My favorite marathon! Eleventh year in a row! Ten year anniversary of joining the Marathon Maniacs! Perfect weather! Tracy and Mica to run with! Its going to be a great day!
After so many years we have this down to a routine. Don't even have to remind Connie to have a bagel and banana ready for me in the morning. Great to stay with them as usual. Park in the same spot and make the second shuttle bus to the start.
I have gushed about how well organized this event is and how nice the welcome center is at the Lummi reservation. Another year of awesomeness. One of the RDs thanks us for supporting youth sports by running today. Lummi singers and dancers do their welcome again and it is so cool. Youth volunteers everywhere and so many along the course.
Start - We meet Mica's friend Cherry and the 4 of us are all thinking of running about 4:30 with no pressure for a time goal. Tracy does not even have a watch. Just a little cool when we get outside, but no wind and it is going to be fabulous weather. Across the start mat and I hold back about two seconds, on the off chance that Tracy and I finish together at which point I will beat her by chip time. That is so lame of me!
Mile 2 - So much for the slow pace. Mica and Cherry have struck out ahead of us and now Tracy and I pass the 4:15 pacer. I did not care for the crowded big pack when we were just behind the pacer, now that we are in front it is easy running, but probably way too fast.
Mile 4 - Bald eagle sightings. Beautiful morning along the calm bay. Chatting with Tracy. She says how much success one can have if they can dissociate from what the feet are doing. Talking with a friend makes the miles drift by so easy. I hope that we can keep talking later in the race, when we need the distraction.
Mile 9 - So many youth out there at the aid stations. It dawns on my that some of them were not born yet when I started running this race and others are now adults. Long line of kids with water cups, but one boy has a container with salty corn chips. Tracy and I both take some and the kids all start laughing. Apparently that was his snack his mom had packed and he offered it out there as an experiment to see if anyone would partake. Fun times. Thanks kid!
Mile 11 - Now it seems longer to the out and back section. But we get there and I like seeing the other runners. Fellow legacy athletes Celina and Eric are here, so the three of us continue to keep our streak going. By the way, the RD has given us free entries for life, as long as we keep the streaks going.
Mile 12 - Things start getting rough. We have caught back up with Mica and Cherry because they have slowed. Tracy and I start to slow just a little too. Up and down my left leg from feet to knee to hip I get little pains and stiffness. All last week, after the GOAT marathon, the tops of both feet had been sensitive, but they are fine now. This stiffness is not fun and I sure hope it does not get worse.
Mile 14 - My energy level feels good but I am happy to take a walk break any time some one wants one. Leg discomfort is not so bad but is nagging.
Mile 16 - Tracy stops at a restroom and I walk on, knowing that she will catch up. Look back and don't see her. Keep walking. I see the big hill up ahead and I don't want to walk all the way there only to have her catch up and then us walk some more up the hill. So I start jogging at a slow pace. Reach the hill and I keep running slowly.
Mile 17 - Merge with the half but the last runner may have gone by. Takes me a while to pass one, then another. It will gradually get more crowded with slow halfers but never be a problem. I wish there were more, like in the old days when they started 2 hours after us and I was faster. Then it was a big energy boost. Now it is a little lonely and I am struggling by myself.
Mile 18 - Take the ibuprofen that I meant to take two miles ago. Into the residential neighborhood with its little hills. And then Tracy catches up to me! Nice to have my buddy back and someone to get me through the miles.
Mile 19 - Just as I am remembering the cookie girl, there is her table with fresh oatmeal cookies. So nice. I am dreading the next 5 miles, but by the time we go through the park Mica and Cherry catch up and reach mile 20, my leg is feeling much better. I don't know if it was the pills or a change in stride but the leg will be a non issue now. Start doing math about beating 4:30. Should be in range, but it is a long way to go. Seems like it is still a good goal to push toward.
Mile 21 - My least favorite part of the course and I was complaining about it to Tracy, but it goes great. Two miles mostly on sidewalk, with driveway crossings and along train tracks. This is where I usually melt down and Tracy suggests that having a bad experience at one spot can have you remember it and then have it again the next year. With fewer halfers out there we don't have to dodge much and I can't believe how soon we are going up the bridge hill to the area right by the finish.
Mile 22 - That short bit where we go opposite the runners sprinting to the finish. Wendy Hawthorn sighting! Coming in for a sub 3:45. "Don't stop, Wendy!" "Go get that 3:45!" She does. Now the gravel path. Feeling really good, way better than an hour ago. Tracy and I just chugging along, Mica and Cherry back a ways. I hear a train and start hoping that we will be stopped at the crossing. A forced break, where they will adjust our chip time, sounds great. But alas we just miss being stopped and have to continue down to the water.
Mile 23 - We have been without a walk break for a long time. Tracy seems willing and able to do anything I want. I suggest that we walk the last bit of boardwalk, to enjoy the scenery, and then make ourselves run up the steep hill away from the water. Stupid plan but we go for it. Just as Mica catches us, we start running up the hill as she walks like a normal person.
Mile 25 - Sub 4:30 will happen. Feeling great but need to dissociate. If we can keep talking I think I can do the rest of this without walking. Tracy is a little concerned that Mica is going to zoom past us, we both know what a strong runner she is. So I launch into a story about my long lost friend who I just reconnected with and who lives in Key West but did not evacuate during the hurricane, but she is OK. And we keep running and the pace is fast enough that Tracy does not ditch me and we do not walk and mile 26 arrives.
Mile 26.1 - There is Jody and Jared and I try to explain how we ended up with two cars in Bellingham and I should just be enjoying the finish, but friends of Mica's yell and we realize that she is making her move and the four of us all cross within a second of each other. So my sneaky trick at the start line works to give me the chip time advantage. But I never would have been so fast and well run without each of my pals out there today.
Mile 26.2 - So happy and feeling great. Find RD Ben and tell him how much I love this race. Then find Jody and Jared. Such a positive experience it makes me want to run more marathons!
4:25:46
187th place of 329
Race#426
Marathon or Ultra#159
Bellingham Bay Marathon#11
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