This recap will be almost all in pictures.
I don't have much to say.
It rained from mile 2 to 26.2. A lot.
It was freezing.
I wore my 6 dollar throw away rain jacket from Savers the entire race.
I was slow.
For a while at least.
So true.
Everyone who ran yesterday was super hardcore.
We did have a great time. I got us a hotel room a block from the finish/bus pickup. We met up the night before and really just had fun and talked. I shared this sweet experience with fellow flight nurses Amy and Deb.
TWINNERS shirts. Love the shirt, hate the color.
Amy and I hanging out talking and posting stuff on our phones
Amy figured the timer out on my phone.
Danger!
Fact. Danger. hahaha
I had rice and chicken in my teeth.
The morning started way early. 4am to get to the buses by 5.
Finish line forecast. ew
Long wait by the fires in the cold.
Hoping for clear skies.
We found us a helicopter pilot! Congrats Clint on meeting your goal by 5 minutes! Animal!
SOOOO many runners! Took us 7 minutes to get to the start line.
Amy ran with me and Deb took off and finished over an hour before we did. This was before the swearing began.
More then half way. Stopped at the potty - which took over 5 minutes to get clothes down to pee. Soaking wet all the way through. And yes, that is my throw away black jacket. I have a really cute outfit under it. We also had some gummy bears. At this point we just wanted to finish. haha
AND WE DID!!!
Over 5 hours...but heck, at least we weren't pulled off the course from hypothermia.
First marathon in the bag. Yes, I already want to run another one. I really would like a do-over.
I actually felt pretty good during the run. The problem was there was no chance to warm up the muscles. At the start the front of my ankles were very painful and tight, which had never happened. When that went away everything from my glutes to my knees was so tight. Not cramps just painfully tight. I was scared to do too much stretching because I was SO cold. The cheap gloves I wore stayed on about 13 miles. They were finally SO wet that I threw them away. I tried tucking my fingers in my jacket and that helped. My fingers tingled for 2 hours after my hot shower. Our shoes were absolutely filled with water for more then half of the race. They were heavy and coupled with the tight muscles we pretty much gave up any hopes of under 5 hours after the pacer paced us. Amy's jacket that was suppose to be water proof couldn't stand up to the rain. Actually neither jacket kept us dry but I stayed dryer longer.
Fueling
The one thing I was most nervous about turned out great. I had a Luna bar, Honey stinger waffle and banana before I ran. I had mixed a Clif gel (cherry chocolate is my fav, but they didn't have those on the course) with one of my applesauce (this brand has a flat screw on top which fits better in pockets) and put it back in the applesauce container. I also carried one applesauce without anything in it and one hazelnut butter. In my water bottles I had one water and one Skratch hydration. I used half the mixed applesauce at 45 min and 1hr30min. After that I would have a half of a gel then a little bit of applesauce. At mile 20 I finished the applesauce with the hazelnut butter. I drank a couple of poweraids and had a cup of water at each water stop. No stomach upset at all. I'll keep that system and tweak it when I train for my next one.
I'm just a little sore today. My back hurts a little but dang the front of my ankles and tops of my feet hurt SO bad. My toes are fine! (miracle - lots of Vaseline on the toes) I thought with the new socks and soaking feet I would be screwed. A day of eating crappy food and watching season 10 of Dancing with the Stars (first time watching) is what this day is doing.
Met Jeff Galloway in the elevator!!!
YES!
I do have his books and I use the 5/1 running ratio. He had his hand on my shoulder and was shaking cold!!
BAD ASS
My finish stats.
5:23:10
...and I didn't die.
Thank you Amy. We had a real bonding run.
AND..we slept together.
I'm not talking about the hot shower. No pics, didn't happen. ;)
You know your freezing when you don't care who sees you naked.
Huge props to the organizers of this marathon! It was one of the biggest races I've been to. So many volunteers and they were so awesome. Most of the time when I took a cup from a hand it was just shaking. Two shaking hands passing off cups of water. I am so very thankful. Ton's of water stops, plenty of portapottys, lots of Clif products, oranges, bananas, band aids, Vaseline, whatever we needed. There was trucks driving the course hanging out silver warming blankets. I felt like we were being watched closely for safety and taken great care of by all the volunteers. Some awesome cheer leading going on! The course markings were spot on and the timing thing with the app was great! Amy and I got notices when our friends passed certain points. Then we smacked talked them for being so fast. ;)
Funny how marathon training takes over your life. I can't wait to get back to having some time. My bathroom needs cleaning...
