[SIZE=medium]Twin Cities Marathon Race Report[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]I would first like to say that it was one of the most awful, painful, and yet amazingly rewarding experiences of my life so far. Sorry if this is TLDR. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Miles 1-3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]It was incredibly crowded. Could not believe how tight it was still at mile 3. I guess this is probably very common with big races, but it was pretty new to me. I am used to things being thinned out a ton after mile 1. Just when you think it was starting to thin there was a water stop which basically threw a bottleneck right back in there. (Side note: I must have missed a memo, but at every water stop people would get water from the right and then get over to the left and walk to drink it. I wouldn’t think this was proper etiquette but with so many people doing it maybe I am wrong). The pace was right where I wanted it to be for this stretch, just would have preferred less bobbing and weaving. I could tell though that my sister wanted to pick up the pace.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Miles 4-6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]We started to pick up the pace a little bit. My sister was really weaving around. This was a bit frustrating because we weren’t really gaining as much net time as the effort we were putting forth. My sister had told me previously that 4:30 was her goal, but it became quite evident to me early on that she wanted to do better than that. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Miles 7-13.1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]The crowd had finally thinned a lot. My sister started to push and actually asked one of her friends that jumped with us to run alongside her and give her a water bottle how far ahead the 4:15 pacer was. She then admitted that she wanted to finish in 4:22 and maybe take a shot at 4:15. I was torn between being annoyed and still wanting to be there to help her. I had registered all along as support to her so I decided to go with the latter. I told her I would hang with her as long as I could. The one big problem I foresaw was that at mile 15 my brother was meeting us to give me a change of clothes and to switch hydration packs. I was feeling good though. At about mile 8 I stepped in a pothole that made my foot turn weird. I awkwardly stumbled and almost wiped out. Hurt a lot at first but seemed to be ok (I eventually think it caught up to me later.) Other than that no issues with my hip thus far, which was a great sign.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Miles 13.1-18.6[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]By mile 15 I was soaking wet from head to toe. Was so happy to see my brother and get changed. My sister as I suspected decided she didn’t want to wait and kept running. I had rigged my shirt and bib with Velcro in order to switch over quickly. Worked perfect. (I also turned an old pair of sweatpants into tear aways using velcro for the start). Unfortunately there was quite a line here for porta-potties for some reason. Waited for a bit and didn’t move one spot, so I tucked behind a pine tree and my brother held a towel up and I changed my shorts and undercarriage there. Now here is where my day fell apart. Had I made the choice to just settle back into a pace and run the rest of the way by myself I am certain I would be in better shape right now and my end time would have been better too. I decided I was going to catch up to my sister. So off I went. Basically felt like I was sprinting even though according to my watch I really was only at 8:30-8:45/mile during this stretch. She had some cramping issues and had to slow down a bunch so I was able to catch her quicker than expected. So even though my pace between 13.1 and 18.6 dropped, the effort level was much higher. I am happy I did though because my sister really seemed rejuvenated and thanked me after and said it was her turning point. By mile 18 I was in a world of hurt though. My foot was absolutely killing me and my hip was starting to give me grief. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Miles 18.6-21[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]At mile 20 I was done for. I was literally fighting back tears and every step felt like a hammer hitting me on the top of my foot. I told my sister I needed to walk and pulled over to the side. I could tell she was faced with a tough decision. She didn’t want to abandon me as she could tell I was in a ton of pain. I told her I wanted her to keep going as I knew how important her time was to her. She told me she was going to stay with me. I said fine. So I stopped and told her I refuse to run another step until she ran ahead without me otherwise we weren’t running again. We ended up getting into an argument right there. I am sure it was a sight to see. She realized I wasn’t kidding and finally went ahead. I think I walked the whole mile between 20 and 21. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Miles 21-26.2[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]This became a brutal back and forth of running and walking. Walking was terrible for my hip. Running killed my foot. I started making goals of running .5 miles and walking .25. Then running .4 and walking .2, etc. It was awful. I started wondering if I was going to make it. I tried to eat a gel from my backpack and my hands were so cold and shaking from the rain I couldn’t open it and then I dropped it. Luckily there was a family up ahead that was handing out orange slices and sliced bananas. This little kid was so excited to be high fiving and handing out food for runners it put a huge smile on my face. I decided from that point on I would make sure that any kid standing on the side of the road trying to high five or give “knuckles” as my nephew calls it, would get one from me. It started to amaze me just how many people there were shouting encouragement and handing out stuff. Tents out alongside the road, people grilling out, drinking beer, playing music, it was all pretty awesome. So many funny signs, random strangers that just hop out and walk with you for a while, people calling you by your race number and telling you that you are doing something so few people can do. I honestly can’t wait until the next marathon in my area so I can go do the same thing.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]My final time as mentioned already was 4:43:16. My sister got her time and she is thrilled. I can’t really walk. I am debating going and seeing a doctor for an xray on my foot as it is the top of my foot that hurts. Everything else seems to be just the same general soreness. One thing I am very happy about is I have no blisters or chafing anywhere. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Spoke to a good friend of mine this morning. Known him forever and I remember the first time he got falling down drunk. He was throwing up for like two days after. In his puking hungover stupor he yelled “Mark my words. I swear to god, I am never drinking again.” He of course got drunk the next weekend. He asked me if I plan to do another one ever. I of course replied “Mark my words, I swear to god, I am never running a marathon again.”[/SIZE]