Run a marathon (26.2 miles)
And then I was running. The part I'd been looking forward to the most. And I felt pretty good. The rain had slackened off a bit, the crowds were cheering loudly, and my legs felt okay. My right foot was a bit sore, but I just tried to adjust my gait a bit to compensate, until it woke up and felt normal again. About 2 milliseconds later, the rain started pouring down in buckets again, but it was more funny than frustrating, and I just smiled and cheered at the crowds and enjoyed myself.
I decided to check out my time for my first mile, just to make sure I didn't blow up from going out too fast. In general, I'd been looking at my watch only when I split, so I knew how long that leg had taken me, but didn't know my total time. My total time would be meaningless anyway, since my watch had been stopped for part of the swim, and trying to do the math to compensate for that would just have broken my brain, so I just didn't look. When I hit mile 1 of the run, though, I looked at my runtime, and it was 9:36 or so. Oops. Way too fast. Tried to slow it down, and my second mile was about 10 minutes. That's better, but still too fast. And I was breathing a little hard to only be at mile 2 of a marathon, so I tried to slow it down further and fall into a rhythm.
I was still feeling really good. Even better than I felt at CdA last year. Last year I kept wishing the second-loop signs were for me when I was on the first loop, but this year I was just running, feeling strong, and enjoying the process of running for running's sake. I ended up passing Laurie again, and realized then that I must be running fairly strong. I saw Matt and we exchanged our first of two hugs (and one inept high-five the last time we saw each other). I considered trying to pee while running, but instead ran until I found an unoccupied portapotty and peed really quickly. Putting back on my shorts afterward, I realized I had a lot of grit from the bike in some.. unfortunate places. Wearing wet and gritty clothes for that many hours while exercising can cause some unpleasant chafing. But I felt better for having peed.
I walked through most of the water stops. A couple I skipped, which I could do only because it was so cool and wet outside. A couple I grabbed something to drink but ran with it rather than walking. I just felt good and strong. I watched my watch only to see when 40 minutes had passed, and I ate a gu every 40 minutes whether I wanted it or not. Offset by 20 minutes, I had a salt pill every 40 minutes, even though I wasn't sure I was sweating enough to make that necessary. It didn't seem to be hurting, so I stuck with it. I took water almost exclusively from the water stops, since Gatorade didn't appeal. I did accidentally take cola once, because I misunderstood the person, and that didn't appeal or not-appeal, so it was a wash, and was the only cola I took.
I was looking forward to running through the Ford Inspiration thingy, because I knew Matt had left me a message, but I wasn't sure what it was. When I ran through, I anxiously waited for my message to come up (it took a long time, I was almost passed the screen by the time it appeared), and then it said "Amy B., Hurry up, Suva's waiting for y". I .. extrapolated, and figured it should say "you". Or "yetis". Sometimes she waits for yetis. (Suva's our greyhound, who was, I'm sure, quite anxiously waiting for us at the vet at that point, but still had another week left to wait before we would pick her up.) Meanwhile, the Inspiration thingy was playing Don't Stop Believing, and between the song and the message, I got all choked up. Sort of literally. I got teary, and then I couldn't breathe. I had a little panic moment while I calmed down, decided getting emotional was not a good plan if that was going to happen, and got my breathing back to normal and carried on. Strange incident. Touching, though!
Back into town, which meant running up the big hill we'd had to run down already. Felt fine, and passed a lot of people who were walking. At the beginning of the out and back in town, they asked me if I wanted my Special Needs bag, and I said I did. She called out my number wrong, I corrected her, and she called it out right. Ran down until I found two women offering me bags, and explained to the one that she could put the wrongnumber one away. The girl who had my bag was maybe 16, and she was having real problems untying my bag. She was freaking out because it was taking her so long, and I swear she would have cried if I hadn't told her that it was fine, to take her time, that I could use the break. She seemed like she really appreciated that, and finally got it open.
I decided to ditch the waist pack and just put the remaining gu in my singlet pockets. I also decided not to take my long-sleeved shirt, because I was feeling fairly warm from running, and didn't want to deal with tying it around my waist. So that went quickly, and then I was off again. I realized pretty quickly that I had forgotten to get fresh salt pills, but didn't panic, and just determined to try the chicken broth to get my salt from there on out. I also decided to go ahead and take some ibuprofen, because my foot was still bothering me, and I was having such a fantastic run, and didn't want anything to ruin it. I figured it was late enough in the run that my stomach wouldn't freak out from it, and it wouldn't impact my hydration.
Started on loop 2, feeling great. Chatted with folks on the course, cheered at the spectators, who were all wet and tired, but still out there cheering us on. Cheered when I saw fellow Austinites out on the course. Saw Matt one last time, and told him to finish strong. Passed John, who was looking very unhappy and doing a lot of walking. Each time I saw Matt A., I was getting closer to him, and when we passed as I went out and he went back in, he told me to catch him, and I laughed dubiously and said I'd try.
