WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Off the Trails: The Marathon Recap

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

Join Nicole Sighiartau as she discusses some of her wildest experiences in the great outdoors! This week she shares the story behind running her first marathon! 

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Welcome to Off the Trails. I'm Nicole Sagia Routau, and I'll be your adventure buddy as we discuss some of my wildest stories from my outdoor endeavors. Like I said on last week's episode, I will be hosting by myself for the next four weeks because I'm still in Hillsdale doing a summer session while Storm has returned back home to Georgia. So these next four weeks will be a whole lot more of me talking. But we'll see. Maybe I'll have some guests on if I can figure that out, if I'll zoom people in or whatever it may be. But yeah, so this is my first solo episode.

I'm very excited because we'll be talking about my first marathon that I ran. I ran my very first marathon this past Saturday, April 26th. And so I figured I would share the whole story behind the, that, all the behind the scenes and all the work that went into it over the past four months. So obviously running the marathon was my trail marker. Nothing else could really top that. It was just such a fantastic experience overall. So before we talk about the actual marathon, I just kind of want to share more of the background,

kind of how I ended up signing up for this, what my inspiration was, and all that jazz. So I used to really hate running. I grew up as a swimmer and a sailor, so I never really ran. I would run in PE. And I was pretty quick in sixth and seventh grade. I was pretty fast. I believe my fastest mile time was like a 621 in seventh grade. So I definitely have a knack for it in some sense.

especially in regards to like endurance running. I never really realized how naturally endurance running came to me until I ran this marathon this past weekend. But growing up, climbing and hiking 14ers and just experiencing really long days on the trail, my body has adapted pretty well. But anyway, going back to the start of me running, I would say I really started running last January, January 2024 at Hillsdale. I would try to swim as much as possible over here, but unfortunately, the pool hours were pretty inconvenient. So start of January, I decided, you know what? I want to get into running. I want to run a minimum of three miles a week for the year. And I definitely exceeded that

once I got into the swing of running. It did take some time. But eventually, you know, I got over the pain and misery that the first couple of weeks was when I first started running in hillsdale I could really only do like two miles maybe and then you know I bumped it up to three four and then before I knew it I was running 10Ks pretty frequently just by myself around the back roads here and I loved running in hillsdale I still do love running in hillsdale it's one of my favorite places to run the country roads are just so nice they have pretty easy rolling hills and And yeah, I just had a great spring running, pushing my distance. I think the longest I had run in the spring at Hillsdale was 10 miles. And I will say that was pretty rough. But going into the summer, I ended up living in steamboat, Colorado with my aunt. And so I really wanted to maintain my running in steamboat as well. So I would run after work. And that kind of was the start of trail running for me. I would run up the ski mountain and run back. down. My mileage kept increasing pretty soon. It became normal for me to just casually run eight miles.

I ran my very first half marathon and steamboat, not as a race just by myself. One morning, I decided to run the 13 miles. It was for my aunt's house into town. And so I did that. And I really was hooked after that. I was like, wow, I can run these longer distances. And just if I could train, I feel as if I could totally do a marathon. And so that's when the idea sort of planted itself in my brain over the summer. And I remember the first time I ran a half marathon on the trails. That was a crazy long day on the legs. But it was so fun and it was so easy and natural to me. It just became something I would look forward to at a long day at work. And then coming back to Hillsdale in the fall, I kept up my running and I would say I did that pretty consistently up until Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately, around Thanksgiving

break, it seems like all of Hillsdale got sick with this killer cough. I mean, I had this cough from Thanksgiving break all the way until the middle to end of January. So it was a very long time. And it got to the point where I physically couldn't even walk upstairs without wheezing and dying from this cough that just shook your whole body. And so I wasn't able to run for probably over a month. And over the course of that month, I began to realize how much I actually enjoy running and how big a place it has in my life now and that it's just so fun to put in your earbuds and go for a run and not really have to worry about anything and just to be outside. So I, decided, I was like, you know what, I want to run a marathon. However, at the time when I really

