Tough Mudder

Tough Mudder – Minnesota

I competed in a Tough Mudder race on Saturday to celebrate my brother’s 40^th birthday.  I was finishing up some pretty serious training with a marathon 4 weeks prior and a HM 2 weeks before so I was looking forward to something different.  But, I’ll be honest, I was really unsure about how my lack of strength training would hurt me during the race.  I was banking on my distance running and mental strength to get me through. 

For those who don’t know, Tough Mudder is a mud obstacle race that is 11.5 miles long with 28 obstacles.  There is no timing system, the focus is on team work, not just helping your own team but others that need it along the way too.  Proceeds go to support Wounded Warrior Foundation.  I checked out the map on the website and was greeted by names like Arctic Enema, Spider Web and Berlin Wall.  Gulp. 

My parents and I drove the 10 hours to Minneapolis on Friday.  I did some carb loading on the way up there and we went to a nice dinner that night.  I did not sleep well on Friday night (nerves, hotel room).  Up about 6:00 and headed to Josh’s house with him and teammate Chris and Lauren.    We drove about an hour to an amphitheater in Wisconsin that boarder a farm, which is where the race would be held.  Got parked without a problem ($10 parking) and got up to the registration area to get our bibs.  My parents came along to cheer and take pictures ($20 per person spectator fee on-line, $40 at the gate). 

I’m wearing a black CrossFitMN s/s tech shirt and short, booty style shorts (figured they might help me get a boost if I needed it).  Trail running shoes too.  Weather is hot, 80* at the start.

We got our bibs (pinned on to our backs so they wouldn’t rib off during the race), had our bib numbers marked onto our arms and found our other two team mates who we hadn’t met before.  They signed up with the Cross-fit gym and joined our team. Here is a team pic about ½ mile into the race, see how clean and happy we are? Our team consists of these people, left to right:

John: 5’ 6” Cross-fitter, played college football, hasn’t ever competed or ran in any race before, not a runner, has never gone more then 5k

Jeff: 5’ 9” Cross-fitter, has run up to 7 miles before, first competition/race of any kind

Chris: 6’3”, ex-Army, marathoner, long distance bike rider but has a titanium shoulder therefore no shoulder strength

Me: 5’ 0”, marathon runner, trail runner, small

Lauren: 5’4”, runner training for her first marathon, average 10:30 min miles

Josh: 6’, brother, Cross-fitter with some shorter distance running experience

We start off by taking the TM oath, scaled an 8’ wall to enter the starting corral and took off.  We would run about ¾ mile around rolling hills to our first obstacle, named Arctic Enema.  I was first in line so I climbed the ladder and looked down into a 4’ deep pool of neon pink ice water, being kept near freezing by a huge refrigerator trailer next to it.  I jump in and am instantly shrieking in shock.  I wade about 5’ to a wood wall with arrows pointing down so I’m forced to completely submerge to get under it.  DA@N that’s cold water!!   My body is now instinctually running the next 5 feet to the ladder to pull myself out.   Ok, that will wake you up.  One down, 27 to go.  Here’s a pic from Brightroom, not of me (Brightroom posted 200 pics of random people on the TM FB page so lots of these pics aren’t of me but just the obstacle).

Next up was hay bales; my dad was here to capture the moment.  These weren’t too hard.  John, having the best upper body strength volunteered to go first and help everyone else up.  I took a running start and leapt for his hand.  Then I climbed over the bales and slide down the other side.  Not too bad!

Kiss of Mud was next.  This was probably 25 yards of foot deep, muddy water with barbed wire about 8 inches over the surface.  I did very well with this one as I’m small enough to easily slide under the wires.  And it was funny to get muddy too.  My mom did see a guy get a 2” long cut on his bald head.  The mud was a blessing, it kept us very cool and comfortable in the heat.

The terrain was hilly but not ski mountain hilly.  But my trail running strength really came through with this.  I wasn’t having any problem tackling the endless hills.  But I’d wait at the top for the rest of my team. 

Next we had Devil’s Beard, which was just a long, long net that people held up as we walked under it.  I attempted to help but since my vertical reach isn’t much, I just walked through.  We also had black plastic tunnels that were about 24” in diameter to crawl through, again, no issue for little ol’ me but it did slow our bigger guys down.  More hills.   Next was Spider Web, a cargo net climb.  Men were already holding the bottom of the opposite side to secure the next so John and Josh climbed over and relieved two of them so I could climb over.  Jeff and Chris also took turns until the team behind us had enough people over to relieve them.  I cut up my knees a little here but got fist pumps for being the first to bleed.  Josh did get mud dropped into his eye which he struggled with for the rest of the race.

