San Francisco & Portland Marathon

The Portland Marathon was yesterday and it was just not my day. I started off with my goal pace group: 3:40, in the hopes of qualifying for Boston. I was pretty peeved when I saw that I completed the first 10k on pace while the pace group was waaaayyyy in front of me. Anyway, I just didn't have it that day and was ready to stop by mile 9. At mile 16, I was contemplating quitting all together but had a friend waiting for me at mile 18. Not wanting to leave her stranded on the other side of the St. John's Bridge, I kept going. By the time I reached her I wanted nothing but to be done. At that point I was also the queen of negativity, telling my friend how awful the course was, how I didn't want to do this, that the view could go F---- off, etc... Seriously, I would have ditched me!

I can't thank everyone enough for running with me, cheering me on, waiving a great sign with my and another friend's name on it, telling me I was going to make it, being at the finish and brunch after, being there on training runs, and all the other wonderful things that made me not quit at mile 16. It absolutely would not have happened without you!

It was really sad because I had trained so very hard but my legs didn't feel fresh at all. My training had included over 800 miles, 100 of which was five 20-milers so I should have breezed through the first half of the marathon at race pace with little effort. You other runners know, it's that feeling that your legs are moving of their own free will and you're just along for the ride, watching the ground past by. Those are the days we run for; and, if you're training is on track, that's how you're supposed to feel on race day.

So, I ended up with a time slower than my first marathon which was incredibly disappointing. I still completed a marathon, however, so I did achieve one of my four goals! I'll probably spend hours looking at my training log to figure out where I went wrong but my initial theory is that spending last week in San Francisco where we walked around all day and didn't sleep well translated into a poor taper for the marathon. Oh well, there's always next year! ;) (And clearly, the San Fran trip was much enjoyed!)


Also, Happy New Year to all my Yiddish homies!
Hebrew Crunk-not for the easily offended