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I ran my first marathon this weekend and it was killer.  The excitement and comradery was exhilarating.  I set this goal in February and it felt great to follow through to the end.  I have, in the past been know for talking shit and not doing what I said I was going to so I felt a real sense of accomplishment when it was all over.

 We came down on Friday night checked into my place and had a few beers.  On Saturday we sat in the hot tub a lot and pretty much just relaxed the whole day.  Saturday was by far the longest day I have had in a long time.  My running partner and I probably spent and hour laying all of our stuff out for the next day.

I woke up really early on Saturday to ensure an early wake up on Sunday.  And it worked.  I was in bed by ten and other that drinking some water through the night I slept like a baby.  Four thirty came quick and I was up and ready to go. 

I jumped in the shower and did my hair(I ran as Elvis).  Everybody else was up by five and we were out the door by quarter to six.  Traffic started to get bad close to the start so my partner and I jumped out a few blocks from the drop off.

Waiting for the start wasn’t too bad.  I grabbed a bagel and took a piss on the hill to kill some time.  Then I had to go take some pictures for the Elvis thing and by then it was just a few minutes to start time.  We were in our corral for a few minutes anxious and jumpy.  I put on my marathon play list and I was ready to go.

The MC counted us down and we were off!  My partner and I stayed with the pace group for a while.  It seemed as if they were going a little slow at first but everything we have read up until now told us to go slower than you think you should be going.  So that’s what we did. 

The run was great.  I felt strong and good in the beginning.  I started to get hot at about mile six so I lost my shirt.  Then we lost the pace group.  There were clocks every mile so we were able to pace ourselves pretty much exactly where we wanted.  For the pretty much the first eight miles we were under 9:00. 

I am not sure where it but I think it was around mile twelve we came to a long downhill.  In my training I ran my downhills super hard so that I would be able to go fast on them during the race.  I started to take off and never looked back.  I didn’t say anything to my partner(Which I felt bad about later) but I figured he knew.  I went really fast and I felt as strong as I ever did.

I knew I was going to have to pee during the race but I fought it off as long as I could.  I didn’t want to stop if I didn’t have to because I felt great and I thought that stopping might hurt my rhythm.  I think it was about mile 16 I stopped under an over-pass and took care of business.

Guess what?  When I started again my calf was a little tweaked.  Then it turned into my knee.  It started to get so bad that I wanted to stop.  I kept passing the medical stations because again I thought that if I stopped I wouldn’t want to start again. 

It finally got so bad that I had to stop.  I asked for an aspirin and a knee wrap and they took care of me.  They were a little slow but it is nice to have people there for you.  As soon as I got my aspirin I was off again.  The pain was super bad.  For about the last hour and a half I repeated “you are strong and powerful and fast” in my head.

Another thing that helped me was that as Elvis I thought I might be in contention for a medal judging from last years times.  And I even had at least two spectators tell me I was in third.  So when I saw another Elvis in front of me I made it my goal to catch and pass him.  I caught everyone I saw which was four so I started to wonder if I really was in it.  Which I later found out I wasn’t even close.  But I think the idea of it helped me go faster.

Mile 21 made me super happy and I was saving something for the end.  Mile 23 I started to turn on the afterburners a little bit.  “Holly shit……I am really gonna do this thing…..only 5k left!”  Then I remember going into the military base and thinking how close I must be.  I really started running it out then.  When I saw the 26 mile sign I almost cried.  And when I saw the finish line I went as fast as I possibly could.  And when I crossed I was finished.

 My knee hurt so bad I could hardly walk.  I tried to sit down about ten feet past the finish but the medical staff wouldn’t let me.  One of the guys helped me over to the ice area and I got ice on that sucker right away.  Then I went back to wait for my partner and he came through at four flat.

For as bad as my knee hurt during the race it doesn’t hurt at all now.  I think it is a little weird.  I am happy and stiff and I am really proud of myself.  Next stop……………..Silverman.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/01/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 3:49:54.00
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Average Pace: 8:46.32/mile

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 6:30 am and is filed under Run. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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