Strong People Keep on Smiling

Disclaimer: I received free entry to Eau Claire Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Thank you EC Marathon & Reebok for the free race photos!

Pictured with fellow BRP Amy P

First of all, I did get my donuts and tacos. And they were glorious. Thank you for all of your concerns.

If you saw my Instagram stories, you saw that I had some car issues as I was heading out for the race (again). It seems to be a theme. This time, my brakes went out. Luckily, I drive manual so I was able to drive the mile back home. Alas, we made it all work.

We decided to make a family trip out of this race since it had been awhile since I've brought the kids to Eau Claire. First stop was the expo and packet pick-up.  It was crazy busy when we tried to find parking (around 3:30pm). I highly suggest parking across the street and walking the overhead bridge to the expo.

The expo had great energy and packet pick-up was quick! Once I had my bib in hand, we walked around and I made sure to look out for fellow ambassador Amy P working one of the booths.  After finding the perfect running bands, we headed out to get to the hotel and relax for the night.


As usual, I didn't get much sleep. Does anyone ever really get any sleep the night before a race??  We were only 10 minutes away but we parked at the furthest lot and take the shuttle to the start (there are 3 lots and shuttles at 2 of them).  The start/finish area was busy and it seemed like I didn't have much time before the start of the race. The temps were in the low 50s and the energy was amazing.

From the start of the race, I really struggled with "Take it easy" and "Let's PR today!!".  When I signed up to do this race, I already had a 50M on my schedule for the following week so my plan was to take this as a nice and slow long run. But it's hard to not get caught up in the adrenaline during a race. I decided to stick with the 4:15 pace group since I knew I'd be stopping to use the porta-potty at least once, which would slow me down enough to run with the next pace group. Seemed like a good plan and an easy run. But I refused to use the bathroom when I needed to just so I could actually PR. I even ran faster than the pace group so I could use the restroom ahead of them and then pretty much meet up once I was done. It helped that about 2-3 of those miles were on dirt! I stayed with them for about 14-15 miles and then the heat and lack of fueling properly (didn't eat breakfast and missed the first hour of fuel) started to take a toll. I trailed behind but was still within view of the pacer.

By mile 17, I was over the sun and pavement. I did my best to run on the dirt or grass anytime there was an opportunity (you can always pick out the trail runners!). Time to refocus and smile to make the pain and hunger go away. A man in tie-dye shirt was on the side of the course ringing the cowbell by himself. I smiled at him and thanked him for being out there to which he replied "Keep on smiling! The strong ones keep smiling when it gets tough!"  and that became my mantra for the rest of the race. I wish I caught a photo of him to give him credit.

As I was approaching mile 20, I saw the half marathon runners were merging onto the course and was happy to see more people out there. And they're probably not as tired and maybe would joke around more? I decided to let go of the 4:15 pace group (they were farther ahead by now anyway) and stick around to join the half marathoners. As I was texting my husband to tell him I'm at the 20-mile marker, I heard an energetic voice carrying on a conversation with someone else right behind me. I knew that voice... It was Amy P! What a delight the next few miles were. The three of us chatted away, took photos and took walk breaks. And then with 3.4 miles to go, I decided to go ahead to finish the race.

The Blugold mile was amazing. The students were incredible and what we all needed at mile 24. I was secretly hoping one of them would be out handing beer!! During all this time, the residents of Eau Claire were fantastic in coming out and giving us support, holding up clever signs and handing out water. Most importantly, setting out sprinklers out for us. You, residents of Eau Claire, are the true heroes.

The musical mile was taking a break so we didn't get to run through all the music bands playing. BUT the students out there would still call out encouragement as we went along.

I rounded the corner to Carson Park. I was less than a mile away from the finish. This is when I'd kick it up but the course had a large hill that round up to the last .2 of the race. I didn't want to trash my legs on this last hill (and there were many on the course) but I also didn't want to lose momentum. I wouldn't say I took it easy going up but I sure didn't kick it at this point. Once I got to the top, I almost took a walk break before the finish but decided I only had .2 to go so I jogged until I saw the finish and kick it up. I pass 2 runners, yelling out "On your left!". One of the runners decided to race me to the finish, to which I thought "Not today" and took every ounce of energy I could muster to out-pace her.

It was not a PR run for me but it was my most memorable and proudest marathon finish.  According to Athlinks, I finish 4th out of my age group so I'll take that for a taper run!
I met up with my family and made a beeline for the food trucks. Amy P found me and we bonded over the donuts before heading our separate ways.  There were plenty of things to do at the finish, including bouncy houses for kids. But I was beat and wanted to get out of the sun so we left shortly afterward.