Go! Marathon Relay 2016

I contemplated running the Go! Half Marathon, but in the end figured that the Marathon Relay was more fun. I decided to run the longest leg since this was my idea. The weather was a bit on the windy side, but I loved the overcast sky. Perfect running weather. Waiting around to run was probably the hardest part.

Team "We're Going the Distance"

I definitely took off way too fast when I started. I felt like a bit of an ass since the marathoners were on mile 18 and that (for me) is one of the toughest parts of the marathon. But, this was my race, even if it was only 8 miles, and I wanted to do my best. I was flying past everyone, which is something I don't experience too much of in races.

I loved my time in Forest Park. I was a bit tired at the start, but I'm pretty sure that's because of kickball yesterday. I knew every hill and every downhill, and I feel like I did a good job keeping pace. I'm different than most runners, run a bit faster up the hills and slow down on the downhill portions to recover. At the top of one hill, the race photographers were staged to take photos. Now that's just mean.

Lovely.

I thought Forest Park Parkway was going to suck, but I actually kicked ass!

I can't believe I ran a 9:06 mile! I walked at 4 water stops. I made myself do that to take it easy. Those last 3 miles were a bit challenging since I was running into the wind. I had to walk a bit near Wells Fargo (mile 7), but I really needed that walk. The rain held off until the last .2 miles. I finished 7.9 miles in 1:15:15. a pace of 9:30.

The team finished 4:12:27. We placed 131/322 overall and 60/159 in the male/female friends division.

Team finish!

P.S. I didn't get in to the NYC Marathon. Oh well...