IMS AZ 2013

The weekend flew by as usual...how is it already Monday?

IMS Arizona Marathon 2013

Course: Verrado to Glendale, AZ
Time: 4:09:11



How I felt:
It's a mixed bag here. The first 8 miles were awesome, I felt good mentally and physically, the weather was perfect and the first part of the course was fairly nice.  I experienced some horrendous stomach issues at my last half marathon a couple weeks ago and it came back to haunt me. I think I wasted about 4-5 minutes stopping at various J-Johns along the way and took some extra time walking when the gut/fear of an accident kicked in, good times! I noticed it kicked in after my 1st GU, this has never happened to me before so I think it's time to find a new source of fuel? Wade ran with me until about mile 16 and then took off like a bat outta hell. I was hoping to break the 4:00 mark yesterday and was on course at the halfway mark...but the gut issues, the heat and my hip/back pain were working against me.

 The highlight of my race...My friend Ryan and his buddy rode the ENTIRE course with me on their beach cruisers and it was the best thing I could have ever asked for. Once I realized my goal wasn't going to happen, I decided I was going to have FUN and I really did. We had so much fun talking, laughing, being silly, waving at cops and volunteers, it made the 26.2 fly by and I never felt alone out there. It's a small race and for many stretches I was running alone, so having these 2 guys by my side was amazing. They handed me water, gum and GU along the way, it was like my own personal race crew! Ryan was supposed to run the race, but due to injury he chose not to start so instead, he and I crossed the finish line together, he earned it too!

A failed jumpshot attempt.

I'm really happy I did it, and saw so many familiar faces along the way...which was one of the best parts! Seeing Wade (and lots of friends) at the finish line, with a HUGE smile on his face (this was his 1st full) was worth every ounce of pain .... and I still got a PR. And a sunburn.

Finish line with Ryan, yay buddy!

Wade, sub 4:00!

And I got to finally meet my cute friend ChaCha who also had an awesome PR 3 weeks after running a hilly marathon in her hometown, she's kind of a badass!