GO! St. Louis Marathon - RunMarathon

Since it was already 71 degrees and 86% humidity nearing racetime of 7 a.m., I cautioned my brother and a co-worker of his to enter the corral early. You could visibly see people standing there waiting and soaked with sweat already! About 6:45, we kissed our families and made the jump into our corral. My brothers co-worker, Vanessa, was running the half. Again - knowing the nerves had to be setting in for them, I tried to keep the mood light. We lined right up with the 2:20 half pace group. As we awaited the playing of the National Anthem, I turned to my brother and made him promise me he would NOT skip an aid station today. I just had a bad feeling this was gonna be a "Chicago"! He said - u got it........and a fist pound and nod came next. It's a long day I said...........respect it. Next thing you know.......the corral is moving towards the inflated start line. We cross the mat and we are off. I felt like for the first mile I was constantly tugging on his race belt.........woah horsey.......remember, this is a marathon. We strategically picked our spots and I felt like I was looking down at my Garmin every 20 seconds. Wow - the sea of people was nuts and was just hoping I didn't turn an ankle. Mile one was approaching......watching Garmin and BAM (10:08) - nice job.........25 more just like that. LOL Mile 2 was slightly downhill and still packs of people. Was difficult to hold back on pace, but did our best. At one point, I looked down at my Garmin and looked at my arms............soaked! Looked over at my brother and said 1 Gatorade and 2 waters - EVERY stop......he nodded. First aid station down. (9:39). Ok - that was a little quick, but expected with the downhill terrain. Starting Mile 3, there was a quick steep uphill........didn't see that one coming. Saw our first pile up of folks here - crash! Back downhill to the brewery - maintain pace. (10:08) - better. Make the turn back to downtown and approach the Mile 4 aid station.......make the look over and nod. Done........ok, I trust that he gets the picture now. Meanwhile, I planned to hit my gels every three miles, in addition to the salt - feeling good, but know that we have 22 left and it is already getting warmer. (9:41) ok - not bad. Around the 5 mile mark, Vanessa felt like walking and my brother felt committed to helping her. I was torn because I didn't know what would happen if I started walking now - I might be in bigger trouble. He said, I'll catch up later after she makes the turn - I want to get her to the turn. With the climbing temps......this strategy made me uneasy. Plow forward - (9:29). I knew the wives would be at Mile 6 marker and with the heat, I was already looking forward to that burst of energy seeing them. But I knew my brother's wife would be nervous when he wasn't with me. I assured them he was fine and right behind and kept my pace. Keep stringing em together Junior - looking and feeling good. But I knew my time was coming - just wanted to hold it off as long as I could.............I knew I had peeps watching behind a PC somewhere - lol. Miles 6-8 (10:02,10:44,10:07) was a long uphill climb. Not significantly steep, but taxing. Approaching the top of the climb, you could already see the results of those who went out too fast. I thought wow...........I didn't expect to see that this early.......this was not going to be pretty! Keep hitting aid stations every 2 miles and repeating in my head hoping my brother would be hearing my voice telling him (2 water 1 gatorade......salt, gel - DO IT!) I knew the half turnaround was coming soon around 9 or 10, so I was looking forward to seeing the people coming back in.........I wanted that boost of energy - man, that dude is doing the full>? WTF! Albiet brief........it worked, then the sun kept pelting me - not a cloud in the sky. Miles 9, 10, 11 (10:36, 10:22, 10:45). My pace at slowed through here, but I was still comfortable and ok........I had executed as I wanted to up until this point. As I approached mile 12 and into Forest Park, I could see up ahead and noticed I had some rollers coming up.......maybe this got in my head, idk. My pace continued to slow..........ugh. I still felt ok, but the needles were moving. Ok I said - it starts now..........the mental game. BRING IT! (11:19) Took my first potty break during Mile 12........still pulled out a (12:21) - nice. IPOD = dead. Damn.........no music for the next 14 miles - UGH! Passed halfway (10:43) and got a little pep back............didn't last long though - haha. As I passed through the intersection leaving Forest Park, I heard on the police scanner (no music now I could hear) that they were shutting down the marathon course at the half turnaround. My mind immediately went to my brother - where was he - ok? hit the aid stations? make it through? I was a wreck! Get your mind right stupid. I took my first walk during mile 15 (13:55) - a Looooong uphill climb. I knew this back stretch was gonna be brutal, but again, wasn't expecting this. Mile 16 - downhill and an uphill mile.........ahh, the death march begins. Again - where is Brett? During Mile 17 (13:20) I decided I was going to walk/jog........partly because I was fading quick and secondly, if he was back there I wanted to know. Kept looking back over my shoulder, but nothing - UGH! Mile 18 - The BOSTON HILL - on Delmar..........holy smokes. Anyone who was running up this thing at this point in the race, had entirely too much energy left. (12:18) Mile 19 - out of the blue, I get a big ole slap on the keester............GOTCHA he says! Wow.......what a great day it had become. Totally forgot about the heat and pain. (13:15) Mile 20-26 were just about taking in the entire day, sharing stories from early in the race, walk some, jog some, run the downhills, walk the uphills. My brother and I enjoyed the scenery all the way back into downtown. I remember looking way ahead at one point and seeing a sea of people.........you could count on less than 2 hands how many people were actually running. I was truly a death march to the finish! And for the icing on the cake, St Louis thought for good measure, they would make you finish with a mile straight uphill! REALLY? We decided we would run the .2 in. Fist pound to my bro, a point to the sky, and a fist pump across the line in 5:08:56 stride for stride with my brother. Perfect Ending!!

Not do this race! Seriously, I will do a marathon again - truly enjoyed the challenge and strategic nature of the race...........but my next or any marathon after this will not be in St. Louis. I'll leave that course to the animals.

Got medals...........some more warm water (lol) and pics taken.


Heat and Humidity - two simple and loaded words.


Only complaint was post race. Already tearing down the advertised Michalob Ultra party zone? Really...........so the half marathons had all the fun, and those that just slugged this mother out all day in the heat get SHIZ? Really St. Lou?