I am trying to start this RR wore out, sore and with a brutal headache so I am not sure if I will finish it this evening.....
Alright, so this is/was my first trail marathon but my second marathon overall.... I tried not to worry about it being a Spring marathon with the potential for any kind of weather, but I will admit that I wasn't quite ready for the warm weather that we got. All this past week the forecast was saying scattered showers, t-storms, severe weather, etc... then by Friday evening it was saying scattered showers, then Saturday morning it was saying PM showers. So all this rain I was worried about didn't happen, but instead I got 60 degree temps which wasn't awful until the sun came out.......
I'll admit that I was really nervous and Friday evening I was really questioning on doing it, I am glad I don't listen to reason lol.
I was up at 4:40 AM, started my coffee, took the dogs out for a walk to get them to go potty. Got back, ate and drank and used the bathroom and got dressed, took Jetta out one more time so she would poop. Then I got the rest of the way ready and headed to the start, I tried to use the bathroom again but only peed.... so I was concerned.
There was no gunshot, no nothing, everyone just started going at 6:30. We were off on the road headed for the trail, the road was 1.7 miles and then the trail loop was 11.3 miles. The temperature didn't feel too bad early on, during the first loop. The hills really didn't start showing up until mile 7 or so, and they were definitely challenging. My garmin was on track for the first 2-3 miles and then slowly started getting off track by .1 miles each mile or so.
I was happy and feeling pretty good finishing up the first loop and my garmin was saying 12.4 miles at that point and it should've been 13.2 miles but my garmin was already falling off track.
By mile 13-14 I was beginning to feel it, and the sun was beginning to come out..... yeah so much for rain huh.... I was drowning my hat in any creek water I would find and putting it back on my head. I was burning up, and getting really tired.
I was wishing for the final aid station before the return back to the finish, and with each aid station I would eat orange slices - 2-4 of them, they were delicious. I also had some coke too, and some blue gatorade, but I mainly stuck to my water mixed with Hammer Heed (one scoop of strawberry, one scoop of Lemon-Lime), and my hydration bladder, and by mile 19 or so I had consumed all 3 energy gu's.
The hills were getting real tough, and the sun was just beating down on me, I was wishing for rain.... and the finish. I didn't expect to finish under 5:30:00... and heck I half expected to finish around 6 hours.
I couldn't even figure out where I actually was mileage wise, my garmin is always far behind. I cannot begin to explain how happy I was to see the last aid station but that last 1.7 miles was tough as hell on asphalt/concrete.
I was pretty surprised and happy to see my time at the finish - 5:19:48 so I made it under 5 hours and 30 minutes, and not too far behind my first marathon which was like 4:48:something.
My garmin of course finished at 23.9 miles, so it was like... 2.1 miles behind or something like that (my brain is still recovering).
Not sure if I should even bother posting my splits since it was off by 2.1 miles, so I don't think I will bother. It was 5:19:48 for 26.2 miles, with an average pace of 12:12 min/mile and an elevation gain of 1,808 feet so pretty close to their 2,068 miles I guess.
These are definitely tough, and a lot more brutal than road marathons but mainly because I am so used to road races and worrying about my finish time. I need to learn some humility and get over my pride if I am going stick with trail races and get into ultra-marathons, pride and vanity has no place on the trails. I do enjoy the atmosphere much more than road races, and talked to a few runners doing the 60k, they suggested that if I was feeling good on the 2nd loop I could upgrade to the 60k..... yeah I knew by the middle of the 2nd loop that wasn't going to happen.
But I enjoyed it very much, it was brutal and challenging... I earned this medal and even though it was a half hour slower than my first marathon, I truly feel as if I redeemed myself.
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