Race morning:
Wonderful breakfast, 1/3 sweet potato, 2 eggwhites with red peppers& onions, toast/jelly... 1 gu 30 minutes before start. Got in 5-10 warm up of walking and jogging inside parking garage next to starting line... Garage had a huge metal gate that almost closed when I was inside, potentially locking me and 2 other runners inside it. ahhhh! scary moment!
Started with Brooke Rossman and stayed calm with the traffic, no major weaving. Got down to a 7:55 pace or so.
Hit another GU at Central Expressway (around mile 6). Drank water at almost every rest stop.
Left calf fatigued at mile 8 and wondered if I was going to finish. I suppose it was from walking weird all week due to ankle injury. Tried my best to stay focused.
Non-eventful running for a good long time. (GU at mile 12) Started getting pretty tired at mile 17 again, wondering if I was going to finish strong or not.
(GU at mile 20)
Made it through the dolly parton hills with good relative effort.. and started to get REALLY tired once I got on Swiss Ave.
At mile 22 the balloon pace guy for 3:30 caught us... I glued myself to his heels. Each and every minute I wondered if I was going to hang on. I kept reminding myself that I wanted to improve my ability to suffer. The pacer was super cool and told us to relax on that last hill on swiss. The wind was pretty strong at that point. Tried my best to tuck behind other runners.
At mile 24, I was surprised that I hadn't gotten dropped... I then decided that I HAD to beat 3:30. At the 25 marker, Brooke pulled away from the pacer... I could not react. But 250 yards later, I then pulled away from the pacer. I ran the last mile solo into the finish. Everything hurt... and it brought joy to my heart that I did not get dropped by the pacer AND pulled away.
I finished at 3:29 with the balloon guy pacer behind me. I tried my best to keep walking and found a spot on the right to walk back and forth. No use, legs LOCKED up bad.
Got to the AAC center and drank as much as water as I could. got some oranges, bananas, bagel, etc.
(not so pleasant section)
40 minutes after the finish, I got a really upset stomach. Sat in porta potty for 25 minutes. Somehow drove home without an accident in pants, and sat on the potty for the next 3 hours...all the while trying to get as much fluids as possible. I did have a long enough break to take a SUPER cold ice bath at 4pm. Stomach was still uneasy for rest of the day, but I took some pepto and still drinking a whole lot of water.
I'm going to Chirosport on Monday at 1:30pm for recovery session. OH yea! and my ankle still feels okay!
Considering the 7 week gap between Longhorn and White Rock, plus missing 2 long runs due to injury issues, plus not running for 8 days prior to race... I am super DUPER happy with a 3:29. Although, I now owe my sister (Chandler Rainey) a round of drinks of her choice b/c she beat me. Her 1st marathon and she did 3:18 (13th overall women!)
A huge thank you is in order to my family for supporting us while out on the course. Katie is the absolute best support wife for these events. Never complaining about standing out there for so long and always seeking to ease the pain or discomfort. I love her.
NOW my off-season officially starts! Time to work on weaknesses and create a stronger base.
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