Berlin Wall #1 was next.  12’ walls with no foot holds of any kind.  John got a boost from Josh and Jeff and pulled himself up and straddled the wall.  Then Josh got up.  I was next so Jeff boosted me up and I was easily pulled over by John and Josh.  Chris, with the bum shoulder, walked around the wall and helped me down.  Lauren was next, she was convinced that she couldn’t do it but she was able to.  Jeff got a boost from a stranger and got over as well.  Josh stayed up to help up the next team’s first person and then we were on our way. 

Next up was the most difficult one that we had, the Mud Mile.  Nine 10’ mounds of the slickest mud on the planet, with water between the mounds.  Our team got split up some in the chaos of trying to find footholds and such.  The first mound wasn’t hard, there were several footholds to use but the rest of them, none.  Just slick, slick mud.  I did climb on the side of a few where it was more dirt then mud but couldn’t keep my balance and fell.  If you were able to get a boost from someone, then you would stretch up to whoever was straddling the mound and they would try to pull you over where you would slide on your back or butt down into the water for the next one.  Try because the people on top were slick and you were slick so many times I just slid right out of their grasps.  It was exhausting but we finally finished.  We all agreed that it was by far the most difficult. 

I don’t remember exactly what ones were next but we each carried a log down and up a hill, crawled through another muddy water stretch with barbed wire but this time there were live wires with 10K volts of electricity flowing through them (again, smallness won out as I didn’t get shocked, two of our team mates did and said they were numb for 20 minutes).  There was a stretch of about 1.5 miles of “trail” like this (I think they couldn’t get some obstacles set up or something because the map showed 4 that we didn’t do at all).  It wasn’t safe to run most of this part so we would run and walk it.  John got a bad calf cramp about this point too that bothered him to the end.  It’s very dusty as we’re winding our way around an unplowed cornfield and the wind is blowing.  We are all struggling with dust in our eyes and throats. 

I thought it was strange that we had such a long time between obstacles and then it hit me that they must want our upper bodies to recover for the next challenges.  I was right.  We hit the hanging rings next.  I was really worried about this as I don’t have much upper body strength and it was an individual challenge.  I grabbed the first ring and swung to the next one.  Then my lower body swung me forward so I could grab the next.  Continue to the end and yes, I did it!!!  I had such a sense of accomplishment after that one.  I think 4 of our members made it. 

Next up was the Boa Constrictor, another set of black tubes, one descending into a pool of muddy water and one going out of it.  No problem again for me.   Then Berlin Walls #2, this time they were 15’ high but we used the same strategy to get over these.  There were also numerous pools of mud with pits dug out in them so you’d be walking through and then drop down.  Nice. 

We keep trucking along, Chris and I are running ahead as we both find it easier then walking.  My shoes are filled with sand, mud, tiny rocks that are just cutting the heck out of my heels.  We see several pairs of shoes along the course from people who figured it would be easier to go on without shoes.  We’re about mile 10 or so now.  We’re starting to see spectators again.  I round a corner and see my mom, cheering in a group of people.  She looks pretty happy to see us.  Then I turn to look at what our obstacle is.  Holy crap.  It’s Mt. Everest, the ¼ pipe that’s 25 feet high and probably 40 yards wide.  The top of it has wall to wall guys catching and pulling people up.  There’s a line at the bottom so time for us to figure this out.   We decide to continue with the plan that’s worked so far, send John first and then Josh.  It looks like there are foot holds every 5 feet or so but it’s just the wood overlapping, the ramp is totally smooth.  My dad is on the sidelines getting amazing pictures. 

John gets up, grabs the hand of someone on the top and gets pulled up.  Josh follows and gets up on his first try.  I’m next.  My confidence is pretty high after all I’ve done so far but when there isn’t anything between me and the ¼ pipe, I get a little nervous.  So I sprint the 30 feet to the bottom of the pipe and reach up.  Ah, yeah, they don’t have Go, Go, Gadget Arms so I quickly slide back down.  Ok, that’s just a warm up.  Try #2, I sprint again and hear them both yelling “Keep running, keep running” so I run further and stretch as far as I can.  Nope.  Ok, not a problem, 3^rd time’s the charm.  This time I sprint and keep running until my feet literally are climbing the wall and I reach as far up as I can.  Josh grabs my hand and John gets my other hand.   They pull me up and I keep saying “Don’t let me fall, don’t let me fall” so John hooks my knee and pulls me over.  YES!!!  I did it!!!!  

