My First Sub 4 hour Marathon!! (Race Recap: Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon)

Victoria, you are pretty! 

The Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon was on October 11th in Victoria BC. We took the Victoria Clipper from Seattle and it was a short 2.5 hr trip. We arrived in the Victoria Harbor and checked into our hotel. We had a nice time exploring Victoria. If you like Vegan food I would check out the following restaurants

The Green Cuisine
The Lotus Seed

Both of them are excellent pre-race food; not spicy, light and (in my opinion) easily digestible...and delicious!

My Race Motto!

Since I've been devoting my time to my Ironman base-building, I haven't spent as much time running as I usually did when I was running marathons a few years ago. My longest training run has been 16 miles. I tried not to let that psyche me out, and I  think the fact that I have finished 5 marathons gave the confidence to stick with my goal time of a 4hr marathon.


Previously, my marathon training consisted of at least a few 20+ milers and a bunch of 8-10 milers, but generally with the same pace as my 20 milers.  Not much interval training, and a bit of hill training. This time around things have been different. I have been doing A LOT more interval training and my shorter 8-10 mile runs have also been at a faster pace, I've been using a 3:40 finish as my "goal" pace (maybe someday!). I've also been swimming 5-6K per week and biking 40 miles up until a few weeks ago when I decided to focus my efforts on training for this race.


I was feeling really good on Saturday and at the Marathon Maniacs pacer tent, I even contemplated joining the 3:45 pacer group but I quickly decided that I really wanted to stay the course and try and meet my goal of a 4 hour marathon which is my goal time for the marathon portion of the Ironman.

I'm coming for you finish line

Mona my Mother -in-Law was running the 8K so we woke up early to get her to the start line 1.5 hrs before my marathon start. It was nice to be up early and moving around and it gave me a lot of time to eat breakfast, warm up, stretch...and think. I started second guessing myself about if I could really run a 4 hr marathon when my longest training run had been 16 miles and my fastest marathon was 4:17. I decided my plan would be to run with the 4 hr pace group and just keep evaluating how I felt at some of the landmarks along the course (the Statue of Terry Fox, Hollywood Drive, halfway, mile 20, etc.)

With Mona before her 8K

I loved loved LOVED running with a pace group, it made me feel like an Olympic athlete and it was so motivating. I felt so strong, I was definitely feeding off of everyone's energy. I think I chatted with everyone in the group it really helped pass the time and it was encouraging that I was able to carry on a comfortable conversation even going into mile 20! I could not have done this race without my pacer, Ian from Marathon Maniacs Seattle Area. He'll likely never see this but if he does, THANK YOU IAN!!!!

At the halfway point, I felt really good. My stomach was sloshing a bit so I cut back on the water and ate a bit more. I ended up taking in about 300 calories which I wish I would have thought a bit more about going into it. I didn't really consider how much fuel would be good for me which is something to think about for Ironman.

What I wore, what my garmin said and me after the race!

Shortly after mile 21, the crowds started thinning out a bit and our pace group got a lot smaller. I continued on but missed being distracted by conversation. By mile 23 I noticed more people walking and some hobbling and I was surprised by how many people I was passing. There were times that I wanted to walk but I told myself it would hurt just as much to walk but it would take longer...and I wouldn't reach my goal. I had started picking up my pace and had put some distance between myself and the pacer as an "insurance policy" in case I needed to slow my pace.


At mile 24 I knew I'd meet my goal...I just knew it. I got a little emotional thinking about it because it was such an awesome feeling to experience. It was a small goal, but a goal nonetheless.


The last mile was hard...but after I finished I knew I could have pushed harder. I crossed the finish line at 3:59:45......I broke 4 hours!!! To me its insane to have a "3" in front of my PR...even if its JUST barely in the 3's!

The bling! 

I'm thinking of doing the LA Marathon on Valentine's day but I'm worried it might interfere with my Ironman training. It will be 4.5 months before Ironman so I think I'm going to see how my recovery is for this marathon. Today I feel great, I got a massage and went for a short shake out run/walk.

Thanks for reading!!

Mona posing during her 8K. She had a great day too!

The lady behind me had a hat that cracked me up "I love running when I'm not doing it"