CIM 2021 Race Recap: Breaking 3:00
California International Marathon (CIM) 2021
2:58. 33 after 8 weeks of injury.
Quite possibly, the best race of my life and all I had to do was get to the start line healthy. It really goes to show that imperfect build ups can still lead to perfect race days. The victory is sweeter when you realize how hard you had to work just to get there.
CIM was not originally on the race calendar and it wasn’t confirmed I would race until 1 week before. Everything in between Chicago and CIM was uncertain due to my hamstring strain after Chicago. I had exactly 8 weeks between Chicago and CIM to rehab my hamstring and build fitness.
Photo by Nicole Bush capturing the carnage of Chicago Marathon 2021. Obviously, before I dropped out.
After Chicago, I was uncertain of the degree of damage I had done to my hamstring and I knew these things could heal, linger, and repeat so I tried not get my hopes up. I’ve been asked several times how I returned to running so fast? Answer: I rehabbed aggressively and spent as much time rehabbing as I did running. I hammered the glute and core strength exercises. And just as I thought things were going well, I experienced my first knee injury 2.5 weeks before CIM. I was doing my easy runs on hilly routes to prepare my legs for the first half of CIM and develop a combination of IT Band & patellofemoral pain syndrome. It sucked and I had to kinesiotape my knee often, as well as start my taper early. My knee pain got better right in time. It wasn’t until 5 days before the race that I didn’t feel any knee pain at all. We were ready, it was go time. It was confirmed I would race on Sunday.
Going into this race, I had nothing to lose. Chicago was the worst race of my life. Even if I finished CIM in a subpar time - that is still better than Chicago. Yes, my whole Chicago experience was traumatizing but also, laughable.
Race weekend arrived and I realized that for the FIRST time, I did not have to get on a plane and travel. One mistake I made in Chicago was I spread myself out too thin by cramming in social runs, expos, meetings, phone calls, etc that I wasn’t taking care of myself. This time, I spent the evening with my boyfriend in our hotel having dinner and facetiming with my niece. For once, I had the best sleep before a marathon. I’m historically a terrible sleeper due to race day nerves and fear I’ll sleep through my alarm. Since it’s my 3rd time getting ready for a marathon this year, I had nothing to worry about. But deep down, I had that “what if” feeling. What if my hamstring or my knee doesn’t hold up tomorrow?
At the CIM start line, my Boulder friend Brian Schmidt asked me how I was feeling. I said “well, I’m about to go test the theory that it’s better to be undertrained than overtrained.” I laughed, we hugged, and I walked to the 2:55- 3:00 pace group.
Nothing went right in those first 3 miles. I had to play around with my watch in the first mile because I realized I didn’t turn my auto lap off. I freaked out because I wasn’t sure if you can still change it after you start your watch… turns out you can. All was good. Mile 2, my necklace was getting tangled (has never happened in a run) so I took it off and accidentally dropped it on the course. Then my friend Ana (a blast from the past) screamed out my name. I knew we had the same goals - go under 3:00. I met Ana in NYC at a CPTC practice. I was a 3:30 marathoner at the time with a goal of running 1:30 so I could qualify for NYC marathon. Here we are, running side by side and working together with her friend Kim. I would miss my water cup, and she would give me the rest of hers. This.. this is the beauty of the marathon. The 3 of us would regroup after each water station. I yelled out our splits every mile since I turned my auto lap to manual.
One thing I learned about the CIM marathon course in 2019 was to stay relaxed in the first half. I checked in with myself constantly to make sure I wasn’t over exerting early. I waited for my legs to fatigue at mile 16, then 18, then 20, then 22 and it never did until 24. I’ve heard stories of marathoners feeling “this good” late into the race and I’ve never believed it to be possible, until today. I’m not sure why today was different, perhaps because I was undertrained going into the race. At mile 18, I knew today was going to be my day. It was happening. At mile 20, it was me and Kim. I almost felt like I could even finish with a kick at the end, but I was nervous. What if the wheels fall off in 5 minutes? It’s still hard for me to estimate how much to push and when during a race (that comes with experience). We decided to stay on pace until mile 23 and then decide. By mile 24, my legs were fatigued and my hands went numb. I couldn’t take in any more fluids or gels. The plan was just to get to the finish and hang on.
The last stretch of CIM is the absolute worst. You can see the streets counting down so you know you’re getting closer but you can’t see the finish. The crowds carry you to the finish through positive words of affirmation. I ran by my friend Tiana, another amazing runner I aspire to be like.
Once I turned the corner, the finish was just 100m away. When in doubt, you always have a kick. Trust. I had the biggest smile on my face. I saw the clock and this. Was. real. I’ve dreamt this before, but this is real. I immediately hugged my friend Nicole and burst into tears. Nicole was there for me after Chicago at the worst race of my life. Here we are, best race of my life. I then hugged my coach Matt who always said I was going to run under 3:00 several years ago, long before I had any right to think I could be a sub 3 marathoner.
This is me, in between smiling and crying.
There is beauty in chasing a goal that feels bigger than yourself. Although I am beyond excited to break 3 hours, I was more emotional because of how much work and self-belief I needed to do to get myself to the startline. Life has no coincidences and Chicago needed to end the way it did for me to run so well at CIM. And to be surrounded by some of my closest friends, from different chapters of my life, made this day even more special.
Photo: Nicole Bush