Stuck religiously with my nutrition and hydration schedule, and took chicken broth next time I was scheduled for salt. I took chicken broth at CdA and was horribly disappointed as it wasn't warm and wasn't tasty. At Lake Placid, it was both warm and tasty, and wonderful. I've changed my mind about chicken broth; I'm 100% pro-chicken broth. It was a real pick-me-up at that point.
Finally got to the turnaround on River Road and headed back toward town. The rain had lightened up a bit, and I could actually see some of the beautiful scenery about me. The clouds had cleared out some, and I could see the ski jumps for the first time since we'd been in town. Passed through the Inspiration Zone again, and steadfastly refused to get choked up when I saw Matt's message again. It helped that, while the first time I went through there was only one, but the second time there were TWO messages to other people up there that said, "So and so: Your awesome!" Major pet peeve, but I just channeled that annoyance into running energy.
People were starting to go into walk/shuffle mode all around me, and I felt a little bit of survivor's guilt that I was still running and feeling so good, especially up the hill back into town. I passed one guy wearing a one-piece tri suit that said TriDad on the back. His pockets were full of things, and trisuits don't leave much to the imagination, so I said "TriDad, you're looking a little lumpy there!" He said "Man, you're right. I should ditch some of this stuff before I cross the finish line!" and we laughed. Maybe 5 minutes later, TriDad runs by me and slows down right in front of me, and says "Okay, am I less lumpy now?" and I affirmed that, since he'd emptied his pockets, he was much less lumpy, and would look fantastic in his finish line photos. He said, "Because that's what it's all about!" and I agreed. And then he said, "Uh, okay, I'm dropping back now. I just ran up here to catch up with you to show you." That made me laugh.
The rain stopped around now, and we joked that our finish line photos were going to be dry, and that would never do, since it didn't represent what we went through the whole race. Fortunately a short while later the rain picked up again. I was secretly hoping for about 45 minutes that I'd see someone I knew on the course, and could go sit next to them on the curb real quick and uh "rest". I had to pee, but I wasn't willing to stop at a portapotty, especially because trying to get my shorts positioned right again when they were that wet and gritty would be painful. So I figured I'd just sit on a curb where it was already wet and pee, but I couldn't bring myself to do it without there being an excuse, and I could never find one, so I just tried to ignore it, which seemed to work.
I was getting closer and closer to the end, and it was still fairly light outside, even despite the rain and overcastness. Even though I'd never suspected that I might finish before dark, I began to hope that I might finish before they started handing out the glow necklaces. Once it gets dark, they give all the people still on the course a glow necklace that you must wear, and I was now bound and determined to finish before anyone gave me one.
I couldn't believe how close to the finish line I was, and how fabulous I still felt. I was running strong, and people were telling me I looked great and was still smiling, and just generally having the time of my life. I'd thought I'd had a great run at CdA, but this topped that by a lot. And as I got closer to the finish line, I started picking it up more and more. I passed Matt A. going up the last real hill, and I felt so bad, because he looked so miserable, and I hate passing people who are such better athletes than I am, just having bad days. Then back into town, where Sarah and Jamie and who knows how many people around them were yelling "Amy! Amy!" which made me laugh hysterically. They can really get the crowd going.
One last out and back, and I was picking up my speed and passing a ton of people. I felt so good, and I was so close to the finish line, and Betsy was yelling for me and telling me how great I was doing. She also told me somewhere in there that she was going to get everyone's Special Needs bags and take them to the house that Judy and Ainsley were renting, which would save us a huge amount of time and effort, and make sure nobody stole our stuff. (thank you, Bets!) I turned the corner into the Olympic oval and high-fived some of the spectators, then realized I had some gas left in the tank and really picked up my speed. I tore past a couple other folks who were near the finish line, and felt kinda bad about that, but I couldn't slow down. My strides were long (for me), I was splashing through enormous puddles, and I was having the time of my life. I was elated. I crossed the finish line and threw my arms up in the air, though I never heard my name announced. It's okay. I knew I was an Ironman!
I had had this plan, wherein I wouldn't look at my watch at all, so I wouldn't get myself psyched out about finishing under X time. But I decided that as I entered the finish chute, I'd look at the race clock, so that if it said 14:28 or something, I could sprint my heart out and make it under 14:30, or if it said 13:58, I could try to come in sub-14. Toward the end of the run I was running through that plan in my head again, and didn't think, based on the splits I'd seen on my watch, that I could make it sub-14, but that was okay. Then when I got into the finisher's chute and got all excited and my brain shut down, I completely forgot this plan, and never looked at the race clock.
Just after I crossed the finish line and my catcher caught me, I split my watch and looked at my run time. 4:31. 4:31! That's my second fastest marathon EVER! I couldn't believe it. I realized I hadn't ever looked at the race clock for my total time. By this time, I was too far away to really see it, but it appeared that the first number was 13. Which didn't seem right. I turned to the guy next to me and asked if he'd just finished. He said he had a few minutes ago. I asked him what his finish time was, and he said 13:24 or something. I blinked at him. I told him he was kidding. He said he wasn't. I realized I'd come in so far under my estimated time, I thought there'd been a mistake. And then I realized I'd PRed by nearly 1.5 hours over CdA, and I couldn't stop grinning.
What a truly fantastic race I had.
