Mesa Marathon 2022, Day 1

Mesa, AZ was my next realistic opportunity to finally crack 3 hours since my attempt in Chicago last October. The course was ideal for it, with plenty of downhill to more than make up for the one somewhat nasty hill from about Mile 4-6. 

While the flight was fine and I got to the hotel around 3:30pm, it took about an HOUR before I was allowed to check in, since their reservation system is dependent on the internet working - and Cox was there working on their internet connection. *sigh* 

Finally start making my way up to the expo, and stupid me, not only did I walk it, but I wound up walking a longer route than needed. So, 3.5 miles one-way. But the expo was nice, decent number of vendors, and even had the opportunity for a 10-minute session using the Rapid Reboot system. Definitely feels good on the legs.

But there was one enormous disappointment that had me gravely worried for race day: they didn't have a 3-hour pacer that had been promised on their webiste. In fact, the fastest pacer they had in the lineup was for 3:35. Oy! So, how am I going to do this, when I have been so dreadful with self-pacing to date? I talked to the pacing coach who was there, and he advised that in previous years when he ran it, he would go 10-15 seconds per mile faster than average pace during the early downhills and then give it all back during the 2 miles of uphill.

So, I had my marching orders: average pace is 6:52, so my goal for the downhills was 6:40, with an allowance of going about 7:15 - 7:20 on the uphills.

By the time I finished with the expo, though, it was past 6pm, and I still didn't have dinner (which I try to get at 5:30pm on the night before the marathon). So, rather than go to the Mexican place near my hotel (which would have delayed eating even longer), I decided to get dinner at Cracker Barrel. Slightly risky, given that it can be a bit on the greasy side, but I took a chance.

By the time I finally got back to the hotel, I racked up nearly 7 miles of extraneous walking in the late afternoon/early evening. NOT something that I should be doing before race day -- I should be off my feet as much as possible. Thankfully I was able to set everything up for the next day pretty quickly and got in bed before 9pm. But, given that the room took a while to cool down, and my adrenaline was still going, and the people in the room above me sounded like they were continually rearranging the furniture, it wasn't until sometime after midnight that I finally conked out. And, given the timing of needing to be at the bus loading area between 4-4:30am, I set a 2:45am wakeup, to give myself my usual hour to get alert and ready, beore catching my taxi that was set for 3:45am.