Day 123! The MARATHON

123 days in the making. The marathon was finally here. I'm not planning on getting too in-depth with my race report because this blog was intended to be more about the training leading up to the marathon rather then the marathon itself, but I'll at least give a summary.

Distance: 26.2 miles
Duration: 3:39:34
Pace: 8:23
HR Avg/Max: 157/167
notes:
It was a cold day... about 32 degrees at the start of the race, but with the mass of bodies and my own excitement I didn't noticed being cold. The start was crowded and I was initially unable to get to my 3:30 pace group so I spent the first mile weaving my way until I caught up. Luckily they were more impeded by the crowd than I was so I was able to catch up by the first mile mark. I wound up running the first mile in 8:03 while the pace group ran closer to an 8:30 so they spent the next couple miles trying to get back on pace. For the next 12 miles we averaged about 7:50 miles. By the half point I was feeling great. The pace group must have been ahead of pace now because they suddenly slowed down. I kept my same pace and was soon ahead of them. I continued with 7:53 miles for mile 13-18. Then at 18 my hamstring and quad started to tighten up. Not sure if it was the cold or dehydration or just lack of conditioning. At this point I was a minute ahead of goal pace so I told myself I just wanted to be on pace through 20. I hit the next two miles in 8:29 and 8:31, respectively. Somewhere around mile 19 I got a total runners high... I really felt like I was tripping... that didn't last long though. At mile 20 I really started to slow down. Mile 21 and 22 I ran at 9:26 and 9:21 splits. At mile 22 I saw my friends Will, Christine, and Ervin at the sidelines... at this point I was dying. I was never so happy to see someone in my entire life! They jumped into the race and ran with me for the next mile and really lifted my spirits. Because of them I hit mile 23 in 8:48 pace. As I hit the 23rd mile marked my friends dropped off to the side and with them my good spirits. The good thing at this point was that I only had about 3 more miles to go but the bad thing was that I was really suffering. I slowed down to a 9:40 pace for the next mile. At the 24 mile marker a whole new level of pain and suffering kicked in. I though that I had hit "the wall" before but it was nothing compared to how I felt now. My right knee was really hurting as well as my feet, legs, everything else... I slowed down even more and ran the 25th mile at a 10:10 pace. At this point I was just willing myself to put one leg in front of the other and to NOT WALK!!! I started yelling and barking and cursing at myself to keep myself going... the hundreds of people who were passing me at this point must of though I was crazy... Finally I hit the 25 mile mark and I knew that I was almost done. I looked down at my time and knew that I'd need to run under 10 minute pace to finish under 3:40. At this point I wasn't sure if that was a possibility. I still wasn't even sure if I'd be able to finish without walking. I decided to break it down into 1/10ths of miles which I'd have to run under 1 minute. I picked up the pace slightly and slowly counted down the .1 miles... .9 to go, .8 to go, .7 to go, etc... finally I came around the corner to the final hill before the finish. You'd think that at this point a hill would be hard, but to me it was almost easier since it used slightly different muscle groups. I powered up the hill at a slow but steady shuffle and came around the corner towards the finish. There it was in front of me. This would normally be the time when I use my legendary kick, but not today... I was still just willing myself not to walk. I ran the final mile point two at 9:27 pace and finished just slightly under 3:40.

I had thought beforehand that finishing the marathon would be a triumphant moment but as I crossed the line I felt like absolute crap. Everything hurt. I suffered for the next 30 minutes feeling about the worst I ever have in my life. Finally I started feeling better so I made my way over to the beer tent to claim the best tasting beer I've ever drank.