Notes
Garmin has basically quit cooperating with the computer so first, here's the splits, tenderly hand typed by me:
902 913 852 902 857 911 850 849 855 900 904 900 859 851 907 907 904 905 845 927 923 915 937 923 950 1119 (314). Hmmm, looks like my decline started sooner than I realized . . . Rats. Well, here's the scoop.
This was a VERY well run, fun marathon with lots of meaning attached to it. Everyone was super friendly, the course was exceedingly well marked, volunteers were wonderful, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We had a beautiful sunrise, sunshine the whole time, and mild temps. A little bit of a breeze bothered me a bit, but not a big deal. There is a lot of open road and farmland on this course but I never felt lonely. Other runners, and the scattered cheering sections, along with the aid station volunteers to keep me going were plenty. I didn't even turn Shuffle on till mile 18.
Overall performance was good till the end & then it was a big struggle & I was once again reminded that running a marathon is hard. But, maybe I'm getting better. In Boston I was crap by 19.5, HOA, by 23, here, not till closer to 24. Improvement? I'm frustrated that I didn't get my 4hr & that my time is even worse than HOA! But, I have had some struggles with not feeling well, plus I haven't had the biking that I had b/4 HOA & all those things could be a factor. And, admittedly, I have not put forth the excellent training that I did for Columbus, which was also a flatter course, so what can I expect? This I guess! And, it's not too shabby, so I'm not crushed or anything . . . just still wanting . . . This course has a lot of rolling hills. They aren't Easley, that's for sure, but there are enough of them that by mile 18 I didn't really want any more. There is a doozy at mile 19 which I thought is a hell of a place to put a hill, but that's the last really big one & I guess, in perspective, none of them are THAT big, and really, the gentle rolling is probably very good. My legs didn't get tired till the very end & even now, although I'm keenly aware of what I've just done, the legs aren't as bad as they have been other times, so the gently rolling hills might have helped that. Although my splits paint a different story, I didn't really feel awful till about mile 23 - 24. I had to walk some for 24 and I walked through the last two aid stations. I needed the water because it was warm by that time, and I was quite thirsty. Considering that, my pace is better than I expected on those miles. After mile 21, I picked off 4 other women and I never saw them again, so that was kind of nice. At mile 25 there was a girl down - and out. Ugh. Others also struggled about that point -- oh, so close! At least i finished & respectably enough. At mile 15 we headed into the headwind as we went out on the 2nd triangle. Also, shortly after that we could see the leaders as they were heading back after completing the triangle. It's not exactly an out and back - much more interesting than that, but you still get the advantage of seeing runners ahead and behind you which is nice for runner support on the farmland stretches. Oh - these people have cowbells alright -- REAL cowbells - not the kind you buy at an Expo! Funny, at just past mile 6 we're running along and there is a cute little orange kitten just cruising down the road next to us. That was a nice diversion, and conversation piece. Then, about 1/2 mile farther down the road is another identical kitten! Nice touch on the part of the race organizers! Just before that around mile 5 I came alongside Dave and Joe. I had met them at the start - both AF vets. They were doing the half & really talked up the AF Marathon, as had several other people. So, I pull ahead and Joe says, "Hey, you're wearing a skirt!" Dave says, "Well, she's got the legs for it." What I needed was for that kind of comment to come along about mile 23! Apparently, AF flattery is still alive and well. It's nice some things never seem to change! (why the hell do you think I came up here? -- jk!) It seemed like we had a fast start and the field really did seem fast to me. That might have been some of my trouble at the end - starting too fast. Now, wouldn't you think I'd know better?!?! The start of this race began at the courthouse, with the Mayor reading a proclamation proclaiming the Annual Veteran's Day Marathon and discussing the significance of the event. As we lined up, we were all checking out bibs to look for our branch of service. Kinda cool. Then the high school band played the National Anthem and we started promptly at 0800! When I crossed the finish line another women was just behind me. She grabbed my arm as soon as we stopped and said, "How old are you!" I said, "49!" She said, "Thank God - I'm 50!" I think she got an age division award. Had a good talk with her afterward. She highly recommends Austin for another BQ.
This was beyond incredible because in addition to crowd support & volunteers calling out my number (I had a cool number -- 99!) they also shouted, "Go Air Force". Who the heck would want a name on a bib when you can have your branch of service on there? Not me. Pride in country, pride in military, pride in branch, pride in comrades, & lastly, pride in self. All those were there, & brought home for me today.
If there were any bugs to be worked out for this, their first marathon, I certainly wasn't aware of it. GOOD JOB, COLUMBIA CITY, IN!