When Man Plans, God Laughs

I heard that on Monday the day after the marathon. 

I love it.  And I am certain it is indeed true.

There is absolutely nothing anyone can do about what Mother Nature is going to hand you at any given time, but there are 'expecteds' but even then ... I knew before I even left for Chicago that it wasn't going to be what I had trained for, and I came to grips with that, but also holding out hope that the cold front due on Mon/Tues would speed up.

It didnt.

I am not going to go into great lengthy detail about the fun times that were had on Friday and Saturday, and what we did, or how wonderful of a day I had the day AFTER the marathon just doing my own thing all over the city (pictures on Facebook and at some point I will post a few here)...but we did have a grand time on Friday, and on Saturday, doing a thing or two (shopping and lunch) and then dinner with everyone else at 5:30pm for their carb loading.  I dont carb load the night before, but instead will eat more on the day before that and then a bit of a heavier lunch the next day.  Thats it.  For example, for dinner the night before, I had a cup of chicken broth and a small salad.  I had a slice of deep dish pizza at lunch (Gino's East which is FANTASTIC by the way!!!!!)

I am also going to try and keep the post as short as possible (I might even bullet point it!), because the saying is:  You can't run your next one until you forget your last one.  So thats what I am trying to do...because I have big goal for the White Rock (half) and then I want Houston to be my redemption...God willing (and Mother Nature too).  And I need to put what just happened behind me.

Here is a link to an excellent slideshow of photographs taken during the race...they don't however tell the whole story...to get that you would have had to be right there in the heat heart of it...

So here we go:

• Wake up at 5am
• Walk out the hotel door at 6:15am
• Walk 2 blocks to the start of the open corral.  Score.  No one there yet!  Are you kidding me?  Super duper yay yay!
• Sit, wait and listen to the little director person then tell us at 7:15 the gate separating us from the D corral will drop and we move up.
• Time to go.
• Time to REALLY go.
• 2 miles in I swerve off to a little parking lot to the left of the course, pop a squat in front of the only car there and pee'd.  Yep.  Sure did.  About 20 feet off the course with 45000 runners running by me.  When you gotta go you gotta go.  I never had to go again after that.  I dont think I had to go for almost 12 hours afterwards either.  You just sweat out everything you were putting in, along with a thick layer of salt.
• 5K, 10K, they all just pass.  Its not too bad, the temp, but it was getting warmer and I knew what was coming.  I would say, if I remember, the first half is pretty much all shaded, some because of the time and some because of the buildings.
• 13.1 came in at 2:15.  Not bad, though I knew this would be pushing my B goal of 4:29, so I just kinda stayed with that goal in my head for as long as I could.  I was still in front of the 4:30 pace group, and was still seeing 4:00 plastered on some peoples backs.  I had obviously adjusted my goals and pace because of the weather. 
• I dont recall any splits in my head until mile 20.  That was the one I had to be focused on no matter what goal I was going for, it just differed.  If I could be at mile 20 at 3:25 I had a shot still at Goal C.
• At mile 20 I was at 3:34. 
• Damn.
• Miles 18 to 20 were rough.  The wheels were wobbling.  The alert level was at High Risk.
• Miles 22 the wheels just came off.  All at once.  I saw the alert level at 2 different stops at Maximum and it just did me in mentally.  Along with all the 'dead bodies' dropping around me and the 'walking wounded'.  It was all I could do to run as far as I could before I would take 30sec to a 1 min walk. 
• Tried the iPod at this point.  Pointless.  All it did was annoy me and it lasted for about 3 songs.
• Miles 22-25 I was passing people with 3:55, 4:00, 4:15 and 4:30 swatches on their back.  Well I was doing better than they were.  There was that.
• It was during mile 22 where I wanted to quit.  But then I thought of a few people, first my Coach, and what they would say or think, so I didnt.  Besides I had trained so hard, ran this far already, and had already paid $60 for a finishers shirt.  No way was I quitting.  I wanted to be able to wear that shirt and not sell it on ebay and to have that medal.  I earned it.
• Somewhere in here the 4:30 pace group passed me.  What took them so long?  :O)
• I got a few bursts of energy here and there and took advantage of it.
• Last mile and I was so happy knowing it would soon be over.
• 800m sign oh how I love you
• The hill before the finish how I dont love you (but you werent that bad considering)...I pushed myself at the fastest gear I had and was passing so many people on that hill/ramp I felt great knowing full well once I got to the top I was going to turn left and it would be there waiting for me.
• 100m from the big Finish sign
• I mustered up my best form and stride and smile that I could at that point and brought it on home just like a big girl
• And then I just cried just like a little girl

The positives:

• No issues (GI or otherwise) like I had at Houston in January
• I am well trained and I proved that to myself in this race, the conditions just didnt allow me to get it done like I had planned
• Thats the fastest 1/2 and 20 mile splits I've ever clocked in a full marathon which is awesome since I was being conservative to begin with; and the 1/2 split was seriously no effort outside of my comfort zone thats for sure
• I was way off of a personal worst whereas most of those I knew there had to settle for one, and we're talking WAY over their PW.  Personally there was a cut off for me, and thankfully I didnt go over that, because as I told one person, I think I would have slit my wrist had I gone over that time.  Not going to say because I dont want to offend anyone
• It was faster than my NYC in 2008; I dont think I can count this because duh...that should have been a no brainer, but I'm reachin' here folks ;o)  Just wasnt faster than my standing PR
• I finished strong and on my own two legs and I never ever stopped

Next Up:
October 24 - Houston Half Marathon (2 person relay/didn't think I would be ready for a fast 1/2 so soon after Chicago)
November 25 - Turkey Trot (probably the 5K not the 10K)
December 5 - Dallas/White Rock (Half Marathon)
January 30 - Chevron Houston Marathon (Full)