came to this conclusion, I still wasn't able to run. And then, I believe it was January 20th or something like that. I was sitting in bed at 9 p.m. here at Hillsdale, and I just thought, this is so pathetic. I haven't ran it over a month, more than that at that point. And I just decided to go up and run three miles. So put my headlamp on. I put on a couple of layers because it was very cold outside. It was probably, I don't know, 10, 15 degrees. And by some miracle, I was able to run three miles without coughing, or at least with very minimal coughing. However, the run got done and I believe it was the very same night. Maybe it wasn't the very same night. It could have been a couple nights later, but a couple nights later, I was sitting in bed and it was midnight and I was looking at marathons and I found the marathon that

I ran this weekend. It was called Trail Weekend in Potawatomi, Potawatomi Lakes in Gregory, Michigan, or Pickney, Michigan, sorry. And I signed up for it very impulsively. I googled how long does it take to train for a marathon, realized that 12 weeks, 12 weeks, was a, pretty much the minimum. And I did the math and I was exactly 12 weeks out. And I signed up and I found myself a little training plan online. And that was the start of it. And I started running. So for the next 12 weeks, I would run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Or actually, maybe I ran Wednesdays as well. But yeah, it was it was a long journey and the mileage ramped up very quickly. But I was determined and I made time for it and I was able to complete all of my training pretty

successfully. I did have a minor hip injury, but that ended up getting sorted out. And a little spoiler, it was not an issue at all the day of my marathon. So that's all the background. But let's get into the actual day of. I ended up waking up at 4.30 in the morning because the marathon started at 8 a.m. And I had to get there to pick up my little registration packet, I guess. I think registration open at 6.30. And Gregory Michigan, Pinkney, Michigan is an hour and 10 minutes north of Hillsdale. So I ended up going with three of my friends. They were so, so sweet, and they came to cheer me on. And so I went with Jesse, Abriana, and Andrew, and they drove me up there. We ended up leaving Hillsdale at, I believe, 5.30 in the morning.

So it was very early for all of us, but I was just so pumped on adrenaline and I was very, very excited that I didn't really feel how early in the morning it was. So I woke up, changed, ate some oatmeal, and then we were on our way. And I remember looking at the weather probably a week before the race and seeing that it had cool, like it had forecasted to be pretty cool around 40. which was significantly cooler than it had been that entire week. And Hillsdale, it finally warmed up. And so we were in the 70s, even high 70s. And I don't do well in running in the heat. So I was very fortunate in that it forecasted for cooler weather. And it certainly was cool out there. Let me just say that I initially had a plan to run in a tank top. But thank goodness I brought an extra long sleeve along because it was very, very chilly. It was probably around

39, 40 degrees, when I started running that morning. But anyway, I picked up my registration packet. We sat in the car a little bit more because we were pretty early. Had a couple of snacks. I was a little scared about having you go to the bathroom during the race. So I think I went to the bathroom twice beforehand. It was all good. It was all fine. But yeah, I was kind of feeling nervous, but also just really excited to go. And, um, I think the thing I was most nervous about was the start of the race. I just was afraid of starting off too fast. Thankfully, that didn't end up being an issue,

but that was one of my concerns when I was lining up to start the race. You're listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. And let's get back to the start of the marathon. So they opened the gates, I think, to kind of line up for the start, I believe, five minutes before 8 o'clock. And so I kind of positioned myself in the middle because I knew I wasn't one of the fastest, but I was also like, I have to give myself some credit. I am not slow in comparison to some of the other people there.

So I put myself in the middle and I was just listening to my music, standing there. And before I knew it, we were off. And obviously at the start, a lot of people are passing you. People are going up pretty quick because it was, there were lots of different distances. So there was a five mile, there was a half marathon, marathon, and then a 50K. So obviously the people doing the five mile and the half marathon started off quicker. And so they got out ahead. And I was pacing behind this one girl for probably three to four miles.

