OK! I'm skipping any photos for the sake of share! Here's my recap from the 2016 BCS Full Marathon, which I will have to say I really liked running! Better late than never right?
THE RECAP
DAY BEFORE
My fiance, M, and I headed out around noontime for College Station to get to the hotel. We had stayed at Hyatt Place, which was very conveniently located about 5 minutes away from the Start Line. It was also a race hotel, which helped with the cost and stress of getting to the race on time. The room was nice, but a little funky. You could tell that it was an older hotel that was redone (or at least I thought so). The bed was a bit too firm for my taste, bit was nice. I never found out what type of "runner breakfast" deal they were giving the runner because the front desk didn't know. That was OK for me cause I didn't want to eat anything new race morning!
After checking into the hotel, we drove down to to Packet Pick-Up, which is where saw my running buddy HC and her hubby. The expo was really small, and was held in the cafeteria at the high school. Everything was a breeze to go through, which was great. No stress or sensory overload like other expos I've been too! I like the race shirt I got, and it fits great, which was something I was worried about when I asked for a Women's Large vs my usual Men's Medium (it's all in the cuts!).
After the procuring my bib, we made our way back to near the hotel. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Mmmmm! I love their rolls. I had a steak with green beans and a sweat potato. The steak was delicious, and I felt good that I was fueling with that, especially since I'm representing the TX BEEF Team during the race.
All this time, I was calm. I kept on realizing, "I'm running 26.2 miles tomorrow." But I never freaked out or got nervous. Back at the hotel I laid out all of my gear so that I could easily get dressed in the early morning.
EARLY MORNING PRE-RACE PREP
My alarm went off at 4:30am. I wasn't nervous yet. At least, not about the race. I was more nervous of trying not to set of the smoke detector in the room when I heat up my Eggo waffles for my breakfast and running fuel. Yep, that's right. I lugged my toaster with me to the hotel. I had my waffles in a cooler (now defrosted, which helped I think). I also brought my own coffee and drip cone cause I did not trust the hotel coffee. It all worked out! I even managed to poop before, which was something I've been training my body to do (thank you coffee!) during this training season.
When I had to get dressed was the when I started to get nervous. I was worried about the weather, but ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt (my Dallas Marathon shirt) and my Beef tank top. I only packed my capris and chose the ones that I ran in during training, but also at my last marathon. When we stepped outside I was surprised as to how warm it was. It was due in part to humidity.
THE RACE
We parked at the mall and followed the crowd to the Start Line area. I did my first porta-potty stop before finding HC and her hubby. We didn't have long till the start of the race. We pretty chatted lightly while I stretched and warmed up. During the entire pre-race time I was notably calm! I wasn't freaking out. I felt ready but also still thinking about the fact that I had 26.2 miles ahead of me. But, it wasn't a big deal. It was just a run. Weird, right? I had one more potty break, and I was ready.
Mile 1 - 4
HC and I ran together until we reached the first water station around the 5k mark. I thought we were walking through the stations, but she only did half the station and then she was off. I had to stop and stretch. I kept tabs on her for bit, but she was long gone by the time I saw the split for the marathoners and the half marathoners. It was a littler surreal that most of the runners were half-ers and I went down the road less traveled - where the badass marathoners went.
Mile 5 - 13
Around Mile 6 or so I had to pee and stretch. Another person from the Beef Team asked if I was OK after she saw me stretching, which was uber nice. I was doing good. Just keeping hamstring happy. Pretty the next handful of miles I watched other runners. There was another runner who would take pictures as he went along, and I thought it was curious as to what he was capture, such as a school or or a house. This entertained me for a while.
Bryan is a bit sleepier of a town than I had imagined it. It was fun passing little houses, schools, but it was gone before I knew it.
I saw HC as she crossed the 13 Mile marker. She looked like that she was about to start walking. I thought about yelling to her, but knew that she may not here me, which sucks. Even then, I had about a mile left to catch up to her and she may not want to wait for me. I run on in the opposite direction to reach the half-way mark of the race.
Mile 14 - 20
Once I past 13 miles and heading the direction of Heather, I completely lost her. I was back to being a lone. I was doing just fine. I was recognizing my that I was doing good, not as burned out at this time compared to the Dallas Marathon, but overall I have to aware of getting tired. Right around Mile 15 I new that I was getting bored and realized how far I had to go. My legs were feeling tired/achy. I was starting to get into my head. Uh oh. Thankfully, right around this time a small group of 3 runners were passing me.
I had been playing cat and mouse with this trio for the past couple of miles. The husband and wife duo were running intervals, and keeping another young woman keep the faith. I decided to tag a log. Eventually, during the next mile, I told them I was piggybacking off of their interval. The husband was definitely a fellow with a good sense of humor (goofy in most respects) and his wife was the more serious person. They were a wonderful distraction. I didn't think about my legs. I also had a regimented interval to follow, which was nice. Granted, it did slow my time down. At Mile 20 we were now getting to the A&M campus.
Mile 21 - 25
My pace was calmer. I'm feeling really good! I'm feeling accomplished already! My goal of 6 hrs was looking good, but then I was getting slower. I lost track of timing. Due in part that I was slightly worried to peel away from the trio because I would lose my mojo. Oh, well! I did split from the group at around Mile 24.
Mile 25 to Finish
I was excited to finish! I was so close! I pace sped up, but I still did walking breaks to make sure I didn't burn at the end. I remember seeing the 26 Mile Marker was amazing! I think I actually stopped to take a picture... and to stretch! I remember bounding around the corner to the finish line, I had the biggest smile (even the MC noted it!)! M was there in the stands video recording me.
I crossed the finish line, and I felt good. I felt proud. I felt relieved.
They put the medal around my neck, and I kept walking. I eventually stopped, and sort put my head between my knees. I was full of so much emotion, I started crying.
M was at the fence, and I went over to hug him. He was worried I was hurt, but it was just happy tears.
We walked together, and eventually found HC with her family. Everything was good. I felt great. Walking back to the car was a little hard, but I did it.
POST RACE
What is awesome with the BCS is that the Start/Finish is right near a Chuy's Tex-Mex! SCORE! M and I got a table pretty quickly, and I ordered fajitas just for myself. While we waited on that ate so many chips and salsa! I did change my clothes in the bathroom since M had to check out of our hotel earlier. The meal was ah-mazing!
The road trip back was really good! I didn't fall asleep as quickly as I expected. Granted, I wanted to make sure I navigated M correctly. We found our way to West to pick up some kolaches at the Czech Stop on the way home to the Dallas area.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I remember being surprisingly calm the night before and the morning of. It seemed like any other race. Though my finish time was slower than my first marathon (2015 Dallas Marathon), but I felt so much better! I didn't hit a mental wall like I did before. I knew I was getting close to getting into my head around Mile 15, but since I piggy-backed off the intervals of the one couple they distracted me. Next time around I know not to get into my head.
WOULD I RUN THIS RACE AGAIN?
Yes! I want to run this race again!
FINISH TIME
Official finish time: 06:19:30
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