The race was scheduled to start at 6:30am and I realized I'd have to be up and driving by 2:30 to make it there, yuck! A fellow maniac, Sam, and his wife, Tiffany,who live near the race, offered me their very comfortable couch and I couldn't resist! I was so thankful! Sam also picked up my race package on Friday and saved me an extra trip to OC...whew! I got up there Saturday night and had a great time hanging out and chatting with them.
OC Marathon had new race directors this year and did a pretty good job of organizing this race. They did FAIL on the porta potties...there couldn't have been more than 20 at the start for, I dunno, like 8,000 runners. It was bad.
My only goal this week was to run hard enough to beat my time at Hard Corp and remain injury free. I was pretty nicely situated in the corral. I wished Sam well, he was aiming for a sub 3 and hung out and talked with Jeff, a RW friend, who was running the half.
The race started off with a nice gentle downhill slope the first several miles. I was feeling good but every time my garmin beeped a mile, I was noticing I was running sub 8's and sorta kicking myself...too fast. By the 13.1 mile, I was at 1:44:xx which put me on track for a 3:30 finish. heh. That would be nice.
I was passed by a girl named Cindy and caught back up with her at around mile 17 or so. She was aiming for a BQ of 3:40 but started to fade. I stayed with her a bit but she started walking so I ran back and offered her my last gu and she took it. I regretted that by mile 21 when I started fading and cramping. Oh well. I knew I could still go sub 3:40.
At mile 23, Brandy showed up with her kiddos and I was so happy to hear someone cheer for me! She took a bunch of pictures...don't I look happy?
:insert chick commentary: I can't believe my thighs are THAT big :end of chick chat:
I saw her again at mile 26 but at that point I just kept hoping the course would be short, I was DONE! No such luck. When I rounded the final corner, I gave it my all. Finished in 3:36:28 and got another 3rd place in my age group. Got to hang out with friends at the finish and had a nice breakfast at IHop with everyone. A really, really good time!
All in all, it was a great race, I liked the course (many didn't), and I plan on doing it again next year.
Last night a Navy Helicopter crashed in the mountains near the trail we will be running this weekend. We won't find out until tomorrow if the race is on. I'm on the edge of my seat.
1 comment:
You know - you folks amaze me. You are running back to back weekends, and you can still manage a 3:40 - at what you term as 75%. I bow to you!
Great job. Hopefully they will work the kinks out for next year. I also heard that the water stations were way understaffed - but you were probably past them by the time thr crowds descended.
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