The Hartford Marathon

The Marathon Story.

The Hartford Marathon went really, really well. Scott, Bruce, and I drove down Friday afternoon. We walked around the expo center and I picked up my bib number and chip (for non-runners: this is a little computer chip that you tie to your shoe and it times you from when you cross the start line to the finish. This makes it more fair for runners who start way behind the start line and provides more accurate timing).

We got insanely lost in downtown Hartford trying to find the highway, but eventually made it to the highway and then the hotel. We plopped our stuff down and went to a local Italian restaurant for some dinner. Scott had some eggplant creation and I had "oreganata" or something like that. Basically, it was a wood-fired pizza crust with olive oil, garlic, and oregano. It was really good mostly because the crust was so good.

Friday night I had awful nightmares of missing the start of the race. I dreamt that my youngest brother and sister were with me at the hotel, that Marissa was eating banana splits for breakfast with 20 of her friends and couldn't leave on time, and Ben just wouldn't get out of bed. That totally didn't happen though. Instead, Bruce got up at his usual early hour around 5 a.m. I could have sworn our hotel had free breakfast, but if they did they didn't serve it early. I chugged a little water, but that was about it. I figured I'd eat some Gu on the course anyway.

We left at 6:30 for the race (it only took about 15 minutes to get there from our hotel, but as you can tell from the dream I was a bit anxious) and found a parking spot about a block from the starting line. It wasn't even 50 degrees yet and I really didn't prepare for the weather, so I was shivering cold. Scott and Bruce went to scout out some breakfast while I chilled (literally) in the "elite tent." It was pretty intimidating in there. There were lots of skinny athletes speaking different languages. Just before the race, everyone stripped down to their sports bras and bummies even though it was still under 50 degrees. Brrrr.

I lined up right on the line, but to the side because I knew everyone would go out a lot faster than me - especially because the half-marathon started at the same time. I was right. Everyone flew out and I sat back and ran a 6:35 or so. The first few miles I still couldn't really feel my toes very much; it was cooooold. I could tell that my sock was scrunched up a bit in my left shoe, so I wiggled it out with my toes on every step. I still ended up with a nasty blister in the end.

I ran with a lady for the first 5 or 6 miles, then latched onto a group of about 4 guys. We ran together until about mile 19 and just let the miles tick by. At mile 9, I was the eighth woman with the next woman about 3 minutes in front of me. Yikes. I chugged along, grabbing Gatorade-like substance along the way (the volunteers called it Gatorade, but it was definitely not the real stuff). It tasted like cherry cough medicine, so I just got water after mile 13 or so. There was only one Gu station on the course and I almost missed it. I did miss it, I guess. But one of the guys in my group grabbed one for me and handed it to me, so I sucked it down over about 4 miles (it is the consistency of glue and doesn't taste much better either, so I can't stomach it all at once).

Around mile 19, I caught the woman ahead of me and kept hauling along. At mile 21, there was a fairly large hill (not Akron-sized, but still decent sized for New England) and it took me a few minutes to recover from it. Nevertheless, I passed another girl who must have gone out too fast; she didn't look good at all.

Miles 21-24 were probably my slowest; they were still in the 6:40s, but they sure didn't feel good. There were some rolling hills and the mile markers just didn't seem to be coming as fast as they were before. I hit mile 24 though and the thought of only having to go for 2 more miles saved me.

I picked up my stride a bit at this point. My hamstrings and calves were really tight and it felt physically impossible to lengthen my stride, so I just quickened my short stride a bit. I hit mile 25, which was downhill, and saw another woman in front of me. Not just any woman, but one with a B.A.A jersey on (The Boston Athletic Association is the sworn enemy of the Greater Boston Track Club). I chased her down and got her with less than a mile to go.

I finished in 2:52:34 - running an average of 6:35 per mile. I was the fifth woman in and the second American. More results here...

http://coolrunning.com/results/06/ct/Oct14_Greate_set1.shtml

At the finish line, my name was announced and I was given one of those awesome foil blankets and a finishers medal. Someone handed me a 20 oz water bottle, which I drank before I left the chute. I stumbled over to the elite tent, where I threw on some clothes and grabbed a bagel. Scott showed up and gave me a big kiss

I got a massage (in a previous post, I fantasized about the elite tent as a place where there were no lines and lots of perks, but I had to wait about 10 minutes for the bathroom and about a half hour to get a massage), then put on just about all the clothes that I had. I ran through the food line and got some hot soup and warmed up. Bruce ran around for a few minutes while I ate and flirted with all the marathoners scattered all over the lawn. There was no big awards ceremony or anything, so we waddled to the car and headed home.

I'm definitely taking a few days completely off, then I'll jog like an old lady for another week or so. I can't wait to put Bruce in the jogging stroller and go to a new park or something!