Marshall U Marathon ~ Post-Race Thoughts

We made our way to Marshall University in Huntington, WV (only about a 3 hour drive from my house) on Saturday evening. Did a very chilly self-guided tour of the University (primarily the bookstore), went to the packet pick-up and pasta feed and were back at the hotel by 6:30. Where I pretty much immediately fell asleep until marathon time the next morning. 

When I woke up on Sunday I still felt like hell warmed over. MB told me not to run, the smart side of my brain told me not to run, my running nose told me not to run... and I decided NOT to run.... for approximately 10 minutes. Then my maniacal self got ahold of me and as another Marathon Maniac would tell MB later ... "She's Star Chasing!" Damn straight I am! If I didn't get this race into my schedule the way it is right now, I wouldn't make 30 marathon-states in 1 year and I would never get my 10th (and highest level) spinny star from the marathon maniacs. You've GOT to have keep your priorities straight!

So in attempts to give myself pneumonia keep my streak alive,  I went out in the 30-degree weather to run another marathon. When I decided to run I said I was going to run EASY and just get a 4:00... 3:59:59 was all I needed and I could do it without exerting too much of myself. 

Now boys and girls, who here can tell me what happens when I say I should to take a race easy? ....yep, Little Johnny in the front?

... LJ: You idiotically run like a banshee from hell

... Yes, that's correct.

Game Time... HUH!

I tried REALLY hard not to do it. I stayed in the middle at the start line, instead of going to the front so I couldn't keep a count of the women around and know what place I was in. Alas, it was meant to be. I didn't want to take my hands out of my sweatshirt because it was SO cold -- which also meant I wanted to take off and try to get my body warmed up! By the time I got to mile 3 I was running a 7:38 min/mile pace. .... Damn! 

I even tried to take a potty stop to slow down my time and get away from the few girls around me that I could see. But around mile 10 this old couple (likely from the pits of hell) just HAD to tell me I was in 7th place... damn them! So this is how the conversation in my head went...

Good Side: You ONLY need a 4:00! This race doesn't mean anything and you have Philadelphia coming up! Why don't you at LEAST slow down to a 7:45... maybe 8:00 pace. Save some energy. Hey, you can run a 9 min/mile pace for the rest of the race, put in a good effort, STILL pick up another BQ and go home without killing yourself and giving yourself pneumonia! 

Bad Side: HEY! There are women RIGHT THERE that you can SEE and they are BEATING YOU! You can catch them. I wonder what the awards are!? That one you saw take off is definitely out of your A/G... chances are if you catch at least 1 or 2, you can score if your A/G. HEY... while we're at it... wouldn't it be cool to get another 3:20-something.... ooh ooh or another PR!?!? Screw the cold... running is good for you! Hence, running hard must be REALLY good for you. Go for it! This is SO going to help you recover from your cold... I promise *Fingers crossed*




I ran a 3:25:04, was 6th overall and 1st in my A/G. I caught 2 people, but then 1 sneaky one came out of nowhere and caught me. ... you decide for yourself which side I listened to! 


The Race!
The race itself was very cold the whole time I was running-- warmed up a bit for some of the later finishers. The course wound us through the school, some parks, some parts of the "city" a few times. Nothing stand-out as was indicated on the comments on marathonguide. The support was pretty good. They DID do the flower memorial at mile 25. We were able to pick up a flower and carry it about 200 yards to drop it in a box to memorialize the victims in the plane crash in 1970. They also gave us football as we entered the stadium and we were able to carry them from endzone to endzone for quite the little photo-op! 


Post-Race!
There ended up being a ton of maniac in this race (probably because there are so few WV races). I was able to get a photo-op with the group that finished between 3:20 and 4:15.... then later with a group that finished around the same time MB did (~5 hours). I also got a massage, cheeseburger, and waited for MB to come into the stands so the DJ could harass her for me, yelling "MaryBeth is entering the stadium. There is a message from your daughter to move your butt!" Thank you MR. DJ! Muahahahahaha!

Marathon Maniacs Group Pic 1

Marathon Maniacs Group Pic 2

Patient Update!

Still sick... hacking up a lung and generally feeling very crappy. Good news? NO marathon this weekend!!! There is the Who Dey 5K (Cincinnati Bengals) that I will be participating in! I'm TRYING to take it easy and rest so I'll be ready to go in Philadelphia next weekend!!!

Happy Running,

Stephanie

"Run to Win" -Meb