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Comments: 371/556 Females My plan was to stick to my pacer like glue. Then if I felt good, go off the front. I lined up with the 2:20 group, as that in itself would be a 10 min PR and would be fine with me. Anything better, just gravy. Our pacer was very talkative and that made the run go by so quickly. Before I knew it, we were at the first water stop. I shed the ghetto armwarmers (socks) and felt fine. Lots of people shedding layers at that point. We continued as a little group, chatting and enjoying the day. Soon we were going down a huge downhill and she reminded us to take it easy and not pound the downhills. Sticking with the pacer was almost too easy. We kept a perfectly even pace and started picking off the walkers around mile 4. We stopped at every water stop, if only just for a sip. I took one gel at mile 8. Might have needed more than that as I started to feel a little strange around mile 12. Too late then. At mile 11, she told us if we were feeling good, to go ahead. I wasn't sure, but soon found myself with two other girls out in front. The three of us ran and chatted a bit more, but then it was time to finish the job. I put in my earphones, switched my watch back to time (had been on calories) and picked it up a bit. Just 2.1 miles to go. As we passed the last mile, I saw the dog-sitter and Mal on the sidewalk watching the race. Well, he was watching, she was sleeping. I struggled a bit in the last mile, but took a big dose of HTFU and finished strong, even passed two girls in the last quarter mile. The finish line was amazing. Tons of people, music, cowbells, and cheering. I crossed the line, smiled for the pic, and stopped my watch. 2:18! I had beaten my pace group and gotten a 12 min PR! Awesome! What would you do differently?: Maybe a gel at mile 6 and another at mile 9 would have been better. Really, I was just having too much fun to think about nutrition. Otherwise, it was a perfect race.  Post race
Warm down: I got some water, Gatorade, banana and had my chip removed. I stood around a bit wondering if Bill was close behind. He wasn't, so I walked back to see if I could find him. I found him on Front St. and ran a bit with him. Then I headed out to try to find Mal, but she and the dog-sitter had already left. Turns out that would be good later. After Jeremy finished, I was helping him get food and water, so dragging the dog along would have been awkward. What limited your ability to perform faster: Could I have gone 2:15? Maybe. I'll think about it for next time. I'm pretty happy, so no second guessing today. Event comments: Final Stretch knocked it out of the park with this one! Top notch race. It will be on my schedule for sure next year. Last updated: 2010-08-19 12:00 AM
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United States
Final Stretch
60F / 16C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 644/878
Age Group = F 40-49
Age Group Rank = 67/102
After securing a hotel and kennel reservation, we headed to Mankato around 2:30 on Friday. We dropped Mal off at the dog-sitter and went to the expo. Very nice expo! Lots of stuff to see and buy. We met up with Bill and Wendy for dinner and had some yummy veg lasagna. After that it was time to check into the hotel and try to rest. I never sleep well in a hotel, but we shut off the lights around 8:30 and tried to sleep.
Race morning came early and when we looked at the weather, we were surprised that the temp was 57*. Hmmm, we brought clothes for about 10 degrees colder than that. Last minute change to the wardrobe and I decided to run in my tri top and capris.
Breakfast was some (very bad) coffee, a Kashi bar and a banana.
We drove to the finish, dropped the car and got on the bus to the start. All of that logistical stuff went very smoothly. Once at the start we had about an hour to wander around, get nervous and visit the potties many times. I sipped some water and had a GU right before the start. We dropped our bag and went to line up.
As we separated to find our pace groups, I started to get a little nervous. I had been pretty focused on supporting Jeremy in his first marathon, my own race had kind of been down-played. I did the training, I knew the distance, but was my head in the game? We'd find out sooner or later.