Kudos and a big THANK-YOU to my coach Steve Ashbaker for coaching me to a 3:31:07, a 13 minute PR! I was so excited at the end of the race! And wet, cold and windburned! Thank-you also to the BBK's! I never would have gotten up at 4:30 and 5:00 all summer long to run all those miles without you guys! You also make all those miles fun and entertaining.
Cheris, Michelle N. and I lined up by Bill, Mr. 3:30 pacer. We started running when he did, and then suddenly, he was gone and we couldn't see him anymore. So we were left to set our own pace. The first mile was a little slow, we got faster as people spread out. Julie and Angela caught us as we headed up Veyo. That was really fun to run all together for awhile. They got ahead of us at Veyo, and then because of different bathroom breaks, etc, we didn't all stay together. Cheris and I were able to stay together the whole marathon which was very motivational!
At half way we were about 3 minutes behind our goal. We were able to pick it up and finish close to our goal time of 3:30. Overall, I was very pleased. I have some new training goals to try to get me to my new marathon goal next year.
It was great to see so many people I knew - BBK's and from the blog. You all make running and racing even more fun! |