We then went to check in at the International Inn (The Cuddle and Bubble) which my brother suggested. As far as hotels go this one was pretty much a dump - unlike other couples themed hotels we have stayed at this one was pretty shabby. The plus to this spot was it had a buffet breakfast (for free) and was 3 blocks from the expo center (start and finish line).
We attended the pasta dinner and the guest speakers Bill Rodgers and Greg Meyers were both informative and entertaining. What I took away from it was - they ran the course today and the conditions were lousy - and on race day they would be worse. Suck it up and run ...
I went to bed debating what to wear - I had already decided I would wear my bike jacket, a base layer and a t-shirt ... had my cold weather bike gloves and decided to go with shorts instead of tights. When we woke up and checked the weather the forecast started at 39 degrees and then dropped a degree each hour as rains increased - oh boy! Ate breakfast of eggs, a glass of orange juice and half of a banana - had some hash browns also but they were lousy so didn't eat all of them. Lydia went back to the room with plans to meet me at the 13 1/2 mark and I walked the 3 blocks from my hotel to the race start - pretty much getting cold and wet before the race where I further got cold and wet.
My goal was to run the first half at around 2 hours and then increase my pace for the second loop. The course was packed with runners and despite the wind and rain many people were cheering people on during the first loop which included some 3000 participants in the half marathon. The poor weather and the threat of a possible cancellation kept away hundreds - I believe between the half marathon, marathon, and marathon relay there were 5000 registered and there were not that many out there. Lydia met me near mile 14 and I switched out my empty bottles on my fuel belt for full ones - and she passed me a Zico. My nutrition for the first half was on point - I ate at mile 5 (a Clif Bar) and 10 (a gel) and I had consumed 24 ounces of eFuel and 10 ounces of water. But that last 5 miles back to the starting line had a head wind and I knew that a 4 hour marathon, and a negative split was not in my future. I asked my wife to look for me in the 4:15 to 4:30 range and continued on. I continued at my first half pace until reaching the road with the war memorials where the road had become a small stream. Not like my feet were not 100% saturated at this point, but now it was bothering me. I never hit a wall per se but the mind games definitely started on mile 17 where there was the slight incline "the hill". I did not even notice it on the first loop but the second loop my calves responded first and then I started second guessing my intelligence in not wearing tights (I wore shorts) and here I realized if I closed my fists I could squeeze off a pint of water from my gloves. I switched to a run-walk at this point starting at run 5 minutes walk 1 ... and by the time I reached mile 20 I was down to run 3 minutes walk 3. The volunteers that were still out in the torrent (from mile 16-23 I experienced the heaviest rains all were thanked by me as I struggled to run - I stopped looking at my watch as it had decided to fog up and basically die on me (lasted 2+ years - my Timex Ironman) ... Headwind humbled me from mile 23-24 but I ran that one at an arthritic pace before getting a wicked cramp at the 24 mile marker. As I stopped (for the only time during the race) and grabbed my leg a polic officer asked if I was ok - I said something along the lines of "bad cramp' he asked me if I needed medical and I said I would crawl before I stopped or something like that and he told me something about it being a bad idea because I would not see any rocks or glass because of the depth of the puddles. Ugh ... I plodded on and eventually heard the finish and tried to run in - they were playing "party Rock" as I crossed my first marathon finish line ... happy to be done, content that I accomplished a goal but unsatisfied with my time so I guess I will have to do another one ...
I don't know if I could have crapped the bed much worse on the second loop. If I had just run from the start at an 8:20 and pushed to maintain that I think I could have gone to the same 17 mark where I fell apart, and have gotten there much sooner. I don't know - this was my first try at the distance and was using this as a mental thing more than anything. The next morning it was a sunny and clear 36 degrees on the cape ... if I could control the weather I am fairly certain I would have run considerably better.
After I finished, Lydia (she was in the rain cheering me across the finish) and I went into the expo center and she got me some hot chocolate and tomato soup. I think I knocked back one of each and then stripped off my drenched jacket, shirt and underarmor shirt. I put on a dry shirt and sweat shirt and had another soup and hot chocolate. My legs were like rocks and I started to shiver and could not stop. Lydia went back to the hotel to get the car since she didn't think I could walk back - honestly I didn't want to so I was good with that. A paramedic came over and gave me blankets and told me to bundle up that it looked like I was suffering from hypothermia. I did as I was told until my wife returned then went back to warm up at the hotel.
In hindsight, I guess it was colder than I thought - I was out there longer than I had anticipated but while running I was never "cold" just wet and miserable. In training I ran in a lot of cold - with often icy and snowy conditions but I have only run a dozen times in rain - never anywhere near this distance - and never to the point that the roads were flowing rivers. I guess I need to train more in the rain.
As far as events go - the organizers did an awesome job. Very well run event - cannot hold the weather against them. The expo and pasta dinner were well done. Guest speakers Bill Rodgers and Greg Myers were both entertaining and informative - and I got to see one of them out on the course during the race. Volunteers were awesome to stay out there in dismal conditions and the Barnstable Police were extremely supportive.
| 04:34:37 | 26.200001 miles | 10m 29s min/mile | |||
| Age Group: | 5/7 | ||
| Overall: | 265/385 | ||
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