Twin Cities Marathon (3:49:58)

Sorry for the lateness of this post but it has been a busy day. We got up at 6:15 for an 8:00 start. My dad lives 15 minutes from the starting line. The temperature was 41 degrees when we got there. They opened up the Metrodome so we were able to get back inside and use restrooms before the race. We didn't go outside until about 15 minutes before race time. We were in corral 2 only because Andi had not run a recent marathon to use for qualifying time. So we started behind the 5:30 pace group! It took at least 6 miles to break ahead of all the slower runners and by then the course narrowed making it hard to pass other people. Our second 5k was faster than our first and we were able to get back on track with an 8:30 pace. We went through the half in 1:50:20 (about 2 minutes ahead of pace) we both were starting to get some calf tightness that only got worse, especially for Andi. Then we made a port-a-potty stop at mile 14 and started to feel a little better. The pace started to slow for us around mile 18 and the last 10 miles were tough. We really had to grind them out. Andi's calves were cramping worse and her legs were getting heavier. At this point we started to walk through the water stops which helped loosen her legs enough to start at a faster pace again. The weather was beautiful the whole way with temperatures staying in the 40's and a slight breeze that kept us nice and cool. We were almost overdressed. There is a net uphill from mile 20 to mile 23 but after that it is a flat and downhill finish. With about 2 miles to go we were able to maintain 8:30 pace again. I started to do the math in my head and could see the finish when I realized, if we pushed it in we could still be under 3:50. We crossed the line and Andi stopped her watch at 3:50:00. Our official time was 3:49:58!

Both of our legs were not fully prepared for 4 hours of running today. I had not run more than 13 miles at one time since our 18 mile run in Santa Clarita on September 5th, nearly a month ago. Andi had never been past 19.

I was very proud of her for grinding out those last ten miles and finishing strong. She did great! This was her first marathon since 2005 in Los Angeles (which we also ran together). It was great to run another marathon with her. Although it was tough we got through it together.

My Garmin got thrown off big time after going under a tunnel in the first mile. I was over a mile off by the finish. After reviewing our splits online I realized that our pace did not suffer that much until the last 10k (which was 56:05 or 9:01 pace). Including our potty stop and walks through the water stops we were very close to our goal of 3:45.

Our splits were:

5k: 26:51

10k: 52:42

Half: 1:50:20

30k: 2:40:30

20mi: 2:53:07

Marathon: 3:49:58

I maintained my streak of no marathons over 4 hours!

This was my 7th marathon and Andi's 5th.

45 year old Colleen DeReuck won the US Masters Title and just missed the overall and US Women's Title in a time of 2:32:37. Amazing!

Here are some pictures from after the race. The best post run food was the chicken or vegetable soup broth! It was warm, salty and wet and it hit the spot!

After the run we hurried home to shower, change, get in the car, and get to the ball game. We only missed the first three innings and had to walk up 18 rows to get to our seats. The prolonged sitting was the hardest part, but the Twins won 13-4 and forced a tiebreaker on Tuesday...which we got tickets for after the game! It was quite a day.

Only one lady at the game commented on our shirts!