Finishing out the Season

So... how did it go in Richmond? Even though I didn't break my goal of running under three hours, I would have to still say it went great! My good friend Hunter French and I hit the road Friday afternoon to meet up with JJ White at the event check-in and packet pic-up. Once we arrived, we roamed around and checked some of the booths of interest to get what freebies we could before heading out to fuel up for the Marathon. After a great meal and feeling the need to go to bed at 7:30 we all finally retired for the evening and BOOM faster than I fell asleep, it was time to get up and get ready.

After getting everything set up including my Hammer Nutrition supplements, Runwell gear, and visiting the bathroom a few times, we hit the road. It was supposed to be only a 20% chance of rain, but we quickly figured out that was definitely not the case. We made our way to the Marriott to meet up with the Fleet Feet Roanoke crew and cheer them on and then it was go time!

Well... as if the rain wasn't all ready enough, right off the bat it started off crazy. I go to find bag check and am told its four blocks away and I have four minutes to go before the start! Great!! So now I am doing my best football dodging moves to find the bag check and make it back. After getting to the check in and heading back to the start line I realize I am not going to make the official gun time so I just relax and take my time to move in with the crowd to go over the start line and activate my chip. I hit the line and now I am officially running the Richmond Marathon for time. Even with the rain I feel pretty good clipping off 6:40 pace miles with ease all the way to the river. As I start making my way through mile ten, I get hit with a major urge to attack the first Port-O-Potty I can find. The problem is there isn't one in sight and I am getting desperate! As I begin fearing that some unsuspecting neighbor is about to get a very bad surprise, I finally see a row of green heaven and break into an almost full on sprint to the first open door I can find.

Two plus minutes later, I am happy again but now my legs are not in agreement with my request to run and getting back up to speed takes a bit. I manage to push forward at a pretty good clip until about mile seventeen where now my hips are beginning to rebel. Between miles eighteen through twenty-three both hips are aching just as they did in training and all I kept telling myself is "Do not stop to rest... its a trap!" I knew that if I listened to my legs request any chance I had of going under three would be finished for sure so I pushed on at a now much slower 7:30 pace. Just as last year, once I started making my way back into the city any pain that I thought I was having began to take a back seat to the feelings of accomplishment I was being overwhelmed with. As I topped the hill and headed down to the finish line I high-fived anyone in the crowd that was willing and cheered the whole way down. I was so glad to be done no matter what my time was I wanted to celebrate! An official time of 3:04:05 was not the goal I set for myself but it was still a PR and a damn good time so I was pleased with my effort in spite of the obstacles.