UVM destroyed me today. Great week of taper with some easy running in Phoenix yesterday and was real encouraged by how smooth it felt. But last night staying at Walter's house I could feel a pretty sore muscle in my hip, the first indication that the 7 marathons so far have been too much. I warmed up before the race and could still feel it but it dissapeared with some Ibuprofin. It was exciting to see so many familiar faces today at the race and I was stoked for some good competition. This was a new course to me and I was surprised at the downhill start. The first three miles were fast and didn't really feel like it. I could see the wind was beginning a shift though and started tucking in behind the first group. I took a turn around mile six and felt a sharp pain just above the hip. I backed off to a pace of 5:50 hoping to feel it work out. Somewhere here Sasha and Scott came up along side me and Sasha said to tuck on in behind them and take a rest, which I did for a mile or so, but by the time the little rollers started I knew that I had to back down even further. It was getting pretty painful so I walked through the 8 mile aid station and asked a spectator if anybody had some Ibuprofin. Sweet! Someone did, and I took the max dose of six and started walking. No way I was DNFing today and doing some calculations I figured I could walk the rest mixed with some running if possible, in about 4:30. I walked a lot today, more than any race I've done and what saved me was Seth Wold catching up about mile 17 or 18 as I was walking. He waspacing the 3:05 Boston qualifier pace and had lost all his runners due to the wind. I started running again at the 7:03 pace and talked with him for the next 4 miles. It felt pretty good so I told him I was going to drop a minute a mile and sub 3 it. Within a half mile that freaking muscle was like a hot poker and I fell back in with Seth all the way to 24. Then it was just a limp for the last two. No idea what position was or place. After the finish I called up my aunt on shift at the ER and headed up for an unofficial visit. We talked to the Doc who decided it was a stabilizer tear, which is actually not a bad place to rip something if you must, and only about 30%. That means I have some time off, maybe hop back into a triathlon in July. But I did finish today! | 