My best friend Jane and I have a great tradition of run/walking the Sun Run together. We’re in year two of our Sun Run tradition. We’ve been friends for 19 years now, so I’m hoping this tradition is one that we keep going for a long long time. This picture is from the start of the race – probably right about when they mentioned that the winner had just finished – and we still had 20 min + to go before we even started. This year we ran 2min walked 3 min and had a really good time with the other 54,000 Sun Run-ers. Jane’s goal in the first year was to beat her number (we did). This year the goal was to go faster then last year. We did. It was a fun morning and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

My goal for this marathon was to finish and be able to tell myself, “Wow, you did so great.” It’s a different kind of goal, you will notice it doesn’t depend on time. It’s all about attitude. That’s what the eventi marathon is all about. There are no timed results. You run to 7 different starbucks in Richmond and at each Starbucks you pick a card from a deck of cards. The winner of the marathon is determined by the best poker hand at the post-race banquet. It’s all about fun and that’s why I signed up.

Here’s the race plan that I emailed to myself the day before the race:

Here’s the plan

First 1hr – be conservative – HR < 145, slow down – breathe deep, concentrate on waking up & warming up. Start the fueling early.

2nd 1hr – HR 155-ish, feeling good, nice and warm, concentrate on fueling,

3rd 1hr – HR 155-165, controlled, continue fueling, get to the next starbucks, start thinking about form, light feet nice tempo, stay controlled, stay upright

4th 1hr – 165+ tempo run back home down the dyke

You rock!

For the first hour and half, I ran with Jackie and Dave??? (“marathon brain” is my excuse, I can’t exactly remember his name). Dave?? chatted the whole time. He’s done 22 marathons, and he listed them all off – in order. Jackie is from North Van (actually Minnesota originally) and at one point Dave?? said, “Get up here and tell us your life story.” It was awesome. I enjoyed this part of the race – laughing, chatting, and enjoying the company. I followed the HR zones exactly (slowing down every once and a while). It felt nice and relaxed.

At 1.5-2hrs, I moved into the next effort zone and picked up the pace. I caught up to Emma and ran with her for a while. It was great to see so many familiar faces in fellow racers and the volunteers. It gives you a boost every time you see someone you know. From 2-3hrs, I concentrated on the course. I was glad to have scoped out the route before hand because I shouted, “OVER THIS WAY!!!” at several folks who were making wrong turns.

At 3hrs, it was time for my tempo run. I was ready for the wall, and it came. But, if I focused only my lungs and the core of my body, I could truthfully say to myself, “Wow, you feel great!” Since about 1hr into the race, I had an acute pain in my right foot (there’s a really big bruise on the top of my foot, so my shoe was probably too tight). At hour two, I slipped at the Bridgeport Starbucks and banged my knee pretty bad (another big blue shiner). My legs/feet generally hurt (don’t get me started about my feet, yikes). But, it’s really quite amazing how much you can choose to ignore and still truthfully say, “I feel awesome!”

I did feel really great. Torbin rode his bike alongside me and said, “I can’t believe how fast you’re going.” Calvin also caught up to me and with a big smile said, “You’re way further ahead of where I expected you.” Rob and Jenna sprinted up to the dyke with coffee’s and muffins in hand to yell, “Yay, Joanne.” All of my buddies from the SAA cheered. All of this positive support helped me to keep positive in my head and stick to the plan. And the plan worked. I felt awesome and finished the day very strong with a 30 minute personal best, 3:53:42.

Most importantly of all, I ended the day with a full house. Two Queens, and three fours. An awesome hand, not the best hand of the day, but it was definitely the kind of day where you say to yourself, “Wow, that was so great!”