Grandma's Marathon! Bucket list race. I went to this race growing up to watch my family. I'm now the next generation to participate! I was just so excited to be there!
My training consisted of working with Coach Jeff and running WAY more miles than I have in the past! 4x55 mile weeks! I knew I was on the edge of over training so I wasn't sure how race day was going to pan out.
I caught the bus in Proctor and it was chilly. There was SO much traffic heading to the start that I was nervous if we were going to make it! Once I got to the start, I immediately got rid of my sweatshirt because it was too warm. I skipped in the line for the bathrooms and karma came back to a whiny lady behind me. LOL!
I was in corral C which started at 8:10am. The 4:00 hour pacer was in corral B. So I started just ahead of the 4:05 pacer. Eventually, I met up with a new friend Lexey from the Twin Cities who was shooting for a 4:00 marathon. I ran with her group until mile 13/15ish. I was so grateful for the company and her even splits. She didn't even stop at the aid stations and I realized I spent too much time at the aid stations. My legs were slightly heavy but I was hoping they just needed a long warm up.
Around mile 17/18, the cloud cover lifted, the sun came out and the breeze went away. My HR started to get high and I could feel a migraine coming on. I slowed down and took water AND Gatoraide at each aid station. My legs were so heavy and it was so hot and HUMID. When I knew it wasn't going to be my day, I just started counting my blessings...excited to be there.
The spectators, fellow runners and volunteers were absolutely unbelievable! I have never met a more friendly bunch! I saw my family at mile 16 and again at the finish line. Bless them for navigating that traffic filled city.
Walking back to the car, I had several people stop and congratulate me on the race. Same at the restaraunt. Even though my race was just ho-hum, these people made me feel important.
Post race, I'm contemplating all my training from this cycle. I think I was over cooked and need some shorter/faster miles. I'm running SG with Carter and need to come up with a game plan.
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