During our Thurs long run, Antonio said that he heard a rumor about a half marathon on Sun. On Fri morning, he was able to confirm it. That night I learned that they were also offering a full, so I had about 33 hours to prepare for a marathon. Except for the occasional half marathon, I haven't run more than 13 miles since I was training for my first marathon in 2007. So instead of trying to cram a bunch of running in, I prepped by trying to convince as many people as possible to do it so I wouldn't be alone and applying a liberal amount of Body Glide to strategic areas.
I hit the wall before I had started running, right at 3:20 when my alarm went off. I didn't sleep well the night before. I went to Will's going away dinner and some friends invited me over for a BBQ afterwards. They're leaving soon, so I acquiesced. I didn't get to bed until past midnight.
When I showed up at the race start, I told Antonio that running a full is stupid and we should just do the half. He said, "No, we're doing the whole thing. You talked me into it (he was the only one who agreed) and I'm not going to !#$%^* out."
When the race started Antonio took off like a bat out of hell while I settled into an easy pace. It was dark and a good quarter or half mile was on gravel. Not many people turned out, because it wasn't advertised base-wide. The race thinned out pretty quick. They marked the turns with spray-painted arrows on the road, but there weren't any lights so I didn't see the arrows until I was on my way back and the sun had come up. Luckily I was running with a guy who had seen a map of the race prior and knew where to turn, otherwise I would have been lost.
I ran into Antonio around the 6 mile point for me and the 7 mile point for him (the turnaround was at 6.5 miles). I yelled some encouraging words to him. It was some string of obsenities to motivate him. I didn't see him again until I made it back to the finish line for the half where he was waiting for me. Turns out he had raced the half and was spent. He wanted to leave. We had taken separate cars so he didn't have to wait for me or anything. At that point, I had it in my head that I was doing the whole thing and yelled more obsenities at him. He chased me for a little bit then went back.
I had finished the half in good time for me, so I was on track for a PR. I wasn't hurting and I figured I could drop to a real comfortable pace and still PR. So I slowed down a bit and enjoyed my inner dialouge. By and by, I would stop a little longer at the aid stations and drink a few cups instead of trying to drink and run. But, I had learned that there were only 2 guys in front of me. And one had started walking. So I picked it up my pace thinking I may get 2nd place.
At the 19 mile point I ran into the the guy walking. He was at his 20 mile point, since he was just coming from the turnaround and I was on my way there. A little later, I ran into the other guy. He was about a half mile ahead of me. I was feeling good about this. I wasn't hurting too bad and I wanted to place in a marathon. At my 20.25, I had the walker in my sights, however I saw this shuffling mass wearing neon green shoes. It was Antonio. He started about 10 minutes after I had left the halfway point. It took that long for the guilt to set in. It was good to see him, so I ran back to the turnaround and we ran the rest of the way together. It added another mile and a half to my run too.
I wasn't that concerned about placing. It would have been nice, but I just wanted to see if I could endure it. Overall it was pretty pleasant. The volunteers were very supportive. The weather felt cool. It was 80F when we started and it warmed up to 93F by the time we finished. There were clear skies. And Antonio kept telling me how much he hated me. Good times. | 