My Marathon Review

Well, what can I say? The weather was not the friend of the marathon again this year. I started the day feeling pretty good. Amy (pictured in the middle) and I started together in Corral C and had a pretty good first half. We did end up running a little faster than anticipated and that may have contributed to my downfall in the later miles. We were originally going to try and run consistent 8:30's for the first half, but Miss Amy had a little too much pep in her step and I had to keep reminding her to hold back a little. We crossed quite a few of those miles in the 8:12 - 8:19 range. After the halfway point, I really started to feel the heat. You know it's bad when all you can think about is the sun beating on your back.

Once we got to 18, Amy said, "Alright, what's our strategy going to be for 18 - 25", and I basically had no idea. I said, "Sorry, Amy. I've gone silent on you". At the 20-mile aid station, we lost each other in the crowd. I did see her up ahead at one point, but couldn't muster the energy to give any sort of surge to catch her. I had to stretch a few times between 20 and 24 and felt much better afterwards. I ran a few of those later miles in the upper 9-minute range. Yikes. I conjured up all of the mental and physical energy I could for the last two miles. I didn't stop at any more aid stations (the liquid was sloshing in my stomach by that time anyway) and pulled off the last two miles at a speedy 8:45 pace. I seriously had nothing left.

There are many times I look back on a race and think, "maybe I could've run a little harder. This time, I don't think there's anything else I could have done (other than run a little more conservatively at the beginning). I guess it's nice to have no regrets.

I've run the marathon for the last two years and I think I'm gonna go back to triathlons for next year. It's a little frustrating with these endurance events, when you train for 4 months and then so much depends on the day as to whether or not you feel success. Sure, finishing a marathon is great. But in my competitive mind, when I'm hoping to run a 3:40 - 3:45 and finish with a 3:50, it's frustrating that the one freak warm day in October has such an impact. That's one test that I can't re-take. My body is in need of some serious rest - and I intend to do just that