The Race 3:57:09

The Race

I should have written this earlier, but I will put all that I can remember down now.
The ride to the race was a little exciting in that we got a flat tire and had to switch cars at a local hotel to get to the start. We boarded buses and headed up the hill. We wound up passing the School and freaked everyone out. The bus got turned around and we found the school. The porta-let line was not too bad, the temperature was nice. I used the $4 sweats outfit purchased from the Salvation Army the night before for the beginning of the run. I lost sight of my traveling companions Dave and Julie, even though we said we’d run together for a while. Turns out they were within a quarter mile or so the entire race, just never saw them.
Bang goes a big cannon and we were off. The first few miles were really down hill, and as usual I was just trying to warm up. The foliage was beautiful and the conversations I was having with people were kind of general there was some hooting and hollering etc. We got to rolling pretty well by about mile 4 and I settled into a pace that a bit of a stretch but I felt good. I should not that it appears in an effort to keep runners from sloshing the water out of the cups that they were only filling them a little bit. This would haunt me later! I was taking a cup at each station and at mile 6 began taking an egel every 4 miles. I started with 7 which was perhaps 2 too many. Oh the biggest problem with the first few miles was my shorts were loaded with cell phone, gels and other items which pulled them down. I was hiking them up again and again until I finally got the little drawstring tied tight enough. (There may be no fixing it now) I had plumber’s butt and was worried for the first 5 miles. Finally fixed, I could safely discard the jacket I had purchased without offending anyone! I left my gloves on for a while longer as the Birmingham experience showed me how tough it is to run with frozen fingers…. The pace was pretty steady through mile 10 and the half marathon, with both showing I could break 4 hours. I knew the end would be a little rough, but that I wanted to make the 4 hours, beat 3:56 if possible! I kept on trucking along until 20 miles where it was only 6.2 to finish. And I was under 3 hours! Woo Hoo.

They say in a marathon there are two races. The first 20 miles and the last 6.2. I agree with that as I was tested the last. Miles 20-23 were not too bad mile 23 and 24 seemed to get sluggish and mile 25 was a bear, the only uphill to speak of, the hydration was gone and the feeling of twitching in the legs at the onset of a cramp, a cramp fantom if you will. Crept on me. I tried talking to other runners, who were around me, struggling to maintain the pace, also wanting the 4 hour Mary. The last hill seemed forever, I was forced to walk for about 2 minutes, the similarity to LA marathon 16 years ago was amazing, I just could not go. I gave out a loud NO!, and started running again, willing it to be so. I ran and crested the final hill slowly seeing the finish and realizing that I was going to crush my modern PR but leave that one from LA in tact I ran soaking in the crowd’s noise, I pulled in to the finish pleased with the time. I was a little worn out, but not aware of my pending problems. Dehydration is a bugger. More on that tomorrow, and I will try to not be too graphic.
Curtai Out