Saw my pace group from the running room at the starting line, but they were going to run the 1st 3 slowly but straight thru without a walk break. I'd been practicing with 10:1s all the way thru, so I told them I'd meet up to them after 3. Elected to run with Timmy instead.
We were rolling along fine until about a mile and 1/2. At that point, the injury he was hoping so hard that he'd recovered from reared its ugly head again. He held on for another quarter mile or so, then wished me luck and dropped out of the race. Sad, but what can you do? He made the right choice by not exacerbating the injury any more.

So off I went on my own. At the end of my walk breaks for the first three I saw Tara and Michelle (4:00 pace bunnies) trotting along, so I knew I was right on queue.

After the third mile I stepped in with them and recalibrated my 10:1s to coordinate with their walk breaks. I thought it would be a little easier doing this in a crowd, than on my own.

So off we went. Pacing was pretty bang on, for the most part. We seemed to have a knack for hitting the walk breaks RIGHT at the relay station, so it really looked like we were loafers as we strolled thru the throng.

Ran nice and even right through til mile 12. Then I elected to duck behind a tree and try to unleash the bladder from hell. Good gravy! I think I nearly killed that 300 year old oak!

So I finally zip up and take off after the pace group who're up about a minute on me now. Ran mile 13 at 8:30 even with the pee break in there, and decided I'd better slow it down and not blow the whole wad. See, I learned *one* thing from last year. Unfortunately, the mile and 1/2 I spent chasing took its toll on my legs.

I split the half at 1:58 and was on perfect pace. Managed to keep the pace nice and steady until 17, when the legs dropped out.
I don't know what it is about it, but I've decided that 17 is by far my LEAST favorite number. If we could just go from 16 to 18 I think the world would be a better place!
Walked my 10:1s, walked the water station, and walked the ice station. C'mon, legs!
Tried to pull it back together at 18 and came closer at 9:31. I'd made up a little bit of time on the front for an even 4 pace, so if I could hold 9:15s or so, I could maybe pull it off with a little nitro at the end.

..and then along came Lyndale Drive. That road is worse than the number 17. So long, so wide open, and the rain was pouring. Lyndale just sucked the life out of me. Walked the 10:1s, walked the water stations, and walked again at 5:1. 9:47... Starting to fall apart.

And then along came St.Marys... the rottenest street on earth. After getting about 3 soakers and splashed by two cars I was ready to pack it in. My feet were soaking and my legs were shot. C'mon legs!!! Relax!Power! Strength! Glide! Flow! I ran thru all the stupid power words I could think of to try to fool my legs into thinking they were fresh. How stupid did I think my legs were?

And then along came my right calf. Right around mile 21 my calf locked tighter than a fist and I almost wiped flat on my ass. It worked itself out, but from this point on, I had to shorten my stride considerably. Every time I forgot and took a longer step, my calf would clench and just about send me over again. Ok... baby steps. No problem.

In the meantime, my brain was just beating me up. It's raining, I'm soaked. I'm exhausted and having zero fun, and my mind keeps telling me how incredibly stupid I am. Why the hell would you do this to yourself (again!)?!? 1/2s are fun. Fulls are rediculous! What joy could you possibly gain from this. Sheesh, brain! Like this isn't tough enough. Walked the aid stations, and then some.

Anyways, I hobbled on and muddled thru. By mile 24 I was asking some crowd members how dumb it would be to drop out then. They concurred that it wouldn't be the brightest thing, so on we pushed.

Across the last bridge. Had to walk about a quarter of it. The grade isn't that bad, but the wind was howling pretty good over it. Rather than blowing my whole load trying to power over the bridge, I cut my losses and conserved a bit of energy. This actually allowed me to get a miniature second wind for the last two miles. Twenty five was in 10 even, and twenty-six I brought in a second under. Wahoo!

Got to the stadium, and they had a chip mat on the way in, so they could announce who was entering the stadium. It was really nice to hear them announce my name over the load speaker. I gave a little wave and I think I even got a little cheer from the crowd. Hard to say for sure, though. My brain was a little shot!
Saw my family on the hill on the way around and gave them a big wave. Even managed to get a little choked up around the track. That's never happened before.

In all the excitement, I forgot about my calf and tried to pour on a little speed for the final lap. My calf *immediately* reminded me that I wasn't to speed up, directly in front of the marathon photographer, so I'm sure there's going to be an outstanding photo of me with the grimace of death upon my face. Too bad actually, cuz I was actually not feeling THAT terrible at the end.
Clocked in, got my popsicle and my swag, and made my way out to see my fam, vowing to never be so stupid as to do this again.
I'm sure I'll sign up for next year's tomorrow. D-oh!


Well, that was fun. Went in hoping to hit 4 hours, but not really thinking I could do it. When you look at my mileage coming in, my "taper" month was actually WAY higher than my previous month's. No base = no legs on the back half. Minor injuries led to major setbacks, and I just couldn't make up all the runs I missed. NExt time, stay healthy!

Massage. Drank some gatorade.. walked it out and chit-chatted with the congregation.


My bladder. My training.


Race seemed to be better organized this year, despite losing their sponsorship with the running room. The weather was really good for my run: cooler with rain. I much prefer that to the sun.
I'm pretty happy with the run. I think I should have got a better time in, but oh well, guess it just wasn't my day. I still stripped off over 13 minutes from last year's mary, so I can't be too terribly disapointed. We'll try for that sub-4 again next year, I guess.