Pre-race shenanigans:
-Alarm going off at 6:15. Snoozed til 6:45. Was woken up by FD pager at 5:15...was unhappy about such...shoulda turned the damn thing off.
-Up and out of bed at 6:45
-Get dressed (tights, shorts, long sleeve tech T, sweatpants and sweatshirt, and hat), make PB sandwich, chug half my camelback bottle (.5 liter), refill, gather ipod, phone, wallet, money, race registration form, pack up change of clothes and towel and jacket for race, walk out door into a downpour.
-Contemplate not going.
-Decide I need to go run it, stop at bagelboss, grab a bagel and small coffee (for laxative purposes) and get on the road and eat my PB sandwich and drink my coffee.
-Arrive, register, relieve my colon (thanks to the coffee) warm up and stretch. Calf is feeling so-so, but more on the good side than the bad side.
-Stretched some more as I headed to the start.
Post-race report:
-Start wasn't too crowded and I staged myself well. Didn't get passed much and as the race went on started passing.
-Felt strong and controlled through the first 8. Getting into miles 9 and 10 legs started to feel heavy.
-Hit mile 5 at 42:15 for an 8:27/mile. Was feeling strong so picked it up a bit(read: a lot). Had 2 bites of a nugo bar and washed it down at the next water station.
-Kept up the faster pace and was drafting off a runner who was right around the same as me. He picked it up more around mile 9 and I couldn't keep up, but kept picking off a few runners per mile until mile 12 when no one was within a catchable distance.
-Few more bites of my nugo bar around mile 9.
-Last half cup of water at mile 10 then no more til the end.
-Hit mile 12 and picked it up again, hit mile 13 and started a kick
-Cross the line at 1:47:37 for an overall pace of 8:13/mile. From mile marker 5 to the finish was 8:04/mile.
-Down the rest of my NuGo bar, a bagel, a banana and 2 cups of water at the end. Down another NuGo in the car before I drove home.
Other thoughts: Weather was cool and misty for a majority of the race. There was a 5 minute period of heavy rain that got everyone drenched when I was at about 4.5 miles in. Finished and felt ok. Right knee was a bit tight from miles 9 to the end and the left calf was getting a little sore around mile 11. No major incidents though. Quads tightened up a bit at the end. Made sure to stretch them out well. One gripe I have, I couldn't get any water until mile 4 I think. I wanted some at mile 2 and there was none left, and the same at mile 3. Brought my compression socks with me and changed into them once I dried my feet.
And so here I am back home. Took my 10 minute ice bath and a hot shower. Lucked out and avoided getting any blisters on my feet from wet socks. Just a little bit of chafe in my groin area. My right knee feels tight, and well, I've felt this pain before, so I'm going to ice and stretch and pop some advil before this turns into full blown tendonitis.
I went a lot faster than I planned. Going in I was planning to run a 8:45/mile pace for the first half and then bring that up to an 8:30 for the second. Obviously did a bit more as I ran the first 5 at 8:30ish and then took it up to 8:00ish. Oops. Just went with the flow.
Now I need to find more food. 1800 calories burned, NPB on 2 slices WW, 2 NuGo bars, 2 bagels and a banana. Think I might still be a tad short still...