Jeff was next and he made it up the first try.  Lauren took 4 times but Chris gave her a boost and that got her there.  Then Chris made it up, even with the busted shoulder.  We were so elated to have conquered Everest as a team.

Funky Monkey was next, monkey bars that rotated in your hands.  I fell after the 3^rd bar and only Jeff made it all the way across.  Twinkle Toes was after that.  This was a balance beam that wasn’t secured so it wobbled in the middle.   To add to the fun, it was covered in mud from everyone’s shoes.  I’ve got good balance so moved quickly across it and was the only teammate to make it without falling!

A really high jump into really deep water was next.  I climbed the ladder and waited my turn.  The guy in front of me did a fancy flip off the board.  For some reason, I froze up.  I’m not afraid of water or heights but I just was really hesitant to go.  I look over and Josh is next to me and he says “Go together?” so we jumped.  The water was so deep that I seemed to plunge down forever and took a long time to break the surface.   But I did (lost my headband).  The lifeguard asked if I needed help but I didn’t so I just swam to the end and climbed the cargo net out.  Woo-hoo!

Last but not least was Electroshock Therapy.  It was a run about 15 feet long with hay bales every few feet.  Wires, some of them live with 10K volts, were hanging down.  I know this is the last one so I run through first (too fast for my dad to get a picture).  Again, being little paid off as the wires were spaced about 18” apart and I’m only 12” wide!  I make it through without a problem.  Several of my teammates were shocked but we all were cheering at the end.  Then we turn a corner and there’s the finish line!  We charge across it as a team and are crowned with our bright orange sweat bands.  Sweet!!  Before this day, I thought it was pretty lame to get a sweat band instead of a medal for this event.  But afterwards, a medal didn’t seem right for it.  But an obnoxious orange terry cloth band?  Yes, that’s the right bling.  We also got our finishers shirts and some XXEquis beer. 

So…that’s my RR.  It took us just under 4 hours to complete the 11.5 miles.  A 20:52 pace.  LOL.  I’m scraped up and bruised, my shoulders are sore.   But I’d do it again in a second.  If you’re considering doing it, you should.  It’s intense but so fun.  They had a Medivac helicopter doing circles in the sky and I saw it land twice to get people out.  An ATV passed me on a trail to get someone and another passed me with a guy holding his ankle.  Another team lost a member to a broken arm when she fell off the Berlin Wall.  So injuries do happen so I wouldn’t do this race if you’re training for a goal marathon!  Do it with a team though, an individual cannot do it by themselves.  They would have to get help from other teams (which is freely given, BTW).   I had a blast and am proud to be a Tough Mudder. 

Carmel Marathon Race Report

Carmel Marathon Race Report

Short Story: PR 4:07:08, Overall place 293, Div place 9/33.

Today I ran my 3^rd FM in Carmel, Indiana, a suburb just north of Indianapolis.  It was only their second time hosting this race but I had several friends who did it last year who reported good things about it.  2800 runners total in the full, half, 8k and 1 mile family walk.  564 finished the marathon.   
I had 3 goals for this race.  1. To PR, which would be a finishing time under 4:09:58, 2. To run the entire race without walking (I did a modified Gallow-walk last November) 3. To finish under 4:00. 

Training has gone well.  I took time off to recover from the full in November but ramped up again the 1^st of January.  I had 5 runs of 20 miles or longer, the longest 2 being 22 miles.  My last long run was 21 miles, which I finished without walking and in at 10:13 pace.  I felt healthy and ready for this race.  I did have some nagging doubts about hitting a sub-4 (I lack self-confidence, issue I’m working on) but I was going for it anyways.  My plan was to stay glued to the 4:00 pacer for as long as I could.

I went to the expo on Friday evening with the kiddos.  It was smaller than I expected with very few vendors, mainly other races in the area.  Got my shirt (way too huge, why did they offer a youth large but not have it for me?).  The kids and I had fun counting all the 13.1 and 26.2 stickers in the parking lot as we left.  We ate dinner at Olive Garden, yummy.  Speaking of eating, I used a extreme carb-loading idea that I read about on Runners World.  I weigh 50kg so needed 400-500g of carbs.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought, especially since I drank three 32oz Gatorades.  I went to bed very full and up 4lbs. 

