After finishing the Twin Cities Marathon, I called my mother in law, who was worried that I might keel over and croak on the marathon course, and told her she could postpone my funeral, but the second half of the race was so tough for me that a quiet ceremony in a cool parlor might have been a good idea. It was hot out there, and humid, but like most people who entered, I managed to get to the finish line (with a little hustle in the home stretch to beat some big guy who seemed to have been air-lifted in just to taunt me in my last 100 meters).
As I mentioned before, I was hoping for a Boston Marathon qualifying time (3:35), which might have been possible in good weather, and I was on pace for it with a 1:45 first half (about 8-minute miles), but then things started to unravel as the heat seemed to press in. The second half , which included a lot of walking, was 20 minutes slower for a finish of 3:55:48 (chip time). Anyway, it was a little disappointing, even though it was clear days before that a good race was not in the cards. I've only run one marathon slower, and that was one with my old running partner Mark F., who was running the Omaha Marathon with little training, and I stuck with him, also running a little thin on training.
Still, it went okay, and I got to see Laura Carrow, a graduate from DSU with an English degree and a good runner who in her senior year here was a speed demon. Having her spot me in the line for the porta-potties before the race helped make up for the half-hour wait. My daughter April, her guy Chester, and the wife showed up at points throughout the course to urge me on, and we had some fun with that, and the weekend included going to a movie with my son Casey.
Plus, the marathon didn't fare as badly as the one in Chicago yesterday, where it was 87 degrees and they called off the race about three and a half hours in after people were "falling all over the city" according to the Chicago Sun-Times article.
So what now? I'm thinking about another marathon this fall, maybe the one in November in Overland Park.
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Here's the rundown on the times:
1:01 to the starting line
8:25 mile 1
8:06 mile 2
8:17 mile 3
7:51 mile 4
7:59 mile 5
8:09 mile 6
8:32 mile 7
7:32 mile 8
7:55 mile 9
7:57 mile 10
7:45 mile 11
8:10 mile 12
7:47 mile 13
8:42 mile 14
7:56 mile 15
9:47 mile 16 (uh-oh)
18:52 for miles 17 and 18
21:54 for miles 19 and 20
9:08 for mile 21 (trying to get back on track)
12:33 for mile 22 (much walking)
9:51 for mile 23
10:24 for mile 24
10:26 for mile 25
I didn't catch the last mile. It must have been about 11 minutes for the 1.2 miles left.
A few more stats: I was the 988th finisher out of about 8500 starters. I was 15th of South Dakotans running the race, I was 50th of 400 in my age group, and I was 752nd of 4395 men. 2829 women finished.
Way to go! Sometimes the goals are simply impossible to meet, but the finishing is what is important. Someday you will be Boston bound. Congrats on making it to the end and at a faster rate than many of your juniors could.
p
Thanks P, you're right about being satisfied with the finish. I am. I am. Even though I had hoped for better, I'm fine with it, and I'll probably try it again.
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