Elizabeth's Baltimore Marathon Details

So I did it. I am proud of myself but I guess the frustrating thing about being a competitive person who pushes herself is that I am never 100% happy with the time. Man, I really want to be. My watch time (minus time spent stretching cramps...more on that later) was 18 minutes faster than the Marine Corps Marathon last year. And I will say that I definitely felt those 18 minutes!

Breakdown: I started out too fast. I was running with the 4:15 pace group but should have started slower than they did. My strength is in the last 6 miles when I can push when others can't and I couldn't utilize that until the last 2 miles because I was hurting. The pacers also stopped to walk at some of the water stations and that freaked me out so early so I kept running a little ahead and lost them. I was tired from the beginning and running alone. My husband saw me at mile 6.5 and told me later that I wasn't looking so good even that early into the race. I got past the early hills at miles 2-5 and was set for the mostly flat to mile 16. That went well. I saw the family at mile 13 or so and that was great...although I was surprised, they were supposed to meet me next at 19.5. I saw Gina around mile 17 (I will let her tell her tale, or at least I will post the email she sent me afterward). Walked with her for a bit and then started running alone again.

At that point I put on the ipod and settled in for the final hills. They were from miles 16-22. Yikes! Gina and I ran them before in training so I knew there wasn't any major climbs but just the steady incline for miles.

I started looking for my family around mile 18....never saw them again. I was supposed to get an electrolyte drink and more gu, unfortunately I started freaking out at mile 20.5. I had one more gu for the rest of the race...and I could get Gatorade or water to fill my empty bottle at stations but that would be my only liquid. I am a control freak and I had never had Gatorade on a long run before so I was terrified at what might happen! So this is when my left quad starts cramping and I start freaking out. I stop when I can't bend my leg any longer and slowly begin to stretch. As soon as it is working again and I am not hyperventilating I start running again.

The miles after that were not pretty. I stopped about every mile and a half or so to quickly stretch my quad. But the miles just kept ticking by. I know in the moment it feels like an eternity but thinking back those last miles were a blur. I remember seeing the 24 mile marker and having a quick chat with myself. "Get going, this is what it is all about!" I felt good at the end, pushing to the finish. The funny thing is that my finish line photo is of me literally squeezing through two half marathon finishers...I might have physically harmed them for being in my way if I wasn't so tired!!!

Of course I was sore after but SO much better than last year. I feel great now, no running yet but next week I will start again.

Overall impressions of Baltimore: Crazy good shirt (long sleeve Under Armour), lame metal (MCM is much better), bumpy streets, great support, good numbers, fun race!

***disclaimer - I am on my second glass of wine since I started this post...not training anymore so wine is back in the diet! I cannot be held accountable for the content of this post***