I woke up at 5:15 after sleeping pretty good.  My husband wasn’t running with me, he was coaching my son’s soccer game.  But my dad (a professional photographer) and mom would be there.  I ate 2 packets of oatmeal with choc chips and a coffee.  Made a deposit in the bathroom and left by 6:00.  Carmel is only about 30 mins from my house but I never go there so I don’t know the area very well.  But I was there earlier enough that I could park in the garage across the street from the starting corrals (score!!).  After I parked, I ran into one of my Bourbon Chase Relay teammates and chatted with her while walking to gear check.  It was cold, only 41* so I wore a S/S tech shirt with arm warmers, a black running skirt and calf sleeves.   I found the porto-potties and took care of business.  Found a wall the blocked the wind and just waiting till it was time to line up.  As I was shedding my throw-away clothes, I heard “Mary!!” and looked over to see a fellow RW friend, Christy, from the Indy Mini board.  I got up to the 9:00 min mile corral but couldn’t see the 4:00 pacer sign, only the 2:00 HM pacer.   I chatted with 2 more friends and then we were off! 

Mile 1: I need to run a 9:09 pace to hit 4:00.  The race seems crowded and fast, slow up so you don’t blow up.  Opps, 9:06.

Mile 2: 8:49 – Come on, get in control!  I hear wcrunner laughing in my head “No one ever banks time in a marathon!”  I see my parents at this mile marker, mom is proudly cheering while dad is playing photographer.  The route turns from a main road into a neighborhood. 

Mile 3: 9:06 – better.  Ran past my parents again and my mom shouts “4 hour finish, ok?!” 

Mile 4: 9:01 – umm, not better.  The HM splits from here, I see another RW friend dash around a corner, on his way to a HM PR.  I hear a lady behind me say “Where’s the 4 hour pacer” to which I respond ” I don’t think we have one”.  We fall into step and start chatting away.  This was her 23^rd marathon and she’s run Boston twice.  Cool, I’ll hang with her.  Another good friend, Jerry, runs by me and briefly says hi.  He’s looking for the 3:45 pacer (he got there a few minutes after the start) so he takes off.

Mile 5-7:  9:03, 9:00, 9:10 – I’m only checking the Garmin occasionally as my new BFF and I are chatting about life.  The crowd is much thinner after the half split.  Mile 7 was through a nice park on a paved trail.  Some rolling hills to keep it interesting.  10K split was 56:05, 9:03 pace, 323 place.  Take a Gu at mile 6.  I see my dad again, he’s on his bike now so will be getting lots of pictures.

Mile 8 and 9: 9:01 (oops), 9:26 (over corrected).   We’re drinking and running through every water stop.  I didn’t drink enough during my marathon last fall and paid for it with cramping quads later in the race.   I was not going to let that happen.

Mile 10 – 13: 9:02, 9:11 and 9:10.  Ran through another park.  My runner partner started dropping back after a water stop at mile 13 so I told her I’d see her at the finish line.  I’m alone now.  My 13.1 mile split was 1:59:35, exactly where I needed it, 317 place.  Gu at mile 11.  Smile and wave for Dad again.

Miles 14-16 – 9:15, 9:15, 9:01.  Ran through another park, starting to pass the HM walkers.  Some rolling hills again but nothing that seemed challenging.   Gu at mile 16.

Mile 17- 9:12 Ok, I’m still on pace, my virtual training partner says I’m ahead.  But I’m not having as much fun.  I keep hearing LTH say “positive split?  He!l no, enter the pain cave, remember, I told you it would suck so EMBRACE THE SUCK”.  I’m running on the Monon Trail, which is over 25 miles long starting north of Carmel and ending in Downtown Indianapolis.  I’ve put a lot of miles in on this trail.  See my dad but I don’t feel much like smiling.

Miles 18- 9:23.  See a girl puke.  More people are starting to walk but I feel ok.  I get re-energized after walking through a water station.  Decide that walking through the water stations was not breaking my no-walking rule.  I pull down my arm warmers to cool down.

Mile 19 – 9:26.  See my friend, Rhonda, working the water station.  It was really nice to see a familiar face.  A guy runs past me who reeks of BO.  I have to decide if I can pass him or let him go just to get away from the smell. 

