Tobacco Road Marathon - RunMarathon

I ran the first 5 miles or so bouncing between the pace group, Pete, and Maria. The first couple miles was tough because it was so crowded and there were too many people doing that stupid "run 3min and then walk" crap. I had to use the bathroom so ran a little faster so I could get back to the pace group when I finished. I didn't realize there was only going to be ONE bathroom every 3-4 miles. It took longer than expected because there was a line and my hands were too cold and hard to move with any dexterity. I didn't sprint to get back to where I was but I did run alot faster than I would've otherwise. Found the pace group and then Pete 2 miles later. Ran with him until about mile 20. I had my fuel belt with water and gu gels. I also grabbed water and gu at several of the aid stations. I never felt hungry or thirsty so felt I handled the nutrition pretty well. I felt some blisters forming about halfway through. There was some knee pain around mile 19 but only lasted 20minutes or so. I never hit the wall at mile 20 everybody talks about. Having said that, the last miles went by so slow. From mile 24 to the end was the hardest 2 miles I have ever ran. When I felt like I had ran 10minutes, I looked at the garmin and it said it had only been 1min and a half. It was nice there was more support and spectators on the last couple miles... we really need them. Every muscle in my body hurt but I had planned to pick up the pace a little for those last 2 miles. When I got to those miles, I just tried desperately to keep the pace I was at. So much pain... but I was in good company. Everybody hurt. There were so many people barely shuffling their feet or walking those last miles. As much as I was hurting, I passed quite a few people coming to the finsish. Until today, I've always found it hard to believe that people can run so far only to walk the last mile. Now, I UNDERSTAND. I never walked and I kept my pace under 10min/mile the whole way (that statement makes me incredibly proud to say) but there are no words to describe what those last 2 miles were like. Then, you see the finish line and your cheering section and they call your name... and the pain goes away. It's the greatest feeling in the world. Ran HARD the last 50yards down the chute and passed one more person before finishing :)

Walked back up the hill where my parents and Trish were. Waited to cheer for Maria and Pete as they came across the finish line a few minutes later. I stood still for a while because it just hurt to much to do anything else. Took my shoes off and when I could, I tried to sit down very, very slowly and it felt like everything was cramping up at once. Ate a sandwich from home and had my recovery drink. Made it back down the hill and got a massage. It hurt but felt so good just to be able to lay flat for 10mins.

We were ready to head back only to find out there was nearly a mile walk to the bus stop. Not a big deal unless you just ran a freakin marathon! Then we got to wait in line. Hungry, thirsty and in so much pain, we waited in line. The 15 busses went down to 8 for after the race. It made no sense and pissed EVERYBODY off. It was worse for others but we still waited about an hour to get on the bus. At least they knew where they were going this time.


I don't know. I felt I was well prepared and well rested for this race. I know running faster to make up time for stopping at the portajohn is discouraged but I really don't think it affected my time more than a few minutes at most.


I didn't think there was enough bathrooms on the course and the bus situation was unforgivable. But all in all, the race volunteers were great, the course was well marked and there were plenty of aid stations with water/gatorade/gu. I can't wait to do it again (although I'll probably stay at the host hotel which has their own shuttle)