WooHoo! Crossed the finish line (barely) in (now official) 4:18:05! Wow does the Marathon kick your arse hard tho. I did learned somthing tho. Respect the Marathon, huge, cause otherwise you are in for a lot of (fkucing) pain. I made a silly mistake for sure, but I was able to hold it together with a little help from friends the last 4 miles.
Wake up at 4:30 with a nervous/excited feeling

Kitchen for an egg and a peanut butter and banana sammy

Quick shower

Geared up

Arrive at the location 6:30, took a shot of 5hr energy, take some pix, chat with friends, and I am beaming with excitement. Line up at 6:50, down a 1/2 of Agave #9. Breath, try to find some mojo, and blammo! The race starts.

I had a great, really, great 13.1 miles. Faster than I had anticipated, felt absolutely in tune, no issues at all, totally positive attitude. We started at a nice 60 degrees (nice, so I thought). A little overcast to hide the sun and a light breeze. Mile 1 I am running with Barb and Beth Malone (the one I borrowed on a training run a few times). Chatting it up, dodging others that were slower. That was the one bad thing - they didn't have corrals, but they did have places for each 30 second pace. But NO ONE was lined up correct. So we couldn't get any closer than 10:30. We wanted the 9:00, and I planned on doing an average 8:30-8:40 the entire 26.2.

Beth is a very aggressive dodger. To the point where I must have pissed someone off because some dude started to rub at me. I was dodging with the two ladies and I must have cut some one off. He even said, at one point, "take that". I didn't think I did anything, but the addrenalin kicked in, and anger got the best of me, so I started to pace him and soon lost Mrs and Doc. Took me about 5 minutes to cool down, but I was looking for a point to rub him back. I regret this. I now wish I just said a prayer for him. Mistakes happen in a crowded Marathon.  I didn't see him the rest of the race.

It takes me 12 miles to get to my goal pace after mile 1. For 12 miles, I was rockin. Every mile someone would shout out "Go T-roy".  Kenosha Running club members, Ms. Jodi, Brian H.  I keep telling myself after each Garmin bleep - "T-roy you have got to slow down". Every time I did slow, someone shouted at me, and, if you know me, I eat attention up. Here are my stats for 1-13:

1: 8:43 took a sip of H2O
2: 7.33
3: 7:26
4: 7:23 took a half glass of G2 after this, every H2O stop was hit for water and a splash on the face, it started to get warm and sweat was abundant.
5: 7:29
6: 7:47
7: 7:49
8: 7:50
9: 7:50
10: 8:07
11: 8:08 Split off from the half'ers
12: 8:32
13: 8:33

Seriously, I felt great! Really good in fact. Look down at my watch and I hit the 13.1 in 1:45 ish. So I had plenty of give in my avg to meet my 3:45:00 goal time. So I start to enjoy what was in front of me (IYKWIM - hey, Barb wasn't around, it is OK, and she knows Doc Malone and I do this all the time together anyway, runners have amazing arses).

The 14th mile went into new territory that I have never run on. They made a switch to the course last minute. I was on gravel. A different feel. Last night it rained so it was dry on the top but still soft from the night before. I felt my shoe rubbing on my left foot arch. Ended up blistering. I stop at the H20 stop to refil my sole H20 bottle (I ran with a belt) and opened my cliff bar (never had one, another mistake). Decided to walk and eat. Still feeling fine. Put tunes in my ear for the first time, the song was "Meet me half way", but it starts out "ooohhh ooohhh ooohhh, I can't go any further than this" - SKIP (Quickly)

Then mile 15....

Let me start this off by letting you know what I didn't do. When I ran my 20's and 22 miler, I had a snack and a short break at 14-15ish miles. A small bag of cookies, a special K bar, whatever. This time I did not. Big mistake. Especially since I was too full of energy the first half. UGH! BUT, looking ahead, I knew my parents were at mile 18 with something for me to chew on.

Mile 15 I started to notice a cramp right above my right knee. OK, got one before, slowed it down to work it out. It wouldn't go away and kept getting tighter and tighter. So just as I decide to walk my legs gives out, I hit the gravel pavement. WOW, this charley horse is killing me. I do not know what to do. Twisting and pulling (never felt this in my life). I force myself to my feet, walking and hopping it off slowly. Starting to talk to myself to "get over it and stride". Well it goes away for now. Good thing parents are ready to give me something sugary in a few miles. Take a swig at the G2 and have a little Agave #9. I really slow the pace down, walking when needed:

Mile 15: 10:18
Mile 16: 10:51
Mile 17: 10:08

I run into my parents and they are asking if I am ok. I tell them I am cramping bad and walking a bit. They have nothing in their hands. Turns out, Barb told my parents that is a no-no to hand racers stuff. Thats OK, at Mile 19, the turnaround, there should be GU and oranges.

