Bayshore Marathon Recap: I did it!

Normally my Memorial Day weekends are spent on 40 acres out in the middle of nowhere, with a cup of coffee and a good book. This year, however, was quite a bit more effort. DH and I ran the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City, MI.

Last December I tried to accomplish couch to marathon in less than a year. However, the Tucson marathon got the best of me. Rather, the flu three days before trying to run in the dry heat of Tucson got the best of me. But this time, I was ready. Except for that pesky knee/IT Band thing. Would I finish Bayshore?

After training in sleet and snow all winter and spring, the weather suddenly warmed up. As in, something like 80 degrees F and 80% humidity. There were rumors of thunderstorms but they did not appear. Traverse City is one of my favorite weekend getaway spots, but we had to spend $350 a night for a Best Western. Ouch! I guess it’s the price you pay for the location on a holiday weekend. It was very clean though and within walking distance of the starting line.

We drove up on Friday and it was raining so rather than walk we decided to drive over to the packet pickup, which is at a local high school. Because of its location they do not have an expo, which was kind of a disappointment but it saved us money, haha. It was a zoo, but a well organized one. There was a large crowd for such a small space. Bayshore sells out quickly and according to their website, they capped 10K entries at 1500. The marathon was capped at 2750 registered runners. The half marathon was capped at 3000 registered runners. Last year the Half Marathon filled in less than an hour and the Marathon filled in in less than a week. A word of advice: Enter early!

After packet pickup we decided to carb load with some pizza and beer at a local microbrewery called The Filling Station. Beer and pizza were top notch.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel and try to get some sleep, because a 7:15 AM start time was going to come early!

I was pretty surprised that I wasn’t nervous when I woke up on race day. I was determined to do this! The course has a six hour cut off time and I decided that even if I didn’t make it, my Garmin would say I was a marathoner. Plus a friend of ours in the running group made Team BAM shirts (Bad Ass Marathoner) and DH was going to give me one if I finished. So no matter what the race people said, I would finish even if it took me all day!

We made our way to the starting line and found some friends. I was looking forward to the course, which is an out and back along Old Mission Peninsula. From the race website:

Bayshore Marathon is a flat, out and back course that runs along the shores of Grand Traverse Bay. Throughout the race, you have the crystal blue waters of Lake Michigan on one side and Traverse City’s famous cherry trees and orchards on the other. The course begins on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College. On your return trip you return to the Start Line, and then step onto a track for the final quarter mile inside the stadium. The only ‘rise’ on the course falls between the 18 and 19 mile markers.The Half Marathon will start on Devils Dive Rd and go east to Seven Hills Rd. and continue south east to Center Rd. It will then go south to Blue Water Rd. then east to Bluff Rd. where it will join the Marathon course following Bluff, Center Rd. and East Shore Dr. back to Traverse City and the finish line. There will be an approximately 225 foot climb near the beginning of the race before dropping down to Bluff Rd. to join the Marathon course. The 10K course is just like the marathon course except that it turns around at 3 miles instead of 13 miles.

This race does not have pacers but does have signs indicating where the different paces should line up. I had to laugh because it went from 10 minutes a mile to walkers! I was hoping to run 11:30, which would give me plenty of time padding if my knee acted up and I had to walk. So I lined up towards the back of the 10 mile sign and vowed not to go out too fast.

It was a beautiful day and for the first ten miles I felt great! The only annoyance was a gentleman who felt the need to say “If Trump can run, so can you!” at every single person returning from the 10K that we saw. He also felt the need to ask at every single aid station where the medical marijuana aid station was. Now, admittedly, Bayshore is known for having some beer aid stations provided by some of the people who live along the running route. However he was asking the high school cheerleaders and I highly doubt they knew of any medical marijuana aid stations. Then again, it is northern Michigan . . . for the record I did see two beer stops but no smoking areas.

