Notes
I fell asleep Saturday night around 12:30 & woke up a little before the alarm went off at 4:30 .Drank a 16oz bottle of water and tried to take care of business ,if you catch my drift Wink I didn't want a repeat of my last 20 miler where I had to stop several times .This was a non- issue Thank God yesterday.
I drove the 45 minutes or so down to Long Branch in the fog and got there around 6:00 am .I pretty much milled about for a while ,checked my bag and rested in the Host hotel hallway until I figured it was near time to line up. You could hardly make out the High Rise hotel through the fog . It was nice and cool 48F
I finally saw my niece and my buddy who I tried to call earlier. My niece lined up with the 3:30 pace group and I tried to talk her in to going out with the 3:40 group like me but she said she would rather start faster and slow later. My buddy was running the half and started out with Me.
At this point I believe the gun must have miss fired because the announcer yelled go , then said go about twice more before people started to move. The first mile was quite congested and I think the clock read 9:20 something ,so our pacer took off when we were clear to try and regain some of the lost time . I think this hurt my friend as he faded after around 3 miles . He finished his half in just under 2 hrs. after cramping in mile 12.
My niece's pacer tried to regain all the lost time in the 2nd mile and ran her group to a just over 7 minute pace causing her to drop from the 3:30 group after only 2 miles. She later said she saw him standing by the side of the road , He may have given up !
Ok ,back to me. Miles 1-4 were just a case of bobbing and weaving and following my pacer. I drank water at nearly every stop which were plentiful . At mile 5 there was a relay transition set up and the crowd support was great there. You ran through almost a chute of spectators. It gave me a chill. Big grin
Miles 6-11 were uneventful except that you run past some Mansions and President Garfield's tomb.
I missed Garfield's tomb on the 1st. loop but saw it later. Oh yeah I ate a GU at mile 7.
At mile 11 I went in front of the 3:40 pacer and never saw him again until the finish line.
Mile 12 I started running along side a guy named Tom from New Hampshire and finished the first half feeling great except for a blister growing on my left foot that was annoying ,but not painful. we were glad to be clear of the Half Marathon finish as it's a bit depressing knowing you have to run the loop again.
I eat another GU at 14 .I'm still running with Tom from NH when I come upon my niece at about mile 16 . She tells me about the pacer and says to go on without her . She says she got her second wind after mile 19 and would finish in 3:45. !!
At mile 18 just after the rank odor of the Sewage Treatment Plant I'm joined by my buddy's brother in law.
He's run a couple of marathons and says He'll run with me for a while.
The next few miles are good but I'm feeling some tightness in my glutes .I notice my Heart rate is still fairly low around 172 I figure let me get this over with as soon as possible. Ate my last GU at 21.
Miles 23 - 25 I'm starting to fatigue so I zone out and just run I think I lost Tom around 25.
At 25 to the finish you are running down along the boardwalk and people are calling my name off my bib and shouting encouragement ,but it's kind of a blur. I see the clock says 3:33:?? so I give it all I have to get under 3:34 and pull it off. I got the HR up to 183 at the end.
In conclusion ,if you are still reading this ,I felt like I ran within myself. I probably could have run a bit faster but I'm not sure if my legs could have put up with it. I had a deep soreness in them yesterday and had considerable trouble with stairs even this morning. I'm fine now though. I'll probably even run easy tomorrow.