Cliff notes version: I PR’ed and was first in my age group.
The longer but not too long version:
The first half of the race felt great. I ran the first 13.1 in 1:34.
For the last two weeks, I have been dealing with a hamstring soreness/tightness that manifested itself in this race around mile 18. From mile 21-26.2 I felt my hamstring and hip during each and every stride. It was the hardest section of running I’ve done in a while. I fought through (and believe me if I felt anything rip, tear, pop or do something to change my gait I would have stopped). My hamstring caused my stride to shorten and for it to be a miserable last 7 miles.
I’m in a decent amount of pain (not soreness but pain) post race. It’s not sharp but it does feel strained.
I also dealt with 14 hours of traveling and being up for 22 hours on Thursday to Friday. I could feel exhaustion kick in.
I had already planned to rest several days before returning to running but I’m resting until I can figure out what is going on. I’ll be back at you for a much longer blog post sometime soon.
It was a great PR and a good race for me. I know I still have not conquered the marathon distance by any means. I did learn that my fueling was perfect though for this race and I believe that was a huge lesson. The other important thing about typing up this race recap is that I’ve finally learned how to spell “Phoenix”…instead of Pheonix…
For the LOLZ:
Thank you for all the love and support from family and friends. It truly means the world to me.