Glass City Marathon "jog"

So I have been accused of only showing pictures of my marathons that show me with "easy-go-lucky" looks on my face. Anybody that does these know that the first half is pretty much a warmup... the next 7 miles is where you pick it up and have your gameface on... the last 10k is pure gutts and anguish!!  Well, I decided to quiet the critics and show all of the pictures taken of me during my last marathon.  I know the critics are going to say "You didnt race this one, so it doesnt count".  Well... 26.2 miles is 26.2 miles regardless to if you race if or jog it. So this first pic is OBVIOUSLY within the first few miles of the start... look at the congestion and the EASY look on people's faces!

Now this picture is after the full and half marathoners separated.  This was about mile 6-7'ish.  No smiles, but still not hurting.  Look at the guy in the yellow shorts in the far back, I think he wish he'd done the half marathon, LOL.



Still cruising, but the look on the face (if you can tell) shows that I am no longer nose breathing... so it is not easy... but still a relaxed pace.  I cant remember the exact mile, but I think it was around mile 10-11.


Oh yeah!!! I remember THIS spot... the red bricks.  This was around mile 20 in this park. I vaguely remember seeing the camera-man.  At that point, everything is a blur. This is where runners call "hitting the Wall".  Funny thing is... I only hit the Mile 20 Wall once in my entire life. (more to come). At this point I had been running for about 2hr and 45min straight.

Oh what was I just saying about not hitting the Wall??  This is mile 22... I remember, because I just drafted off of these people in front of me for the next 3 miles so I could recover from hitting the Mile 22 Wall that always get me, LOL. Ok, look at the face NOW. I'm just praying for it to be over now!! Funny how my "tired" pics always have my eyes closed, LOL.

FINALLY the finish!! There is no better feeling than seeing that blue and red mat at the end of a marathon.  What they need to do is take pics of people JUST after crossing and waiting for water / gatorade.  This is a funny picture to see!! People bent over, throwing up, crying, screaming "I'm never doing this again", laying on the ground, gasping for air, holding any and every bodypart that hurts, walking in a daze with a funny gait... U just gotta "people watch" after a marathon to see the humor.  So this is how I looked after running (jogging) for 3hr and 36min non-stop.  See!! I look good in every stage of the marathon, so it isn't me cherrypicking my pics. LOL.

My next marathon is Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City on May 29th.  This is not going to be a jog, but not an all out race, I'm just not in the shape for all out racing... but I plan on it by the fall.  I'm not going to go over 3:30:00 though for this race, I gotta challenge myself.  Still waiting on volunteers to be my running buddies for training... LOL. But with or without a running partner... I run on...