Mile 20 – 9:24.  Where is that next Gosh Darn water station?  I wanna walk.  I see it and the HS kids who are working it are chatting instead of passing out water.  I yell “WATER!!” and one hurries to get me one.  I don’t feel bad for yelling at the kid.  20 mile split 3:03:43, 9:12 pace, 300 ranking.

Mile 21 – 9:19.  See Dad again in another park.  Man, he’s putting some miles on his bike.  The park has winding trails so I see lots of runners.  Where is the next water station?  I really want to walk.  I focus on all the early morning runs I ran with my dog in the freezing cold.  I trained hard for this race and I will not give up.  Take my last Gu

Mile 22  - 9:33 – finally, water station and short walk break through it.  We’re back on the Monon again for a little bit then enter the last of the winding trails in that park.  I pass a girl who I had been chasing.  She compliments my outfit and I tell her the last 4 miles always suck.  She tells me the whole thing sucks. 

Mile 23 – 10:09.  Whoa, the wind.   Heading straight into it and it’s picked up.  Pull the arm warmers back up.  I know I can’t make 4:00 so I focus on the PR and not walking.   I think about something Room 317 wrote on FB to me about how when it hurts to think about all the people around the country who are cheering me on.

Mile 24 – 10:34.  This water station is handing out oranges, THANK YOU!  We’re running in a business park so not much to look at.  There is some construction which tore up the road so there was big, chunky gravel for 20 feet.  Just perfect.

Mile 25 – 10:57.  Come on, Mary.  You are not slipping over 11:00 min pace.  You will not.  I do enjoy this mile more because I know that I’ll PR and also know that I will not walk so making 2 out of 3 goals will be good enough for me today.  The course goes through the Carmel Arts and Design district so there are some people and fun statues along this area.  See my Dad again.  Man, he is putting on some miles on his bike today.  What a good dad.

Mile 26 – 10:09.  Ok, let’s finish this thing.  I can see the large building near the finish line and focus on that.  Oh, hello, there’s a huge hill.  Nice of them to put that in for me.   I see two HM walkers and hope to God that they take this last turn wide so I can take the inside by the curb as I don’t have the energy to run around them.

Last .02 – 2:51.  No one is in front of me, I’m all on my own.  So I play the crowd for all it’s worth, raising my hands like I’m raising the “roof”.  The crowd cheers and I get a cheesy grin.  I see my mom about 100 yards before the finish line.  She’s clapping and has tears in her eyes (she’s never been at one of my FM finishes).  Hear my dad but I don’t look over as I’m putting everything I have into my last kick.  I do see 2 other Bourbon Chase Relay Team members who are cheering and screaming for me.   The clock says 4:07 and I hit the finish line.  Whew, done.   Last 10K 10:14 pace, 307 place.

My BC friends snap a pic and text my hubby with my finishing time.  My parents find me and walk me through the runners shoot.  My dad put 15 miles on his bike, using the Monon to cut the course to see me as many times as possible.  Love them. 

The finishers chute provided next to nothing.  No Mylar blanket which would have been really nice considering it was 48*.  Bananas and water and a bag of Doritos were all that was offered.  I’m shaking violently as I sign up for a massage and get my gear.  My parents take off.  I run into my friend, Jerry, while waiting for my massage.  He caught the 3:45 pacer but fell off, finishing in 3:59, a 13 min PR.  He’s hurting so I offer to drive him to his car since he’s parked over a mile away.  The massage was good but I’m still very cold.  Jerry and I find my car and I drop him off at his car and drive to the first Noodles & Co for some real food. 

So – thoughts about the race.  Yeah, I went out to fast.  Maybe it would have been better if I had run with a pacer, if there had been a 4 hour pace.  But I’m still very happy for hitting 2 of my goals.  I could have given in and walked when it started hurting but at no time did my legs really feel sore.  I think the extreme carb-loading helped with that.  The weather was ideal and the course was ok.  There was very little crowd support.  No Gu’s offered on the course.  The medal is nice.  The shirt sucks – too big and plain.  The lack of food at the finish line was extremely disappointed (FYI – Carmel is the richest city in Indiana, the cars passing us were Jags and Mercedes) so I guess I thought it would have had more of a post-race party feel.  I don’t think I’d do it again as there are other Spring marathons within a 2 hour drive.  But I did PR so it couldn’t have been too bad!  And seeing numerous friends and having my parents there outweighed the bad things.

