Julie's PR attempt at Fox Cities

Darn, we need your bib number to be able to check, but three Julie's just completed the full marathon so I sincerely hope you are one of them!

Anyone know her last name?

Kenny B. wrote:Anyone know her last name?

Whitwer Schmoll

Looked like a rough day for julie based on time and positive splits. Hope her knee was ok. she did finish with much determination I am sure.

hey just quick, yes thanks for checking on me.

first 5 miles were great, knee acted up plus only sleeping 1 hr last night (thank you very noisy neighbors in hotel we called front desk 4x to try to get them to quiet down). I did do my best and I am disappointed but between feeling like a knife was stuck in my left knee, being exhausted and also having some weird breathing stuff (I'm pretty sure paradoxical vocal fold movement but just my SLP guess....well, I finished and got another state. I don't feel like it was reflective of my fitness because I think I'm in better shape than I was when I ran Lincoln in 4:13 but I believe I finished in about 4:40 or 4:41. Booger. Thank you all for the support though!!

Very tough to run 26.2 on so little sleep - I've done that and it truly sucks.

Just not your day. A better one will come along. At least you got the state done!

Did you say ran this marathon on one hour sleep Julie? That's someone's idea of a very cruel joke. Between that and the knee issue, I don't care how long it took you to finish. As far as I'm concerned you're a champion. No doubt better days are ahead. In the meantime, take good care of that knee, and get some sleep!

Hey buddy - congrats on gutting through! You pulled off something that most people wouldn't of - training through and racing with a bum knee that has been bothering you for some time. Another state - wow, you are my hero! You are in good shape cardio-wise and had a good training cycle. You have absolutely nothing to feel bad about for stuff that was totally outside of your control. Now reward yourself with some pizza or something!

I ran a 20 miler on about that much sleep and crashed hard at mile 18.

You did the best you could with the cards you were dealt. You are certainly a faster marathoner and your day will come. Great job as I can tell this was a brutal experience for you!

Congrats on another state, Julie! You did have some tough luck with the knee the past few weeks, hopefully you figure that out soon. It's tough with noisy hotel neighbors, that's always a nightmare scenario. Just dwell on the positive, OK - another state, another marathon!

Darn!! It's just so tough because all the stars have to be in alignment on this one day. Best not to have pushed the knee otherwise it'll set you back too far in running another race. Travelling can be stressful enough without having rude neighbors.


Recover and regroup! Congrats on your new state.

Hey Julie,

Sorry to hear about your rude neighbors and your knee acting up on you. I have to say this, it takes some mighty mean guts to make it 26.2 miles on one hour of sleep with one good leg (let alone two). It just sucks too, because it was a decent weather day. I hope that you recover well and get healed up fast. You can at least use this as fuel for your next marathon challenge. I know that at full strength you would have killed it today You are really someone to admire. Good luck with your future runnings!!!

Crap, Julie, but congrats on gutting it out and getting another state. I have shared in your misery in the past as I bet most of us have, but hey, you ran a marathon today which is more than over 90% of the world can say. Rest up - you deserve it.

As Michele said, we've all had those days where despite the great training and physical shape we are in, it isn't our day to run a great 26.2. You did great on an hour's sleep. I would have been so ticked off. What the heck were they doing??

Congrats girlfriend!

Way to tough it out and finish, Julie! Hope the knee heals fast.

There is no way that today's race is anywhere near a reflection on how well your fitness is. There is no doubt that you take care of that knee and get back after it, your next marathon will be much much better.

I must also say that wow that is amazing that you ran a marathon on 1 hour sleep. There is no way that I could do it or even think about attempting to do it. Heck I would have a hard time running 6 miles on 1 hour sleep.

I know it wasn't what you wanted or expected when you started this training cycle but congrats on getting it done with everything else that was going on.

Proud of you Julie.

Julie you perservered despite everything thrown at you. You'll take that mental strength gain and nail it when things are more favorable for you. Congrats on getting it done. Heal up.

Sorry to hear that the stars did not align for you on race day...and that the hotel neighbors were so disruptive. Ugh.
But you toughed it out...well done!

I know that knife in the knee feeling very well.

I am sorry to hear that your race was not optimal, but I was glad to hear you stuck it out anyway! I know this race meant a lot to you and I'm sure you are disappointed, but overall it should give you some more experience for the future. Any of us who have run a number of fulls have had the experience of a bad day (or night before for that matter). Doesn't make it any easier for you, but know that we know how you feel to a large degree.



Hope your knee heals up well. Unfortunately when your training calls for speed work and tempos it does increase your risk for injury. Good news is you are still young and have lots of time to work these issues out and of course plan your family life as well.



Don't get too discouraged. I have a feeling you'll bounce back well, sooner or later!



Thanks for all your support for a lot of us. It does mean something.

Get a refund from the hotel, get another race registration with it, and get really full and really drunk with whatever you have left over. Then come back with a vengeance.

You may not have grabbed a time PR out there, but I think you grabbed a time-slept-the-night-before PR for all of us.

Don't forget your obligation to write a detailed report! I agree with the above, talk to the hotel management, tell them you want a refund for that night. Hopefully that has not continued on. ALso, I hope you banged on their door/wall at 4:30 AM!

I'll write a report tomorrow or tonight, thank you all, you are all so kind and supportive you're going to make me cry.

Yes I kicked their wall at 5:30 a.m. twice and then my husband said to quit it,

We are home safe and sound and yes I'll write a report full of gruesome splits and everything. Oh and photos, too.

Thank you all so much, I really was dreading coming back with a bad report because of all the support here and really wanted to do well and wanted so badly to write that I had PRd but yes there will be other races.

I need to catch up on all of your training, too!!

well, I asked my husband about calling the hotel, he said he wouldn't because I already told them at check out that it was really frustrating and that it made my marathon difficult. It was a wedding party and they had 2 weddings worth of guests at the hotel, the desk lady said they tried to separate them from other guests as much as possible and that they were already drunk when she picked them up. Lovely. Anyway, I'm moving on and just thinking about what to do differently next time in training. I really am liking the idea of trying to PR at Lincoln some year, depending upon when we have our next baby. It's hard to beat a fairly flat marathon that is only a few minutes from your house. Regardless of how things turned out, I do thank you all so very much for all the support. I learned a lot this training cycle and it's hard to believe summer is over and here we all are with our fall races approaching.

Julie some things snuck up on you for the race. Put it in the books and physically and mentally take a break. Before you know it you'll be itching to get going again.