Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 4

Whoo-hoo! I was finished with the major hills. Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty drained from them. Like very sleepy. My legs were fine though, which I guess is the important part. I was also ready to take it to my 9:10 pace.

I did this pretty easily and still felt like I was holding back somewhat. It was a weird feeling because usually I do not hold back this long. I looked for Bill at mile 11, but didn't see him because the buses probably didn't get him there in time :( I knew I would probably see him at 16 though, so I didn't worry too much. I was heading into Golden Gate State Park, which is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the course.

I kept my pace, but for some reason, could not shake the tired feeling. There weren't a lot of people in the park cheering either, so that didn't help. Also, Safeway (one of the sponsors) had these cheering stations all along the park. The Safeway cheerleaders were going crazy so it helped. They also had those signs that you read as you go by. But these signs were NOT helpful. The first one said "You own this road because..." and I was all excited because I was like "Good. Distractions. This should be good." The next one was "You skipped sleeping in late on the weekend." Haha. Ok. Then "You nursed all those blisters." NO! Don't remind me of blisters! My feet only are kind of hurting, so I don't need to think about them. Then "You worked until your muscles were sore." OMG! SHUT UP! Who made these signs and thought they were a good idea?! "You went through 3 pairs of shoes." OK. That one was a LITTLE better, but still reminded me that I could kind of feel the road on my feet at this point.

The cool thing though, was that there was a turnaround and you could see your teammates on the other side. I waved to a couple of people on my team. Good distractions.

Coming out around mile 16 I saw Ramon! He ran with me awhile and warned me about the Pond area too. He said I looked good. I should keep my pace. I needed to find someone to follow in the pond area so that I would keep my pace because it was going to suck, but that once I got out it would be almost over and he would catch me at the end.

Then I saw Bill! He ran alongside me awhile and I had a million things to tell him. Like:

1. Pete said I was in 2nd for the team, and although I didn't necessarily believe him, it was still cool.
2. I had hit my 5 mile and 10 mile targets and was 2 minutes off of my 15 mile target, but felt like I could totally make that time up.
3. The hills were WAY worse than the Flying Pig. Like 10x worse.
4. I was still pretty much on track to smash 4 hours (minus those 2 minutes)
5. I still felt good. A little tired, but hey! It was mile 16!

I was super hungry though, so I decided to eat another GU at 18, even though I wasn't due for one until 20. While I was running in a straight line this girl decides to diagonally cut across the course RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I couldn't slow down so I just reacted.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh! Sorry!"

And then my ankle went into a hole while the rest of my body kept running. Nice.

Honestly though, I couldn't feel it (the twist). I WAS getting pretty sleepy though. It was here I ran into Pete again. I told him I was tired, but felt good. He ran with me for a LONG time and told me to find someone to run with in the pond area (again) otherwise I would fall off pace. It is boring. It is a highway. There is no one there to cheer for you.

I knew all this. But I was still not looking forward to it. And I WAS glad that everyone kept warning me because I HATE when people underprepare you for something.

I was getting more and more tired as I felt like I was running along the longest stretch of highway ever...and I wasn't even to the pond yet! I must have been slowing down too, because now my watch said my average pace was 9:28. Hmph.