Twin Cities Marathon '08 - "Complete"

What a morning!

The marathon ended up going very well - I'm happy to say that I exceeded my personal goals, and I'm also very happy to report that I feel fantastic right now. Even after choosing to walk 14 blocks for part of the way back home after the race. No injuries, and no worrisome aches or pains - above all else, I'm most grateful for that!

The marathon start was arguably perfect weather - overcast and cool. I started off with a throw-away cotton long-sleeve shirt that I tossed after a few miles once I was somewhere close my desired first-half pace. Shortly after that, the hard rain and wind started. It got f'ing cold. Really cold. I think that was perhaps the coldest I've ever been in my life...

The rain & wind was worst when I was in The Lakes section of the course, and it was just plain brutal. I definitely considered stopping altogether more than once. To be honest, the thing that kept me going was feeling that if I stopped, I dreaded that I would literally go into hypothermic shock, so I just kept going out of pure naked fear more than any other motivation. Other than the I'm-so-freakin-cold-my-bare-skin-feels-like-it's-burning sensation, I couldn't feel a thing anywhere on my body, so I had no idea if my knees were coming apart or not; I just knew I must keep moving...

I had to pee almost right from the start of the race, but I didn't dare stop to do that or anything else, primarily because I had zero confidence that my icy legs would agree to giddyup & go again. I passed up numerous water stops & nice folks trying to give me a High-5 because I could not move my fingers out from a fist. And forget trying to have an energy gel - I never did regain the dexterity to open one of those things.

Finally, about halfway through, the rain let up. And the gaggle was thin enough that I could start attacking in earnest. Once I warmed up enough to get a feel for how my body was holding up overall, I began my push...

Since my recent knee issue prevented me from getting in any long-distance training runs (18+), I was leery of how aggressive to get ramping it up. I know now that I didn't push as full-out as I could've, but hindsight is 20/20 ;-)

My 'chip time' is 3:45:14, so I'm thrilled with that. Trying to be fancy, I dorked up hacking my watch at the start, so I thought my time was around 3:55 as I neared the finish. Had I known that I was so close to sub-3:45, I definitely would've rallied to get under it, but I'm certainly not complaining!

A ginormous "Thanks!" to family & friends who braved that hideous weather to come out and cheer me on - you all ROCK! You guys & gals are unbelievable - I can't express how grateful I am that you were there - thank you!

EDIT: Funniest t-shirt award goes to the dude who wrote I HAVE TO POOP across the back of his shirt. That's a distance-running thing, so it may not be humorous to some of you. But it was funny. Trust me.

A few pictures here
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