No PR, Didn’t hit the goal I wanted. I need to work on my mental game. Still a great day. And I love this race. I could pretty much reblog Lily’s recap because my day felt so similar.
We hit the expo Friday evening and got our bibs. I was surprised at how long of a walk it was from the metro. I much prefer the Armory...free parking... but I have to say the long lines of years passed were non-existent. We wandered around, bought some stuff and saw Erica. It was almost 7, so we ended up going out to dinner as the 3 of us, which was lovely.
Saturday we met some tumblrs for lunch, it was great to put a face to a blog! We have about a zillion things in common, which was funny too. We spent the rest of the day eating and sitting (winning!).
Sunday morning, I got up at 5 and had breakfast. I had 2 servings of oatmeal and a spoon of peanut butter. I had set out all of my stuff the night before, so getting ready was pretty quick. We drove to the metro and were at Pentagon station just before 7am.
It took us 15 minutes to leave the station and another 40 to get through “security”. I was so surprised to see how far downhill the security had gone. It seemed like 2/3 of the race field was in line with us to get through the i dunno...6? 8? metal detectors. The flyover and skydivers were in the air while we were still in line... the cannon went off while we were in line...We only made it through faster because they started a no bag line. I was also surprised to see non-runners in the village. I swear it was on the website not to go there if you weren’t running. So, needless to say, the morning of meet-up totally didn’t happen... Sorry for not giving enough time to get through :(
Sister and I had enough time to use the bathroom and swift walk to the start line. She jumped in with the 5-5:30 group after a hug. I walked up trying to find the 4:00 pace group. I saw the 4:15, but never saw the 4s. The start seemed great at the time, people were moving, crowds cheering, music... but I felt like the field never opened up. My hamstrings were tight from the first steps. Even in Rock Creek, we were like 7 miles into the race and still SO CROWDED. I dunno if this was due to running faster and being with more people or because everyone started so mixed up that they were weaving more.
Anyway, The first 3 miles are uphill and I immediately noticed my pace being slower. That’s expected. I picked it up trying to get back on pace and recover some time. I spent a lot of time looking at my watch, so I never really got into it. I picked it up during the blue mile, trying to read all the names and think about all the people, all the families. The pictures of soldiers with kids choked me up. At the half, I was only 2 minutes off pace, but was stuck in my head about how I’d need to run faster than pace for so long while I currently couldn’t hold a 9:30. I have no idea why my legs felt so heavy, or why I struggled so much. It went downhill from there mentally as the minutes ticked by. I kept catching myself thinking I should just quit, it wasn’t fun, everything hurt. WHO IS THIS. I don’t do this mid race. I don’t quit.
The mall is always cool, the crowds are great and I got a second wind sort of. I saw the tiny horse as I came around the last left turn before the bridge (love that horse!). I was playing leapfrog with the 4:15 pace group. I totally walked parts of the bridge. That bridge is long and rudely uphill.
It was hard to see my goal time pass the point of no return. I think this was with about 7miles to go. I realized the fastest I had ever run 7 miles would be too slow to recover my time and I could barely break 10min miles. I had passed the 4:15 pace group, so I tried to stay ahead of them. I knew if I did that I would at least PR. Well. That lasted only a little while. As they passed me, I got really down on myself again for not even being able to PR. I tried to turn it positive and think about my training and where it went wrong because I had felt really prepared. I ran with this guy pushing a young girl in a wheelchair for awhile. We talked and played leapfrog.
Mile 24: Freaking Muchkins. Every time they are wonderful.
Mile 25 I decided that I would not stop, I could run 1.2 miles. I would be done then. Maybe I could match my PR or get like 30 seconds or something. That last hill was rougher than normal.
I got my medal, took a few pictures, and called Dan. I told him how bad I felt and he was still so proud of me and was wonderful. We hung out waiting for Carolyn to finish. I totally missed her coming up the hill, but she saw me! The announcer called out her name! We met up, got a few pics, and set out for home.
On the plus side, I finished another marathon, fought through some tough metal and physical pain, and still had a pretty good time. My clothes worked great, my nutrition was good (4 gu’s every 45-60min, a nuun tab, 2 scoops of amino energy, base salts, gatorade, water). I think I did experience some dehydration, I remember being crazy thirsty at one point. The base salts worked great at knocking out cramps, but didn’t help the muscle soreness. I think I have an idea of some stuff I need to work on in the next 9 months before my next “A” race.
