Mariah ran the half marathon and since the route was the same for both races until the 9 mile marker, we ran together. At the 9 mile marker we high fived and she turned around and headed back and I kept going. Mariah finished in 2hrs 8min, really good for a 17 year old.
The run route went through the downtown Omaha area, by the riverfront, down by the zoo and around Rosenblatt Stadium (home of the College World Series) and then back to the north part of town and finally finishing back at the riverfront.
I wanted to finish in under 4 hours but since it was my first marathon I thought it would be realistic to finish in about 4.5 hours. When Mariah turned around I was on pace for 4 hours and kept that up all the way until about mile 23 when I finally hit the wall. I managed to finish in 4hrs 20 min. Faster than I thought would finish but not as fast I would have liked. Still that's respectable for my first marathon. The jury is still out on whether or not I'll do another marathon, let alone a full Ironman, I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of running a marathon after swimming for 2.4 miles and biking for 112 miles. Given plenty of training time I might be up for it.
I want to thank the two college age guys out drinking beer at 10 am on Florence Drive at about the 18 mile marker, they gave me a cold Budweiser, which I drank about half of, after all I am a beer drinker with a running/triathlon problem. It tasted pretty darn good. Also there was the girl at the 21 mile marker who gave me an energy gel, I probably needed that gel more than I did the beer at mile 18. The volunteer on the bike at mile 24, needs thanking as well, she really got my mind off how bad my legs were hurting and kept me shuffling to the finish. Finally the guy with the ice bags at the end of the race really, really needs thanking, I probably wouldn't be walking today if he hadn't of let me borrow the ice for my knees for about 20 minutes.
Mariah and I with 3000 other runners getting ready for the mass start of the 10k, half marathon, and marathon.
We've just finished the first 6 miles here. Still on pace for a 4 hour marathon and a 2 hour half marathon and feeling strong.
Done, Spent, Drained, Nothing Left, where's the wheelchair??? 4hours 20 minutes. Mariah ran the last quarter mile with me after resting for 2 hours, that's why she's smiling so big.
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