Mile 18: 10:42

Uh oh, Gu is Cinn-apple. I took one , hesitating, and refilled my bottle. Attempted to do the Gu but the second I bring it to my nose memory took the best of me. I threw up the last time I had one of these. I put a little in my mouth but had to spit it out. Also, no oranges at the turnaround, GREAT.

Mile 19:11:35

I feel depressed. And I start talking aloud, trying to motivate myself to go thru the pain. I see my parents again, and still, nothing in their hands. They ask again if I am OK, I tell them that I just ran a mile in like 11 minutes. "I am not ok, I hurt, call Mrs T- please". Mrs T- would know what to do - She'd come and meet me a bit closer than she planned, and send Doc Malone even closer. Maybe bring me something sugary to eat.

Mile 20: 12:54
Mile 21: 12:01 Getting very upset at myself, try on some tunes again.

Mile 21.5 I slap to the ground. Don't worry, my hands slapped the ground. But it looked like I smacked my forehead to those behind me. My leg gave away again unexpectedly. WOW, what pain. Three Marathoners stopped and asked me if I was ok, I see a Navy recruit (who were all over the course) running toward me, so I tell them "I am fine and help is on the way" and pointed to the Navy dude. I said a "thank you very much, but get going please!" My face was sincere as possible and voice calm. Navy dude helps me up and asks if I am ok. I walk a bit more and see Doc Malone ahead (he's cheering everyone on, and doing a good job at it. Doc is awesome!). Start to run as I do not want him to see me hurting. I then see Mr Dan, he teaches with Barb and ran the half and had steam to help me out too. "Thanks guys, I am out of steam and I need to walk".

I keep talking aloud, saying things like "I've made it this far before. No way was this supposed to happen. What did I do wrong. That first half was so awesome." Rich Davey's, the friend from Cinci I trained with, voice pops in my head - "Glycogen".

Mile 22, 12:09



Doc Malone and Mr Dan were very supportive. "Run just a block, see how you feel" I hear from Doc M. Start running and Doc says I look great, good form, smile on my face. "Do you have any sugar" I hear. No one does. Doc Malone asks if I had anything other than the G2 or Gu on me. "You are cramping because you are out of sugar, not out of steam. Mrs T- is up ahead to take you in. T-roy, I am a little dissapointed in you that you don't have a rabbit". It puts me in a good mood. Sugar on the way, I think!

Mile 23: 10:56

Barb snapping pix and sees I am hurting, but still very supportive. No sugar (besides herself tho.)  She picks me up and I start walking again, and a hill is ahead. Mrs T- says "Lets start running after the hill k". The rest of the way, I jog and walk, jog and walk.

Mrs T- asks me to do my math at one point - If I can do math, my head is right-all clear. I start to ball, I actually cry.  I say "Mrs T- I don't know where I am". I was asking for mileage, so I could to the math, but she tells me "We're in Carol Beach - the Dunes". Big brain fart and it tells me to walk again and almost stop, hugely depressed now. I started to ball again saying "I can't finish, my legs are in too much pain" They'd shake when I walked. But then Mrs T- tells me, in ST's voice, "ST would say you came to far to even think that". She was so right, thank GOD! I decided to listen this time.  She also tells me not to get upset in front of the kids.  They'd get scared.  All of the sudden, I get a burst of energy.

Mile 24: 12:56
Mile 25: 11:27
Mile 26: 13:08

Decide I am not stopping again once I see the finish line (from 25.8ish to 26.2). At the 26.1 I see my kids, Doc Malone's kids, parents and Inlaws. They are all holding their hands out for a high-5.  Posters in the air saying "Go Troy Go".

Mile 26.2: ??? Forgot to turn off Garmin. I see Oranges and bananas and don't even reach out to get my medal. Went caveman on the orange and banana.

Family comes by at the finish and Dad has some string cheese and hands it to me and also gives me a big hug, which I haven't had in a long time. We normally just but-heads (its our affection thing), but the hug was awesome.

Also ran into another running club buddy, says he finished but didn't like his time. His first Marathon too. I tell him, you just finished a marathon, you did great. Little chit chat and off I go to the lawn to meet up with family again.

At the end, there were Brats and Beers, but I started to freeze my arse off. Shivering was not helping my cramps, I was very tired and literally turning purple. So we headed home so I could jump in the hawt-tub and then ice my legs.  Getting into the car was a chore, legs started to cramp and I jump down to the ground once.  WOW, these cramps are killers.

Whew. I am not at all angry at myself for those small, yet devastating decisions. I just finished a marathon. I know EXACTLY what I did wrong and how to fix it. Very educational about what limits I can push my body to do. If this were an actuarial exam, I just passed with a 6, but am requesting the errors to see what I did wrong. I now feel good enough to go have a nice dinner courtesy of the owner of Twisted Cuisine.

I will do another, as I am sure I will be asked. But I need a babysitter for the next one. I thought that was what egon, my virtual running partner, was for. I need someone chirping in my ear.

Every time I talked to myself above, I was thinking what Rich would be saying to me. He was yelling at me during the first half, but supportive at the later half.