Okie dokie here it is. The night before went well enough. I ate some lasagna, hydrated, and got a decent night's sleep. David dropped me off at 7 and I met up with Eddy. We were really nervous. We paced around, hit the port-a-pots, jogged around to warm up and then lined up. Sang the national anthem and shortly thereafter we were off.
Miles 1-5 7:19, 7:17, 7:21, 7:15, 7:16. Started off conservative as planned. Legs and breathing felt fine. Hooked up with 3 guys all wanting to run 3:10 so we ran together and talked. Took a gu at mile 5. It was actually pretty crowded and had to some people-dodging. Lots of corners--this course has 68 90 degree turns and a hairpin. I didn't like the patches of cobblestone but at least they were only a block or two long when we hit them. Miles 6-10 7:11, 7:15, 7:11, 7:21, 7:08 veering around corners still but that's okay. Our group is intact. I see my mom and daughter at mile 8 and it is a great boost! Still feel good. Miles 11-15 7:07, 7:17, 7:11, 7:11, 7:20 gu at mile 11 and see my husband. Hi honey! Two of the guys in our group have surged ahead but picking up the pace feels uncomfortable to me so I hang back a little with the other guy Mile 16 7:36. My legs suddenly feel very tired and so do I. This is a little early for that. I figure it is just one of those little bad patches and I will snap out of it. 17-20 7:39, 7:51,7:53, 8:05. My legs go from tired to hurting, and boy do they hurt. They are tight and hurt all over and I can't drive them any harder. I watch my goal time slip away and mentally this really starts to kill me. I see the girls from work at mile 20 and it is so good to have someone yelling for me! 21-24 8:20,8:14, 8:35, 8:48 Not only my goal time but now any chance at a PR slips away. I start to get muscle spasms that hart in my calves and in my hamstring. They are short little spasms like just a second and then they stop and then I'll get another one. Those little buggers sure do hurt though! Mentally I have taken a hit and there is no recovery. This is the closest I have ever been to dropping out of a race. The girls are at mile 22 and 24 cheering for me and they are WONDERFUL! How can I quit with such wonderful friends and family? NO--I owe it to them to cross that finish line. I am in second, amazingly, until mile 22 and then Lacy passes me. I have no fight to put up. I wish her luck and tell her to go get 'em! 25, 26 9:13, 9:10. Death march. Shuffle shuffle. I have nothing. This is really hard. This is a looong 2 miles and I want to cry. A couple of times I actually teared up, mostly with disappointment. I have worked really hard and this is quite miserable. I never even felt this bad in my first marathon. I don't know what the last .2 but I attempted some kind of pick-up at the end. Miraculously, I hang onto 3rd. I cross the line and it is over. My wonderful running tribe, the girls from work, and my family are all there to meet me and give me hugs. They saw me tear up but I got it back under control and didn't cry. Some tribe members had a rough day too. Some had a great day and I am so proud of them! I know I should not be ashamed of 3rd place or my time but the fact of the matter is I worked hard towards a better time and it is disappointing and frustrating when a race that you train hard for does not go well. On the flip side, this is still a far cry from where I started and my life and health are vastly improved. I am not finished yet. Houston is on January 30th and I am already plotting my REVENGE! Time to take a short break, review my training and try to figure out what went so wrong, and then fix it and be bold enough to toe the line again and go for it.
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