We are MARSHALL!! Race Recap

On Sunday I ran in my second half marathon, Jeremy ran in his first full, and Twila ran in her 5th full! due to some last minute changes, Twila ended up riding to the race with Jeremy and I. We left home around 11am on Saturday and drove three hours to get to Huntington, WV. We went to get our packets first. There was one running store set up at the pick up center. No expo to report. The half marathoners got a long sleeve tech shirt, while the marathoners received a Brooks running jacket.

Jacket for full marathoners

tech shirt for half marathoners

my bib!

Marshall University Stadium, where we will finish

We went back to the hotel and rested for a couple hours before heading out to dinner. We ended up at O'Charley's. Afterwords, we went to the nearby mall and walked around for an hour or so. When we got back to the room jeremy and I got all of our stuff ready for the morning. the time change had us a little worried bc we weren't sure if our phones would automatically fall back, so we set the alarm clock in the room as well as both of our phones.

All week and all night I was not "up" for this race. I wasn't excited, but i wasn't nervous either. I just kept thinking "it's just another long run". I know I am in better shape than last year, but still anything can happen.
We got to the parking lot of the stadium and were 30 yards from the start line. Everyone was in their cars waiting. We went to the port a potties a couple times before the start and took some pictures.

running buddies

We Are Marshall - if you haven't seen the movie, you should! 

finally it was time to get in line. one of the things that was a negative about this race was that there was no starting line mat. so when the "boom" sounded we were off and everyone's time was started. even though i should have been closer to the back, i started close to the front with jeremy and twila. i didn't want to start at the back and have that be the reason that i missed my sub 3 goal.

about 1/2 mile in i ditched the gloves and hoodie. I was feeling really good. I ran 9 minutes and walked 1. I gu'd during miles 3, 6, and 9 whenever my walk break fell within that mile. at mile 3 i was actually a minute of over my 5k pr. i knew i was making good time and just hoped it would continue.

Even though in my previous post, I put that my A goal was 2:55, I had originally had in my head for under 2;50. but jeremy had talked me out of it and said that would be a lot to drop and to just go with sub 3 and 2:55. in my spi belt though i had pace charts for all three goals 3:00, 2:55, and 2:50. I knew where I needed to be at mile 5 and 10 for each and tried to not look at my pace while i was running until i got to mile 5. to break 3 hours, i needed to be at 1:08 at mile 5. i was at 1:00!!! so i knew I had plenty of time to play with if i started slowing down. after that though i continued to not look at my pace. i knew i had time to work with so i just wasnt' going to worry.

around mile 4-5 a speed walking man caught up to me. his shirt read "completed 50 states TWICE". I talked to him for a bit and found out that this race was his 278th marathon! he had done the monumental full in indianapolis the day before. his friend, tim, who he was very proud of had run savannah the day before and was doing marshall that day. his friend was a state or two away from completing all 50 states for the....wait for it..... 12TH time!!! yep, that's right twelfth time! amazing!!

during miles 6-9 we were running on some crushed rock that had small stones on it. of course, I had 2 to get in my shoe, one in each shoe! :( i was determined not to stop though and ran through it. it was annoying but not painful or so bad that i had to stop. at mile 10 i forgot to look at my watch to see where i was in terms of my pace charts, but I knew that i was going to be well under 3 hours.

at mile 10-11 i started feeling it. luckily at mile 11.5 i saw jeremy and twila running back out for the full. it was so good to see them and know that i was almost at the finish! for the finish you run into the Marshall University Stadium and onto the field. the worst part was that as you entered the stadium it was a steep downhill to get to the field. It was hard to get my feet to continue running down the hill without falling over them. The last 20 yards, they throw you a ball and you run to the finish line with it. I finished in 2:49:04!!!! Crushing my previous time by 11 minutes!!

I grabbed a water and a burger and walked to my car to put on my compression socks. about half way to the car, i realized my burger didnt taste right. i looked down and it was NOT cooked in the middle at all. Now, I eat my steak rare and my burgers pretty rare, so for me to say that it wasn't cooked was an understatement. I tossed it in the trash though and went on.

I waited for Twila and Jeremy to finish. both of them did incredible. Jeremy finished his first full in 4:09:53! he did amazing. Unfortunately, they had run out of drinks (water, soda) by the time he finished. We were told it was on it's way, so in the mean time Jeremy ate some ice cubes. After 20 minutes of waiting and NO water, we went back to the car to go to the hotel. At the hotel I discovered that my ipod had rubbed my stomach raw during the race :(

ouch!!!

On the way home I started feeling nauseous and wanted to throw up. I had Jeremy stop the car twice so i could get out and puke. then twice more when we were about an hour away from home I had to puke in an empty mcdonalds cup, and then once more when we got home. The hamburger got me!! :( I'm not sure if this qualifies me for a Pukie Award from BDD, but I think it should since it was the post race burger that got me!

After sleeping for a couple hours though, i felt ok and was able to hold down food. Today though I feel great! My knees are a little stiff, but other than that I feel fine! My muscles aren't sore at all like they usually are after a long run!  This was by far the best run I have had.  I'm already looking forward to the next one!