This is my first marathon, and I knew that I was grossly undertrained and underprepared for this going into it, so my goal was to simply finish without injury. The plan was to start with the 8:24/mile pace group and just hang with them as long as I could, then just hold on until the end at whatever pace I could muster, and don't be concerned if I have to walk periodically.

I lined up with the pace group and started out with them. The first quarter mile is uphill from the start to the Shoreway... that's about the biggest incline of the entire race, the rest is pretty flat. The pace felt really easy and comfortable, and the temps were nice that early, even if the humidity didn't. I brought a bunch of GU with me, and took the first one at Mile 4. I also had a small pouch of salt pills. I took two before the race and then two every hour during it. I really think that this helped stave off muscle cramps, big time. I also made a point of taking at least two cups of drink at every aid station, be it water or Powerade. Later in the race, I was taking 3 & 4 cups per station.

I was able to hang with the pace group until Mile 9 where I had to let them go as I had to hit the port-a-potty, it seems I may have been a little over-hydrated to start with. I came out of there of there and walked the aid station, taking several cups of drink and started back off down the road. Just as I was hitting the turn right after it, I saw kenb321 rocking the Mile 9 Party and I jogged over to high-five him as I went by. That was a nice little pick-up in morale, though I didn't need it, yet. Not far down the road, just before Mile 10, I saw a guy I went to middle school with (WAY too many years ago) sitting in a lawn chair cheering people on. One more high-five and a bro-hug-on-the-fly and I was off on down the road. By this time, the legs were starting to feel tired, which I knew meant that the second half was really going to suck if things were hurting this early. Mile 11 is across a bridge that takes you back into downtown Cleveland, and I died there last year in the Half. This year I held it together and was able to keep moving, but I was definitely feeling every stride at this point. Not long after that, I was at the split-off point... the Half runners went one way, us marathoners went the other, and I was now officially in uncharted territory for a race.

The back half was just plain tough. It was hot, humid, and generally devoid of shade. The crowds were smaller and further apart, too, which didn't help the morale. It really became a very individual endeavor. By mile 14 I had adopted a policy of walk 1/4 mile, run to the next even numbered mile marker. I think I was able to keep that going until like Mile 19 or something, and much of that span is kinda a blur. The pain in the hamstrings and glutes was crazy. I wanted to walk to alleviate that, but that just made me conscious of the pain in my feet, which was alleviated by running again. Thankfully, the stretch from 18 to 20 was mostly shaded, and at the last aid station one of the volunteers there actually stopped me and had me lower my head so that he could pour water over it... I must have really looked like hell, hehe. I had kept up with the GU's every few miles and salts every hour, so that is probably a part of it as he said I "looked really crusty". After that, it was out of the shade and back onto the open, sun-drenched road. Around Mile 21 (I think?), at the last little turn-around on St. Clair Avenue before heading back downtown, I saw a woman that I also went to school with. I was REALLY hurting at this point, and seeing her and getting a quick hug-on-the-fly really boosted my spirits and carried me for about the next two miles before I gave in to the legs and walked again. Periodically throughout the race, I saw several other Team RWB members, and cheering each other on as we went was a really cool thing to have, especially when it got tough. Not long after Mile 24, I think, I caught up to fellow RWB'er sungirl919 and her new BFF (who, ironically, had also started with the 8:24 pace group). At that point, I was quite content to stop pushing and finish with them. We walked perhaps a half mile together before trying to run once more. That was interrupted briefly, then we finished it out on the run.

I had never hurt so badly in my life, and at the finish I couldn't even consider the idea of ever wanting to do that distance again... yet, two days later and I'm now thinking it might not be so bad.

This endurance sports stuff is definitely a sickness of the mind ;-)

Actually Train.
I haven't ran more than three times in a week in over two months and aside from one long run two weeks before the marathon, I hadn't done a run longer than 14 miles since last November.

Found some shade, stretched a little, ate the post-race grub and generally cooled off a bit.


Utter lack of training, the heat.