Shamrock Marathon

Hello Friends!

Today I did the Shamrock marathon. It was not pretty but overall I think I did well. The day started with the usual get up early, eat very little and of course have a coffee. Then my friend Lisa and I drove down to the ocean front to find parking. We got lucky with a great location near Laskin Rd that was free and the car wasn't towed when we returned.

Now I need to give a very big shout out to Lisa. She is awesome and was there with me all day in both spirit and physically. When I finished the race I saw her big smile and it made me feel better. (I was hurting bad but more on that later). Thank you Lisa!! You totally rock!!

I did a very good job sticking to my plan. Which was an 8 minute pace to the finish. I also ate a gatorade gel every 3 miles with 10oz of water. The first 13.1 mile were no problem at all. I think I actually could have PR'd the half if that had been my race. When I met up with Lisa at the 13.1 mile mark, to reload my gels and get a sip of a caramel macchiato, I was sitting at 1:42:00 with an average pace of 7:48 per mile. Beyond this point I was completely in uncharted territory. I have never ran past 13.1 miles and I was feeling very strong at this point. The race continued very will up to 21 miles. When I got to that point I was still holding a 7:48 per mile pace. I was just thinking all I need to do is finish this off with a 40 minute 5 mile run and I'll qualify for Boston at 3:30:00. However, by 21.4 miles my quads started cramping so bad that I had to stop running. Actually, I could barely walk and it took me about 3 minutes to stretch my legs out. Once I started running again it became a battle between my mind and my legs to get it done. I would run until the cramps returned then stop, stretch and massage my legs. Sometimes I could go a half mile and other times I could only make it a few hundred feet. I was miserable!! When I hit the boardwalk I only had 7 blocks to the finish. Let me tell you it was the longest 7 blocks of my life. I only had to walk once on the boardwalk and it was all I could do to finish with some dignity. My time was 3:47:27 which is an 8:40 per mile pace.

When I crossed the finish line two medical personal asked me if I was ok. I told them that I had severe leg cramps and they told me to keep walking toward the medical tent. What I wanted to say was "can you just amputate them right here?" Now just between you and me I was not going to the medical tent unless somebody was carrying me. So I kept walking and hurting. Lisa found me and I got a big hug and kiss which was a big spirit lifter after the last 5 miles. She was kind enough to take me to her house and push me in the hot tub for 15 minutes. Then I laid on her living room floor for 30 minutes trying to get the strength to go shower. I finally felt good enough to eat so Lisa made me some pizza. So you see Lisa does ROCK!! Thank you again Lisa!!

So now I'm in Florence, SC because I have to be in West Palm Beach, FL tomorrow night. My business partner Austin and I decided to drive so we could take his Harley. He did all the driving today and I just chilled out and ate things that I would normally never touch.

It was a good day!!