The Twin Cities Marathon Race Report!

Hi Everyone! I slept like total crap last night and had to take some ibuprofen because my upper legs were screaming in protest! My calves felt great....other than being a little sore I think I am doing pretty well. I promised you a race report so here it is:)

I woke up at 4 Am Sunday morning to get ready for the marathon. I had all sorts of thoughts swimming through my mind. Many of them were on the lines of...OMG, I am running my first marathon today! I was both excited and nervous! As many of you know, I stopped marathon training in week five of my plan because of the GI issues I was having. I took several weeks off from hard training and toned back my 6 runs a week to 3 runs a week. I ran the Gopher to Badger half marathon in that crazy heat. I figured if I can do this....surely I can run a fall full marathon. I had already signed up for the Get Ready To Rock 20 mile race and planned to use that as a test. I had three weeks of long runs consisting of a 16, 17 and 18 mile run before my 2o mile race. I look at the original Hal's training plan that I was doing and see that I have missed so many miles of training:( I think if I had not been running so many half marathons my results yesterday would of been different. By becoming a half marathon junkie I gave myself a fantastic base for a marathon newbie.

I drove into Minneapolis and found a parking spot about three blocks from the Metrodome. I walked to the dome and walked around for a few minutes. I used the rest room and parked myself on the floor right across from it. I took out my marathon guide and looked at the map of the course and pace times. I found a few of my fellow SCRR peeps:) Paul, Rick, Cindy and Denise were just hanging out before their 10 mile race.

Cathy came along as a cheerleader:)

I ran into Jeri a South Dakota blogger who was running the TC 10 mile run:) I sat and talked to her for several minutes....she is such a sweetheart! Seeing Jeri made me feel very old as she is young and beautiful! Jeri, I hope that the race went well for you! I will be seeing you again at the Earth Day half marathon in 2011:)

I also ran into another SCRR (Curt) who was going to try his hardest to BQ in the TC marathon! Check out the corral #1 sticker in the corner of his bib! Fantastic news... he did it! Congrats to you Curt:)

I met Heather who is another blogger from Minnesota! We sat in the dome and talked until we heard the announcement that we needed to make our way to the start line. We had to laugh when we saw that we were both wearing old ugly race shirts. The plan was to just toss them once we were warm enough. My shirt is actually turned inside out...super ugly! Heather also made me feel old because yes, she is younger than me...she has gorgeous eyes, not a single wrinkle and she had a cooler race outfit:) Derek, just so you know, we walked around looking for you. We were bummed that we couldn't find you before the race:(

Heather and I made our way to the start line. I told her that I wanted to start somewhere between the 4:15 and 4:30 pacers. We walked up and positioned ourselves right next the the 4:15 pacers. This is a picture of the people behind us 10 minutes before the start.

Way over by the fence is the 4:15 pacer:)

The Metrodome.

Here is a picture of the people in front of us. I was pretty nervous those few minutes before the start. I kept on looking at Heather and she always had a smile on her face:) Thank you for keeping me calm Heather! I am so glad we were able to start out together. We slowly made out way to the start and I had my Garmin all ready to go. I run over the mats and hit start......I look down at my Garmin and the only thing that is displayed is the time! WTH! OMG! Why? Why can't I be like every other runner and not have issues with the Garmin. I had no distance or pace screen displayed. I would wait until I saw the first clock and then just start it again. I stayed with the pacer for the first mile. I just couldn't see myself running this pace and was feeling like I was holding back too much. I moved ahead of the pacer and ran nice and easy.

The crowds were awesome as I ran down the streets of Minneapolis! There was tons of cow-bell and all of the runners were happy and filled with positive energy:)

The one thing that drove me total bonkers was my spibelt was not cooperating! I had 5 gels and a powerbar flopping around and hitting me in the stomach! My bladder was telling me that I needed to stop! Crap! I am not even at mile 3 and I need to make a Biffy stop! I passed one set because they were in use but was able to snag another one a little later. In and out....most likely less than a minute:)

Once we were off of the streets Minneapolis we made our way around the lakes. OMG! I was in heaven, it is so beautiful! It was here where I got rid of my ugly shirt and tossed it aside. Running through this area was amazing! Not only was it pretty with the lakes and trees but it was full of fans cheering. I was in awe of the support that complete strangers were giving me:)

When I hit mile marker 9 I remembered that I was going to start my Garmin over again so I could know what pace I was going at. I turned off my Garmin and started it back up....it took a few minutes for the thing to start working, grrrr! Miles 1 through 13 were a piece of cake. I ran easy and felt great.

The day was perfect for running, the sun was shining and the temperature was fantastic! I love running in 50 to 60 degree weather:)

I actually caught up with the 4:00 pacers and ran with them for miles 14 and 15. I was starting to get a little tired and I had several gels in my tummy that were starting to bother me. I knew that I would have to make a Biffy stop soon.