At about mile 10 my knee started to bother me. Other than that I felt great. Then came the stabbing pain. Ugh. I decided to walk until the pain subsided, then run when it felt better. I ran/walked the rest of the race. I saw DH on the turnaround when I was at about mile 12 and he gave me the thumbs up. I was bummed that he saw me walking. But I was determined to finish! Because of the heat and humidity I was trying to get enough water in. My clothes were drenched. But then a breeze picked up and I realized that I was pretty dry, not sweating any more. About that time I also realized that I hadn’t needed to use any of the porta potties so I decided to up my water intake.

Unfortunately that was not a good decision, as my hands swelled up uncomfortably, indicating that the sodium content in my blood was too low. So I started drinking just the Gatorade and some Nuun that I was carrying. Interestingly, I noticed that the walking seemed harder on my body than the running part. My feet started aching so I would run until my knee started stabbing, then walk and repeat. Since this was my first marathon I knew that no matter what my time I would PR so I didn’t feel any pressure. I was enjoying the day.

Around mile 20 I saw a 50 states marathoner jersey up ahead. I remembered that one of our running friends, Marathon Don, was running his 300th marathon and celebrating his 60th birthday today. To my surprise, when 50 states jersey and his running companion stopped for aid, I realized that his companion was Marathon Don! It felt fun to be able to run my first marathon with someone running their 300th.

The last six miles are sometimes called a death march, and I now know why. Although I felt great (remember, I was run/walking) some of the others were not faring well with the heat and humidity. I actually felt guilty running past them when my knee was cooperating. When I looked ahead at the course, it reminded me of a scene from The Walking Dead. People were kind of walking crooked like the walkers do in the TV show.

Around mile 22 on one of my walking jags a woman caught up to me and said, “We’re not going to make it, are we?” I think she was referring to making the cutoff time of six hours. I smiled and said, “Sure we are!” Then we came up to her husband on the course and she stopped for water. I did a running spurt and said to myself, even if I miss the cutoff and don’t get a medal, I will still get a Garmin award and a Team BAM shirt. So I am finishing this thing!

Before I knew it DH was cheering me on the home stretch. Marathon Don had caught up to me and I asked if it was good luck to finish my first marathon with someone who did their 300th. But he stopped to take a bunch of photos so I ended up finishing on my own. I wasn’t going to wait, ha ha.

DH was so proud of me. He asked if I got his text. I said no. I asked what it said, was it “Hurry up I’m hungry?” He laughed and said no. What he had texted was I am so proud of you babe, you’ve got this. He is seriously the sweetest man I know.

I was so happy that I did it, bum knee and all! I was even thisclose to the six hour cutoff. I did get a medal, as you can see from the photo.

Everyone said that their times were off by at least 20 minutes because of the heat and humidity, so I am confident that I will be much faster for my next marathon! (That and I intend to rehab my knee). Even though I was slow I finished and am now officially a BAM. I wore my shirt to the after party at a local brewery. DH and I got a sampler of everything they had.

Even though we love Traverse City, after the party we crashed at the hotel room, eating and drinking and repeating pretty much all night. It felt good to relax.

On Sunday morning we decided to do some touristy things before heading home. First stop was Light of Day Organics where we did a tea tasting.

The tasting included five teas and ended with a match smoothie shot. We then proceeded to counteract all that antioxidant goodness by going to Moomers

Finally we went to Black Star Farms, our favorite winery, for a tasting and lunch.

After lunch we headed home and binged on Netflix. Yesterday we worked in the yard and ended the day with more Netflix. It was an awesome weekend!

Now what?

Now it’s time to decide what I want to do for the rest of the year. First priority is to do strengh training and yoga and rolling to get my knee in shape. Secondly, I did gain 10 pounds training for this marathon so I want to focus on cleaning up my diet. Finally, I want to work on my speed. Our running club has speed work two nights a week so I will be taking part in that. I have a couple of 5Ks on the calendar but haven’t decided on my fall race yet. DH is training for an Ironman so he is running this week already, but I may take a little time off. I’ve read conflicting research on when it’s wise to start running again. I’m not sore though so I might do some light fun runs around the neighborhood.

How was your weekend? Read more weekend recaps at the Weekly Wrap.