So, there you have it, thanks for reading!!   

Monumental Marathon Race Report


Short Story – Finished 4:09:39, a 49 min PR!

Long story – I decided last fall to run this full marathon as my second marathon. I had volunteered here in 2010 and watched my DH set a PR. The weather tends to be ideal and it’s pancake flat. I had run Air Force marathon in Sept 2010, going to the starting line with ITBS and PF, finishing in a very painful 4:58. I basically did not have enough miles in to run as I could have.

This year would be different. I set up an ambitious training program. I spent spring and summer building up my mileage as well as changing from running 3 days a week to 4 then to 5 and to 6 days by July. I used a modified Galloway approach. Basically I used his ideas for the long runs and made my own plan (with the help of some wise runners here) for the rest. I also used Galloway’s run/walk idea to an extent. I would run a mile, walk a minute for any run over 10 miles. I had 5 long runs over 20 miles, topping out at 24. My highest mile week was 57 miles and for August and September, I reached 200+ miles. I was injury free and feeling really good.

I decided that I wanted to finish in 4 hours so with my walk breaks factored in, I needed to have a marathon pace MP of 8:45 to average 9:10 min miles. Looking back, I should have done more speedwork and better tempo and MP runs. I planned on running miles 8-14 a little fast to bank some time and then run the last 6.2 without walk breaks, as Galloway suggests (figuring my legs would feel good enough from the walk breaks that I could do this).

Race Day – temps are perfect, 35* at the start and dry. I wore a sequined skirt, arm warmers and a s/s tech shirt. I ran into several friends before the race but since I was running this alone, I stayed kinda low-key and kept to myself. I got lined up in the corrals between the 4:00 and 4:10 pacer. My shoelaces seemed tight so I had time to retie one as they were counting down to the start and we were off.

Mile 1 9:50 – Course goes through downtown Indianapolis, pace feels relaxed and I’m not weaving around people, just going with the flow. A friend taps me on the shoulder and we chat for a second before she runs ahead (she was running the half).

Mile 2 9:26 – we run past Lucas Oil Stadium where our Colts play.

Mile 3 9:06 – decided to start catching the 4:10 pace group that had past me in the first mile. Hands started to get hot so I drop the gloves, start to run into the artsy area of Indy. A fellow Runners World forumite from the Indy Mini boards finds me out of the blue – thanks for saying hi Papafish!

Mile 4 9:06 – see my dad who is a professional photographer, give him a big wave. Noticed that my left shoe felt very tight (I have problems with pain on the bottom of this foot so I try to baby it).

Mile 5 9:17 – stop to retie that shoe, lose sight of the 4:10 pace group, ran in a lot of shade so my hands get really cold, wish I hadn’t dropped my gloves.

Mile 6 8:39 – decide to spring my plan of banking time a little early, find the 4:10 group and pass them. Take my first gel.

Mile 7 9:04 – settle into a comfy pace as the ½ marathoners break from the pack. More room to move now! Then I see a pace group in distance but can’t read the pace on their sign. Assume it’s the 4:00 group so I keep them in my sights.

Mile 8 9:08 – run past the Indiana State Fairgrounds and say a prayer for the 7 people who died in the stage collapse in August. Also see my dad (unexpected! Turns out he was stuck in race traffic and saw the 3:55 pace group go by, got out of his car and waited for me) who snapped some pics.

Mile 9 8:59 – decide to chase down the pace group in front of me, I can now see there is a :10 on the sign which makes me panic, I thought I passed that group!

Mile 10 8:51 – still chasing down that group. Then I notice that it actually says “9:10 pace” on the back of the sign, so it was actually the 4:00 pace group. Cool, I’ll stay around this area. Since I was walking 1 mine every mile, I would lose the group but then pass them when I ran, and would be past back when I would walk. This when on and on.

Mile 11 8:57 – Running through a popular bar area of the city, numerous spectators here.

Mile 12 8:51 – Looking for my dad but don’t see him in this area as I had expected but that’s ok. Carry on! Take second gel.

Mile 13 9:01 – cross the ½ way point at 1:59. Woo-hoo, I’m perfectly on pace! And still feeling terrific.

Mile 14 9:01 – notice that my left foot in starting to bug me but this is not unusual. We’re running through some neighborhoods now.

