Miles in the Rearview Mirror

YAY!!! I finished the 2009 Houston Marathon this morning!! My first marathon and something anyone reading this blog knows I've been training for. Good news from the race, I FINISHED!! This was really my backup goal, my primary being under 4 hrs which I really tanked on.

The recap, I intended to stay with the 4hr pace group (9:10 mile splits) for the race. However, I just could not settle in during the race at this pace and never really got my breathing right which is a sure sign I am going too fast even though by all normal measures I shouldn't have been. In any case, I dropped from the pace group at mile 11 conceding on my time goal at that point. The rest of the race turned into a 'keep moving' event. At a slightly lower pace, I was pretty comfortable up until mile 17 and then everything started to go. My legs didn't want to work and things were cramping. So the last 10 miles was done rather slowly in a jog-shuffle-walk-repeat fashion. IT HURT!! BADLY! But the point is, I kept moving and eventually crossed the finish line in 4 hrs and 28 min. So good enough.

As for what I think happened to my race since I've run longer than 17 miles 4 times and not had these problems, I don't think the taper was as good for me as they say. Its supposedly recommended to really cut back on the running the last three weeks before the marathon to be fully rested. Unfortunately, I think my body goes "oh cool, we're not running anymore" and just drops fitness a little faster than most. Not the first time I've suspected this, but if I ever do a marathon again (and the jury is still out) I will keep this in mind. I could just tell after a couple miles this morning it "felt" like I hadn't run in weeks rather than just being rested and ready to go.

For now, I'm just happy to be done with all 26.2 of the miles. And thank you to everyone who contributed to the Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief Fund in support of this run!

Also congrats to Charlie, Erin, Todd, and Tarik for completing the half marathon!! Josh and Melissa for the 5K!! And thanks to all the supporters that came out to cheer me and everyone else on, it really does make a difference!


Jaime got this picture of me shuffling towards the finish in the last quarter mile.