Notes
time: 4:07:06
pace: 9:17
chip time: 4:03:14
5k: 27:56
10k: 55:41
half: 1:58:17
30k: 2:50:17
20 mile: 3:02:30
Well I made it through marathon #3, and just about got hypothermia. I was not careful enough with my plans for the weather. I should have taken with a cheap rain slicker to run with and throw if needed. My weather forecaster said rain would not be till 11:00 but in reality it rain from miles 1 to 17, about 2 1/2 hours of running in the rain. Marathons aren’t easy, but this would be a very hard marathon for me.
It rained from the start, light at first, but by mile 8 I was soaked. Then it started raining heavy, and around the lakes with the wind it was really cold. Mile 8 I decided to throw my shirt away because it was completely wet, lots of people were running in tanks. “I’ll be fine”, I thought, I wasn’t. The marathon is very much a race of tactics and not just being in shape.
I was getting worried, I was too cold. My legs were ice, and all I could think about was “this road leads to a warm shower, my husband, my kids, everything good in my life”. I just wanted to be done. I had to tie my shoe, and struggle to get my hands to work because they were so cold. The first 15 miles of a marathon should feel easy and fun, not this day. By mile 13, I was thinking of stopping at a medical tent. A volunteer ended up giving me her rain jacket. I hope she found another like she said she would. This was an extraordinary kind thing for her to do.
I was trying to run all my miles around a “8:57” pace but my watch was hard to read because of all the rain, and running a little faster felt warmer. At mile 15, I got sick and dashed to port-o-potty. This would happen again and I lost one minute each time. Sometimes running this long is hard on the insides. My shoes and socks were completely wet and felt really heavy.
The last 6 miles are supposed to be the hardest. It’s OK to be tired here, but my hip flexors were tight and my calf muscles were not working. It was not as fun of a finish as my last marathon because while my pace was not that bad, it just was not a smooth “aren’t I cool” finish. It was a bit of a death march. The capital of St. Paul never looked so beutiful. Even the last .2 miles with the big finishline seemed forever and I kept wondering if my legs would keep moving. All over people are walking with stiff legs and hobbling around. My finish time was 4:03, three minutes faster than the last time I ran this course. I was in tears as I crossed, tears of relieve to be done, relieve that I was able to push myself to keep running, and disappointment that I did not running a personal best.
In a marathon you usually run a little farther than 26.2 miles, because of running around people and such, my watch is a GPS watch, and it said I ran 26.6 miles, with an average pace of “9:07”.
Hope you enjoyed the race report. Don’t know if I dare send race pictures out of this one!
Stay Warm and Dry,
Gloria
P.S. I'm not really sore at all, so I'm guessing I did not get to run my best yesterday.
My mile times, if your interested:
1 8:14 - this was not my smartest mile
2 9:04
3 8:58
4 8:48
5 8:32
6 8:55
7 8:48
8 8:51
9 9:00
10 8:49
11 8:56
12 9:25 <- stop and get rain jacket
13 8:52
14 9:03
15 8:50
16 10:10 <-cramp, porto-potty stop
17 8:50
18 9:09
19 9:44 <-cramp, porto-potty stop
20 8:48
21 9:06
22 9:26
23 10:11
24 9:58
25 9:26
26 9:52
Time (CDT): Temp.: Dew Point: Humidity: Sea Level Pressure: Visibility: Wind Dir: Wind Speed: Gust Speed: Precip: Events: Conditions:
7:53 AM 50.0 °F / 10.0 °C 41.0 °F / 5.0 °C 71% 30.10 in / 1019.1 hPa 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers ESE 11.5 mph / 18.5 km/h / 5.1 m/s 20.7 mph / 33.3 km/h / 9.3 m/s N/A Overcast
9:21 AM 48.2 °F / 9.0 °C 44.6 °F / 7.0 °C 87% 30.10 in / 1019.2 hPa 3.0 miles / 4.8 kilometers SE 9.2 mph / 14.8 km/h / 4.1 m/s 18.4 mph / 29.6 km/h / 8.2 m/s 0.04 in / 0.1 cm Rain , Thunderstorm Thunderstorms and Rain
11:01 AM 50.0 °F / 10.0 °C 46.4 °F / 8.0 °C 87% 30.08 in / 1018.5 hPa 7.0 miles / 11.3 kilometers ESE 8.1 mph / 13.0 km/h / 3.6 m/s - 0.00 in / 0.0 cm Rain Light Rain