Mile 15 9:05 – staying right on pace and in front of the 4:00 pace group

Mile 16 9:18 – we were running on a 4 lane busy road, with only 1 lane designated to us. I got stuck in the middle of the 4:00 pace group at this point and couldn’t easily get out. So I wasn’t able to gain any time on them. A lady on the edge of the cones got clipped by a car mirror!

Mile 17 9:13 – I watch the 4:00 group leave as I take my 1 min walk break but I can keep them in sight. Run through the Butler University Campus.

Mile 18 9:11 – Enter the Indianapolis Art Museum grounds. Pass the 30k split at 2:51, projected finish time of 2:03. I can’t see the 4:00 group any longer. But I do see my dad who got some cool pictures. Take my 3rd gel. Notice that my quads are starting to feel sore but reflect on how crappy I felt at mile 18 of my last marathon and know that I’m doing 100x’s better.

Mile 19 9:13 – on some quiet back roads. People are starting to walk around me. I still plan on running the last 6.2 miles without walk breaks.  Start reading signs that were placed along the route with interesting tidbits about Indy and Indiana.  These are meant to help take your mind off the impending pain.

Mile 20 9:22 – And the pain starts to really hit. My foot and quads. Decide that it’s best to keep up with my walk breaks. My time is 2:56 so I know if I keep my pace, I can still finish under 4 hours. If.

Mile 21 9:45 – this is not fun anymore. But I tell myself that I will not walk unless it’s one of my scheduled breaks and only for 1 minute as I had been doing this entire race. I will NOT walk unless I’m supposed to.  The tiny voice in my head says "you can walk more often now, your 4 hour goal is out of reach, the pain will be less if you walk more."  Then the louder voice says "No way.  The chances of you having perfect training and perfect weather all lining up like this is very slim. Do your very best now because you might not have another chance like this."  A nice lady tells me that I win the best dressed award as she flies past me.

Mile 22 10:10 – I’m regretting signing up for a spring marathon at the expo. I’m never doing this again. Please, don’t let me be passed by the 4:10 group. I resign myself to not finishing under 4:00. Mentally though, it’s easier to think that I only have 6/10ths of a mile to go to my next walk break instead of 4 miles to the finish.

Mile 23 9:56 – decide to straighten my shoulders and use my arms. I’m not done yet and it’s only 3 miles to go! This second wind lasted for about ½ a mile. Course turns south towards downtown so I can see the buildings getting bigger, knowing the finish line was near.

Mile 24 10:25 – I see my dad during this walk break and don’t bother to smile for a picture. I get a little emotional and he offers to run with me (he does not run) but I tell him that I’m fine and he needed to get to the finish line. See my first puker, glad I’m not her,

Mile 25 11:02 – Dear Lord, are we there yet?? I take my last walk break and tell myself that I will not walk again until I cross the finish line. An entertainer starts playing a recording of the Olympics song on full blast, I fist pump and laugh to myself at what a dork I must look like.

Mile 26 11:01 – I felt like I was going faster than my time shows. I’m really giving it all that I have. My Garmin shows 26.2 (it started being off about ½ way) as I’m passed by the 4:10 group. I’m praying that my banked time will pay off.

Mile 26.2 (actually .4 on my Garmin) 4:09 – I see my dad at the corner of the final turn and give him a smile. I try to kick it to the finish but it was pretty pitiful. I hear the announcer call my name as I cross the finish line, with my arms partially raised a la Rocky. My DH, who volunteered at the finish line, snaps a picture. I burst into tears and hug him hard while he wraps a Mylar blanket around me. He tells me that he asked the 4:00 pacer about me and she said I was looking really strong (she noticed my sparkly skirt so that’s how she remembered me).

I got my medal and a Marathon Finisher stocking hat (nice!) and found my dad. I cried again while hugging him and he just kept saying how proud he was of me. I grabbed some chili in the finishers tent and swapped stories with my dad. Sent him home while I found gear check and changed into some clean/warm clothes. DH had to stay until the finish so I took advantage of the free post race massage (so nice!!!). Then we walked back to the car. On our way, we passed 2 finishers who were hitchhiking(!!) so we asked why – they were trying to get to the airport and the bus didn’t show up. We live near the airport so we offered to drive them there. We runners are good people, aren’t we?!

So, looking back, I think my training was on par. I probably should have done better with my speed work. My mileage was there. I just faded at the end.

Official finishing time was 4:09:39, 1338 place, 65/182 division place, 9:32 pace. I PRed by 49 minutes!!!!!