Sunday at 510 came too early! I was VERY surprised that I had such a good night sleep. I do not know what to contribute that to, but Ill take it! I had everything placed out the night before so it was just bodyglide, clothes, brush teeth, out the door. UNTIL... I was putting on my socks and realized they were both for the same foot! These are toe socks so you really can not substitute. Thankfully, I packed both pairs. So I was digging though my bag to try to find the other match. That was super nerve racking! We were out the door right on time. (We were on time all weekend)
Alex met Val and myself outside. Diane stayed back to sleep a bit more and Ron and Rosalie as well. Anyways, Val and Alex dropped me off at the trolly pickup where the expo was and where the finish like was. They walked me to the drop off and waited for me to get on the bus. Im not sure why but I always get emotional before a race. This was the case again. I am sure it is because you never know what the future holds and people die from these sorts of things. (heart attack)
I thought maybe I would find someone nice to talk to on the bus and calm my nerves. This was not the case. The gal that was sitting next to me was on her phone the whole time and everyone else seemed to have a buddy. We were dropped off at the start area but had to walk through muddy wet grass to get to the portapotties. This was not good. I was just hoping for non wet shoes. The forecast was very promising but it did not start off that way. It was cold and misting at the start line. There was a huge screen up with the countdown til the start. I had about 35 minutes from when I got there. I finally turned on my watch and my watch said 6:23 but the clock said I had 17 more minutes. Clearly I was on time but others were not. Anyways, the race ended up starting 10 minutes late and I started 2 minutes after the horn was sounded. It was very dark out during the start At the start line, there were strobe lights with different colors.
So the gun went off and off we went. I started up my music and came across a very fitting song so stayed on it for a while and to calm my nerves, stuck with very upbeat songs for the first 5 miles or so. I knew the first few miles were going to be tough for me. I tend to get terrible cramps on my sides at around mile 2ish and have only not gotten them once before.
So... while we were all running around this famous 3 mile loop, I saw some interesting characters. (what I am about to type was no joke) There was an army man with red white and blue short shorts and he was caring a backpack with camping stuff. There was a lady who had a cow bell attached to her and it rang the WHOLE race. She was wearing tiny purple wings, a headband with ears on it, a purple skirt thing, and purple glasses. There was another girl with huge fairy wings, there was someone with a wolfpack outfit on, and some interesting pants that girls wore. O yes, and of course there were the people who did not check to see if their underwear would show through. (I am not joking!) What else am I supposed to do for 4+ hours?
So back to mile one and two... at every intersection, there were people with different dogs. Each dog had a yellow bandana on. It was nice to focus on the excitement on what the next dog would look like. They were all so friendly looking! Mile one and two came and went very fast. I was pretty relieved of this. And then.... my shoe came untied. I had to stop to fix this. I got up and started out again. I focused on breathing, my pace and not someone else, and then focused on the fruit snacks I knew I was going to get at mile 5. Just as expected, I met Alex, Val, and Diane at mile 5. Val had whatever I wanted. I thought I would need sunglasses but it was still very misty so I just took the gushers. I also thought I would need chapstick but didnt. I gave Alex my jacket and then got the gusher and was on my way. At around mile 6-7 I heard that I had to travel to the right because the half marathon winner was coming though. No joke, there were some kids coming right by me. They finished Im sure just over an hour 10-15 min.
I was by myself until mile 12. There were some times I was thinking... I dont know what else to think about! All the aid stations were so great. Most of them were college teams. There was NC State, Carolina, Duke, LSU, WV, UNCW and Im sure there were others. Also, there were high school kids there. I saw a high school band, and a lot of friendly homeowners. I came around the corner to start mile 10ish and passed the NC State team which was SO friendly, then I passed Carolina. I thought to myself... (I should just throw my cup on the ground. It had gatorade in it) BUT I was super nice and did put it in the trash can EVERY time. I then saw the girls. I only got one shot block because the aid stations were already handing out gels. This was a big change from the MB marathon. I was able to get a gel every 2 miles or so. At around mile 14 this guy stopped me... well really just started up conversation because I wasnt stopping and asked what mile I was on. At this point, there were people who were running their second lap of the loop I was on and there were signs that were a bit confusing. I let him know and he asked if he could run with me for a little while. I of course was like SURE!! Ill always take someone who is going to talk my ear off and I can listen and not have to think about anything else. His name was Donald and he worked at a lab and has 2 girls and a boy. All are my age or around my age. He talked about his fishing trips, his boat, his kids, his families love of swim bike run, his running club, etc. He was very entertaining. So I turned off my music and we ran together until just after mile 21. He then said he was going to try to pick up the pace and try to finish under a 4:30. I wished him luck and we split. By this time, I knew I was going to see the girls one last time before the end and was thankful that I had about an hour left. I ended up running with Val for a little bit and asked for some gossip (aka her to talk to me so I could listen). She gave me my bread which was awesome! She ran with me until about 22.75. Anyways... Right after we parted, I dropped my bread. Thankfully it was in a bag so I sure did turn around and get it.
I had just a few miles left by myself. It was out and back and I would be done. At about mile 24, there was gravel road. I took this as an opportunity to WALK. My first thought was gravel in my shoes equals me having to stop to get it out and sitting on the ground = me not wanting or able to get up. My next thought was twisting my leg, ankle, etc. It was not worth it. So after the gravel, I knew that I would be back to it on the way back and ran as much as I could knowing I would have to slow my pace later. I saw Donald at this point since it was an out and back course. We high fived and wished each other luck. I am sure he finished at his goal time. At the last .3 miles (according to my garmin) I was picking up the pace. I saw the finish line but then it seemed like it was taking forever to get there. Right before the finish, I saw Val, Diane, Alex, Ron, and Rosalie! I ran as fast as I could to the finish. Finish time according to garmin was 4:42... and 26.47 miles.(Overachiever) I dropped 7 minutes according to my garmin from my last race last month. This I was SO EXCITED OVER!!! To know I just did this distance a month ago and improved that much was awesome!
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