I had an absolute blast running the relay.
I paced my friend Amber for the first 7 miles of the relay. Her goal was 6:50 and I believe we finished with a 6:55 AP. I thought I might be able to make up some time in my leg but apparently I think I'm faster than I really am... The course from mile 7-13 was a little tougher than I anticipated and I was completely tanked by the end. All I remember thinking as I ran into the half way point was thank goodness I'm not running the full! I did not restart my watch but I think my AP was probably around 6:35 for my portion. I wanted a MP workout so this definitely served it's purpose but dang it felt about a million times harder than MP. I'm super frustrated honestly that running fast feels so forced. I feel like I'm putting in the workouts and training well but I'm just not feeling fluid at all.
That said this day was not about me. It was about supporting my friends who were running the full and I had a blast running all of them in. It was a really tough day for a lot of people and as I sat waiting for my friend Jen I was completely humbled by the peserverence of so many runners. It was a hard day for a lot of people and as the time was approaching noon the heat was fairly defeating. I cheered at mile 25 from about 11:30am until noon high fiving runners and just soaking it all in. People can say what they want, and I realize this is open to criticism but in my opinion running a 5 hour marathon takes a whole heck of a lot of determination. It is in no way shape or form easy to be on your feet for 5 hours. I wont say it's easier to run a sub-3 hour marathon than a 5 hour marathon. That is just like trying to compare trail running to road running. But it definitely opened my eyes quite a bit and gave me a greater appreciation for running and how it brings so many people at different levels of the sport together all reaching for a common goal. "We're all in this together."
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