It is *so* nice being in sufficient running shape that I can just jump on the opportunity to pace a marathon less than a week in advance. 3:25 was the goal -- certainly well within my wheelhouse. (It still amazes me that I can make that claim. I've come a LONG way since my first body-crushing marathon in 2003.) And I'm even happier that I made the decision to cover the 3:25 (which had been vacant) rather than double up on the 3:35 spot -- there were at least one or two people who commented on wanting 3:20, but being fine with 3:25.
[photo: KEN BLEVINS/STARNEWS]
The morning was beautiful, having a nice beach sunrise to greet us all, temps about 50F for the entire race, partly cloudy, but with a persistent headwind no matter what direction we were running. Briefly met up with several fellow Marathon Maniacs for the traditional pre-race photo. (Will edit this to include it once I find a copy of it.) It was marathon #250 for one of the ladies in the group -- amazing!
For my fellow 3:25 groupies, I started out with a group of probably near a dozen, despite only about 5 or 6 having made any comments or introductions prior to the race or shortly after beginning. While most who answered the question of how many marathons they'd done before, everyone was impressed by the triathlete who was finally undertaking the marathon distance for the first time -- heck of a goal time for a first marathon.
The race did a very good job of placing TONS of cones on the course to properly close off our lane from traffic, and signs and taped arrows to separate the out-and-back directions from each other, too. But with 800 registered (and only 595 finishers), the marathon field size was really quite small. Really short aid stations -- thankfully I don't typically need them, as I carry my own.
Garmin was extremely funky yesterday, as it was perpetually all over the place with showing me what my present pace was within each mile. Thankfully it worked out well enough, especially having started out tacking in a 30-second buffer, so the true goal for the day was actually 3:24:30.
Most of the group broke forward of me gradually throughout the race and stayed there. Above three were the ones who stayed with me the longest. The two ladies stayed through the finish line. The gentleman (who is the triathlete mentioned before) dropped back just after the sharp turnaround after Mile 19, ultimately finishing aound 3:36 -- a damn good 1st marathon, regardless.
In the finish chute - less than .2 miles to go! The last of my pace group (below) pulled ahead and was finishing right about this moment.
Despite the tasty offerings after the finish line (including a Waffle House sausage biscuit -- so good at that point after all the sugar I'd ingested), I had to get my burger. Always the biggest craving post-marathon. And I happened to stumble upon what seems like the most happening burger joint in Wilmington -- it took an hour to get my burger, there were so many orders, and that's a typical Saturday lunch hour, apparently.
That Samburger really hit the spot. While intellectually I don't think it was quite worth an hour long wait, given I was really pleased with the burger and not upset about being delayed from getting back on the road by that extra hour, I guess it WAS worth it, after all. Cheddar cheeseburger with bacon, caramelized onions, onion straws, and their mess sauce (adding some garlic and horseradish flavor). And typical tater tots and root beer finished it off nicely.
Marathon #54 in the books. #55 (with another sub-3 attempt) in 3 weeks!
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