April 28, 2012 - St. Jude's Country Music Marathon

My second marathon. My second Country Music Marathon.

After the success of my 20 mile run a couple of weeks before, I felt pretty confident of breaking the 5 hour mark, but it did not happen.  I started in the 5 hour corral, which I will never do again.  I will put on my form that I expect to run it an hour faster than I really expect.  I spent most of my energy maneuvering around other runners for about the first 10 miles.  They started the half and full marathons together.  I guess the half marathoners in my corral were expecting 2.5 hour finishing times, because it included slow runners/walkers.  I would get hemmed in and have to walk.  I even had to walk downhill
during the first 3 miles! 

If I could maintain a pace of 11:25, I could finish in 4:59:06.  After running that 20 miler at a 9:52 pace, I thought I had a really good chance.  According to the watch, I was at a 10:15 pace after 3 miles.  However, when I crossed the 5k mat, the watch had almost 3.5 miles.  The CMM website had that my 5k time was 33:23.  Okay, the watch is off about a half-mile, and I'm 23 seconds behind what I thought I would be at this point.  I wanted to keep a slow pace, so I wouldn't lose all my energy early, but still be under the 11:25 pace. 

At the 10k mark, my official time was 1:06:55.  Still slipping.  I was hoping for 1:06, but hey, I'm close.  I cannot find the paper where I wrote down the times from the watch, so I can't give a comparison.  (I'm sure you don't want even more tedious numbers).

I believe it was during Mile 10 that I had to stop to pee.  It was to be in the 80's, so I tried to drink enough to stay hydrated.  I drank too much.  I had to wait in a short line.  Of course, when I came out, there was no one in line.  It cost me about 5 minutes. 

Somewhere after Mile 11, the half and full courses split.  I saw about 10 people in front of me.  In the half marathon lane, the runners were still jam packed.  I was happy to be out of the traffic jam, but was thinking "I could almost be done, but have twice as much plus a few more miles to go".  Oh, well. 

My half marathon pace time was 2:23:13.  For a half, that is bad, but with another half to go, I was happy with it.  I was just under an 11:00 pace at 10:55.  This allowed for even slower miles at the end.

Somewhere between Miles 17 to 20,  I began doing some walking that wasn't because I had to.  It was the beginning of the end.  By the time I hit the 20 mile mark, my pace was 11:35.  That is officially.  The watch was almost a mile off now.  Somewhere between miles 21-23, the GPS battery died.  I thought Shane said he had put a new battery in it, because when he brought his watch to me, the watch battery was dead.  It didn't really matter at this point.  I was over 20 miles in.  The time was correct on the watch.  I just had to finish the last few miles in..... What?  I have to run 9:00 minute miles to finish in 5 hours?  It's over!  I began walking more.  I didn't want to push and not  make it under 5, so I didn't push.  Pushing was only for a guarantee.

Then I came upon a station that had Coke.  The first little cup was gone in a blink.  There was only one more Coke cup on the table.  I asked if I could have it, too.  "Yes, we have more under the table."  Then they offered me a whole bottle.  It was so tempting, but I declined.  And I'm glad I did.  Two cups made my side hurt.  The pain went away about after a mile.

I tried to keep cool by running through water people were spraying and dumping water on my head at each water station.  I saw a four people down, one being golf carted out of an area, 2 ambulances heading into an area, and EMT's pushing a gurney to get another.  One of the guys at work said he talked to someone that ran and her running partner went down around Mile 12 of the Half Marathon.  He was in ICU for awhile.  There is no way he should have been running after 10 o'clock.  It wasn't even the heat of the day.

Well, anyway, I finished in a disappointing 5:20:51, a 12:15 pace. It was around 40 minutes faster than last year, but 20 minutes and 52 seconds slower than I wanted this year. I was 2803 of 3925 overall; 1620 of 2125 males; and 247 of 325 in the 40-44 age group.

I was hardly sore at all.  I got sleepy on the drive home, but got my second wind and stayed up past 10:00.  I was a little tired and sore the next day, but not enough to say I ran a marathon.  I felt I could have actually done another the next day.  I guess my body was more prepared than I thought, even though I was off about 3 weeks of training.  It was my mind telling me I wasn't ready.  My mind was telling me, during the last few miles, that I would never do another marathon.  The next day my mind was saying, "Let's do another!"