glad to be done running.
I shuffled ever so slowly through the finish chute to get my medal, shirt/mug, and say hi to a few people. I found Craig in the friends and family area and started sobbing as soon as he gave me a hug. I was so optimistic I was going to run a sub-2:55 and now so bummed I did not to make it happen. I know my time is still really good, and I have become more proud of it now a few days removed. I just can’t believe how much the marathon wrecks me–physically and mentally. But only a marathoner understands why we keep coming back to them.
Overall, I HIGHLY recommend Houston for a half or full marathon. There were so many positives to this race: race logistics, accommodations at a reasonable cost, flights weren’t crazy-expensive, we stayed downtown near the start and finish and walked to both, the course was flat and fast (there were only 2, maybe 3 inclines), the crowd support was great, I had plenty of people to run with, it was well-organized, and there was a hot meal at the end!
My one (small!) complaint was that the aid stations were only on one side of the road (often the right for the first half), and I usually found myself on the left side of the road, so I had to cross a few lanes to get to them. Otherwise, I really don’t have any complaints. I heard that miles 18-22 were lonely/quiet, but I didn’t think they were bad at all. Sometimes where there weren’t many people cheering, speakers had been set up to play music, so it seemed like that’s how they combated that problem.
Now a few days post-marathon, I am starting to walk more normally, my heart is still a little bummed but starting to be excited for the future. I can’t dwell on this too long because the Boston Marathon in less than 14 weeks!
