I can't imagine having a worse start. I don't remember anything about the first mile other than I was passing people left and right. Of course, at my speed, this was nothing I had been training for!!!

The hydration stations were 2 miles apart, so I had planned to take Powerade at miles 2, 6, and 10 and water with sport beans at 4, 8, and 12. That worked well until ... well ... mile 2 when the Powerade was gone before I got there. :) I pretty much stayed on track for the rest of the race, though. The Sport Beans work well for me as long as I have water with them.

I met up with some of my running group at the portajohns at mile 4, which made me very happy. Fortunately, my earlier stop had taken care of my issues with Mother Nature for awhile, so I ran on ahead. They're faster than I am, so I knew they'd catch me ... which they did at about mile 5. Just shy of mile 5, I dropped my jacket, gloves and ear warmer ... and picked up a package of Sport Beans from my jockstrap. I was able to carry two bags of beans in the little pocket of my pants, but I wanted the third. It seemed to work out well for me ... except that the Sport Beans do NOTHING to curb the craving for doughnuts when you pass the Krispy Kreme.

Based on my training, I was confident that I'd be okay through at least half the race with regard to maintaining my 5 min run/ 1 min walk. At mile 8.5, my body lied to me and told me we had to pee. There was a construction site on the right side of the road as we passed from Ocean to King's. There was one portajohn and two MEN in line. I stood for about 10 seconds and then dipped behind the building, copped a quick squat (my bladder was a big fat liar), and got back on my way. I caught my running buddies in a couple of minutes, but I was afraid I'd used too much precious energy during the race catching up with people. In the end, I guess not.

I kept up well until about mile 11 ... when I think my brain realized that we were truly in uncharted territory. I walked an extra minute to get my head together, and then I got back to the run. The two women I was running with are very different runners, and I was able to take advantage of that during miles 11-13.1. Karin has a longer stride and slower cadence, so I dropped in behind her for awhile and just matched her pace, stride and cadence as long as possible. She is really a faster runner and wanted to move ahead, so I dropped back and she took off. I then ran with my friend Terri (not NCTriNewbie ... ANOTHER Terri). Terri's cadence is faster, and my legs really liked the slightly slower pace with the higher cadence. I mostly just liked having someone to run with.

We remained conversational most of the race, but I would note that the ability to converse later in the race was not to be confused with being chatty ... it was more like "You okay?" "Yeah, you?" "Yeah." "Did you see the Krispy Kreme?" "Yeah." "The HOT doughnuts sign was on." "Yeah. I saw that." "Rat B@st@rds!" "Yeah, really."

I walked another extra minute in mile 12 until I convinced myself I was really just finishing up with a little 5k added to an already done and gone 10 miler.

Contrary to what anyone might say is good form, Terri and I managed to reach down somewhere and find the energy to sprint to the finish. Our finish times are exactly the same ... down to the hundredths of a minute.

Not be in the bathroom at the gun?

Train more? Lose more weight? PFFT ... maybe ... but I am positively thrilled with the result. I had predicted between 3 and 3.5 hours ... so you can only imagine how I felt when I saw the clock. I'd given up on splits because I think the folks that put out the mile 2 and 3 markers were still partying or something.

Got my medal and my blue poncho ... proudly put both on! Stretched for a good 5 minutes. Grabbed a banana and some potato chips ... just couldn't do a beer just yet. Got a photo with three of my best running buddies. Located my jockstrap via some cop's cell phone. Because of my poor estimation of my finish time ... he didn't even get to see me finish. :(


Mother Nature. The fat in my butt that makes my butt look fat. Training.


I don't have tons of experience with this, of course ... but two miles between drink stations just seems like alot.