SC Post-Race Thoughts and (More Importantly)... Boston Watch 2K11!

Ok, I really can't wait til the end for ...


Boston Watch 2K11!
Around 3:30 pm today, I was awoken from a little hangover nap to the sounds of my email notification on my phone. Andddd this is what I found...


"Dear Stephanie N. Arango,
This is to notify you that your entry into the 115th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18, 2011 has been accepted"

I went to the entrants list to confirm and there I was !!! I would have preferred if they didn't site my upcoming birthday age as I'm planning on celebrating the 1st anniversary of my 25th birthday instead. We'll let it go since I finally got my confirmation!

I'm so excited at this great news and I can officially say I'm registered for my 50th State Marathon... BOSTON 2011!!! 

Spinx Run Fest ~ Post-Race Thoughts!
Yesterday was the Spinx Run Fest Marathon in Greenville, SC. I got to meet a bunch of new maniacs/50-staters since I was staying with one (Nancy) and we met up with a bunch at the start-- including Gary and Morgan who were completing their 50-state quests at this race!

Maniacs at Spinx Run Fest

I asked Brent if he wouldn't mind if I ran with him. He laughed and said that I always say that then take off... but I stuck to my guns this time and ran with Brent the whole way! Brent is with me on this crazy marathon o' marathons... he's on week 5 of consecutive races and I'm on week 4. So he knows my pain. 

The course was very pretty swinging us through all these parks, down cute little streets, and winding into a baseball stadium where we finished running the whole perimeter of the field with the spectators up in the stands and a big jumbo-tron on the finish line! It was a tough race with lots of small-ish but steep hills through a good majority of the course. I'm sure the legs were feeling the combined impact of last weeks trail race and this race and were not too happy about it. 

I was very surprised at the number of spectators all over the city streets of the course. They were VERY excitable. The aid stations were a little far and few between-- especially as it started to heat up into the 60's and low 70's. They were pretty well supported though and some even had gels... including *ick* Accel Gel that tastes like battery fluid! 

Brent and I got to the finish around 3:52 *Sub 4:00 woohoo* and I even managed to do a cartwheel across the finish line!!!

Happy Halloween!

I DID run the race in costume... as a US Marine! Specifically, I was being my friend Kyle. One of my goals was to keep all of my costume accessories through the whole race. FAIL! In the first mile I started losing chunks of the ammo belt because they all interlocked and didn't like being jarred around. Eventually I lost the whole thing! I also lost some of the USMC letters. Wooops. I DID get a couple of "hoo rahs" from some studly marines running the race. I thought about slowing down to let them catch up, but I remembered the task at hand... all marathon in under 4:00!

Good race all around with good MM buddies. Can't wait for the next one. Oh right... that's this weekend. Up next...

WV- Marshall University Marathon!

Happy Running,

Stephanie

"Run to Win" -Meb