Mercedes Marathon

I drove down to Birmingham Saturday afternoon and meet up with David and his wife at the expo. After the quick tour of the offerings, we went back to the hotel.

We meet back up for dinner at 5:15. I had a great meal at Macaroni Grill that got me good and carb loaded.

I enjoyed the quite of my hotel room then got to bed early. Unfortunately, I had some partiers staying across the hall. They slammed their door from midnight until 3am. I don’t know why they had to go in and out so much.

I got up early and ate some oatmeal, a boiled egg, and an apple. I managed to refrain from slamming my door multiple times for revenge. I got dressed and met David to walk over to the race start.

We got there in plenty of time and claimed a spot in the starting chute next to the fencing and just chilled until start time.

When they told us to line up, we got with the 4:15 pacer. She was super fun and paces just about every weekend. What a job. We hung with her for the first couple of miles then we got a little ahead. We had our plan and were sticking to it.

The first big hill came at about mile 5, a one mile long climb. It was long but not too steep. I still felt great at the top.

At the full/half split, we took at hard right and up a short steep climb. But then it was down, down, down hill. We made up a lot of time then.

After that we hit a paved running trail. It was mostly flat and about 2.5 miles long. A sub 4 was looking possible, we were a minute off target and feeling good still.

Then it was through a mall parking lot and we hit mile 16. Still feeling good and still on track for a sub 4.

Once we left the mall, we hit some neighborhoods that had rolling hills. It felt like we had a lot more up then down and my legs were really feeling it now. The sub 4 was slipping out of reach. I was hoping for a PR by that point.

The BIG HILL came at mile 21. It was a mile and a half climb. There were a lot of cars lined up to turn on the road so we had to run single file. When we finally got past the cars and David was back next to me, I told him I couldn’t make. We walked a few yards then started right back running. There was a cop and I asked if that was the top, he said just right around the curve. He meant curves and finally we were at the top. The downhill was steep and this time it hurt. My legs were screaming with each step but I was letting gravity do as much work as possible.

At the bottom of the hill, I still had 2.5 or 3 miles to go. It was basically flat but into the wind. I saw the chances of a PR slip out of reach too.

Mile 25 people were handing out beer. I knew I wasn’t going sub 4 and I wasn’t going to PR, so I took a beer. It was good. I headed off for my final 1.2.

They had a very long finish chute and just as I entered, the guy in front of me was joined by his ENTIRE family and everyone else he knew. I couldn’t get around them for my final kick. Not that it mattered by this point, 5 or 10 seconds couldn’t save me.

I got my super cool medal and finishers shirt, 2 orange slices, and a bottle of water.

David crossed the line just behind me with an awesome PR!!!

David and I got our picture made then went inside. David and his wife left soon after that and I went to the food and beer lines. I found the Manchester crew. They all did super awesome with PR’s all around.

I hung out for a little while then walked back to my car and made the long drive home. I thought about New Orleans the whole way. I am still trying to figure out how to make that trip work. I know that I am trained for a sub 4 now. I am afraid if I wait until after Ironman I will be starting over.

Official results are posted
10k-59:21
15k-1:27:21
25k-2:23:52
30k-2:52:59
final-4:07:45

10th of 32 in AG
342 overall