It’s finally time to recap the Peak to Creek Marathon! You may think waiting a month to review is too long, but I just received my age group award in the mail so I’ll use that as my excuse.

2nd female, 30-24

I heard about the Peak to Creek Marathon in early 2017, and thought it would be a great excuse to combine a trip home (Morganton, NC) with running a marathon. I also had secret hopes that I would qualify for the Boston Marathon at that race (more on that later). Knowing that the race could sell out in just a few hours, I signed up as soon as registration opened in early May for the late October race.

I planned to use Hansons Advanced Marathon Method to train for this race, and the start date for the program would fall just after my 30^th birthday. Soon after making this plan, my running friend, Natosha, convinced me to sign up for the early September marathon, Freakin’ Fast Marathon, set in Boise, Idaho. I figured I could jump into training for Freakin’ Fast by picking up the Hansons Advanced training a few weeks in, and I’d have enough time to recover and train for Peak to Creek without losing too much fitness (note: this is NOT recommended by anyone at Hansons).

I had a great experience at Freakin’ Fast, knocked 30 minutes off of my previous marathon PR, and qualified for Boston 2018. I felt great after the race, and although I was nervous to immediately start training for Peak to Creek, I knew I had to if I wanted to try to do well. I took a few days off, then spent the next week and a half running easy. I followed the marathon with a 16 mile run two weeks after the race, and then counted backwards from the Peak to Creek date to pick up Hansons Advanced on week 14.

I felt physically ready for Peak to Creek during my training runs, but I wasn’t sure how my body would hold up during the second half of the race because I’ve never raced two marathons so close together. I decided to wear my #NotToday tank top during the race to remind myself to do my best in honor of Jeremy Hinton. You can learn more about Jeremy and his non-profit, Not Today Brain Cancer, here. My family and I headed to North Carolina a few days before the race, and planned to spend a long weekend with my family and friends.

I woke up on race morning and drove 40 minutes to Brown Mountain Beach Resort in Collettsville, where I would leave my car and take a bus to the start line in Jonas Ridge. I was the first to board a large and very warm tour bus, and I anxiously awaited the trip to the start line. I mixed a nuun active tablet with water and ate a larabar on the ride up. When we got off the bus, I picked up my race number and shivered in my shorts and sweatshirt behind the bib pickup table until a few minutes before the race started. In hindsight, I totally should have brought a pair of pants to keep my legs warm before the race. It would have been super easy to drop my warm clothes off at the bag dropoff at the start and pick them up at the finish line after the race was over.

I was surprised that the first few miles of the race felt almost totally uphill. This was a big contrast from the fast downhill start at Freakin’ Fast. I had doubts in those first few miles that I could keep up a fast pace, but I knew that I’d eventually be running downhill later in the race so I kept pushing for even, sub-8 minute miles. This was a small race, with approximately 400 participants. I didn’t come in to the race knowing anyone and I didn’t meet any runners at the start who I thought I could keep pace with, so I ran most of this marathon alone. That’s really rough when you’ve gotten used to having a buddy! The only other downside to the race was the lack of porta-potties/restrooms from miles 1-16. I totally understand why there aren’t any (the race is run on a trail road in a National Forest), but it could be an uncomfortable situation if you find yourself happening to need one before you can find one.

As the miles ticked by, I didn’t feel myself fatiguing or struggling. I drank Tailwind mixed with water throughout the race, and ate a gu gel every five miles or so. My slowest late mile came at mile 23 with an 8:02 overall pace, and everything after was faster. I found myself breezing by runners who were walking, and I knew then that I had chosen a great training plan to follow and it really prepared me for the second half of the race. I ran this race more conservatively than Freakin’ Fast, and ended up with a 3:26 finish time, good enough to qualify for the 2019 Boston Marathon.

Photo taken a couple of miles from the finish.

The course is beautiful, and the race occurs in late fall, when the leaves are brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow. It started raining during my last few miles, but not enough to bother me or affect my running. It was a picture perfect setting, and the post-race party at Brown Mountain Beach Resort was fantastic. I can definitely see myself coming back to run this race again. I met my family at the finish, and we headed down the mountain to enjoy some great beer from Fonta Flora Brewery and pizza from Moondog Pies in Morganton.

I took a whole week off from running after this race so I could rest before preparing to run my third marathon in 90 days, the St. Jude Memphis Marathon. My goal for the Dec. 2^nd marathon in Memphis was to finish strong. I talked myself out of going all out to try to set another Boston qualifying time because I didn’t want to risk injuring myself just two weeks before training for Boston 2018 would begin. I’ll let you know how that race turned out in my next post!

(Check out gorgeous photos of the race here.)

Only photo of me running and having a thigh-gap that exists.