Talk about spoiled rotten! All this race cost me was one Boston Creme Pie and a package of cookies!!! Thank you so much dearest friends for the lunch, dinner, hotel room, ride, and comped entry. :) :) :)
Quick prerace summary: Took a couple days off in hopes of restoring some energy to my legs. Not sure if it helped or if I would have been better off running a couple of short easy runs.
Had a BLAST on Friday with some of my favorite and most wonderful people: my SSF, her sweet hubby, Larry, Kathie, Doone, and Rhett (and their friends, Leslie and Ross). They are all amazingly INCREDIBLE! I am such a lucky girl! I could write a novel about how much fun we had. (Yet, us girls have made a pact: What happens on race weekend, stays in race weekend!)
Race summary: Started out too fast, but once the mile split showed up I quickly made adjustments. Around mile 7ish there is a turn-around point where you can see who is in front of you. Counted, I was in 12th (for women). Made a goal of being in the top 10 by 13.1 where I would see the half marathoners right before they started. Didn't know if it was doable but I wanted to give it a shot. Mission accomplished (barely)!!! :) It was BEYOND COOL to have the half marathoners cheering us on!!! I immediately saw Rhett, Kathie and Larry. Some other people yelled, but I'm not sure who it was. They made me feel like a ROCKSTAR!!! Good thing ... because the next 13.1 were going to be a struggle! :)
I knew it would not be long until the leaders of the half would pass me! Sure enough, come 15.75 miles Jeff Shadley and Rob Murphy came zooming by like no other! THEY LOOKED AWESOME!!! Just watching them run for those few seconds (they were quickly out of my sight) was extremely cool. A huge congrats to them both, taking the #1 and #2 spots!!! :) :) :)
Having many of the half marathoners pass me for the duration of the race was extremely challenging mentally. They all looked so fresh, and I was starting to feel the wheels come off. DANG! Also, since all of the downhill of this course comes during the first half, watching my average pace increase each mile was discouraging. I really wanted to run a sub 3:30, but by mile 19 I knew that was no going to happen. At that point I had a choice to make: take it easy and try and enjoy the remaining miles or continue to push and not have to deal with the disappointed of not giving it my all later. Decided to go with the latter. To keep myself honest I decided to surge 1/10th of a mile at every 9/10ths of a mile. Mentally, this helped me.
By mile 24.5 I knew if I could hang on that I could PR, the question was, would I be able to hang on? Fortuitously, that was almost the exact spot that I saw Bill Mandler! He was fighting an injury and had to back off of the pace! I was sad for him, but selfishly very happy to see him. "Bill," I said. "Can you get me to a PR?" He was AWESOME!!!! I told him what I needed and no longer did I have to look at my watch every 10 seconds. He took control and ran me in. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, BILL!!!! :) :) :)
Garmin read 26.4 at finish.
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC DAY!!!! My SSF, finished pretty (no Charlie today) taking 1st in her AG! Beautiful Kathie ran the half and took 3rd in her AG!!! The Amazing Doone ran her very first marathon in an amazing time with her hunk, Rhett running along her side the final 13.1 miles! Ross and Leslie looked like a million bucks after finishing their race, and Lowell walked away with grinning ear to ear placing 2nd in his AG as well!!!
A special thanks to Pocatello, Idaho!! What a wonderful race and wonderful people! So so so happy that I went! :) :) :)
*** AFTERTHOUGHTS: I wonder if I would have been able to swipe another vodka/oj mixture at mile 20, like I was able to at PCM, if I could have hit that sub 3:30!!!!???? Hmmmmmm ....
L to R: Ross, Leslie, Kathie, Doone, Smooth, Rhett, Teena
Bill Mandler and me! (Thanks again, Bill!)
The Idaho Boys!
(Bill Mandler and Jeff Shadley)
(* ROB -- WHERE WERE YOU WHEN WE WERE TAKING PICS???) | 
