national marathon race report.

suntrust national marathon.
march 21, 2009.
7:00am
washington d.c.

gun time: 3:52:52
chip time: 3:50:43
pace: 8:46
AG finish: 38/167
total finish: 714/ 2094

friday:
I had court in the morning, so I finished up with that and headed south to the district to pick up my race packet. I, of course, spent a good hour at the expo... got a free seated massage, bought Body Glide and two signed copies of Bart Lasso's new book, tried the PowerAde that would be served on the course --- oh, and got my race bib, chip, and tshirt.

J. and I slept at my parent's house [they live in Silver Spring]. my mom made dinner [pasta, bread] and we watched some of the tourney. fell asleep around 10:00.

saturday morning:
up early. up REALLY early. up at 4:30.
it took me a while to figure out what to wear. accuweather.com said 33*f at the start, 41*f at the finish. I ended up with my UA tights, running skirt [to hold GU], and long sleeved UA compression shirt. Red, of course, to support the Terps [... which turned out not to matter. sa-la-haughtered by memphis. ouch].
ate breakfast - oatmeal w. brown sugar - and drove to the Metro.

Metro'd into the city without a hiccup and headed into the runner's village.

J. [aka 'best husband ever'] and I before the start ^^

Race!
found the 3:50 group and decided to stick with them. gun went off AT 7:00a. -- nice amount of runners -- 5k for the half and 3k for the full.

I ended up running with two guys - Lin and Steve [someone I knew from college. random.] the full and half run together for the first, well, 13 mi. it was a teeny bit crowded for the first 5 mi, but then everyone spread out and the streets got wider.

The course was v. nice - went through the 'typical' d.c. parts: the capitol, monument, etc. - and also through some of the lesser seen neighborhoods. the crowd support was pretty good - what you would expect from a medium sized race.

saw J. at mile 14 and got a kiss ^^

I felt REALLY GOOD for the first 15-16 mi --- strong, smooth, comfortable pace.

after we split from the halfsies we re ran the first 5ish miles, then headed south toward Anacostia. we ran along the river for a bit, and then there was a hellish out and back around mile 22-23.

and then, in my head: the wheels on the bus are falling off, falling off, falling off.

I started feeling panic-y around then. I was really starting to hurt and the thought of another 5 mi was freaking me out .. I just kept saying to myself: 5 then 4 then 3 then 2 then 1 then .2

Icandothis, Icandothis, Icandothis.

... my goal of sub 3:50:00, which seemed so possible, so likely, even, was starting to slip away.

24-26: ouch ouch ouch.

the wheels on the bus are falling off, falling off, falling off.

mile 26: you can see the pain ! ^^

then: the strangest thing happened. I got about 200 feet from the finsish line -- and stopped. I litereally Could Not Run Anymore. everyone was yelling GO! You can do it ! but I couldn't. I only stopped for maybe 10 seconds and then I just went. I crossed the finish line with a watch time of 3:50:46.

missed by goal by under 50 sec. but PR'd by 2 1/2 minutes.

me and J. after the race ^^

proof! ^^

after

found J. and saw hilary and andi and met my parents for lunch at Haad Thai. delicious.

so freaking sore.

then we went to Rock Bottom in Va and watched Md. got slammed by memphis.

reflections

I feel ... okay about this race.

that's it: just okay. I'm happy about the PR but annoyed I didn't break 3:50:00.

the most frustrating: I don't know WHY I'm not thrilled about this race. It's another 26.2 under my proverbial belt, a PR for christsake. I ran a good race. yes, I was hurting at the end, but it's a freaking marathon, not a day at the spa.

next up! training for Rhode Island 70.3.