Run for the Red - RunMarathon

Standing at the start line I got a little anxious as I thought to myself "Here we go, you're about to do a marathon! A few years ago you hated running and now you're doing a marathon." I got over that and wished Derek good luck and have fun when the gun went off.

My nutrition plan was going to be a gel every 15 min, 2 salt tabs before the start and 1 salt tab every 30 min and water at every water stop. Gatorade if I felt like it. My chocolate milk/banana/peanut butter recovery drink was waiting for me at the finish line!!

In the first 300 yds I realized that I didn't start my foot pod. Derek suggested I just start it at mile 1 but I figured it was just 1 more distraction that would mess up with my nutrition plan. I left it off. I think it was about mile 1 that I left Derek and tried to find my "happy pace". The trouble was that I couldn't get my HR out of the 160's!

On my long runs in April my AHR at an 8:00 pace was in the mid 130's. Now I am starting off in the 160's and I can't get it to come down. My RPE was about an 8 but my HR was Z-3! I finally decided to ignore my HR and see what happens. I wasn't about to back off to 9 min miles just to slow my HR down! I felt comfortable so I went with it.

I met up with Bill around mile 3 and struck up a conversation with him. We talked and ran together for about 8 miles. We passed Kristen at mile 9 and I felt great except I had to pee and my stomach was thinking about searching for a throne. As we were talking Bill mentions that he tends to overhydrate and has to pee all the time. His wife told him to "just pee, everyone else does it." His response was that "normal people don't". :) I didn't have the heart to tell him that for the last mile I was silently relieving myself and the next water stop I would "flush". :) As we came up to the next water stop I told him that I had to use the porta-potty and take a dump, he had to pee so he went to. I grabbed a gatorade and a water before entering the potty. Sat down, slammed down the drinks, took care of business, wiped and ran out. We exited at the exact same time! He looked at me and said "You didn't just......" I said "Oh yes I did, I have this down to a science!!"

After about mile 11 Bill dropped off the pace and I wished him a great run and continued on. Around mile 14 I met up with a woman who turned out to be a triathlete. She had done the Chesapeake Iron Distance race but was disappointed in how flat it was. She had just done Boston a couple weeks ago and seemed to be in amazing shape. I ran with her for a while and she dropped off the pace. At this point I am still feeling very good and holding a very steady pace.

Between mile 15 and 16 I met up with Hanna. (Friend #2 in SweetK's album) She was awesome! This was her 9th marathon and was just a machine, looking very comfortable. She struggled going up hills but just coasted down the hills. We had some good conversation and before I knew it we were at mile 22!! I was still walking through the water stations taking gatorade and water at each one. I missed a couple gels here and there but overall stuck pretty close to the nutrition plan. After mile 22 there was a pretty big hill and that was the last I saw of Hanna until the finish.

Miles 23-26 had a few hills that were eating people up. I think I passed 30 or so people in the last 3 miles. My pace increased a bit when I knew there was only 5K left. At the water station after mile 24 I tried to get some kids to throw water on me (thanks for the idea marmadaddy!!) and the confused look on there face was priceless! By the time they figured out I was serious I got a little splash on my back. Frome here on out it was just a cruise to the finish line. I passed 6 or 8 people after I entered the school grounds. When I got to the track for the last .2 miles I was on cloud 9! I felt like I could have gone another 5 or 6 miles. I saw Kristen at the finish and just could not get the smile off my face. Thank you again Kristen, you are great!!! BTers ROCK!!! No doubt about it!

Absolutely nothing!!

Some volunteers were trying to get me to sit down but I felt spectaculer and just walked over and had some water, bananas, oranges and stretched out a bit. I forgot to tell Kristen to bring the cooler in with her so I ran out to her car to get my recovery shake and ran back to the track to catch Derek.

I talked Kristen into going up to the bleachers and get a picture coming into the stadium then we would have tome to get a picture at the finish as well. As we waited up there for Derek to come into the stadium he came up behind us and suprised us. How did we miss him? I felt terrible, not only did we miss him coming across the finish line but we (or I) made him climb stairs after he just ran a MARATHON!!! Sorry Derek!!


Nothing. More training. I am very pleased with my performance in my 1st marathon!!


The volunteers were amazing!! If there is an organization that can assemble volunteers it is the Red Cross!! I will most likely do this race again next year.