White Rock Marathon

Yesterday I ran the White Rock marathon for the 5th time, and I must say it was the most interesting of them all. I've run in 17 degree weather, 70 degree weather, wind and rain, but yesterday was one of those run that I don't want to have happen again.

Everything started off well even though my back was a little tight. I guess I slept on it wrong, but I knew it might bother me some during the race. I figured I would just have to stop and stretch it a few time during the day. Boy was I wrong!!

The first 13 miles went well and actually went through the 13.1 mile split in about 1:56, which was nice and relaxed. During the next few miles the back really started to tighten up and I'm really not quite sure why. By miles 15 I was doing a lot of walking and stretching trying to get it to calm down, it never did during this stretch.

I made it over the hills at mile 19-21 and then the down hill back into Dallas made my back start going into bad spasms. I spent the next few miles walking and just sitting on the curb trying to relax. I was ready to DNF right then and there as I just didn't want to spent the next 2 hours walking and sitting and slowly making my way to the finish line. Thank goodness my bother was able to get me some ibuprofen and that helped relax my back enough that I was able to get back in the race. By mile 23 I felt much better and was actually doing some good paced miles toward the finish. I ran the last 3.2 in about 31 minutes to get in in under 5 hours.

I felt great at the finish line and obviously had a lot left in the tank, and could have had a decent run with out the back issues.

Oh well, I've learned that that there are great races, average races and every once in a while a really bad one. I just hope this is my bad one and not the one in February!

Today I went out and ran 7 miles and the legs felt pretty good. Looking forward to this weekend when it will be time for another long run.