And we were really taking it easy. And I felt great. Like my paces were pretty quick. I believe at the start, I was pacing around a 940. actually I can look this up because I can pull up my Strava but I I just felt really really great at the start of the marathon I knew I was taking it easy I had done a good job of eating a lot before the marathon but not too much and around three and a half miles I started eating a couple of my little moths fruit gummy things okay so I my time's pulled up and yeah so my

first mile, my split was 9-11, and that was basically the fastest I had the whole time. I hit 9-11 a couple other times later on. But yeah, pretty quick. And then I had a 9-43, 9-58, 921, 937, 945. So I was going pretty quick. Oh, and then I dropped down to 9-11 for miles 7 and 8. Very interesting. Oh, and then 909 for mile 9. That's crazy. But anyway, so I was pacing behind this girl, and it gets to the point I was like, you know what? I think I'm going to pass her. So I go around her as we're going up this hill because a lot of people were walking on the hills and I was a little afraid to walk on the hills too early in the race. I had it in my brain, I guess, that like I could walk on really steep hills, but that I wanted to try to run as much as possible. And so I passed her on one of the hills.

And before I knew it, I then was behind this guy who I could tell had ran the race before, just the way he was approaching the course and where he was choosing to walk, it seemed as if he was very familiar with the trails. And I decided, this is perfect. I am going to pace behind this guy for the rest of the race. That was my mindset, because I could see his little bib thing was the orange bib, which means you're running the marathon. So I thought, fantastic. I'm going to pace behind this guy. He was going very quick on the downhills, which I personally appreciated because it pushed me to do the downhills faster. But he was good with choosing which uphills to walk and which one's not to. So I really, really liked that. And he was going faster than I think I was anticipating of going.

I was assuming going into the marathon that my pace would be more around 10 minutes per mile. But it was not. I was doing pretty consistent around the 930s. especially, yeah, miles 7 through 13, which were the six miles that I paced behind him. I was hovering row 9.09, 933, 923, 937, 933, 10, 10. Then when I get to the half marathon point, he just kind of dropped off. He started walking and I did not. I decided to keep running because I felt good. And another thing I forgot to mention is this course was set up in two half marathon.

loops. So once I finished the first half marathon, I basically was just repeating the exact same loop I had already done. It was slightly different because the trails did have to reconnect. But yeah, once I got to the first half marathon marker, the only half marathon marker, I was by myself basically for the rest of the race. There was no one in front of me that I could see. Obviously there were people in front of me, but I couldn't see them. And, and I was, and I was, and And as far as people behind me, there was only one guy who passed me and he was running the 50K. And he passed me pretty soon after the half marathon marker. But I was by myself.

At this point, it was a little bit more of a mental challenge to get myself to eat. But my legs felt really good. I had no hip pain, no knee pain of any sort. Water was easy to drink. But yeah, I was just kind of forcing myself to continue eating my little granola bars and my fruit gummies. But yeah, I was shocked at how well I did with pacing the entire thing because I kind of assumed that once I was by myself, my pacing would probably slow down since I wasn't following anyone. But my paces held up. They hovered around 930.

For mile 14, I had 929, then 935, 95, 95, 922, 923, 945. mile 1937. So I was doing really good up until mile 19, just feeling strong, legs doing great. And at one point, I was, there was definitely no one close to me because I was like, okay, I kind of have to go to the bathroom. So I scoot off to the side of the trail, went real fast, got up, and kept running. I think the bottoms of my feet were starting to hurt a little bit around mile 20. That's where I really started slow down. Mile 20 was a 1041 split. That was my slowest split the entire race. There was also a pretty big hill at that point from what I remember. But yeah, I started to slow down, but I wasn't, I never was upset at myself for walking. I definitely took the most amount of walking breaks during that mile. But on the whole, I just felt very positive and I felt as if my body was handling all of the stress very well. I was never in excruciating pain. I was. I had definitely experienced long runs, like my 18 and 20 mile long run where my hip was just

