Wow. this did not go at all as planned. My HR was high from the get go. On the drive to the race site, it was as high as 150...just sitting. :-/
Lots went wrong, but I'm not sure why. I have been having some issues in training with higher hr's than the effort calls for, but I don't know WHY. Unfortunately, it happened again today. The first 4 miles my hr was in low to high tempo range, the next 8 in threshold. It took its toll...I fell off pace in mile 10, walked to lower my hr in mile 11, and even though the course was a net downhill after the turnaround, my body was not responding well. I slowly watched my pace slow down, but my effort (even though the hr dropped) didn't feel any easier. :(

My quads hurt in the first 6 miles, my fingers got very swollen, my hr was crappy, I felt like I was going to puke from 9-11, I walked during mile 11, my tendon issue from IMFL 2010 was talking, my ipod died at 18, I had breathing issues at 22....I guess you could say this wasn't my day.

Some things did go right though...I did drink at all aid stations, I took in my nutrition as I had planned, and I didn't quit. Oh, I walked...and stopped, and encouraged other runners in the last miles, but I kept moving forward. And I didn't really want to for a lot of the second half.

Cathleen (my team mate and sister from ITU Long Course Worlds, and bad assed runner) ran me in. She was awesome, and got me moving faster that last mile for sure. :) I really appreciated that she was there (although a bit embarrassed...sooo much later than I had hoped to finish)

Jogo,Meggles, my hubby, and my son were all at the finish waiting for me, and Dave had the beer (Summer Shandy...best post race beer!!!) waiting for me. I felt like crap, was beat up and so happy to finally be finished. I found out my team mates all fared well. Steve got his Boston Qualifying time, Cathleen placed 3rd OA masters female in the half, Ranger, Edgar, Dave Sr, Andrea, and Beth all had good races. Jogo had a lot of fun, and Nell had a good day too. :)

Maybe if I'd went out a lot slower, and tried to build up to my pace, it would have gone better, but I don't know if my hr would have ever settled down. I should have run more in the second half, but my hopes of BQ, then a pr, then the same time, all slipped away rather quickly. Then it was about doing the least amount of damage to the old body at that point.

Just had the beer, ate some terrible chips, tasted the "worlds best ice cream' (not!) and walked back to the car....very very slowly lol.


So much...I trained too much on flat Paint Creek...should have been at Stony or Kensington for more rollers. My taper was only a week. Kind of bummed at my coach about that. I think 2 would have helped me get a lot closer to (if not achieve) my goal. I don't know if running only 3 days a week works for me. I know it does for some people, but when I ran faster at Martian, and the Detroit Half, I was running 5-6 days a week, slower overall, but more. I have to figure out why the hr is erratic. I really don't want to deal with that on race day ever again.


The biggest bummer is what I wanted to take away from this marathon was improvement...in time, in race execution, in mental toughness, in my confidence as a runner. I really didn't get any of those "benefits". What I did get was 26.2 miles of running to put in the bank for IMFL.

As always, racing with friends and team mates makes an event for me. As miserable as my race was, I got lots of love on the course from BT friends and team mates. I had a blast hanging with everyone at the hotel post race, eating out at the Jolly Pumpkin,and exploring TC. It was nice that Dave and Brian came with me too!!! :) Traverse City is very pretty, and had the weather been nicer on Sunday, it would have been perfect.