I have a good reason for my laziness with the posts. My husband and I are moving to France in May and we spent 8 days there recently. We found an apartment, opened a bank account, and bought new cell phones.....all in French I might add! Attempting to conduct business in a language that I have only been speaking for 6 months was enough to take up all my time however. I did stay dedicated to my runs though....even in Strasbourg.
So, I decided to post one last entry about the events of this beautiful and chilly morning. While I missed my goal of breaking the illustrious 4 hour barrier, The Suntrust National Marathon was a truly great experience. I think it may even take the prize of my favorite course. I think a large part of this was due to the PERFECT weather. Temps in the 40's, zero wind, and the brightest, bluest sky I have seen in a long time made it hard to have anything other than a great attitude. (Even when my quads and calves were trying hard to discourage me.) The course was great too......despite the several significant hills. Some of which were between miles 23-26. (Almost killed me!) But the crowds were awesome and the scenery was great. It was really nice running through the entire district. Even the last 5 miles by the river were beautiful despite the solitude.
To add to my admiration, the race organizers provided plenty of well-stocked water stops (every 2 miles), and the stadium-armory building was open before the start with REAL bathrooms and a warm space to stretch and relax before the race. The post race food was great too.....fruit(oranges and bananas), bagels, powerade, and these great big, salty, soft pretzels. The only thing that was missing were cookies. I took care of this by buying one from the organic vendor that was in the runner's village.
As for my race performance, I am sad to have missed my goal, but happy to have a new PR that is 18 minutes better than my previous best time. I started with the 3:55 pace group and stayed with them until mile 14. After they left me in their dust, I hoped that I could manage to stay between them and the 4 hour group. I did until mile 21 when they came calling. I stayed with them for a mile or two. My husband said that when he joined me at mile 22 they were only 100 yards in front of us. Unfortunately, mile 23-26 is the second hilliest part of the entire race and the hills were enough to do me in. I was doing the Galloway Method......run 4 minutes, walk 1, and I managed to keep this up. I never cheated and walked extra. Even when I walked though a water stop during a run portion, I shortened my next walk to accommodate. For this, I am proud.
I am also a huge believer in this method because I know beyond a shadow of doubt that without the walk breaks, my last 3 miles would have been close to if not totally a walk with no running. Between 23 and the finish, my calves were on the edge of a major cramping episode. The last minute of each 4 minute run was excruciating. But, knowing that a walk was coming kept me going. It felt great to run past all of the people who were walking unintentionally. I had planned to run the last 6 if I felt up to it, but I most certainly did not. The last .2 really sucked. I think I was close to passing out for the first minute or two after the finish. Peter said he thought he might have to take me to the medical tent. But I managed to give my chip back, get my medal, grab some food from the food table, and find a comfy seat on the asphalt. Then I recovered quickly and nicely. (The pretzel helped!)
I made a promise to myself before the race that if I didn't reach my goal of 4 hours, I would give up running for a certain time and start doing marathons only for fun. I figured if I couldn't reach 4 hours after 5 marathons and one ultra, Boston was not ever going to be a possibility. But, in true crazy-marathoner form, in the past 6 hours since the finish, I have already found a marathon in Frankfurt, Germany that advertises itself as "flat, fast, and fun." Flat and fast? Maybe I should give my 4 hour goal one more go before throwing in the towel. After all, how will I be able to live without my weekly treadmill speed work torture? What will I have to whine about?
Well, I guess I should sign off now. Thanks for reading this blog. It has been really fun to write and I hope that you found it fun to read as well. Happy Running everybody!!
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