Where to begin? I set out to BQ this morning. That did not happen. I didn't even PR. I finished in 3:20:37, which is 8:03 slower than Rt. 66 last November. Let's take it from the top. Day Before: In an unusual move for me I was able to take off work on Saturday so I could drive to Oklahoma City to pick up my packet. This allowed me to get much needed rest the day before the race, which is something I've not done my previous two marathons. Alisha brought along a pasta dinner for us to eat at the hotel. Since Ty was sharing our single bedroom we were forced to turn in early since we put him to bed at 8:00. Of-course I didn't fall asleep right away, and I even got out of bed around 9:30 to eat more pasta. Race Morning: I woke up at 4:00 to being getting ready. I ate 2/3 of an everything bagel with 3/4 of an avocado. I slowly began hydrating with water and gatorade. I also had one cup of coffee. I went down to the shuttle bus pickup area at my hotel at 5:00. There was a bus that had just left. We waited another 33 minutes for the next bus. As the waiting drew on I began texting Alisha that she may need to get Ty up and come down to drive me to the starting line. I almost didn't make the next bus because it arrived about half full of people. I got to the starting line with enough time to wait 25 minutes for a bathroom and make it to my corral about 1 minute before the gun. Miles 1-5: 7:08, 7:13, 7:10 , 7:07. Everything started out according to plan sort of. I planned on running the first 5 splits in 7:17's. So I was a little fast, but I felt like I was in a good range here. I was constantly repeating to myself to stick with the plan and forcing myself to slow down. Miles 6-14: 6:55, 6:56, 6:56, 6:53, 6:52, 6:54, 6:55, 6:56, 6:55. Everything was still dead on with my plan. This was a portion of the middle segment (miles 6-20) of my plan where I intended on pacing 6:57's. As can be seen from my actual splits I was completely controlling my pace here. I ran all the way up North Robinson Ave through Sparrow Park and onto North Harvey Parkway. I made my way up Classen to lake Heffner without so much as a hiccup. Somewhere between miles 8 and 10 there was a hill called Gorilla Hill. The spectators were all handing out bananas and acting like gorillas. It was a lot of fun and was not a problem for me to run. It felt like it was over half a mile long or more so the elevation change was not that tough for me. Fast forward several miles to the turnaround at the lake at about the start of mile 15. Heading back South I could fee the wind. The wind was not actually that bad and not very intimidating. I felt good and was slowly and very methodically sticking with my plan and gradually starting to pass some other runners at this point, Miles: 15-20: 7:01, 7:01, 6:59, 7:17, 7:09. It was during this area that the first cracks in my armor started to show. On mile 18 there is a bridge that runs over highway 74. This was the steepest hill I had encountered so far. But this bridge took a lot out of me. I finished mile 18 at 7:17. I think this was hard on me psychologically. It was a little bit too slow for the range I felt like I could recover from at this point in the race. When I ran mile 18 in 7:09 I definitely felt better but I was still stinging from not being able to get my pace back down under 7:00. I could feel the BQ slipping away. Miles 21-26.2: 7:52, 8:40, 9:02, 9:09, 9:02, 10:05, .59 in 7:38 (My watch was off some and I did not stop it at the finish) This seems to be where it all really fell apart as I went from 7:09 to 7:52 from mile 20 to 21. I can't remember exactly what was going on here, but I do remember I just felt what must have been the last of my glycogen draining out of me. The temperature starting out was in the low 50's. I believe I finished the race with it in the low 60s' It never really felt too warm. The silent killer must have been the humidity. It was 93%. I knew something was going on when I felt overly thirsty on the last few miles of aid stations. I just could not muster any more power at this point. Forget digging deep. I felt like I had lost the shovel at this point. That last mile was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I felt throbbing muscle spasms in my thighs and calves. It got so bad I had to stop and walk. Of-course walking temporarily made it worse. Eventually it went away and I started running again. Then it was back and I had to walk again. I think this throbbing almost debilitating thing happened about 3 times on mile 26. At one point I actually wondered what it would be like if I just couldn't finish, but I was so close so I really dug my heels in and pushed on. Then I rounded the final corner to bring the finish line into view. It did not make any difference. My legs were just toast and felt like they could at any second just take me to the ground if I pushed too hard. I must have been passed by 5 or 6 people maybe more between seeing the finish line and crossing it. This is not something I'm used to. I've been accustomed to passing others at this point. Conclusion: This was not my slowest time. That was my first marathon at 3:35:05 in 2010. I still finished 15 of 255 in my age division. I finished 88 overall. I have plenty to be happy about if I choose to look at the good things that happened which I will. I still finished the race in spite of throbbing muscle spasms the likes of which would have brought me to the ground on any other day that I was not running a race. I learned a little about my self today. It's possible I could have hydrated a little more the day before and the morning of and avoided some of these problems. It's also possible that this pace was just too much for me with the humidity such that it was. I ran the Rt. 66 faster in windier and hillier conditions, but in November the humidity was a non-factor. It's also possible I just missed one or two too many crucial runs this cycle. I was sick twice and missed a long run when we moved. Life is always going to happen so I'm not going to make excuses, but I think there may have been a few too many interruptions this cycle. I also felt like I never fully recovered from my 20 mile long, hard run the day after my half marathon. That in hind sight is something I would have done differently if given the chance. In the end I finished my third marathon in what I'm going to look at as a respectable time all things considered.
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