Chris - 26.2

245:24 (4 hrs 5 mins) - 9:21 pace

Foot Traffic Flat marathon!

The race started at 6:30am, so Jeen's parents were nice enough to let us sleep at their house and then drive us to the race in the early morning. I brought over waffles to eat in the morning because that's what I always eat before races. We got to Sauvie's Island with plenty of time to warm up and stand in the impressively long line for the bathroom. Here's the course map. I wanted to warm up a bit more than Jeeni did, so I ran a little out and back on a dirt road next to a field of corn. My legs weren't feeling particularly springy, but I just figured it was the normal pre-race weird way that your legs feel. We met back up with her parents to give them our warm clothes and took some pictures before we made our way over to the starting line. Then we chatted a bit and exchanged good lucks and were off! My goal was to run 8 min pace or around there, so I got out ahead a bit and felt great to start off. It was really clustered running with everyone on just the one side of the little paved country road, since cars were still in the other lane arriving for the half marathon that started a bit later on. I tried to just concentrate on maintaining my pace and settling into a rhythm for the longest race I have ever done. I passed the first water station without feeling like I needed anything, but after that I got either water or electrolytes at every single station, especially as the day grew on and it got hotter and hotter. I was still feeling pretty good as I hit the turnaround point on the out & back. Two guys that work with Jeeni and I had driven to Sauvie's Island with their bikes and provided us both with moral support and extra water if needed; it was awesome that they came out to do that. That long stretch of road next to the river was in the sun, and on the way back to take the left turn around mile 16 my right shoe started to bother me and I had to stop to tie it tighter. I was sweating much more profusely, and by the time I hit the left turn my legs were starting to tighten up a bit and I was getting passed by people I passed earlier. In the next couple miles my quad started to hurt a bit so I decided to stop and stretch it a bit, but when I tried to throw my foot up into my hand my hamstring threatened to go into a huge painful cramp, but I luckily was able to get my foot down and stretch quickly before it got much worse. I knew at that point that the rest of the race would be a struggle, but I tried not to think about it and just put one foot in front of the other and grind it out. I got progressively slower and tighter, and by mile 20-21 I was so tight and in pain that I had to stop and walk for a bit, then run for awhile again. My parents were waiting around mile 19 to see me, that was really awesome to see them as I ran up. My dad actually had walked toward me about 50 yds and the photographers got a really cool picture of us running together. Those last 5-6 miles were the longest miles I have ever run in my entire life. My co-workers rode past me one last time and Jeff asked me what hurt, and I said "everything". They gave me some more water to drink and pour over my head, then headed toward the finish. Unfortunately they had to leave at a certain time so we didn't get to see them after we finished. The last 3 miles I was getting into some half-marathoners that were walking, which made me feel good because I was passing them even while I was walking too. The last mile and a half this lady kept passing me and then I'd pass her, and the last 100 yds I managed to pick it up just enough that I passed her for a final little victory before I crossed the finish line! I saw Jeeni's friends and family to the left of the finish chute as I went through, so I found some water and went over to say hi to them and wait for Jeeni to finish while I tried not to fall over. Jeeni's friend took a GREAT picture of us after the race (you'll have to log in to facebook to view it). She did the whole race without walking once, and only finished 8 minutes behind me! After she finished I went and found her to give her a congratulatory hug, then found my parents and stood around talking to everyone for awhile and made introductions while I tried to drink more water and not fall over while I untied my running shoes. Then we got in her parents truck to head to their house for 4th of July barbecue and celebrations of the like. Below are the splits I had on my watch. I missed some mile markers here and there but you should be able to make sense of it. Here's the race results too.

splits: 8:28, 8:21, 24:55, 7:49, 7:54, 8:05, 8:06, 8:20, 7:47, 8:14, 8:19, 8:36, 8:52, 8:46, 9:13, 8:41, 10:02, 10:32, 10:40, 23:22, 11:44, 14:20, 11:16, 2:47