Twin Cities Marathon - Liz runs a marathon

Today was my fourth marathon, and my third time running Twin Cities Marathon.  For past race reports check out Amersterdam, 2009, or Twin Cities 1 - 2010, and Twin Cities 2 - 2011. 

Start - I was in Corral 3, also described as "that one around the corner in the alley".  So true.

Miles 1 and 2 - In downtown Minneapolis, before the first mile we look over and see medics working on some guy and the pacer is all "ooh, that looks like a heart attack".  I checked the news carefully when I got home and didn't see any deaths reported.

Miles 3, 4, and 5 Involved a big up and down hill, then onto Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun.  I started eating Gu Chomps which were kind of frozen still.  Awesome.

Lake Calhoun In training I always run the opposite direction (clockwise vs counterclockwise) around this lake just so I don't get bored on Marathon day.  It felt like I had an all new view.

Lake Harriet I think there's now a Dreidel Dash hat around there somewhere.  It was cold and I started the day in a lot of clothes and took them off slowly all around the course.

Minnehaha Parkway - Part 1 I remember having panic attacks in this part of the course last year.  How nice to have the same experience this year.  Also because the pacer wasn't super familiar with the course and really stuck to the "run 5:15, walk 1:00" we walked a lot of downs and ran a lot of ups.  I had my first cheering team sighting.

Lake Nokomis - What is normally my happy place was less happy today.  Although I was basically having a panic attack all morning and this is where I finally began to calm down.  It is sort of annoying (read: frustrating) to be running along towards St Paul and then have to go 2.5 miles out of my way around some dumb lake before getting back on the way to St Paul again.  (Really, I know a shorter way, I live around here.)

Minnehaha Parkway - Part 2 Finally feeling a little calmer.  My neighbor Mia met me at mile 14 (after she was convinced she missed me) and she is the most excited cheerer I've ever had.  She hugged me several times and made me feel great.

River Parkway - northbound I was still with the pacer, all the way along the river Parkway which is a great improvement over last year when I was passed around mile 16 by that pace group.  I saw my cheer team again as well as some Bolder Options people.

Franklin Ave - I met himself at mile 19, which is also where I was unhitched from the pace group.  By this time I was so tired and crazy I almost said "I love you" but correctly said "thank you for coming out" instead.  And then he was all "now I'm going to have breakfast at Seward".  I don't think I flipped the bird, but I can't say for sure.  I did run the 'down' side of the bridge and to the next water stop.  I just started to lose my mind around here.  (Meaning I lost my ability to focus and keep running through the pain, not that I went crazy.  That happened later.)

River Parkway - Southbound  Welcome to hell.  I actually still had the 5:30:00 pace group in my sights at mile 20 which was a big improvement over last year and at this point I knew I was going to finish.  This is also where the hills start.  And I got a cramp.  WTF?  Hello calves.  I had multiple salt tabs between there and the finish.  I remembered my pacing on the Cincinnati long run, running from one telephone pole to the next and then walking so I employed a similar strategy around lamp posts here.  I popped up the Cretin Ave hill just fine and so many people were excited to see me!

Summit Ave - straight to the finish  The first part of Summit is hard because it's a deceptive climb.  It goes both longer and higher than you think it will.  I was still running in between lamp posts of half a block at a time here.  Even though I lost my mind, my legs are the strongest they've ever been for a marathon.  I saw my cheer team one more time at mile 23.5.  I had Qat Lady take my heart rate, "I can't tell, it's really fast" but not so fast she made me sit down, so I kept going.  Miles 24 and 25 and 26 honestly involved a lot of walking.  My heart rate got higher and higher.  My vision was getting not right and I was getting kind of dizzy.  I needed to go slow and be able to walk in a straight line, especially in the last mile where I was most in danger of not being able to pull that off.  If I'd gotten to mile 25.5 and got pulled from the course I would've been pissed. 

 

Finish  I ran most of the way down the hill to the finish but there's a long flat after the downhill and I walked some, just so I'd be aline at the end.  I did not end up in the medical tent so this a great improvement over last year.  Here's the results and the report from my Nike+ kit.  As you can see, I really slowed down in the last couple miles.  Once I knew I was going to finish.

Extra!  Nike+ had a special bonus for me.  I've gone from the Purple to Black level meaning I've run over 3,000 miles (5,000 KM) with the thing.