The evening before the big race I was somewhat nervous but more excited than anything. We had a nice family game of Trump. Kiera & My mom ended up somewhere north of fifty while my Dad & I finished south of zero. After the card game ended, I caught a little of the NBA playoffs, drank some water & read some messages of encouragement from some great friends. I was surprised that I was able to fall asleep & sleep well the night before.
I tried to keep my morning routine as close to normal as I could being away from home. I even brought my own oatmeal for the morning. I woke up and fixed my breakfast & had my morning cup of coffee. Checked my phone for some more encouragement from friends.
We got out the door & to the race with plenty of time to spare. The amount of people made finding a bathroom without a line next to impossible. Towards the starting line I noticed a building with out a line that was access with a student ID card. On my way out of that building they were playing the National anthem so I removed my hat and waited next to the door for them to finish. Their was gentlemen waiting next to me and when I glanced over I realized it was Dane Rauschenberg. I was very excited that he was going to be at the race because he is such an inspiration & I really enjoy his blog. Just after the end of the National Anthem I introduced myself. He remembered me from my email to him a few weeks back and we got to chat a bit & he wished me luck. He asked me a few questions about my training & my plan for today. he gave me a ton of confidence as I walked out that door by telling me that my decisions were smart & I was going to have a great race. This pumped me up!!
The starting line was insanely crowded but I was able to find my Pacer & then my Mom & Kiera. They got to snap a few pictures & wish me luck. I introduced myself to Elliot and he gave me a run down on his plan for pacing. At this point all the nervousness was gone & I was just ready to get after it. I told my friends & family that my goal was 3:45 but my main goal was to just finish. I would be happy with just finishing regardless of the time.
About 30 minutes in line just chatting with the pacers & other runners and the race finally began. The first mile was so crowded the main goal was to not trip or fall down. The city of Lincoln comes out to show so much support on the entire route. It was great to be running and everything felt great at this moment. I quit running with headphones about a month before the marathon so I could enjoy the crowd & the day. I was very happy with that decision. I saw my wife, Suzi, near the capital at about 1 minute and got to give her a quick wave as I tried to not loose the pacer in crowd. mile 2-5 remained very crowded. I believe it was around mile 2 were I started talking to Tom. Tom was another runner in our 3:40 group.
At around mile 5 things cleared out a little bit and it wasn't so crowded. I talked to Tom quite a bit from that point on. It seemed like by the half marathon point our group had dropped from 15 down to about 10. I saw my Mom, Suzi & Kiera around mile 6 and got some energy from a high five from Kiera. The crowd & family support all during the race was amazing. I got so much from seeing them cheer me on.
The route brought us back close to the finish line at the half way point. The half marathoners went in the stadium to finish & the full marathoners did a 13.1 mile out & back. Right before mile 14 we came up to this group of guys playing Bongo style drums. I looked to Tom & said remember that sound.
The turn around point was 19.5 miles, I was still in the moment at this point and not really feeling any pain yet. I remember that turn around point being a very uplifting moment during the race. Elliot asked as shortly after that turn around and Tom was good & I said never been better. I told Tom alright we just have a 10K left now. We got this. We vowed early that we would encourage each other through out this; as it was both of our first marathons. It was shortly after that turn around point that I noticed it was just Tom & I left with our pacer. It appeared we had picked up a few new ones between 18 & mile 20 though. At about mile 20 my legs started to tighten up pretty good. I was able to keep with but I was trying to loosen them up by speeding up & slowing down in little intervals. That was not working to well so I did my best to keep pace with Elliot & Tom.
Here are my splits:
| MILE | TIME | CHANGE | AVG PACE |
|---|---|---|---|
1
| 8:40 | -- | 8'40"/mi |
2
| 17:24 | + 0:04 (-1%) | 8'44"/mi |
3
| 25:58 | - 0:10 (1%) | 8'34"/mi |
4
| 34:23 | - 0:09 (1%) | 8'25"/mi |
5
| 42:37 | - 0:11 (2%) | 8'14"/mi |
6
| 50:49 | - 0:02 (0%) | 8'12"/mi |
7
*Fastest
| 58:30 | - 0:31 (6%) | 7'41"/mi |
8
| 1:06:56 | + 0:45 (-10%) | 8'26"/mi |
9
| 1:15:16 | - 0:06 (1%) | 8'20"/mi |
10
| 1:23:29 | - 0:07 (1%) | 8'13"/mi |
11
| 1:31:41 | - 0:01 (0%) | 8'12"/mi |
12
| 1:39:52 | - 0:01 (0%) | 8'11"/mi |
13
| 1:48:09 | + 0:06 (-2%) | 8'17"/mi |
14
| 1:56:30 | + 0:04 (-1%) | 8'21"/mi |
15
| 2:05:00 | + 0:09 (-2%) | 8'30"/mi |
16
| 2:13:22 | - 0:08 (1%) | 8'22"/mi |
17
| 2:21:31 | - 0:13 (2%) | 8'09"/mi |
18
| 2:29:53 | + 0:13 (-3%) | 8'22"/mi |
19
| 2:38:14 | - 0:01 (0%) | 8'21"/mi |
20
| 2:46:36 | + 0:01 (-1%) | 8'22"/mi |
21
| 2:54:55 | - 0:03 (0%) | 8'19"/mi |
22
| 3:03:20 | + 0:06 (-2%) | 8'25"/mi |
23
| 3:11:47 | + 0:02 (-1%) | 8'27"/mi |
24
| 3:20:10 | - 0:04 (0%) | 8'23"/mi |
25
| 3:30:33 | + 2:00 (-24%) | 10'23"/mi |
26
| 3:40:20 | - 0:36 (5%) | 9'47"/mi |
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