Marathon #16 - Gulf Coast Marathon
Well, I'm no where near my buddy Joe who is working on having 100 marathons by 2021, but for someone that didn't start running till late in life and didn't run her first marathon till 2011, I think 16 is pretty good. :>) That's like an average of 2 marathons a year. :>) It was funny Saturday while running with Joe for several miles when I asked him his age. I don't know why I asked because I typically don't just ask people their age.. hee hee, I just couldn't remember if he was or had turned 40. And I was thinking how soon my daughter will be 30! To my surprise he said he was a solid 32. :>) I laughed and told him I was a solid 53! .... sure hope I didn't offend him thinking he was close to 40. He doesn't look 40 and I don't even know why I thought he was around that age. Just call it old age getting to me! Heck, he could be my child since I have a soon to be 30 year old! :>) I'm really excited I hung with that 32 year old running during the last part of the race. We had FUN. He face-timed his wife and twins and I got to talk to them. He ordered waffle house... Yes, at mile 24 he ordered waffle house waffles and ran off the course to get them and finished with waffles in hand going across the finish line!! He's a NUT and I'm glad to call him my friend and a St. Jude HERO!!
I really enjoyed my girls night! We had 5 of us in our room at the Beau. I was a tad concerned about having 5 girls in a room together especially concerning the bathroom... But It worked out perfect! Michelle brought her twin air mattress... here's a pic:
She had that thing blown up and all fixed within 5 minutes! Isn't it cute? She had her own sheets, etc. She was prepared! LOL Two of the girls were doing the half marathon and didn't have to catch the shuttle to their start line until like 25 minutes after our shuttle to the full start line, so we had plenty of time to get dressed and all use the bathroom. The Beau Rivage is beautifully decorated every year for Christmas and we had a nice evening on Saturday just walking around and enjoying each other's company.
We even ate supper there so we never had to get out and drive anywhere. We were all in the bed chilling by 7:30 pm. I was so glad because I was a tad nervous about the marathon. I hadn't ran all week. It was just a busy week at work and it also rained a couple of days. I did have a peloton ride and some yoga, but that's it.
Race morning was perfect. It was chilly, but not FREEZING like it has been in the past. There were only like 700 doing the full marathon, so it wasn't that crowded. I think there were 2,000 in the half marathon. I was surprised to run into my cousin at the start line. Neither of us knew we were doing the full (hate I didn't get pic..we didn't see each other at the end). I think most people were surprised to see me doing the full. I think they all thought I was still on rest from the ironman. Which, I wasn't there to "race" or run hard. I was there to have fun with my friends and also help Michelle get a sub 5 marathon time. She's done several marathons, but had not got a sub 5 yet so that was her goal.
Here is Penny, Michelle, Me and Be before the start of the full. It was a beautiful morning.
Us at the Beau with Misty and Megan that was doing the half marathon before the race.
I also ran into Joe before the start. Which I had picked up his bib for him on Saturday so we had planned to meet up. Here is his crazy self.
Penny, Michelle, Be and I all started together. Penny was going to keep Michelle between a 10:30-11 min pace so she could make the sub 5 hour. I had planned to stay with them the whole time, but my body runs a tad faster pace even when trying to run easy when I feel good. I felt really good that morning, but I did hold back. Be and I would get out ahead of Penny & Michelle and I would stop and take some pictures and walk a minute and they'd catch back up. Be went on. She's my idol! That little woman is in her 60s and she can smoke all of us! Can't wait to see her at Boston next year!! The wind was light and there were clouds when we started. However, the clouds went away and the wind picked up around half way into the race. And it began to get HOT.
Around mile 15-16 I meet up with Joe again. He had stopped and grabbed a biscuit and coke at the McDonald's!!! yes, he was having a good time!! We walked and talked while he drank some more of his coke washing down the biscuit and then he was ready to run. I ended up running off with him ahead of Penny & Michelle. He was doing 2 minutes on and 45 seconds off. I looked down one time when we were running and we were getting close to a 9 min pace. Now that's not fast to many of you, but for me who's not been doing much speed work lately, and it was also late in the marathon, it was a tad fast. I told him I needed to slow down.. ha and I jumped for joy every time his watch beeped to walk. :>) We stayed together several miles. It was nice to visit and catch up with what all has been going on with each other. We soon ran into one of his friends around mile 22-23 that was doing his 150th marathon! He was walking some and shuffling some and telling us he didn't know why he was doing another marathon as he laughed. That's the funny thing about us runners... sometimes we make comments like we have no idea why we are doing a race, but we still LOVE IT. We walked with him awhile and then Michelle and Penny caught up to us. I had to go live on facebook at mile 24 as we were going up the ramp to the finish line. The last time Penny & Michelle ran the race the course did not go up on the ramp. Why they changed it to do that... I have no idea! but it's not fun!! Saving a hill/ramp at the very end of a flat course! how dare them! And it got so HOT once we turned off of 90 and didn't have that beach wind to cool us. It was then I just didn't have it in me to run much anymore. So I walked more and Penny & Michelle got ahead of me. I was so proud of Michelle! She was going to get her sub 5 hour marathon! She said she wasn't enjoying it, but she did it!!! Penny & Michelle finished in 4:53 and I finished right behind them in 4:54. It wasn't a PR for me, but considering I walked, took pictures, went live on FB like 3 times, went to the bathroom 2X and stopped at every water stop along the course for a sip of water, I consider my time pretty good. Penny was an excellent pacer for Michelle! Penny is strong and doesn't like to stop at all. She just continues on with her run until the end. Here they are running together in their cute matching shirts!
Michelle told Be she was not doing that again. hee hee She said she'd much rather enjoy the run then work for a sub 5 hour again. I think she'll change her mind in a few days. Now that she's done it, she can do it again. I missed seeing Frank and Krista at the race. They were doing the half and since the half started in a different place and they were at a different hotel I never had the chance to run into them. They both had a great race also! :>)
We didn't hang around the finish line because Penny had booked us a massage at the Beau at 2 pm so I didn't run into anyone else that was at the race after wards. I must say the massage was AWESOME!!! I'm so glad I didn't back out of going. I almost did because I've always heard that it's not good to get a massage directly after a race that it's better to do it like 2 days after. However, having an easy rub down is ok and that's just what mine was that day! There was no deep pressure or anything like that. It was an amazing Swedish massage. And their spa facilities which we had full access to is AMAZING!! I could have just stayed there all night if I wouldn't had to come back home for work on Monday.
So that's a wrap for me this year!! No more races till 2020! It's kind of sad the year is over! It means I'm going to be another year older ........ man...where does time go??!?!?!?!
I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas!! Hope you didn't do like me and send out Christmas cards where some were not finished.... LOL I got interrupted at work and sealed some without writing a personal message thanking that person for their encouragement and prayers during the year because they all helped me accomplish my ironman dream! I should learn not to try to multi task at work with Christmas cards! Oh well, hope they all know how much I appreciate them!
Merry Christmas! & Happy New Year!
D
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