The start is always very congested and it takes the first couple of miles to get out of it. It seemed really crowded through 4 miles so it there was a lot of dodging to get to some free space. We were pacing well at 12 min/mile and felt good here. We stopped at the portalets at the 4 mile marker then felt we were good to go from there. Still more dodging but ok. We ran near a blind runner and his guide for a bit. It was intersting to watch them make their way through the other runners. Since many runners had on headphones, they didn't hear them often when she shouted out their intentions. They did well, though, considering.

We had decided before the race to walk the aid stations so that's what we did. We split it between gatorade and water and added jelly beans along the way. We felt great at this point. Somewhere between mile 7-8, my left knee started to complain. Nothing bad, just noticeable and was familiar to me since I had been feeling this throughout the training. By mile 9, it was starting to cause me to drop off our pace. I stopped to try to stretch the IT band, but I nearly fell down with the pain that inflicted and just moved on after that. Med tents had ice but no IB so we just kept plodding along. If we walked for a bit, I could then run for a bit so that's what we did through mile 10-11. I started singing at this point "my leg hurts, oh my leg hurts" and laughing to try to get through it. This helped my head but not the pain in my leg, at least for a bit. by 11.5 miles, I was defeated, head could not overcome the leg. My right achilles was also adding it's complaints to the mix and I could not compensate. We walked the last 1.5 miles to the finish line. When it was bad, I just screamed into my hand towel and kept my head down and kept moving. To stop was not an option so we just kept going. I would have cried but then my breathing would have been choppy and I didn't need anything else to worry about. I must have been a sight. T noticed one person on the side state that I looked like I was in misery, I was!

I nearly cried when I saw the finish line. I headed straight to the medical area and got two bags of ice. They would not dispense anything so I was out of luck for NSAID's. We collected our stuff, then met up with our other friend and found a spot to sit while I iced my aching legs. Some relief here but not much. We still had about 5 blocks to walk to the car. Misery but I finally found if I turned my foot outward and drug it along, it didn't hurt so bad. Not a pretty stride but it offered some relief.

We headed for IHOP and my girlfriend had Advil in her car, thank god!

Train more.

Stretched and iced all the painful parts.


PAIN!


This is a huge event with tons of support. The city comes out all along the route so it's a very encouraging race to do. I will do it again next year.