I had planned on running with Jason, but due to sickness, he couldn’t run. Luckily, my friend and fellow relay racer, Larry, was taking the same shuttle I was, so we decided to meet up and then find our friend and also relay racer, Liz, at the start line. The entrances to the corrals were jam packed with runners, so we ended up finagling our way through the fence to get in, and as luck would have it, we ended up right by Liz! The plan was to start off slow for the first 10K, pick it up and keep a steady pace through 20, and then push hard for the last 10K. I guess we were all feeling good because we hit the 10K split faster than what I/we had wanted. We tried a couple of times to slow down, but it would only last a mile or two before we fell back into our low 8:00’s pace. Around mile 7, I heard a familiar voice - my mom! My parents had found a spot to cheer us on and take pics. The miles flew by thanks to Liz and Larry; before I knew it, we had hit 20 miles. At 20, I told Liz she would need to get faster each mile if she wanted to qualify for Boston, so she took off, leaving Larry and I in the dust! Larry started getting leg cramps around 23 and slowed up some. I thought about staying with him, but it was easier to keep on moving, so I headed on and tried to speed up some, but the 6-mile wind tunnel aka miles 19 to 25 won that battle. My effort level felt like 7:30 miles, but my actual pace was close to what it had been all day. I finished in 3:36:58, which wasn’t a PR, but I was happy with it. I went in with no goal and hadn’t trained as hard as I’m capable of, so I was happy with that time and the fact that I felt fairly decent at the end.
I’ve always been fine running by myself, but I thought I’d be running with Jason, so when those plans fell through, I automatically felt lonely! What a blessing Larry and Liz were – for many reasons. Having friendly/familiar faces at the start of a race, especially a marathon, is something that I’ve come to find as relaxing. The chatter/running talk/catching up we did made this race go by so, so fast. Their encouragement was priceless. I am so proud of these two; Larry had a PR and Liz had a PR and qualified for Boston. She didn’t just qualify for Boston, but she somehow managed to nail the exact time she needed – 3:35:00. That’s skill for you!
It turns out a man collapsed at mile 22 and passed away. This is the second race I’ve ran in where a runner has passed away. No matter if I was happy or not with how I did, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. We get so caught up in our goals and if we had a good/bad race, etc., that we often forget the simple things – like how incredibly blessed we are to be able to run and race. I am so thankful for my wonderful family who travels (and runs) with me, a loving boyfriend who puts up with my running induced craziness, the best running friends a girl could ask for, and just the ability to be able to enjoy life. God has filled my life with so many blessings and I’m eternally grateful!
Splits:
Mile 1 – 8:37
M2 – 8:07
M3 – 8:09 – 5K split = 25:56
M4 – 8:08
M5 – 7:54
M6 – 8:07 – 10K split = 51:11
M7 – 8:10
M8 – 8:24
M9 – 8:12
M10 – 8:09 – 10 mile split = 1:22:19
M11 – 8:15
M12 – 8:03
M13 – 7:59 – 13.1 split = 1:47:36
M14 – 8:19
M15 – 8:14
M16 – 8:12
M17 – 8:09
M18 – 8:06
M19 – 8:17
M20 – 8:17 – 20 mile split = 2:44:23
M21 – 8:01
M22 – 8:11
M23 – 8:19
M24 – 9:12
M25 – 8:31
M26 – 8:31
Total Time: 3:36:58, 8:17 pace
