First, let's start with the pre-marathon hype. I definitely bought a new pair of shoes a week out. I went into the store looking for the same ones that I have always run with. And well, they didn't have them in my size. The young gentleman tried convincing me that another brand was very similiar. I didn't buy that gig. I decided to size up a 1/2 size in the exact same shoe instead... and get my exact same inserts which I haven't gotten in 2 years.
At marathon expo I found the next 2 things that were my saviors!
I know, I know! They look so plain and simple. But the Nuun is actually Kona Coke! It tastes like heaven in a bottle. A little zip of coke flavored sports drink (and a taste that I actually like that is NOT a fruity flavor) is exactly what I have been looking for in sports drinks for years! And the socks.... compression.. not regular. :-).
And then... what goes better with coke than vanilla!? This amazingness arrived the night before! Everything was coming in perfect timing!
Sooo... I went to bed at 8 PM, set the alarm for 2 AM and headed out. Apparently the cone crew over slept because as Rick and I were driving down to the start we managed to just barely beat them to coning off the left turn that we needed to take to get to our secret parking spot :-). Everything was going great! We had decorated trash bags the night before- and honestly, we didn't need them as much for rain as we did for warmth! However, even better... we ran into our good friend at the bus line and we ended up not only on the one custom bus, but also at PF Changs with water and bathrooms and a place to sit-down about 500m from the start line!
I couldn't have asked for a better pre-race! At 4:35 AM we headed out to the race start and all is history. I started running as the fireworks in front of me went off and couldn't have felt better! I kept telling myself "no walls today!" and singing something like, "Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no river wide enough... " you know the rest :-)
I felt so happy and grateful at mile 21 that I was still sub 4:00 hour pace that I was pretty giddy.
I finished the race in exactly 3:51:00. That ended up being a 15 minute PR from any marathon that I have previously run. We are 8 weeks into our Ironman training.
