It felt great to wake up on Sunday morning and know I had a great night of sleep.  You have no idea how much I needed that sleep.  Ate my breakfast of oats and nuts.  Forgot to add any flavoring, so I made it with brewed coffee.  I don’t drink coffee, but it tastes good made into oatmeal

I told Dan we needed lots of photos of the day, so he started off by taking photos of me being a nerd.  Love my new yoga pants I got for the start, even if they are unflattering on top of running shorts.

I walked to the start, which was at the Convention Center this year.  Not a fan of the new start, or at least how they had the port-a-potties, gear check, and corrals laid out.  WAY too congested.  This same area at Lions park (where the start was the first 2 years), was way easier to navigate and runner friendly.  I spent the whole 1.5 hours I was at the start, trying to drop my pants and cell phone off in my gear check bag (K of course is last truck on first row!), and then waiting in line for the stupid bathroom, which had to snake around like 3 times for each stall, because they lined them up too close to the Riverwalk walls.

We started on time.  Everyone is corraled by estimated finish time (but you can make changes the days before the race).  AK had moved the day before to corral 2 (she did the half).  She told me to move to 4.  I stayed in 6 because I wanted to try a pace group (which I NEVER saw).  I should have moved.  Little did I know that .8 miles into a race that i’d get cut off by a train for 3 minutes and that would eat at me for the whole entire race!  Not a good way to start mentally.  Plus, when we crossed the tracks, the field stopped dead in it’s tracks again by my hotel, because the huge mass of runners that had built up, couldn’t get around the corner for the next turn, so it slowed to a walk, so even more time was lost.  GRRR!   AK missed the train and I likely would have if I moved up to 4 like she told me to.  I had to keep telling myself not to try to make up the time I lost, because it would only wear me out.  

I started having issues with my eyes at around mile 3.  I freaked out, because I didn’t know if it was my contacts or if my eyes were trying to tell me something else (like a precursor to a health issue or me passing out!).  Even though it was cloudy, I put my sunglasses on and it seemed to fix the issue, must have been the wind or some allergen messing with my eyes.  Thank goodness!

Mile 5 went by and didn’t see Dan at his spot.

Mile 9.2 went by and saw mom and dad.  Dad gave me a kleenex which I REALLY needed (did he see my nose running that far away, lol?)  Forgot to grab one before the race.  Mom had a gel but was trying to photograph me at the same time.  She asked if I felt good enough to run the whole thing, I lied and said yes.  At that point, I still wasn’t sure how I felt.  I bit my tongue and didn’t yell at her for getting on the course…for the first 10 miles of this race, it’s very congested (both races are still on same course) and the streets are narrow.  Fans and spectators on the course can cause huge problems.

Passed the turnoff for the half and I kept running straight.  Still wasn’t sure how I felt, but I wanted the full.  Was worried I’d made the wrong decision, the bottom of the course goes into DEEP south SA before it turns around to come back.  Once you get that far, the sag wagon is the only return.  9 miles is a little early to decide what you want to do usually.

Mile 13ish didn’t see Dan.

Mile 15 saw mom and dad.  More photos. Felt good.

Mile 18 saw mom and dad again on my way back through the same area. Still felt good.  Dad told me something cute about my pace, which made me laugh pretty hard.

Then the 1 hill, which isn’t bad at all, but I thought maybe they’d cut it out with the new course, lol.

Mile 23, FINALLY saw Dan.  He missed the first 2 spots he said he’d be at because the road closures were different than years past.  I am not the nicest racer sometimes, I blurted out something about how I hated trains.

Not sure i’ll wear those shorts again in a race, I know my rear isn’t that big.

I kept trucking.  Never hit the wall, in fact, #4 was the only race where I ever did hit anything like “a wall”.  Around 25 my mystery issue actually started to hurt for the first time during a run.  I tried to ignore it.  I then passed the 3:50 pace group leader, who was WALKING!  Wow, hope not too many were following him.

The last mile was pretty tough, I picked up pace, but still felt good.  Saw mom on the bridge at 26, snapping photos and waving.  Hammered on until I crossed the finish.  My official time was 4:04:13 including the train delays.  PR for the course and overall.  I SO wanted to break 4 hours though and I think without the train, I could have pushed through and done it  

All things considered with the week I had last week with work, Dan being really sick, me feeling ill at the end of the week, and not sleeping Friday night, I am still proud of myself.  I’m happy to have finished.  My GI Dr. called to check on me today and said he was honest, he didn’t know how I was able to do it, with the zapped energy my condition is creating for me.  

Marathon 5 goes down in the books.  Road to recovery begins.  Mom has majority of the photos, may post those next week if they turned out at all.