First Light Marathon (Alabama)

I didn't sign up for the First Light Marathon until 31 Dec and the only reason I signed up for it was I needed to use a NWA coupon and it gave me a chance to check out my condo in Tallahassee.

I'll spare everyone the boring details and skip right to the starting gun. At 7:30 the starting gun went off followed by the PA system spitting out one of the classic hip-hop songs of all time: 69 Boyz - Tootsee Roll.

My goal for this race as with most races is 3:15 but I had a more realistic goal of less than 3:30 but closer to 3:20. I hit the 11 mile mark at 1:17 and change. Why is mile 11 significant? I ran 11 miles last week in 1:18 and change and that training run gave me a little hope that I could get a PR in this race.

At the half way point I was 1:33 and change. For some reason I thought this race was flat but from mile 10 through mile 22 it was (up) hill after (up) hill.

I crossed mile 17 at exactly 2 hours. If you are doing the pace math in your head I'm starting to slow down a bit but the hills were starting to take a toll on my pace.

At mile 21, I can begin to feel my legs turning into lead pipes. The next four miles would be all about gutting it out. As I approached mile 24 I noticed someone in front of me that I would not expect to see on the course at this point - normally I'd see him chilling at the finish line - Chuck Engle. Chuck was walking off some cramps or so it looked like cramps.

I was starting to do some math in my head and I figured I would finish in 3:11 to 3:13. Well at mile 25 the thought of even running a 3:15 was in jeopardy as my left hamstring knotted into a ball. I tried to keep running but at a much slower pace but eventually I came to a stop. I must have stopped for close to a minute but then I decided you can either stand here and let 25 miles go down the drain or you can suck it up and start running again.

That last 1.2 miles seemed like 3 miles. It wasn't until I saw the finish line clock (3:13:02, 3:13:03, 04, 05) that I was able to relax knowing that I was gonna break my marathon PR and was heading back to Boston*.

3:13:21 (unofficial), 15th overall, and 3rd in my age group.

Previous PR 3:15:02

* - I doubt I will run Boston again but just qualifying again and this time w/in my age bracket was a huge accomplishment.