More on the marathon

I have no idea what I've said already.  Here's kind of a breakdown of the race:

0-7.5K: The "first loop" was a nice little jog through the city center and through one of the parks.  It was around 3 or 4k that a power walker passed me.  No joke.  My roommate told me powerwalkers can walk 8 minute miles so I didn't feel so bad.

7.5k - 16k: Took me down to the shores of the Amstel River.  I could see everyone running on the other bank for a looooong time.  It also had some bizarre loop in it, probably only to add distance.  It just made the water stop farther away.

16k-21k:  Probably the prettiest part of the course, which is really saying something.  The Windmill was right before the water stop.  There were sheep and cows and geese.  I couldn't believe there was so much pasture land so close to the city.  And, I took 10:00 off my former half marathon time.  WIN.

21k-25k: I just tried to keep it together for this part.  I thought I was going through a park but it was more like an industrial park.  I was getting lonely and tired.  

25K-30K: It was around 27 or 28k that I started throwing in short walks.  It was much later in the race than I thought I'd walk.  This was also the point where my back started to really hurt.  It was a little bit of stretching and a little bit of some other issues.  I took my second dose of ibuprofen somewhere around 25k though, so I knew I'd be better.

30k-35k:  I saw the happiest clock I've ever seen in my life.  Becuase it was around this point that I figured out I could almost walk the rest of the way and still finish.  I started walking a little more, but I was still running a lot.  It was somewhere in here that Eminem's "Loose Yourself" because a big part of my strategy.  Also it was about here that the half-marathoners tried their darndest to run me over.  The half marathon started about 3 hours after the full started.  I was happy for the company at the end of the race, despite the risk to my physical safety.

35k-40k: Where is the freaking water?  Nope, the water stops are still every 5k, even though it's the end of the race.  Mercifully the rain started about here so I could cool off a little.  I was walking more frequently by this part of the race, but received much more encouragement from the half marathoners than the fasties who tried to harm me earlier.  

40k-42k: Lots and lots of walking.  By this point, I knew I was going to finish.  I must have awesome shoes because despite the blister the size of a strawberry my feet did not hurt.  Lots and lots of encouragement from other runners.  And then, I saw the stadium, took one last walk and absolutely goosed it to the finish line.

Other thoughts:

Last night at our pasta dinner, Ryan told us some story about being a Bolder Options mentor and remembering the kids when we ran.  So it was awesome when "Man in the Mirror" came on near the end of the race and I totally did think about the kids.  I was a mentor for those of you who didn't know.

I sort of knew ahead of time that this was going to be a really fun day and that I was going to finish.  It's the closest to absolute faith I've ever been.  Nice.

I just got distracted by people asking me to go drink and dance so I'll have to finish this later...