City of Oaks Marathon

Race day is here. I got up at 5:00am, which wasn't too big of a deal since we turned back the clocks last night. I headed out around 5:20, so I could get good parking. More on that later. It was fucking cold. Somewhere in the 40's. I was dressed well, but could have used some gloves. It wasn't too bad since it warmed up quite nicely later on. We started off promptly at 7:00. It took a couple of minutes to get to the start with all the runners. It's not a big marathon, but the half is very popular since it's an easy course. The marathon course if very challenging even though they made it a little easier than last year.

I came out pretty strong. I was keeping a solid 10:30-ish pace most of the first half of the race. I befriended two woman at the start of Ebenezer. We ran together for a bit, so it helped pass the time, especially on Ebenezer, which I think is the hardest part of the course. It starts down hill, but then you have a few miles uphill that are not super steep, but are fairly long with a few flats mixed in. This is followed by a nice flat entry into Umstead and a nice downhill for about a mile. I made it all the way down that hill, which takes you to about mile 16, and that's where I started to lose it. So now we have two marathons, and I get hit at mile 16 with the same affliction. Quad cramps! I've never had this problem on any of my training runs. For whatever reason, it hits me race day. I did everything right. I had gels. I had some food. I had plenty of water and gaterade.

So now, I'm in the same boat as last time. My quads are twitching, and I have 10 miles to go. At least this time, I wasn't relegated to walking the rest of the way. I did have to stop and stretch, and I did take walk breaks, but I was able to run a lot more than I did before. So I just tried to keep moving forward. It was hard. There were a few times that my quads were giving out. Stretching helped a bit, but not enough at times. I think I realized at about mile 22 that I wasn't going to make my 5 hour goal, so at this point my goal is to finish as fast I can. The last couple of miles were not as flat as I was expecting, but I made it, and I finished with a chip time of 5:05:55, which is the one that I count for myself. Officially (gun time) I finished 5:08:21.

Overall, I feel good about this. I was off my goal but happy that I fought through and finished as strong as I could. Not once did I think about giving up.

I have to say this was a really good marathon. It was very well organized, and Raleighans were very supportive. The coolest thing about the race, though, was the inspirational marine. He ran the whole marathon with a flag pole down his shirt holding an American flag. This was not a small flag/pole. The pole probably spanned from the bottom of his back and well above his head. The longest part of the flag almost touched the ground. I saw him after and asked to shake his hand. He was truly inspiring.

Now on to my post race parking drama. After all the running and walking around for massage and food, I could not find my car. I knew I parked in a deck, but it was dark. I tried the one I thought was it, but it was empty. I asked around and found another, but no car. I'm so fucking tired at this point, and I want to go home. I wandered around some more and found out that I had the right deck in the first place, but the entrance to the other half of it was on the back end of it.

Good day, but man, I am shot. My legs are killing me...