Day 722 --Go St Louis Marathon

Before the race pictures

Go St. Louis 2016

When I arrived at the expo on the Saturday before the race, I was disappointed that they put me in corral D. I did finish 84^th last year out of 1,432 participants and I was in corral A last year. I talked to a lady over in the “Solutions” center and she changed my bib to corral B. I was still a little miffed, but she said that those in A were running the marathon under three-hours. I was just doing the math in my head and what she said did not make sense (what are there less than a hundred people in each corral?). Later I looked at the results and only twenty-one individuals finished the marathon under three-hours and I assume they were all in the Elite Corral, so I was just annoyed with GO from that point on. Did the person who runs this event change? This was my sixth time running the full at GO and it was by far the most poorly managed, but in the end it did not really matter. However, I probably would have been slightly faster if I had been in a different corral. I did spend the first mile running around people who were going substantially slower.

Saturday, I spent the day trying to do nothing besides drinking lots of water and Gatorade. I ate KFC grilled chicken with mash potatoes and gravy for my pre-race meal. I made sure to eat early around six, so that I would have plenty of time to digest it. I went to bed by nine the night after I shaved my beard off, so that I would have a cool mustache for the race.  

Race day

4 a.m. I was up using the restroom and drinking coffee. I had not planned to get up until five, but I had already gotten up a couple of times during the nights, so I figured if I was not going to sleep anyway.

5:30 a.m. I texted Jacob (my younger brother) who originally was going to run the full, but did not end up training enough, so changed his event to the half. He surprised me by already being up and asking if he could come over now.

5:45 a.m. Jacob got there and I decided to run in a short-sleeve shirt, my winter hat, shorts, and with my headphones. I did not make any special playlist because I figured I would probably not even listen to any music.  

6:10 a.m.

We left after some last minute checks. Jacob had not used the bathroom yet, but he said he did not care if he had to stop (he ended up stopping three-times). During the drive, I tried to tell Jacob about how awesome the race usually is and how much positivity is usually overflowing on the streets, but he started talking about whether or not he would survive the race. He also hinted that this would probably be the only one he does. I promised him he would have fun, but really I was just trying to stay positive. I had done not taken a day off and trained really hard for the pat three-months: I was determined to stay positive and do my best.

6:30 a.m.   

Sarah dropped us off and took a quick picture in the car. Jacob and I were off to walk to the starting line.

6:40 a.m.

We went into corral C first because Jacob was still in corral D, and I just wanted to stay with Jacob a little bit longer. We took a picture with the arch behind us and I saw that CJ was there. He was surprised by my mustache and seemed not so impressed with my new look. He laughed with me a little bit about Jacob wearing a huge raincoat, and I noticed corral B filling up, so I shook CJ’s hand and then Jacob’s – wishing them good luck, and then I went to find my spot.

6:55 a.m.

I was able to push my way to the front and I noticed a guy making a video message on his iphone in front of me. I looked around and notice no pacing groups, which usually are always there. They started us off in groups based on our corral. First those in a wheelchair, then the elite group, next corral A, and then I was running and I felt amazing.

7:01 a.m. the race starts.

             

The first seven miles went by in a moment. I remember going over the bridge to East St. Louis and I remember hiding behind a couple of people because the wind was pretty bad. I remember two guys talking and joking with people, but they did not say hi to me. I wanted to start at a 7:15 pace, but instead I was running under 7. At first I thought, I should try to slow down, but because it was supposed to rain at 9 a.m. I decided to keep pushing it as long as I felt good. I started to talk to some of the other runners when we came back across the bridge. The two guys that were running together told me they were going to try to run it in 3:05, which made me feel pretty slow trying for 3:15. I talked to a girl who said this was her tenth marathon and she said she ran her age ever since she was thirty. I felt guilty that I was not running more. I told them about my streak and they congratulated me and were nice. I could tell they were all hesitant to talk to me and then I realized that I still had a mustache. Some of the girls slowed down to pass the two guys. I continued to run by myself.   

I was surprised there was no sign or anything for the half-marathon point in the race. I knew it was coming up because of my watch, so I knew I was hitting it officially when I went over those official looking speed bumps. My half time was 1:32:26, my fastest half time at 7:04 pace. I knew I was going to have to slow down, so my plan was to keep my pace around 7:45 at least until mile 18.

I ran into a guy, Fess, who told me he was an engineer. We both commented on the lack of a pace group, but then we both said we were going for the same time 3:15, so we said we would pace each other. We did for a couple of miles, but then I pulled ahead and lost him in Forest Park, which I warned him about would be awful. I was slowing down I knew, but it still was not raining, so I was trying to keep a fast enough pace, without being risky. I saw the sign leaving forest park for mile 22 and I knew I would be home free then.

Forest Park was awful as always. I was doing my best, but the hills were killing me, but I tried not to think about it and keep running the straights. The streets were filled with uneven concrete and potholes, so it was hard to keep going in a straight line. A guy cut in front of me at a water stop and I swore at him. He apologized and I said it was no big deal. I knew it was going to be tough to finish at 3:15. I knew I could fall apart at any minute. I was so happy when I left Forest Park not having run one mile over an 8 minute pace. I kept telling myself I was almost there.

At this point the wind was becoming really a problem, I was running up and down long-hills on highway 40. Mile 23 was the first I ran over 8 pace, and I knew that it was not good, but I knew I was doing my best, so I made-up for loss time on the next mile. I was listening to music for the first time to get me through the last miles.

When I got to mile 25 it was almost all up hill, the wind and the hill were too much, but I kept pushing it. Then, my right leg began to cramp up and I thought, “Here it is this cramp is going to stop me,” and I could feel my leg trying to freeze in one position as the pain began to throb like a knife wound. Another voice in my head just started screaming at my leg in all the profanity I knew. It probably only lasted for a minute, but my mind won that battle and my leg stopped throbbing. I knew I probably ran over an 8 pace, but I was not looking at my watch anymore.

 

The last mile went by so fast and I was giving my all at this point. I noticed a guy start walking, and I yelled at him to pick it up. I knew I was going to be close to hitting my goal, but I was not looking at my watch because I did not want to know. When I crossed the finish line the announcer said, “Danielle Virtue.” And I screamed at him (not that he heard me) that my name was “Daniel.” Later I figured out that I was listed in the female division, so his blunder was not that big of a deal.

When I finished my watch told me 3:15:28, so I knew I would be a little under that, so I was happy. I could not find Sarah right away, but eventually I did and she was patient with me as I was irritable and tried to get her to take a picture, so you could see all the salt on my face. We walked to the car and my mind was still racing. I was so mad, but so happy; I just wanted to sit down. When we finally got to her car, it started rain, and I said, “thank you God.” It felt like the rain waited for me to get in my car to start. It was supposed to start at 8 a.m., and here it was after 10 a.m., finally raining for the first time all day.

Later that day I e-mailed the GO people about how I was listed as a female and they fixed it, but they never wrote me back. 

 After race pictures