Venture outside your comfort zone: the rewards are worth it! KSellers88’s Journal (Comments Welcome)





Good luck on Saturday! You are going to do awesome!
Cheering for you!!! Time to crush it!!! :D Can’t wait to read all the details!!! Have fun!!
Cheering you on during my 4.5 mile EA! :)

Thanks, y'all!

Just checked in on the tracking!!! Looking great. Run, girl, run!!!
Anytime now, right? The agony of waiting for that last split to come in!!!
LOL, doing the same, constantly checking.
Across the finish line!

LOL! I am glad y'all got those tracking updates and not the ones I was texting my husband. One during a water stop at mile 20 read "6 miles until death, I mean finish." :rotfl:
Congrats! :cool1:

Thank you! I appreciate your help SO much!

Fantastic job, girl!!! You should be so proud!!

Thank you! I was very disappointed at first, but have become more proud!

Congrats on the PR! Enjoy the Sprite and Reese's!

Love it! Thank you so much!

Congratulations, girl!!! You are a beast!!

Aw, thanks! You are too sweet!

Congratulations!!!! Amazing!!!!
So proud of you! :yay:

Thank you! I appreciate the support SO much!

Congrats on the PR!!!

:banana::banana::banana:

Thank you so much!

Nice PR!!!! Congrats!

Thanks! My OCD is so glad that it is a nice even numbered PR, lol.

So proud of you! Congrats on the PR! Can’t wait to hear all about it!

:thanks: Hopefully work tomorrow will be slow and I can write up my recap!
 
Kiawah Island Marathon Race Recap

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We finally made it here, after 15 weeks and 587 miles of training Saturday, December 8th was the big day. My husband and I made the 6 hour drive to Kiawah Island, South Carolina on Thursday. All we did that afternoon evening was stop by the grocery story and check into our house. The view from our house was absolutely beautiful and I made sure I enjoyed it after my three mile EA run once we arrived.
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Friday morning I woke up and got my 2 mile shakeout run done and we headed to the expo. This race was very well organized and actually had a pretty good sized expo. I have a friend who works for the golf resort and she said they had 6,200 runners total registered for either the 5k, half or full. I think some of them did not make it due to the snow storm that was approaching, but I was pleasantly surprised by the organization and amenities.
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After the expo, we headed into Charleston for a ferryboat tour and then back to Kiawah for dinner at a friend's house. They made pasta, pizza and salad and I ate two plates. LOL. I felt like everyone was looking at me like I was crazy, but I wanted to make sure I ate like I normally do before a long run or marathon. We got back to our house around 8:15 and I gathered everything up and got it all ready for the next morning. All my gear is pictured below, minus all the throwaway clothes.

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I slept pretty good overall from around 10:15 until about 5:45 when I woke up wide awake afraid that my alarm was not going to go off. I ate 3/4 of a bagel with honey and PB and a clif bar, drank a few sips of drink, got ready and we headed out the door. Brad drove me to the start line area and dropped me off (it was only about 1 mile from our rental house, but I didn't want to walk any extra before, LOL). I stretched, used the porta potty and shuffled my way through the crowds to the 4 hour pace group. We crossed the start line at 8:02 AM.

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I won't go over every mile in detail because that will be a novel, but I'll do a summary...

Miles 1-8: Stuck with the pace group even though she was going a bit faster than I would have preferred. Looking at my HR, I should have slowed down and separated myself from the group earlier than I did, but unfortunately I didn't. I took a gel between mile 5-6. They had water/Gatorade stops every two miles, so I would take water at those and drink Gatorade from my handheld on the mile markers where there were not water stops. I had my watch on the clock face, so the only time I saw the pace was when the mile splits showed up. After running mile 8 at an 8:41 pace, I made the decision to slow down so I wouldn't completely blow up.

Miles 8-17: I slowed down to a more comfortable LR pace, but still kept the 4 hour pace group in my sight. I took another gel between mile 10-11 and again between mile 15-16. Luckily I never felt like I needed to go to the bathroom or under-fueled, so I at least think I have figured out the fueling thing. Mile 17 is where the wheels started to fall off. I am horrible about staying positive in races. Once I get past the longest distance in training I just freak out. That combined with the fact that the 4 hour pace group kept getting further and further away even though I knew I was running sub-4 paces completely defeated me so I slowed down.

Miles 18-25: Complete hot mess. I started letting myself walk during the water stops and started the questioning of why the heck I even do marathons when I get so miserable during them. I sent a text to my husband at mile 20 that said "6 miles until death, I mean until the finish". LOL. I took another gel between mile 20-21 and started eating Honey Stinger energy chews randomly as well. My breathing never felt super labored which was a positive, but my left hamstring started pulling and I just let that negative Nancy get in my head so my mental game definitely needs work. Technically at mile 20 I was at 3:05, which meant if I could have gotten my act together and gotten back to 9:09 paces I could have gotten that sub-4 but it just wasn't in the cards. I think I had pushed too hard in the first half and I just didn't feel like I had anything left.

Mile 26-26.2: I wanted to have at the least a 20 minute PR, so I ran as fast as my short, little legs would let me and got it by the skin of my teeth. I saw my husband right outside the finish line and I don't know that I have ever been so glad to see a finish. I crossed the line at 4:07:57 with a smile on my face (I think).

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I got my medal, finisher picture and some Gatorade and went to find my husband. I knew he had my backpack of Sprite and Reese's and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. We took a few more pictures and then began what I thought was a one mile walk back to our rental house, but SURPRISE! Someone who had rented the house prior to us had rented this bike and trailer and I jokingly told my husband he could use it to pull me back after the finish, and he did it! LOL. :rotfl2: I love that man!
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Summary: I loved Kiawah Island, it was absolutely breathtaking and I'd definitely return again. The course was great, pancake flat and the weather was good but a little chilly for spectators. Everything was so well organized and I didn't even mind the looping around the island because everything was just so pretty. A lot of people didn't care for the shirt or the medal, but that was not what I was running this race for (and I personally like them both). I've got to work on my mental game if a sub-4 marathon is ever in the cards, but for now I have some other goals in mind so that sub-4 will just have to wait. :goodvibes

I cannot thank you all enough for your support and encouragement leading up to this race. I was thinking of each of you as I ran and felt so disappointed that I might have let you down...then to finish and check the boards and see all of the messages made me smile and feel so proud. Y'all are truly the best and I am so glad I found this board!

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You have so much to celebrate after a great race!! Congrats again!!

I love that you matched your shorts to the medal :)

I hope your recovery goes well!
 
Was going to say, hubby is a keeper. I also like the medal. Glad you enjoyed the race. I might consider it sometime in the future. It looks like a nice place and not too far for me either. Congrats on the PR. You did fantastic!!
 

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