Score...Biffy sighting up ahead! Okay, so here goes...my Biffy number two story....are you ready? I stand in line with a few people in front of me and a few people behind me. I wait, wait and wait. Finally my turn! I run into the Biffy and lock the door. I am just about done when someone attempts to open my Biffy! He pulled on the door one more time and the door came flying open! OMG! Let's just say he did not get a butt shot...he got a full frontal! He slammed the door back shut and I started laughing! Only me...this crap only happens to me:) I heard him say..don't worry I didn't see anything! Yea, right! I finish up, put my sunglasses back on, open the door and hope to God I don't see him later:)

Miles 18, 19 and 20 seemed to take forever. I was feeling okay but not great. I was telling myself that I already ran a 20 mile run and that I could do this. Keep the feet moving!

Mile 20...just six miles left! Some where between mile 21 and 22 my right hammy started to scream. I was in serious pain and needed to pull over and stretch. It hurt so bad and I started to cry. Why now? I walked for a few minutes and decided to try running again. It still hurt and I must of looked pretty pathetic running with a limp.

The Summit Avenue stretch was amazing! The crowds were awesome and the positive energy was wonderful. Summit Avenue was also hard as hell and a mental challenge for me. The last few miles on Summit are uphill! Oh joy! I was hurting and not doing so great. I really wanted to keep running the whole way but I just couldn't. I promised myself that I would listen to my body. I needed to slow down. I walked so much of Summit Avenue:(

I am not happy here...yep, I am walking. I have heard from so many people about the big bad wall. As I walked I thought about my time and what it would be. I had no real goals in mind. Seriously, I just wanted to finish the race. Maybe it was the competitive athlete in me but deep down I guess I did care about my time. I wanted to finish in under 4:30 but knew in my heart that I could do it under 4:15. Okay Julie, time to suck it up! Just a four more miles and it is over! I started running again.

I am so glad that there was music playing from time to time because it helped me stay moving and motivated! I took water at all of the water stops and went through all of my gels. I ended up walking a few more times. I looked at my Garmin and said, "Okay you can walk for 30 seconds and then you have to start up again." When my Garmin reached 30 seconds, I said, "Okay 40 seconds:)" There was a man who saw me walking. He looked at me and looked at his watch. He said, "Now would be a good time to start running!" "Make it count!" Yep, you guessed it, I started running again:) I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use the Biffy again. Not so lucky:) One more quick stop and I was on the road again.

I saw this and thought....I have got to be getting closer. Just keep moving Julie! I felt like I was moving at snails pace...super slow! When I was at the top of the hill and saw the Capital I was so happy! I knew that I was going to finish soon!

You can see the Capital in the back and the big flag is the finish line! I was smiling when running that last stretch of the race! I still didn't have a clue what my time would end up being. It didn't matter...I was going to finish this race!

This last stretch was the most emotional part of the race for me! OMG! When I cross this line I am going to be able to call myself a marathoner! Never in a million years at this time last year would I have believed that I would ever run in a marathon!

People were screaming and I started to pick up my pace a little. I passed a few people but basically just ran in easy.

When I saw the clock it said 4:12 something but I have no idea what it said when I crossed the finish line! I ran those last few feet and through my arms up in the air! I did it! I finished! I finished my first marathon! I took a few steps and got my medal. The lady put it around my neck and I walked over to a fence, put my head down and started to cry. Big tears rolled down my cheeks. I was so thrilled:) Running a marathon is hard work! Not only was I physically tired, I felt emotionally drained too! I am so proud of my accomplishment and happy for finishing my first marathon. I was also very sad that no one from my family was there to share it with me. It was a bitter-sweet moment for me.

Shortly after I finished I ran into Katy. Katy is someone that I remember from the Get Ready To Rock 20 mile race. I asked her if she ran it and she said yes. She told me that she read my blog...I forgot to ask how she found it. Katy did great today and I would of never guessed that she just had a baby a few months ago:)

After the race I drank a cup of the blue stuff, two cups of chicken broth and a bottle of water. I also ate a banana. I walked over to where the bag check was and sat in the grass. I was hurting pretty bad. I got up and stretched my legs out but it was not helping. I thought about finding the massage tent to see if I could have someone work on my sore legs.

I did run into Kalli who is a SCRR...she finished with an awesome time of 3:17:) Go Kalli!

I walked around for a few minutes taking pictures. I then walked up to the Capital to catch a bus back to the Metrodome:) I was tired and really wanted to take a shower and go to bed.

Here are my final stats......

Final time 4:09:45.

I placed 3,843 out of 8,211 actual finishers.

I placed 1,145 out of 3,394 women.

I placed 143 out of 422 for my age group.

Will I ever run another marathon you ask? Hell yes! One thing that I will say is I can only see myself doing one of these bad boys a year:) Thanks again for all of your support and encouragement! Jill thanks for being a super fan! I am so glad that you were able to track my time because the computer wouldn't give me my information until this morning. It was almost like I didn't run the race. So many people attempted to get my stats and were not successful as well. You rock Jill!

Happy running, biking, swimming and lifting! Cheers to you all!

Next on my things to do...take care of my lawn and catch up on blogs:)