Flying from Seattle and readjusting a few days before the marathon to the eastern time zone was a good first step, but.....I will never understand how to achieve the perfect balance of running a marathon, but just maybe, perhaps, I achieved such by accident by running the pig! I had one marathon under my belt this year, a month prior, with only a half run in between for training. Additionally, the tempature was cool with rain (which was good in my eyes), I ate carbs at 4 the day before and only had a couple of power bars for breakfast, I didn't have too much fluid before the race, the crowd was fantastic (which motivates me and what I prefer) and a aid station every single mile. Oh yeah, 2 pounds lighter too, with all this said....
I ran a negative split for only my second time and my second fastest marathon at age 50, and I've run marathons for nine years now! Never would I have thought I could do this when I was running a three mile hill at mile five and stuck in the middle of 10,000 full and half runners the first 8 miles. My 26th mile was a 9:48, I am happy with 12:00 at that point generally. It just does not make sense, I can' t find the definative answer with 20 marathons under my belt now. It drives me crazy in a good way!
The medal from this race is one of the best five in the country in my eyes and very very cool. I ran with my daughters stuffed dog, Chewy, who has been having pictures with me around the world for 10 years now (yes before the commercial that is out now if that theme rings a bell). He was given his own little medal at the race finish line amusingly by a wonderful volunteer. Little things like that make a reputation for a marathon and that is what brought me to run the pig to begin with! Well, that and loving Skyline Chilie and the Big Red Machine from the 70's if you like baseball. I was given a very nice journalist bag too. If you run marathons, you must run the pig!
