Conditions: Low 30s, felt like mid-upper 20s with wind chill, wind 10-20 mph.

I did not get a good night's sleep last night. I went to bed early, but couldn't fall asleep. And once I fell asleep, I woke up every couple of hours. I think it was a case of nerves, as this was to be my first real long distance race. As I've been going over my training, goals, and previous races, I've come to realize that my previous marathons (and half-marathons) were merely run, not raced. Running, not racing, would not help me to achieve my goals. I also felt nervous because I had some ambitious goals for the race today, and achieving them would help make my ambitious marathon goals a possibility. And to be honest, I haven't been ready to admit/accept that they (the goals) might not be pipe dreams and something I could actually achieve this year.

So anyway. Luckily this was a local race, so I didn't have to leave until 8:15. I arrived at the race site, and headed for the bathrooms. The start was in the parking lot of a hotel, and the packet pickup was held in the conference center of the hotel. This meant that we were able to use the conference center's bathrooms. I hate porta-potties, so being able to have access to a real bathroom before the start was really nice.

I normally don't do a warm-up for long races, but I did today. I got a massive blister on the side of my toe Wednesday, and have been using Blister Band-Aids on it. I cross-trained Thursday, and took yesterday as a rest day so I needed to make sure that running wouldn't cause the band-aid to bunch up. So I ran a really easy 1/2 mile, and went inside to stretch.

Around 8:50, I went outside to find the start line, and to allow my Garmin time to link up with the satellites. I wasn't too concerned with the course's distance accuracy, but I wanted to use the auto-lap feature of my watch for my splits. I really like having all my splits, but I tend to zone out and miss mile markers. I wasn't sure where to line up, so I just kind of picked a spot. The lady next to me and I were both amused by one of the other women's outfit. She was wearing a cami-type top with nylon arm-warmers. We both thought it was a little bit too cold for that, and decided that she must be fast.

I didn't hear the gun go off (or a "start!") but people started moving forward. There was a line painted on the ground for the start, so I started my watch as we crossed that. I realized that I had put myself too far back, so I started dodging people. I knew I needed to feel like I was working, so I started kind of quickly. The first couple of miles went by fast and then I got settled in with a group of older men. (I pretty much only had men to run with, as the other women were either a few minutes ahead of me or a few minutes behind me). I was amused that as we ran into the wind, they all ran either right behind me or just off my shoulder, since they were all so much bigger than me. As soon as we got out of the wind, they all either passed me or moved up next to me.

I kept up with the same 4-5 men for awhile, and then a couple of them picked up the pace. We were running around 8 minutes/mile at that point, and I think having them around really forced me to stick with it. I felt decent at that pace, but having people around helps motivate/challenge me. Eventually, it was just me and one guy. I wish I had seen him at the end of the race, because I wanted to thank him for helping me out. There was a hill around 8.5 miles and he complimented my pace right at the start of it which encouraged me to tough out the hill. He also said some other encouraging things, and helped me figure out the course when it wasn't as well-marked at the end.

Mile 11 had some small downhills which helped me pick up my pace. But by the 12 mile marker, I was really feeling the effects of running so far at the pace. (The farthest I've ever run at sub-8 pace is 7 miles). So mile 12 was pretty rough, and my back started aching. I hit the 12 mile mark, and then had to run up a small incline (a highway overpass). At the point in the race, it felt a lot more brutal than the bigger hill in the 9th mile. I know I didn't run very fast up the hill. But once I reached the top, I could see the finish and I started picking up the pace. I ran in as fast as I could and it was all over. Yippee!

I had originally planned to run a couple miles after the race, but that just wasn't going to happen. My legs felt tired (my right leg had started bothering me at 3 miles; it felt really tight, especially my calf), and I felt like I might puke. I knew I needed to do a cool down after running so hard, so after getting some water I went out for a mile. Wow, was that slow. I then stretched and drank my Ultimate Nutritional Recovery Drink (mcmillanrunning.com recommends drinking a Slim-Fast type drink for recovery. I've started doing that, and I feel better a lot quicker as far as my stomach goes). I liked how this race had the food and drinks set-up: everyone got a bag that had a water bottle, a bottle of Gatorade, 2 cookies (yum!) and an apple. The bag made it pretty easy to carry.

Before I headed home, I wanted to check out my feet since my toes hurt. My blistered toe looked disgusting once I pulled off the band- aid. Apparently sweat causes those band-aids to do gross things. I was not pleased to see that the blister had gotten bigger. I think I'm going to go back to regular band-aids, because I don't think the blister ones are doing anything. Luckily, I don't have any other blisters.

Splits:
01.0 | 7:45
02.0 | 8:09 | 0:15:55
03.0 | 8:00 | 0:23:55
04.0 | 7:56 | 0:31:52
05.0 | 7:51 | 0:39:43
06.0 | 7:35 | 0:47:18 | 10K ~48:40
07.0 | 7:47 | 0:55:05
08.0 | 7:44 | 1:02:49
09.0 | 7:49 | 1:10:39
10.0 | 7:39 | 1:18:18 | 10-mile PR
11.0 | 7:20 | 1:25:39
12.0 | 8:12 | 1:33:51

Finish: 1:37:47
3rd place, 20-29 age group

My watch measured the course as 12.50 miles, as opposed to 12.4 miles. Pace for 12.5 miles is 7:49/mi, and for 12.4 miles is 7:53/mi. I am really pleased with my performance. I had set 3 pace goals. Attainable: 8:30, within reach: 8:15, really great: 8:00. So to achieve that is really great.

And as far as my marathon goes, I'm ready to admit: I think I'm going to be able to run sub-four. Breaking the 4-hour barrier is a really big deal (mentally as well as physically). I've had it in mind for awhile now, and today's results confirm that my training is going well enough that I can realistically set sub-4 as my goal.