absolutely so inflamed and so in pain. But that was never the case throughout the marathon, never experienced serious pain. And even the like fatigue in my legs was not bad. I felt so, so strong. And as I was running, I was like, wow, my taper really did work. All the food I ate this past week, it's all doing what it's. supposed to do and I just feel really, really strong. So I think I was encouraged by that. And then I picked it up a little bit for miles 21, 22. I had a 941 pace, 945 pace, 947. And then obviously the last

two, three miles-ish, those were, those were slower. Like, I was getting tired at this point, but I was starting to pass people. I was starting to pass some guys that were running the marathon because they were just completely burnt out and wiped at this point. So I remember I ran by, I think, two or three guys who were walking. And that was very encouraging that I was able to keep running the flats and the downhills and just keep the forward momentum going. And before I knew it, I ran past my one of the economics professors here at Hillsdale, who is now my academic advisor, Dr. Steele.

he runs ultra marathons, 50Ks all the time. And so he was running the 50K. He didn't end up completing it. But I still ran past him at the end. And that was kind of cool because he was about to finish. And I was also at mile 26 about to finish as well. And one other thing I forgot to mention is probably around mile 20. I looked down at my watch and realized that I was kind of on track to run the marathon faster than four hours and 30 minutes.

So then I sort of had that goal in my brain for the rest of the time while I was running. And so the last mile, I really tried to push it and tried to build my pace and keep it going. So before I knew it, the finish line was in sight and there was one guy ahead of me and I decided that I was just going to all out sprint and beat him across the line. and somehow, I don't know how I sprinted that fast, but it's probably the fastest I sprint in a long time, but my body just clicked into gear, and I was running as hard as I could. And before I knew, I was across the finish line, and I was just so, so incredibly happy. Like, I didn't even, it didn't cross my brain that, like, they were going to give me a medal. Obviously, you get one for finishing. So when they gave me that, I was like, oh, this is so exciting. And then they handed me this

little cardboard box and I look at the cardboard box and it says first place female. So not only did I run my first marathon, but I also won my first marathon at a time of four hours, 30 minutes, and 36 seconds. So I was very close to my goal of running a marathon faster than four hours and 30 minutes. I actually blame myself for going a little bit off trail at the end. I accidentally took this side loop. I don't know what I was thinking. I totally ran past where I was supposed to go, and so I took this mini side loop that then reconnected me to the main trail. But I think that was my 36 seconds that I could have, I could have beaten the time that I wanted to. But it's okay. I was so happy that I had finished and just overall surprised at how easy it was.

Like, I hate to say it, but it felt pretty easy. I definitely think I could have pushed harder. in certain locations, but overall, just really proud. It's super cool that I won. The thought crossed my brain, I think, like, once or twice. I think, okay, so the first time it crossed my brain is when I fell, because I ended up falling, and I cut my knee very ever so slightly, but it resulted in blood dripping down my leg, which I didn't realize until I finished, because the lady who handed me my box was like, are you okay? Your leg is bleeding. And I looked down, sure enough, there's a big drip of blood down my leg, but I didn't feel it. But yeah, no, I had the thought at one point, you know, maybe I could win this for the women. And then it kind of slipped out of my brain again. But yeah, just finishing and

being first, it was such an amazing experience. I am so, so grateful for my friends who were there to cheer me on, even though I didn't see them except for at the start and at the finish. It was just such a fantastic experience. And going forward, I definitely see myself running more marathons in the future. I would love to do a regular marathon, not trail running marathon, and see if I can shoot for a time below four hours. I think if I really put in the time and effort that I could accomplish that. So we'll see in the future where that'll go. But I was just super blessed with the weather and no hip pain. And overall, like, the star is really just aligned. And it was such a perfect, fantastic. wonderful marathon experience. So anyway, that's all for today's episode. Thank you for listening

to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I hope you have a great week and make time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors and maybe go for a run if you feel so inspired to do so. We'll see you out there and happy trails. Bye guys.