a barrel of this

Well, I did it. It was torturous but, it is done. I felt good between the 10K and half way mark as I was trying to lengthen my stride in order to keep my left knee pain under control. Looking at my split times it would appear that I was doing well until mile 23 but, honestly I feel like I hit the wall before that. I ended up walking quite a bit but, I just wanted to finish to see what it would be like, time be damned.

Bib #4934:

• START: 8:16:15 EST
• 10K: 0:51:54
• HALF: 1:43:56
• 23M: 3:23:47
• FINISH: 04:02:07

Times:

• Chip Time: 04:02:07
• Clock: 04:03:11
• Pace: 9:14
• Placement Overall: 3650
• Gender: 2772
• Division: 478

My friend Dan nicknamed me Team Gumby before the race since my knee was in bad shape. My friends Rob and Jennifer took that and ran with it making Gumby signs which were crucial since I spotted Kristin holding one up post-race. I might otherwise still be trudging around looking for my friends. I nearly burst into tears when I found them, as the race was finally over. I was very relieved to find Dan, Kristin, Kieca, and Sasha and sorry I just missed Jackie. 4 hours is a long time.

I also got some assistance from Liz out on the course. She managed to spot me and supply water and a much need conversation late in the race. Unfortunately, I was packed in with a group both times I went by Kieca so she didn’t spot me until the end. There were a lot of spectators out on the course, more so than the SF marathon. Probably because the SF marathon starts at the crack of dawn.

Now I’m going to enjoy the last few days of my vacation, albeit hobbling around with blisters and mushy knees. I’ll post pictures when I return home. I’m a little bit bummed to not have cracked the four hour mark but really, I didn’t expect to finish at all. Now that I have one under my belt I can rest, heal, and try to improve from here.

• Personal condition: Fair

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 30th, 2005 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.