Sunday, October 12, 2008

One Week After






The 2008 Twin Cities Marathon is a race that will remain etched in my memory for years to come. Completing career marathon #6 was a bit of a survival run because of the conditions but certainly another unforgettable one. I felt like I prepared myself very well in the final weeks leading up to the race and was full of energy when I arrived at the Dome Sunday morning. After running my warm-up with my good friend Justin Youngblom, we made our way to the starting line. I was in Corral 1 and was running a bit behind in getting to the line so once I reached my starting spot, I had only about 30 seconds before the horn blew and the race was underway. I was near the back of Corral 1 at the start so I spent about a mile just passing people and finding others that were near my ideal pace.

I quickly found a good group to run with and then the rains came. Despite getting totally soaked it was actually a lot of fun running in the pouring rain. I found myself in a good pack that stayed tight together running at a good pace, partly so we could all stay warm. Near mile 11 I saw my parents for the first time (they were at mile 7 but I didn't see them) cheering and going nuts in the pouring rain. That gave me a little shot of adrenaline and got me going. Not long after that the rains began to let up but the wind increased my legs started to get very cold. I ran with a guy from New Zealand for a couple miles around Lake Nokomis and talked with him for a while which made those miles go by much faster. I encountered him again at mile 18 and we ran stride for stride until the hill at St. Thomas when I was really struggling. He kept me going for about as long as I possibly could which I really appreciated.

I ran into my parents at miles 17 and 21 and they were now joined by my girlfriend and her mom, who had run the 10 mile earlier in the morning. I also saw my college cross country coach and his wife while I was struggling up the St. Thomas hill and my coach, Don Glover, was going absolutely nuts for me! He has always been an amazing encouraging man and a great motivator so he put a smile on my face again. From there it was a battle with Summit Avenue. I would call the battle a draw because I survived the final miles but I was nowhere near where I had hoped to be.

I ended up running 3:10:52, good enough to qualify me for Boston again, which is always awesome. I had hoped for a sub-2:59 but today just wasn't the day. A week later now, my body has recovered well and I'm getting back into running starting tomorrow. I won't be going to Boston this next spring because of the cost, so my plan right now is to most likely run the Green Bay or Fargo Marathon in May 2009. My serious training won't start for that until January so the next couple months are just going to be some good time to just enjoy running, get into good overall shape, and have some fun running a couple 5Ks that I always like doing: the Turkey Day 5K and the Reindeer Run.

I've also added some pictures on here from last Sunday's marathon.

1 comment:

SteveQ said...

Great race, given the weather. Can't believe Glover was so close to me and I didn't see him - I was watching at almost the same place - I was his JV assistant when he was coaching at White Bear Lake High School (you've got a great coach).