It’s been a stressful and scary past 14 months. A global pandemic forced normal life to a sudden halt. So, I had a rush of emotions as I stood on the Brookings Marathon starting line Saturday. A year and a few months ago, I wouldn’t have felt anything other than self-induced pressure to run fast. But after all the world has been through collectively, traveling to South Dakota and running a race felt like a giant jump back to relative normality.
I ran one race in the middle of the pandemic back in September (the Nebraska marathon). That race felt foreign. Running felt forced and unsafe. I’m glad I was able to cross that state off my list, but I wasn’t comfortable with the plane flight or being outside of my Las Vegas bubble. My legs were also not ready for a hard effort race, and I paid for going out too fast. I showered and rushed to the airport immediately after that race to fly back to Nevada. The whole trip felt like a failure. I wanted everything to be back to normal, but nothing felt right.
This past weekend’s trip to South Dakota was completely different. I’ve been fully vaccinated for more than a month and a half now. The CDC announced vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or socially distance from others last week right before I left for the trip. I didn’t feel nervous around people at all on this trip (although I did wear my mask inside buildings when I was close to others).
Runners were required to wear masks to the starting line area, but we could discard them a block after the race started. Heading out onto the course felt liberating. The air in Brookings was cool (at the start at least), and the sun was bright. My only worry was finding the right pace and running even splits.
The Brookings Marathon course wasn’t my favorite — there were countless turns and street crossings with traffic. Every street I ran felt slightly uphill (although my watch data says there was less than 600 feet of elevation gain). By the final miles, the sun was hot and the lack of shade helped me overheat.
While I didn’t love the course, I did love the city of Brookings. The downtown was fun to explore after the race, and the South Dakota State University campus was charming as well. The race was well organized, and all of the workers were friendly and helpful. Everyone seemed excited to have an actual race day to celebrate.
I struggled to find a target pace going into the Brookings Marathon. My main goal was to run under three hours, but I wasn’t confident enough in my training to shoot much faster. I really wanted to run under 2:55 to give myself a 10 minute cushion for the 2022 Boston Marathon qualifying.
I realized seven miles in that running under 2:55 was probably out of reach. A 6:45 pace felt comfortable, but anything faster felt like I was pushing too hard.
Two geese hissed and chased me off the running path as route circled a nature preserve in mile 17. Then four miles later I took my final gel and ended up choking myself. I ripped the top part of the gel packet off like normal, squeezed the vanilla-orange Roctane GU into my mouth, and grabbed a cup of water with my normal pinch method where my index finger goes into the cup and my thumb and middle fingers on the outside of the cup. As I tilted the cup up to pour water into my mouth to help with swallowing the gel, I saw the top of the gel packet floating in the water. Before I could stop, it was in my mouth and going down my throat. I swallowed it, and started coughing immediately.
There are few things worse in mile 21 of a marathon than violently coughing with something stuck in your throat. I drank more water and got past the sensation of having something stuck in my throat, but from that point on I fought with side cramps. The coughing also made me feel like I pulled an abdominal muscle.
In miles 22-25, I fought the same mental battle over and over. The day turned hot, and my pace dropped off. My brain told me I would have to walk and watch the sub three hour goal fade away. Each time I convinced my legs to finish out the next quarter mile without walking. While my miles got significantly slower, I didn’t walk and my wheels didn’t fall off completely. By the time I hit the final mile, I knew I would finish faster than three hours. I just had press forward and not give up.
Crossing the finish line with 2:58:56 on the clock felt amazing. It wasn’t my fastest, or even my ninth fastest marathon. But it was a triumph for me. My first sub three hour effort in almost 30 months. Since CIM in 2018, I have fallen short of so many goals. I blew up in Boston in 2019. I was injured. My comeback was derailed, then racing stopped altogether during the pandemic.
Saturday, however, was a huge positive step.
I have now run a full marathon in 39 states. Hopefully I can improve my time, but my Brookings Marathon finish gives me a cushion of six minutes and two seconds for Boston 2022 qualifying.
And the best part of the trip? I was able to travel safely and feel protected.
Until next time, South Dakota.
I’m thrilled to be back racing.
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