Lucky or unlucky #7

Saturday was the big day for my friend Steph and I. 

It was a long time coming and I was more nervous than my first, second, third, fourth and fifth combined.  

Don't ask me why I just was. 

Once you have run one marathon it is never the same

There are so many factors out there that go into a "good run"

If you don't recall I posted about my past marathons here

My times in the past have been 

(granted its not about the time you get but that you finish, but time is good)

1. 2003: 5:33

2. 2004: 6:38

3. 2005: 5:41

4. 2007: 5:56

5. 2008:6:31

6: 2009: 5:29

                                                 

This race was kinda perfect. 

(race re-cap)

1. There were only about 10,000 people out on the course and only about 2,500 doing the marathon. The part that sucked was when you split up with these people at 12.1 miles you just started running by yourself. 

The good thing is that there were not as many spectators so if you were having a hard time it was ok cause no one saw you either. 

2. The weather turns out, was perfect. It was about 50 degrees and over cast all morning.

At one point it started to sprinkle but no rain and little wind. I ran in shorts and a long sleeve, it was quite perfect (coming from someone that gets really hot).

3. WE were running super fast for the first half of the race (oops!), but it was good because the second half we slowed down tremendously. Around mile 5 my calves started to hurt, which was weird but oh well you just keep running, but at mile 15 my quads started to feel like they were on fire. but I kept going. It was at this point that I dropped down from run 5 mins and walk 1 min to run 3 mins and walk 2 mins. At mile 20, my friend Steph could no longer walk (the run and walk we were doing), so she went ahead and I kept going slow and steady. I called my husband in so much pain and he gave me the boost to keep going, but later on I called my mom and she too just said keep moving and I did. At mile 24 I ran past Steph who was stretching on the sidelines and in a lot of pain. She caught up to me and we ran the last few miles in together. My P met up with us a little after mile 25 and ran us home. We raced it out on the finish line chute. She beat me by milliseconds but we have the same time. 

Distance	MAR
Clock Time	5:41:30
Chip Time	5:26:22
Overall Place	1730 / 1890
Gender Place	662 / 744
Division Place	122 / 133
10K	1:06:52
13 1	2:27:41
20Mi	3:56:38
Divtotal	133
Sextotal	740
Pace	12:28

woo hoo! thats me! 

I am so glad that I did it and I will share more details later. 

I am really happy with my time even if I was hoping to break 5 hours there is always next time. 

My legs are a little less sore today, but thats ok. 

The medal isn't too shabby either, its interactive.

The "I" for the Illini (our university here) spins, I think its pretty cool. 

Did you run this weekend? Did you have fun? Did you watch? Were you inspired?

Truth be told, maybe I can't walk without limping now, but i would love to do #8 

Girls from work who participated in the marathon festivities this weekend.