Duke City Marathon

You ready for the big 26.2 post?

Well, for this chilly October morning we welcomed our cute fall running apparel.

We dressed ourselves in Lululemon skirts & headbands and our Under Armour shirts.  Now this was a big deal!  We would just about never spend $50 on a running skirt but this was a special occasion and so we made it, well, SPECIAL. And it was totally worth it.  Don't you think?  Look at those hot chicks!  They do say that the pretty ones always "run" away... bwahahaha! You know that was funny.

It was a huge event that started in downtown Albuquerque, NM.

For the first few miles, we ran through the streets of the city.  With such a large group and all its excitement, we started pretty fast with an 8:30 pace or so.  Bad idea when you're going for 26.2 miles for the FIRST time.  LOL!

At about mile 3, we hit a running trail that took us straight north for another 10 miles to the turn around.

Here we are at mile 11ish: 

Lookin' good, feelin' good!

Trying to get my sweater off to hand it to my husband!

 The trail at that point had curved alongside a busy freeway that created several small hills and nice big crowds of people.  It was a little overwhelming.  But exciting still!  And then, a police officer stopped us at an intersection to let a car go through.  I was FURIOUS!  If you've done long distance running, and you're anything like me, stopping and starting again isn't so fun.  It's actually kind of hard.  I had a big ole' conniption. I NEEDED to get the hills over with because my knees also began to ache.  My sister let me run ahead.  It really helped to lengthen my stride and get that little bit of a stretch.  But at mile 17 I really began to miss my companion.  So I back tracked a short distance to run with her.  It was the best decision I could have made, too.  I'm not sure I would have gotten through the finish line without her. I needed her, mentally.  And when you're running for that long, your mental power is even more important than your physical strength.

Here we are at mile 18:

Getting tired :(

Oh yeah, did I mention that I peed in my pants again?  Wearing white too.  Yeah, you could see it.  Lol.  But whatever!

 

When we hit the streets of Downtown Duke City again, I got my first big feeling of discomfort.  Sure my body was tired but up until that point, I hadn't really felt "pain."  But, I've had a bad toe through the training and I was waiting for the nail to come off.  And at mile 24ish I though I had lost it, finally!  And it was killing me.  I began to limp/run until I could adjust my footing.  It was terribly uncomfortable especially because we were forced to weave ourselves through walkers of the 20k race that was also being hosted.  After the race I discovered that the nail was still there... the toe just had a HUGE blood blister on it.  Ouch!
Here were are just before crossing the finish line:

We earned out metals! Look at these running beauties... after 26.2 miles.  Are our husbands lucky or what?



It was an.... experience.

One that I totally recommend.
We finished in 4:22 (a 10:01 pace).  Totally pleased with that!

I feel strong.  Because I am strong; I am marathon strong.