WOW! I can't believe I ran another marathon! I still think it's a crazy thing to do. Where do I start. This may be more embellished then people want to read but it's my only blog so I'm writing it ALL here:) Splits walking through water stations. Bolded the one's I'm proud of- 8:47, 8:58, 8:56, 8:37, 9:14, 8:43, 8:36, 9:11,8:58, 8:56, 8:56, 9:22, 9:00,10:08,(mile 14 hill) 9:58, 8:53, 9:10, 8:52, 9:24, 9:27, 9:57,(mile 21-finally saw Allie)! 10:11,(why so slow after seeing Allie?) 9:16, 10:09,(so darn tired and wanting to walk but didn't) 9:37, 9:25, 8:55 (last .49) The last mile I replayed Mat Kearney's "Hey Mama" and that carried me to the finish line. I stayed with the beat even though it was so tough at that point.
My best friend, (since I was 2 yrs old) Cathy came up from Vegas to run this with me. Her husband and friend came with her. This was her and her husband's first marathon. They have done a lot of triathlon's and decided to try a marathon. She ran with an injured IT band (so running slow for her) that started hurting toward the end but she still beat me by a minute. Tough chick. Apparently her slow pace is my fast pace. She carried me through this marathon. It was sprinkling when we came out to catch the bus at 5am. We were praying it would clear up and it did when we got to the top. We were let out in a wide open cow/horse pasture at the top where all the POP's were. I was seriously stepping over huge cow puckies, dungs, whatever you call them. There was mud too but I tried to keep my beautiful blue launches as clean and dry as I could:) There were fire pits all over and that was cool. Kept us warm till the start. I saw RAD and glidergirl so I introduced myself and they were really nice and friendly. They pointed out Teena Marie in one POP line and Smooth in another. Cool to see these FRB people in person. We lined up with the 4hr pacer at the start and the sun was shining BRIGHT! It was a beautiful day for a long run. Cathy and I stayed together for most the run. After the first canyon we came down toward Eden I think and someone was blaring the song "Here Comes The Sun" from huge speakers. That was fun. We were flat for what seemed like forever and then rolling hills around the reservoir. I came upon RAD and Smooth around mile 11 I think. We passed them and I said hi to Rachel again and said "Hey Smooth you don't know me but I know you from the blog!" They ended up passing me at the half marathon water break while I waited for Cathy in the POP and I never caught them again. We were still ahead of the 4hr pacer at this point and heading up the hill (14). Cathy and I decided to start using music at this point. Coming down the hill the pacer caught up and I stayed with the group coming down the hill to the canyon. LOVED this part. A nice cool wind and some downhill. I was loving this part. I stayed with the pacer until mile 18 I think. He cruised through that water stop and I never caught him again. UGH! I was getting tired! I was looking for Allie starting at mile 18 and I'm pretty sure I saw her at 21 right? She was so cute and handed me a bag with jelly bellies! What a sweetheart (I was teasing and asked her to have jelly bellies when I saw and she actually did)! There was a guy with her and I said "Are you James?" Yes it was. I asked if I could just stay with them and James said no, go run so I did. Ran back and gave Allie a hug. Love that girl:) It was fun to run so close to the river. It was SO high and raging. Nice and shady but I was getting tired and kept wanting more downhill for some reason. Cathy kept having to stop and stretch but she always caught up with me. I told her not to stay with me if she felt good. She said she was giving it her all! She must have had a little more to give cause she left me around mile 23/24 and I didn't see her again till the finish line. It was nice and shady along the path and it was nice to run with the water beside. The problem with walking through the water stations toward the end is that I wanted to keep walking. I got a yummy, small otter pop at mile 24(?) and just ran through the last water station right before the mile stretch home. The last 3 miles on that path and home I just tried to give it all I had. I wanted to finish strong no matter how tired I was! I cranked the music and got in the zone! I was passing quite a few people. I passed two guys who were walking on the last mile who were cussing/talking to themselves. Looked like they were cramping up. I just pushed as hard as I could. Like I said earlier, stayed with the beat of "Hey Mama" and ran as hard as I could! I was hoping to be closer to 4 but I'm really happy with my time. 23:40 faster than my first marathon. PR!
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