I don’t think we could have had a better day for Glass City marathon this year! It was 40 degrees and sunny at the start, and near 55 by the time most marathoners were finishing.
This year I wore arm warmers [socks] and gloves, but took them off around mile 4. I even saved my arm warmers because I thought they were cute 🙂 The glasses and hat were awesome because it was sunny the whole time.
My family targeted leaving at 5:45am, but you know us, we were a few minutes late. That seemed to make all the difference this year because we were backed up in traffic trying to get into The University of Toledo. I was starting to get nervous about it, but we ended up being right on time to meet our other relay team member at 6:30. After a quick bathroom stop, I headed to the start line while my relay time hopped on the shuttle buses. My team reported that the buses were a great resource, and they would definitely use them again. Shuttle buses in this picture at the start…
And lots of runners waiting to start!
Miles 1-5 9:15, 8:50, 8:48, 8:58, 8:58
The race was a bit congested for the first two miles. Always to be expected, but it seemed that more people were not properly positioned in the corrals. Didn’t they see the pacer signs?? After I got into my grove, my pace settled in a little under 9:00. My legs were feeling good – pain free!! What a happy feeling! We also went up and down a few hills.
Miles 6-8 9:07, 9:08, 9:30
The first relay exchange point was at mile 6.6, and I handed off to Alan. We got to run together for about a mile, and I was starting to struggle a bit. Was getting a bit sore. Those little hills were challenging me!
Miles 9-13.1 9:16, 9:17, 9:21, 9:27, 9:21, 9:17
By mile 9, my hamstrings were yelling at me. I was pretty well convinced by this point that I no longer wanted to run “distance”, and training for a Fall marathon would be out of the question. I can’t even run pain free past 8 miles! We had a long stretch of road to get to mile 12 and I started to see people walking up hills. Must. Not. Give. In.
Luckily there was a downhill section for the last half mile of the race, and then my struggle into the Glass Bowl stadium where the race finished. I tried to finish “strong”, but I was pretty much giving it my all. I was very happy to hear friends calling my name as I went through the finish chute. That’s always a great motivation!! However, finishing a race and having no one at the finish line is kinda lonely! I needed to go find my friends!
Finish time: 2:01. I was hoping I’d get sub 2:00, but my body was not on the same plan. Still, not a bad time, so I’m happy with it.
At the end I was warm and choose not to grab a space blanket. Oh man, that was a bad idea because once I cooled down I was freezing! Luckily I packed a jacket and some pants in the drop bag and I hung out waiting for my relay team to arrive almost 2 hours later. I hung out at Rally Row (mile 26) and cheered on friends as they finished.
Pretty soon, I heard my daughter was making her way into the finish area, and I was reunited with my relay team. It was great to see them! My daughter cruised right past me as I tried to keep up. Nope, that was not happening. I happily let my son and daughter finish ahead, while the three adults followed them in.
Finish time for our relay team: 3:50! We did good!
We got to visit with a lot of friends because pretty much everyone we knows runs at least one of the events at this race! I do have to tell you a story about my awesome friend. Last week I had the opportunity to give away a bib, so I offered her a full marathon bib. She is a great runner and has run Boston before, but has also struggled with some injuries lately. I asked her if she was back to running distance yet. She said that she’d run 14 miles, but would “wing it” and would love to run the full marathon! I was shocked to see her coming in with a 3:33 finish time, and qualifying for Boston!!! Holy crap. Skills.
In the end, it was a successful race day for many of my friends. PR’s a plenty. I went home, took some Aleve, and an hour nap. Then I felt like I was going to survive 🙂
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Q: Have you ever run on a relay team?
Q: Do you like hilly races?
So wait, what distances did the members of your family run? That is awesome your friend can wing it and BQ!
Me 6.6 miles, Alan 6.3, Dawn 3.1, Zach 4.9, Sydney 5.3. Although Zach’s watch said 5.3, but those are the advertised distances. Alan probably should have swapped to 3.1 but he wanted to “fulfill his commitment” and my friend hadn’t trained for 6.3 miles!
Congrats to you on the half marathon and the relay, and on your friend for her “surprise” BQ! This whole race looks so well organized and I’m glad you guys had a great day for it, especially because you worked so hard to not only train for the race but also be a big part of it with marking the course and promoting it. I bet it was great to see everyone smiling and happy (well, maybe not miles 20-26.2) and know that the race you worked hard on went so well.
I hope you have a good recovery! And I hope you can continue to train and maybe do a Fall marathon. As hard as it is for me to run very much right now I haven’t ruled my Dec. marathon out yet! You just never know.
I never realized how many people are involved in putting on a race that size. So many details that need to all come together at the same time!
As for my recovery, once again I’m shocked that the things I think will really bother me, do not. I’m feeling pretty good today (day after). I’ll still be taking a while off for recovery, but not sure how long yet. You are right – don’t rule that Dec marathon out. It certainly could happen for you!