Delaware Marathon Race Report

I went into this run with one goal and one goal only....to have fun. And that's exactly what I did!! We were up bright and early around 3:45am and hit the road around 4:30. We got to the start in plenty of time and it was actually really relaxing waiting around for the race to start. So different than having those pre race jitters!! Things were very organized at the start and they were well stocked with port o' potties. In fact, they were the cleanest port o' pots I've ever seen. Literally a few minutes before the gun went off, I had to make an emergency bathroom trip and that sort of set the tone for how my stomach would feel for the remainder of the day. Par for the course with me...

The course is two loops, each loop having an out and back portion to it. Since it starts in Wilmington I expected a lot of city street running but thankfully this was not the case at all. We were in shade for the majority of the run, running along a river, park, zoo and a beautiful residential neighborhood. There was little to none spectator support but since I was running with Snowflake I didn't really care. Thankfully there were plenty of volunteers because without them, I would have ended up in another state. The course was so winding and there were a ton of turns. It was especially confusing when we dropped the half marathoners off at the finish because you couldn't pick the volunteers out from the crowds at the finish area.

I felt a little sluggish the first half of the race and questioned if I was going to be able to finish. My last long run was 18 miles which was over 3 weeks ago and I doubted if I had 26 miles in me. My achilles bothered me a little but my sciatica was really acting up. I had a lot of shooting pain that made me wince and at around mile 8 I thought I might just stop at the half. But the half came and went and when I knew I was half way done, I decided I was going to stick it out. Good thing I did because the back half of the race was great!

A little past the half way mark I had to make an emergency stop at the port o' pot and pretty much cut in front of a huge line of half marathoners who were done running and waiting to use the bathroom. Sorry, but I think a marathoner still running gets to do that. I sort of asked permission but the guy in line next didn't really have a choice. Unfortunately, that pit stop didn't really help my stomach and I suffered on and off through the rest of the race with bouts of feeling like I was going to crap myself.

I really found my groove the back half of the race. I was definitely tired and my legs were super heavy, but I was really enjoying myself. Around mile 20 my legs got a second wind and the rest of the race I felt incredible. Even though I was having so much fun running easy, I did think several times that I wished I was pushing myself and racing hard. I just can't suppress these racing feelings!!

I can honestly say, I've never smiled so much during a race. For once I wasn't wearing my "mean running" face as Andy calls it. I had so much fun out there and really enjoyed every second of it. With walking the water stops and taking a pit stop, we finished with a 4:11:50. About 20 minutes faster than we set out to do. It was my slowest marathon to date, but I'm completely fine with that. I set a goal and completely surpassed it.

Here are Snowflake and I around mile 17.5. When Andy saw this picture he said, "you need to run more races like this, look how happy you are!"

Post race I'm feeling great. I had some pretty bad twinges in my achilles but they have subsided. I had my last PT session this morning and am ready to kick Ultra training into high gear starting tomorrow!

And because I haven't posted my schedules in a while, here's my schedule for this week:
Mon - off (walk)
Tues - 7 mi / lift
Wed - 10 mi
Thurs - 7 mi
Fri - 20 mi
Sat - 18 mi
Sun - off / lift