Yes, well, mentally I felt strong. My legs, though, they disagreed.
My morning started with my usual pre-race ritual -- bagel, banana and coffee. We headed for downtown around 6 am to hunt for a parking spot and I'm pretty sure the same spot from last year was waiting for us. Walking down to the start line I was running my strategy through my head and trying to figure out how my legs were feeling.
Once at the marina, I hit up the bathroom and stretched out before walking down to the start line. Again, it was a self-seeding race and you have to contend with the people whose hopes are too high for a race. I managed to weave my way into Wave 1 and nervously did mini-stretches with all the other runners, re-tied my shoes for the third time and upon standing, realized that my legs were tired. At that point, I decided to just go out and find my comfortable pace and not worry about it.
Rounding Mile 1 I heard a guy say we were sub-7:30. I figured that's good for the start. I like to run like a bat out of hell just to get to a place where the pack has thinned out and I don't have to hurdle people's feet. After around Mile 2 I realized the guy that was going for 1:38 was gone, so I knew I slowed it down and was happy to just keep it cool, calm and collected. The mile markers started ticking away and I felt good - although, the humidity from the overcast skies was causing me to sweat buckets.
I started drinking my water/Powerade combo (pure sports drinks cause my stomach to cramp, so I have to dilute the mix with more water) around Mile 4 and could instantly feel the little jolt of energy. Approaching the lighthouse at Mile 5, the breeze started to kick up. I love those conditions; it was slight enough to wick the sweat from my skin, but strong enough to give me something to push against and just cool enough to bring down the body temp.
I was running strong, but could feel how hard it was to turn over my legs. They were definitely feeling it from last week. I saw my parents right after Mile 6 and ran through the straightaway pretty strong. I had to grab another drink shortly after and turned to run down the bike path. Again, the breeze was blowing into us and it made the next 2.5 miles ideal for me, but I was definitely slowing down. I heard what seemed like a stampede of people and a pace group had passed me.
We looped off the bike path and started to run along Ocean back toward downtown and the finish line, and this is when I was really feeling it. Carolyn was waiting at Mile 10 and I was running to see her. Once I did, I knew I had 3 more miles to go and my girls were at Mile 12 to push me through the finish. I conserved energy to make it up the slight incline that brings you to Mile 11 and then kept a nice, easy pace the rest of the way.
Mile 12 I heard Kat, Mindy and Becky screaming from nearly a block away and it was excellent. Just what I needed. As I'm running by all I hear from Kat is, "WOOO! 2nd marathon in a week!" and it hits me that I'm nuts, but I can do this. I keep going down Ocean, counting down the traffic lights before I make the downhill turn to the finish line. This year the line was moved down about 1/3 of a mile, and I knew this, but it seemed like FOREVER! The momentum from the hill had worn off with 0.2 of a mile left and I was pushing to kick my legs out in front of me to cross the line.
I ended with a time of 1:46.39. Not too bad considering the state of my legs. I'm happy my nutrition and hydration was on the spot this race. I took today off to relax and I plan to thoroughly enjoy it... couch, tea and a book.
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