New Years Double "Day" Marathon (Race Recap)

Allen, TX
Wednesday, January 1
Marathon #24
Texas Marathon #4
Weather - Chilly at start, sunny, WINDY

Continued from Day 1...

After the race we stopped to get lunch at Chili's. I was pretty sore, and not as hungry as I usually am after a run, which was weird. We headed back over to our friend's house to shower. And then, we did NOTHING. We sat around and watched tv and eventually ordered pizza. Had a few beers, and before we knew it, it was already after 9:00. We went down the street to a New Years party but didn't stay long. I was in bed by 11:00, still unsure of what distance I would be running in the morning. The thought of another marathon seemed EXHAUSTING.

Race Day

We got up about 10 minutes earlier, to allow time for me to drop to the half if that is what I decided to do when I got there. We stopped again at Shipley's - donut, kolachi and coffee. Arrived at the race, and while sitting in the car trying to decide what I wanted to do, I realized I didn't have my wallet on me so I didn't have the cash to drop down. FULL MARATHON IT IS. Womp.

We got in line for the bathrooms and it was WINDY AND COLD. After cycling through the line, we headed back to the car and I decided to just wear my jacket. Like the day before, there was not much time for standing around and I started toward the back of my corral.

The plan all along was to start out slow, run as much as possible and not die.

Well, I succeeded in starting out slow. My legs felt tight, but not terrible, and unlike the day before, I did not have the numbness in my feet/legs. RIPPED the jacket off within the first 15 minutes. Somewhere towards the end of the first loop I saw Beth and Teal running (and looking adorable) and they both said a brief hello to me. Of course, I had to use the bathroom earlier than the day before, around mile 7. I saw Lisa (sister-in-law) and Alyssa (niece) on the course a bunch of times. I was still feeling good the first half, and they snapped this picture of me:

I think I was screaming and flailing my arms. Hard to say. I managed to run the first half without any unplanned walk breaks and had I stopped there, everything would have been fine. Heading into the second half was when I really started to feel all the wear and tear on my body. I overall was just sorta achy and tired. I made a promise with myself that I would not take any walk breaks until mile 18, and succeeded. BARELY.

Like the day before, the last 8 miles were terrible, only obviously, today it was worse. It was SUPER windy, so even when I felt like I had more energy I was working a lot harder. Man. I really hate the wind. The last loop I had to run in the grass on the side of the trail because the bottoms of my feet hurt so bad from all the concrete.

HOWEVER, I managed to get it done, and in a fairly respectable time, especially considering I had just run a full marathon the day before.

Official Time - 5:11:06
Official Pace - 11:52
3.6 Split - 40:54
6.55 Split - 1:12:45
10.15 Split - 1:56:11
13.1 Split - 2:27:57
16.7 Split - 3:09:34
19.7 Split - 3:44:03
23.3 Split - 4:33:36
Overall Place - 96/154
Gender Place - 39/66
Division Place - 10/12
Garmin Time - 5:11:03
Garmin Distance - 26.65 (Whee, ran better tangents!)
Garmin Pace - 11:40
Miles 1-5 - 11:22, 10:53, 10:27, 10:52, 10:47
Miles 6-10 - 11:43, 11:17, 12:27, 10:53, 10:33
Miles 11-15 - 11:00, 11:03, 11:03, 10:46, 10:53
Miles 16-20 - 11:26, 11:02, 11:13, 12:31, 11:24
Miles 21-26.2 - 12:22, 12:44, 13:50, 14:08, 13:50, 13:15, 11:11 (can you tell how much I struggled at the end??)

Full Challenge Plate - GINORMOUS

Thoughts:

• In all the other insane things I have done, I have never done "official" back-to-back marathons. It wasn't especially fun, especially on such a flat/paved course, but I do LIKE the course. HOWEVER, I don't think I ever need to do this again.
• Very well stocked aid stations, very friendly volunteers.
• LOVE the out and back course. So fun to continually see the same people over and over. I love it!!
• We got different shirts this year, a long sleeve and a short sleeve in different colors. Female and male cuts, which I loved. I have already run in the long sleeve shirt and it was great.
• LOVE LOVE LOVE the medals and the challenge plate. Libby outdid herself this year and as you can see above, the plate is bigger and better than ever. This race always works out well with my schedule of picking up A from her Dad after Christmas, so I will be back next year, likely to run the only combination I have NOT done - double half marathons.
• The INKnBURN "ugly" sweater was a huge hit, got TONS of comments on it.