Supposedly the hottest start temperature in the 34 year history of this marathon. This was a hard race. I finished and told my wife that I need to come up with a new hobby. It was great to share the day though with my two brothers and 2 sister in laws who also ran the race. Suffer together. I was prepared for a cold start with sweatshirt, pullover, and a blanket. Turns out didnt really need all that stuff, within a mile of the start you could tell it was going to be a hot one. I really didnt have any goals except to beat 3:50 if I could and push the downhill parts.
Started out slower than I thought once I looked at the splits
9:02,8:58,8:28,8:29,8:23 needed to go to bathroom fairly badly but didnt want to wait in porta line so just held on, time wise I am still new to this marathon business and didnt even look at splits because I just wanted to run with a feeling like I could finish
8:18,7:45(downhill and pushing it to the portajohn),10:24(2 minutes of this in the commode, couldnt get the new roll of TP to unfurl, finally just ripped the roll in half pretty much to get on the road again), felt great on the hill
8:43,8:49,9:00,8:37,8:17 Finished half in like 1:54...was hoping to be faster but... Passed Oreo somewhere around 6 then he passed me then I lost him, so I wasnt sure if he was ahead or behind, turns out the blast furnance was cooking him and we caught up at the end (Hades)
8:42, 7:55,7:52,8:17,8:27,9:05,8:55 twenty miles done and I am really hurting, back, pelvis, ribcage, etc..also loved the Kinvaras but fourth toe on left foot starting to kill at this point. Passed hairdog in here somewhere which made me keep going because I didnt want him sneaking up on me at the end.
8:22,9:11 saw the wife and kids here, I was going to say something witty, but couldnt think of anything or even energy to talk at this point. I also grabbed a sponge they were handing out at the aid station but it turned out to be a banana. haha..losing it
9:09,8:40,9:15,9:25...just shuffling in, looking down, hardly could focus, really almost more physical pain than I have ever been in for a sustained period of time that last hour...happy that I didnt give into walk, because the rational part of me was sceaming for the last hour to stop this insanity and go chill with a cold Mountain Dew...
This may be my last venture in the road marathon distance, but we'll see, at least today I think I will still want to run trails...thats better than yesterday when I was just laying there unable to move for several hours post race...however given the amount I run and train I was proud and happy to have stuck with it. My dad just told me I should start swimming.Haha...but he's nuts, so... | 