Notes
What a crazy day from start to finish! I definitely took too long to write anything up about this race, but it was just bitter sweet for me. I was really hoping to run well and I most certainly did not do that. There was not a lack of effort during the race but rather a strange, extremely quick, deterioration of my muscles after mile 14. To be completely honest, I thought I might run 2:47 after I got through half way. I was feeling great, my cardio was barely working and I still felt bouncy. But let me back track a bit. I got a ride down with the whirlaway van that Paul Doe nicely drove. We met at Whirlaway at 5:45 Am and I slept at Kev's the night before. We had our own parking lot at the post office with a private bathroom and only had to be metal detected once. It was a perfect setup. About a half hour before our wave went off, we headed up to our corrals. I was in wave 1, Corral 1, so I was able to be right up on the front of the line. The elite runners came right down beside our corral on their way to their starting line and I got to high five all of them! That was really cool! It was like being in a VIP area. There were lots of spectators lining our corral and I gave away my MT. Washington t-shirt to two nice ladies who wanted a selfie with me! haha. So Back to the race.. I made it just fine through 13.1 and had taken a vanilla GU with caffine at mile 8. I started to take some of the gummies I had at mile 12-14 as well. As I mentioned I felt great through this area! Then by 15 it was like someone injected poison into my quads. They just completely went tingly and numb and tight! I could not get my legs to move. My pace dropped from 6:25's to 7:00's to 8:00's so fast it was shocking. There was absolutely nothing I could have done about it! I tried so hard to get them moving again, but the body was in shut down mode. It was on the warmer side 62-64, but not that bad. I was even taking a sip of water each mile. Nothing worked. I struggled in and actually thought I might not finish with 8 miles to go. I am not even sure if my time (though it was under the qualifying mark) will get me in next year. That is the most disappointing thing really. I want redemption. So I am really hoping I can get back in. Kev found me after the race wandering down some street. Devin and Caitlin were behind him and we got out of there on the T.
Highlights:
Devin, Kev and Cait coming to watch, High Fiving the elites, a Million people cheering the whole way, Seeing people I knew along the course, being in the first corral.
Tough day overall, but I will be back at some point.