This was my first full. I've trained for two other fulls, but gotten injured in my peak week. This time I took the peak week kind of easy, going only 19 miles and doing a run/walk for my long run which worked out nicely.

I was kind of nervous about this marathon because there was a 6 hour cut off time. I didn't THINK that would be a problem for me, but you just never know what will come up. I really wanted to finish this. I've basically been training for it since November, slowly building up my mileage.

They had us line up by our pace, so I was basically near the back of the pack since I knew I would be slower than 11 minutes per mile. From the time the gun went off until the time I actually got to the finish line was almost 20 minutes. That made me nervous because marathoners had to be to the 13.1 mile mark at 3 hours. I wasn't sure if they based that off gun time or off of the time you crossed the start...if they based it off gun time, that meant I had 2:40 to get to 13.1. For me that is well within my ability BUT I knew I was going to be taking it easy the first 13.1, trying to pace myself. So that was a little bit nerve wracking.

I got to the 13.1 at a gun time of about 2:51. That was a big relief!

This was a pretty lonely run. I only knew one other person running the full, and she was way faster than me so there was really no chance of getting to hang with her during the race! My husband and my brother came to support me, which was awesome. They rode their bikes around and met me several times, even brought me a bottle of water to refill my water.

I carried a bottle of water with me. I figured that it would just be better because then I could drink whenever I felt like it. At the aid stations I drank the Gatorade they had. A couple of times I got the water just because I didn't want to run out of my own water, but their water had a funky taste to it. It was also not cold. :(

The crowd was awesome. Even though I was one of the last runners to finish, there were still people out there to cheer for us. I got lots of high fives from little kids too which I always love!

About mile 16 I started feeling tired-ish. My feet started hurting. I had been hoping to finish in less than 5 hours but it took me about 4 hours to do my first 20 miles, so I knew that my chance had come and gone. My main goal had just been to finish, which I did!

About mile 18 my quads started to feel all knotted up. Every few miles I'd squat down to stretch them (too tired to balance on one leg and do it like that!) and then when I would get up my muscles would quiver because I was so exhausted.

About mile 23 I started fighting off tears. My body was in a lot of pain, I was totally ready to be done. I decided I would just try to keep running to the end - anyone can run 3 miles!!! I did walk a couple of times but it was actually getting painful to walk. For some reason running just didn't hurt as bad as walking - that's the first time that has ever happened to me!

Towards the end the only thing keeping me going was that I wanted to beat Brian's marathon time. I knew that if I stopped to walk I could miss out on beating him. We are not competitive at all, though. ;) So anyway I ran probably the last 1.2 miles without stopping. I say "run" but I was probably going at like a 13 minute/mile pace. It was terrible. I was barely passing the people that were walking.

The last 6 miles I did actually pass quite a few people. I don't think I got passed at all at that point, so that made me feel kinda good.

I would have loved to have been able to have more weekly mileage. I hope to be able to keep building my mileage and try to average 30-40 miles per week. Other than that, I really think I gave this race my all and there is not a whole lot I could have done differently.

I basically sat down and changed my shoes and my shirt. I didn't stretch or anything. All the food was gone which was really crappy, but I had a part of a Cliff Bar left so I ate that. Brian went to get the car and told me where to meet him, and I started walking and I just couldn't do it. So I sat down in the grass and called him and asked him to just come get me because if I kept walking I was going to die. So he did. :) Then we went to Applebee's with my brother and ate some greasy burgers and mozzarella sticks. Mmmmm!

bib number: 1156
age: 27
gender: F
location: Lincoln, NE
overall place: 1089 out of 1154
division place: 83 out of 86
gender place: 392 out of 424
time: 5:27:34
pace: 12:30
10 k: 1:11:01
13.1: 2:34:21
20 m: 4:02:46
last 10k: 1:24:48
gun time: 5:45:54


I'm slow like a turtle! :)