(Monday, Oct 13) Other alternate titles for this entry could be - "I have no business running for that long", "Ow, seriously Ouch" or if I am being kind to myself "17 minute PR bitches". I woke up at 5am on Sunday to leave my house for the race at 6. When I stepped into my backyard it was around 45 degrees out. Thank goodness I "overdressed" b/c when I got down to the valley for the race it was more like 40 and freezing. I wore capris, a long sleeve shirt, a vest and gloves, it was perfect. I couldn't have asked for better weather. I hit the portapotty twice before the race and got lined up at 7:40ish. Since it was such a small race, I saw everyone that I knew that was going to be down there. I thought there were 500+ runners, but in looking at the results it looks more like 350ish.

My goal going into it was to just run as hard as I could and feel as good as I could at the end. I started off kind of fast. I was watching my average pace on my Garmin and I knew I didn't want it to get over 10:13. That was my pace for the half mary two weeks ago. I managed to keep that avg pace under 10 all the way to mile 18! I was very pleased about that, but everything kind of fell apart after that. I stopped to use the portapotty and my avg pace fell from 10 on the nose to 10:06. I managed to keep it together until the turn around at mile 21, then my legs just kind of quit. I hobbled my way the last 5.2 miles and watched my avg pace slowly creep higher and higher to 10:20. Oh well. I finished in 4:30:31. Which met my original long shot goal, but since I ran so hard (for me) and strong until mile 21, I would have really loved to get in under 4:20.

I would say that I really did feel just fine, 100% okay until mile 16. Then my stomach starting bothering me. I made a decision to stop at the porta potty at mile 18 and stomach was better after that. After mile 21 I started imaging my body was made of glass at that at any moment my hips and back were going to shatter. That's how bad I hurt! Mostly it was in my hips, knees and lower back, well and my feet, of course. Around mile 23 I probably slowed down to between 11-12 min miles and I REALLY wanted to stop, but I didn't. I made it through the whole race without walking, which was a goal as well. So, I am happy about that. After 23 I was counting 1, 2, 1, 2 in my head, one more step, one more step. Luckily I knew the towpath really well, so I was able to tell myself I just need to make it to lock 29, or the cut over to the falls, etc. Then I got near the finish line and I could hear everyone cheering. And there was Gary with Harper in a stroller, holding a sign saying GO MOM! It almost made me cry. I wasn't expecting them to be there, so that was a nice surprise. I picked it up a notch and really ran as fast as I could to the finish. My brain wasn't working at that point, I was shaky and totally out of it. Thank goodness a banana and orange took care of that. I was so glad to be done! I made it. I wish I could say I felt good and strong and I did think the whole last 5 miles if I ever really want to do this again. I am doing something wrong in my training to fall apart that bad. So, I need to really spend some time thinking about that. I know for a fact that I felt the extra 10 lbs and will not even contemplate a marathon until I am firmly back in the 120s.

I really hurt bad when I got home and felt like crying the rest of the day. I took a long ice bath and a lot of aspirin, that helped. Today I just feel like I got beat up, that's all :). I must say that part of me wonders if my skeletal system is fully recovered from Harper. My hips etc felt like they took such a beating, I wonder if it is b/c the relaxin has left my body completely, etc. Just a thought, maybe I am just a big ol wuss!