Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon - Run

I probably should not have run or should have dropped out at the half, but once I got going I was determined to finish. I ran the entire first half with 4:45 pace group. That turned out to be a good idea because that kept me from going out to fast (I had to remind myself to trot at several points!), and that probably allowed me to have enough time to finish.

The first half went well - I saw Chad, Kathryn, and Lincoln somewhere around mile 5.5. The first half was also sunny and perfect running weather. I threw my arm warmers to Chad when I saw him. Somewhere in the 6-7 mile range there was a homeless guy sitting all by himself on the side of the road smoking a joint! People made some funny comments when we went by. I missed the water stop at mile 7. It was narrow and I thought we were still in the Powerade section and then we were through the stop.

The first signs of calf distress started on the hills on the Minnehaha in the 8-9 mile range.

At around mile 10, the spectators were playing "Sweet Caroline" so everyone was singing and chanting along ("So good, so good"). That was fun! In the beginning there was a girl wtih a Sox hat on, but I didn't see her at this point.

By the half, it was starting to cloud up. At this point, I started losing the pace group. I kept running, but was slowing down. I saw Judy and Eric around mile 15. I stopped to stretch my calf against Eric, but I don't think that helped. I pretty much ran until mile 16 and then started run/walking from that point. I would run until the calf started feeling "twitchy" - I was paranoid about it locking up so I slowed to a walk whenever it did that.

I saw Chad, Kathryn, and Lincoln around mile 19 and somewhere along Summit. I stopped to get a GU from them at 19 because I didn't want the flavor that I had. I chugged on by them on Summit, but by the last few miles I was mostly just walking. It was raining and getting kind of cold at this point. I ran again for most of the last mile and into the finish chute. I was REALLY happy to be done!


Probably should have either not started or dropped out at the half! But, I probably wouldn't have done that....

Hobbled through the finish area. My fingers looked like sausages! Don't know what was up with that - I've never noticed that before. Kathryn, Chad, and Lincoln found me and we took some pictures and then hobbled to the car. My legs stiffened up on the ride home (we got stuck in some traffic) and I had a hard time getting back in the house. I was better after a shower!!


Calf injury and minimal training!


I'm glad I went. I had a good time with family and I still finished another marathon even if it was miserable!

Signs were great as usual. I saw two girls wearing shirts that said, "Run like the Hunger Games just started!" on the back. Then there was a guy running barefoot and the back of his shirt said, "Be happy, last time I forgot my shorts!"