Not the race I was hoping for! The weather was warm but not as bad as I thought it could be. At least there was several miles of coolish temps at the top. The goal was to run 3:25: Started off towards the front and got in a good pace. 1)7:48 for the first mile. Things were nice and easy 2)7:34 just nice and steady, easy breathing 3-6) 7:09/ 7:02/ 7:16 Nothing rushed, the breathing was good, I was feeling great! 7)6:55 Must have gotten a little excited to get to aid station and gu up for the Veyo hill. 8)8:45 didn't push hard, took a few walking breaks wanting to save the legs 9-13) Just got into a good groove 8:03/ 7:57/ 9:40/ 7:57/ 7:33 These miles were right on plan except for the 9:40- stopped to adjust my shoes- took more time than I had hoped. As I hit the halfway mark I was about 1 minute ahead of my plan but was starting to fade. My feet were beginning to give me grief! This seemed to knock me out of it mentally. All I could focus on was the feet. 14)9:59 re adjust shoes 15-16) 7:54/ 7:30 I tried to put the feet issue behind me and just went ahead hoping they would mellow out. 17)-26.2 Don't even want to talk about these miles. I averaged 10+ pace from here to the finish walking a lot of time and trying to get some runs in. The feet were painful and I started to get cramps in my upper calves. I pretty much bagged the race at 17 and decided I was going to finish one way or another even if it wasn't pretty....... When I rounded the last corner of the course I stopped and took both shoes off and ran in with my socks. I was showing to everyone that I am done running marathons. My feet just can't seem to handle the pounding of a full marathon. My time of 3:53:06 was 10 seconds slower than my first St. George Marathon...how depressing! I need to grow some cojones and get stronger mentally and run through pain rather than whimping out and walking through the pain. I have now been thinking and letting my mind wonder and have actually thought of running another marathon because I can't let this bad memory be my last one....................
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