I don't even know where to start with this marathon report - I guess at the beginning. We got up at 4:15 and got ready for packed up our stuff and drove to the park to get on the busses. It seemed like a very long bus ride up the canyon to the start. We used the potties right off and then went to the tents to stretch and stay warm. It wasn't actually hard to stay warm - it wasn't hard at all to stay warm. It wasn't nearly as cold as we expected it to be. We went to use the potties again and picked the slowest line and barely made it back to the start line 2 minutes before the start. We even had a hard time getting our extra warm clothes on the bus because the bus driver started pulling away while we were trying to get our stuff on the bus.
We went to the very back of the pack to start out - we didn't want to get caught up in the push and rush of the front of the crowd. That worked out very well. We had a good start and very even pacing all the way down the canyon. I loved running down that canyon - it was perfect in the elevation drop - not too drastic up or down, and it was beautiful. I really loved meeting so many people and enjoying the run. Leslie had given us all running shirts with our group name on the back "the Running Chicks" and that brought about a lot of conversation with a lot of people. That was a lot of fun.
I felt great at the half way point and we were anxious to see our group of family that we knew would be cheering for us at about mile 14. I could see my husband, Paul, standing up high on a guard rail with the video camera. Jenny's family, parents and MIL were all there and desiree's 3 oldest kids were there (her husband is in Holland on business). It was such a boost to see them all and have them cheer for us and look so proud of us. We figured that was the last time we would see them before the finish but they kept appearing every couple of miles cheering us on. That helped us SO MUCH!!
We REALLY lucked out on the weather!!! It wasn't very cold - started the race in shorts! It sprinkled one time - 2 drops. It was hot for about 5 minutes and the rest of the time it was WONDERFUL. We were so LUCKY!!
I felt good until about mile 19 and then really started to fatigue. My quads and hams were so tight and my left knee was really killing me but not so bad that I thought about stopping. I remember thinking at mile 18 that I wish a marathon was 20 miles. at soom point around 15 we split off from Desiree - she was cruising!! She ended so strong and finished at about 5:12. We lost Leslie at the 9 mile mark because we kept having bathroom issues and would have to stop at about 3 potties in a row. She kept going and was ahead of the rest of the way. She said that is what kept her going - knowing we were behind her. She finished about 2 minutes ahead of us.
Somewhere between mile 19 and 20 Jenny's knee gave out on her. She was in a lot of pain and could hardly walk. I stayed with her and told her I wouldn't leave her. We helped each other finish. While she tried to walk out the pain I very slowly shuffled along beside her. We went back and forth between walking and SLOW jog/shuffle. Those last 3 miles were SO LONG!!! Esp running down Main street with all the traffic - I hated that. And then looping back to the park and not knowing exactly where the finish was - was hard. But our husbands met us at the last corner and ran with until we got to the finish shoot. It was so exciting to hear our names announced at the finish and Jenny and I crossed the finish together - hands together high in the air and proud of ourselves. It was so great to get hugs from all of our friends and to have their support. It was also so much fun to see all of the friends we had made along the way.
Desiree and I and our families stuck around for the awards ceremony - once again taking it all in. We also had fun taking our turns to cheer on some runners coming in at the very end.
One interesting thing is the difference between my Garmin and the race times and mile markers. My Garmin was .2 miles different than the course and my finish time on the Garmin was 5:19:41 - I know that was due to having the Garmin on auto pause and I also stopped anytime we were stopped for bathroom stops.
Here are my splits:
1 - 11:07, 2 - 11:05, 3 - 11:34, 4 - 11:11, 5 - 11:05, 6 - 11:11, 7 - 11:15, 8 - 11:29, 9 - 10:49, 10 - 11:22, 11 - 11:22, 12 - 11:09, 13 - 10:52, 14 - 10:46, 15 - 12:42, 16 - 11:43, 17 - 11:08, 18 - 11:36, 19 - 12:26, 20 - 15:03, 21 - 13:17, 22 - 14:08, 23 - 15:04, 24 - 13:39, 25 - 14:18, 26 - 13:10, 27 - 4:57 (12:19 avg)
I was a little surprised looking at the splits afterwards to see how consistent we were thru the first 18 miles. You can definitely see where we began to have trouble. My only disappoint was not finishing as strong as I would have liked to. I wish I could have kept up with those splits from the first 18 miles. Next time.
overall, it was a great experience. I really liked the course a lot (Leslie didn't) and enjoyed the scenery and the people. I would do it again - just not tomorrow.
The official stats were finally posted online. I registered in the Filly division (give myself every advantage, I figure). My official finish time is 5:35:42. I was #1550 overall (out of 1718), #56 in the filly division and #74 in my age group and #724 in Female category. | 