Country Music Marathan Race Report (Read 542 times)

Race morning, I woke up at 3:45 AM and had to go to the bathroom. I dozed off an on for a whole, and then my alarm hit – 5:00 AM. Less sleep this year than last year, some 4.5 hours I estimate – if that much. I hop out of bed, call my girlfriend Lindsey to make sure she’s up, and then head to the shower with two Peanut Butter Clif Bars and a Lemon-Lime Gatorade in hand. I shower, go back to my room, get dressed, double check everything, and head out the door to get Lindsey at her dorm. It’s raining and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. She comes down with Katie (our friend who was walking), we open the umbrellas, and start our 1.2 mile walk to the starting line. Thankfully, it stopped raining on the way to the start. Once there, the atmosphere has me waiting in anxious anticipation of the day. Will I get my sub-4 hour marathon? Especially in the rain? We wander around the food stands, meet the group from my school for a photo, and then it’s off to my corral. All of my friends were behind me in their corrals, so it was great being in corral 5. I gave Lindsey a kiss and hug, stepped in, and there I was waiting. I made a little conversation about the weather with a few guys behind me, but for the most part, I was just sitting and waiting. At 7:06 AM, we were off. I wasn’t too congested in the corral, but kind of amazed at all of the people who signed up to put themselves in a faster corral, and were walking at mile 1. Oh well, that’s the way things go. As we make our way through the first mile, I remember last year and being at about a 9:30 pace because we were too congested and hope that I am a bit faster. As I get to mile one, I look at my watch and realize I was actually sustaining a faster pace than intended – 8:46. I figure it’s close enough and over the next couple of miles the hills will help to get me on pace. Mile 2 – 8:43. I still wasn’t concerned, as Mile 3 is pretty much all uphill down Music Row – 8:39. First 5k pace – 8:45. At this point, I didn’t know whether to slow down, or just let everything carry me, so I just let it all carry me. I saw Lindsey with some friends at 4.5 miles, and I was feeling good. Up Belmont and down Music Row at mile 9, and I’m feeling great. Mile 10 – I was able to see Linds and the guys again. Still feeling good. I look at my pace an see I’m about 4 minutes ahead of 9:00 pace, but oh well, I’m in the zone. 10 miles – 1:27:19 – my pace is up a little bit to a 8:44 per mile. Here we go. After the half and full split, I got a little bit lonely. It’s almost impossible for people to get out to cheer you on at that spot. We go through the halfway mark, and I finally decided to stop and pee. I’d needed to go at the start, but the line for the porta potties was ridiculous, and the tree I used last year at McDonald’s was surrounded by picnic tables and people this year. So I held it with the idea to go after the split. So, in and out, and I’m good. Amazingly, mile 14 – 9:03 with the potty break. I felt good. Ran the greenway, came off and prepared for the Metro Center Blvd. hill at mile 17. I stopped at the bottom for about 10-15 seconds to stretch my legs, which I think helped. At mile 17, I forgot to split, but uphill mile 17 to the slightly downhill and flat mile 18 was 17:54. I still can’t complain. At the top of the hill, just past 17, I was able to see my good friend Randy, a 50+ year old pastor friend, who on Wednesday was told by his doctor not to run because of knee and hip problems that plagued him starting THIS WEEK. He was limping along, but how encouraging it was to me to see him going at it. I hit my 5th gel of the day at mile 18, before taking on the hill o’ death from last year at mile 19. I go up the hill, remembering it being much larger last year, and I realize it’s smaller that the one at 17. Right before mile 20, Lindsey was waiting holding my final two gels. I grabbed them and headed on. At mile 20, my pace had only slowed to 8:46. I was at 2:55:23 – nearly five minutes ahead of my goal…it was looking good. I was feeling great for the next mile to two miles. My pace had slowed a little bit. Mile 21 – 9:11. Mile 22 – 9:35 with a bit of stretching. Mile 23 – 9:41 with a little more stretching. At 23, I had to slow down a second and walk. I decided to walk only for one minute and then give my legs a good stretch as the inside of both knees were cramping. I did so and got to mile 24 in 10:46. Still got plenty of time to get to the finish. Mile 24 was a bit tougher. I guess I had officially hit the wall. I took my last gel, and my legs were hating me. I did another one minute walk, and moved slowly to mile 25. Mile 24 ended up being 11:22 with two walks and two stretches. At mile 25, I glanced at my watch. It read 3:46:00. I have exactly 14 minutes to get my 4 hours goal. I have 1.2 miles…I know I can do this. I decide to run the final leg. No power walking, only the adrenaline can carry me through. About 100 yards after I had this thought, it felt like someone grabbed my right hamstring. I stopped very quickly and gave it a quick rub and stretch, then I took off. With .8 miles to the finish, I grabbed some water and Accelerade. The man told me I only had .8 miles and I ran hard. Mile 26 was 10:07. I had 3 minutes and 52 seconds to make it to the finish line. I got so excited because I knew I had my sub-4 goal. As I neared the finish line, I couldn’t help but look like a fool and start throwing up my arms to pump up the crowd. I ran fast as I could down Victory Lane. I glanced to my right and saw my mom, my niece, and Lindsey. I crossed the finish line at 3:57:50. My final .2 miles was sped up to 1:46 – about a seven minute pace. But my legs couldn’t tell. They were just happy the end was here. Overall, it was a great race. I shaved 19 minutes and 42 seconds off of last year’s time. I enjoyed the race, and now, I just have to set a new goal. 3:50? 3:45? Who knows, but I’ll be back.

Congrats on a great race and a HUGE PR!!!!! Almost 20 minutes is amazing! YOU ROCKED!!!!

Wow! Awesome job, dude.

Good stuff Makers. All those training miles payed off.

Well done!! Almost time to replace your profile pic