1 Down... 49 to go...!!

Ok, so it took me a week to post my blog and race report. I have been anxiously awaiting this marathon on the 28th of Feb. This is the first of my 50 marathons in 50 states. I have not run over 12 miles since my last marathon in December, so to get out and run 26.2 was going to be a challenge. I had NO intention on trying to race this, as I knew I had lost a lot of fitness only averaging 20ish miles a week (pathetic I know) for the past 8 weeks. I have been physically fatigued, I have been lacking sleep since the birth of my daughter and I went to the doctor to check my blood to find out that I am anemic and a ferritin of 14. (Thats REALLY low, fyi). So now I'm on iron pills and trying to catch up on sleep on weekends.

So onto the race... I leave Detroit on Saturday morning, layover in Nashville... then my flight is delayed for hours!!! Great way to start... I get to Tampa and miss the Expo!!! Now this was the place that I was supposed to get my Gu and race packet. So now I'm stressing!! I know I didnt come all the way to Tampa to not be able to run because I didnt get my race packet in time. Luckily some old fart at the info table said I could pick it up the morning of the race, but had to be there at 4am!!! The race starts at 6am!!! Ok, those that know me KNOW I am not a morning person, but I'll sacrifice it!! Now my flight left Detroit at 10am and it was pushing 9pm and all I had was a bagel and banana all day (darned delayed flight). There was hardly any restaurants in the area... Ruth's Chris, Champps, Cheescake Factory, or some local bars. Cheesecake Factory it is... waited in line for 45 minutes, ordered, and 20 minutes later I get my food (4 cheese pasta with chicken).

I didnt get to sleep until about midnight that night. I was beat, and to get up in 4 hours to run a marathon was insane!! So I set my phone to go off and set it on the other side of the room, because I know how I like to "snooze". Got up and at em, ready to go and grab my Garmin, (a GPS watch that tells you how fast and far you have gone) and the darn thing wasnt charged!! I know for a fact that I charged it the night before, must have accidently turned on in luggage on plane. So no Garmin. I head out to the event, get there and notice I forgot my race cap at hotel. No big deal. Got my race packet and there was a race cap in there, cheap with no air vents, but it had to do because it was going to be sunny!! 30 minutes to guntime, I check my clothes... little did I know that my Ipod was still in my warmups pocket. I get towards start and notice NO IPOD!! Ok, this is NOT going good so far. I gotta run 26.2 miles with no music to distract me. So no Garmin, no fitting race cap, no Ipod, no Gu... this ought to be interesting!!

Get to the start, and had to line up behind the 3:50 marathon pace group. Could not get any closer it was so congested. So we're off!! First mile was a pedestrian 9 minutes and STILL congested. I aint NEVER ran that slow in my life!! My goal was just to finish in 3:30-3:35... so I had to catch the 3:30 pace group, and I planned on that around mile 10. But impatient me... I catch up to them at mile 5. I missed the first aid station (as usual) because it was just too congested. But I made sure to hit every one afterwards and sip some gatorade as my sole energy source. Oh did I mention that my pre-race breakfast was a apple and some coffee?? So I trod with the pace group til mile 15. I felt really good "considering"! So what do I do?? I take off like a dummy. My goal was just to do 8 minute miles and enjoy the beautiful scenary and sunrise. Mile 20 I'm like 30 seconds ahead of the pace group... and this guy is drafting me so I move to side, he moves to side... so I put on a little more speed (dum move and selfish) so mile 20-21 was about 7:35 pace. There was no "wall" to think of... this slower running stuff does wonders!!! LOL. So mile 22 I get the biggest cramp ever. I get cramps every race, but this was unreal, it felt like my intestines died and somebody was stabbing me with a hot knife twisting it in me and not letting it out!! I stopped and buckled over. Some fella comes up to me like "Hey dude, u want some water... some Gu??" I just told him "I got myself in this mess, I'll get myself out". So I walk for a while and the 3:30 pace group passes me... after a couple of minutes the cramp disappears, so I start running (jogging) again.

Pretty unremarkable from this point on... but I could feel this familiar dizzy spell coming on. There was a family on the sidelines with a sign saying "Run Dave Run"... so I assume they were cheering for some dude named Dave. The lil girl had a bottle of water in her hand, I assumed they were passing water to runners, but I grabbed it from her and didnt look back!! LOL. Feeling better, but it is SOOOO HARD coming back from a complete stop and getting back to speed... but of course i didnt know how fast i was going because i had no Garmin. Now the last couple of miles is just pure guts! Coordination off and desire for it to be over is FULL TILT!! I get to a aid station and an old lady is holding a cup of gatorade... I try to grab it mid-stride but I kinda miss and the cup spills over her, LOL. She did one of those Matrix manuevers where she leaned back in slow motion... well that's how it looked to me. In the last mile, some drunken lady on the sidelines runs up to me and yells in my face "Go Preston Go... yeah baby yeah... WooHoo!!" I'm like WTH? Then realize that my name is on my bib, LOL.

So I trod in to my amazement in 3:35:56... I just KNEW i was going to be near 3:40... but I got my goal dispite the breakdown. I realized after this that I am not marathon material... the half marathon is perfect. I was not even breathing hard or tired at the half mark at 1:44:xx (I shouldn't... going that slow). So its 1 state down, 49 to go...

Wait... I didnt tell you about the hotel debacle!! I reserved at a Howard Johnson Express... during my previous marathon, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express which was pretty nice. I TOTALLY got those 2 confused when i reserved... I was like this is cheap!! It had decent reviews and was near the airport.  I get in my car and i'm driving and its nowhere near the airport... then i'm driving in the Tampa Hood!! There are strip joints and such. I get to the HoJo and was like "What in the world is this!!!" People arguing and cussin in the parking lot, it looked like a run down Red Roof Inn. I check in and the lady says "Are you sure you're at the right one, there is another one you know". That should have been a sign right there!! But oh well... I just slept with 1 eye open all night, LOL. So checkout, I just leave the key in room and get outta dodge!!!!! No stopping at front desk!

3 days out, no soreness whatsoever... Amazing since i'm usually sore for 5 days. So now i'm ready for another to jog, lol. But why jog, I can do that at home. So i got another 2 fulls to make 3 fulls in 90 days... crazy I am, easy...? NO. But if it was easy, everybody would be doing it... and it inspires me to lose some more weight, so until next time... I run on...