Crystal Springs Marathon

Crystal Springs Marathon went well, if I viewed as a training run. Stayed out til 1:30 at a concert I wanted to see, woke up at 7 AM to drive down to race start, arrived 5 minutes late kinda tired but ready to run. Ate bagel on drive. Kinda nice to start after everyone else as I didn't get caught up in conga line, just ran at my own pace. Walked the first big 2,000 foot climb, caught two slower runners. One said he was worried about the 3 hour 15 minute cutoff at mile 11. OH! I didn't know there was a cutoff. 

I was trying my coach's advice of "New Year, New Gear" & wearing my new running skirt. It kept slipping down oddly & I worried I'd washed it in too hot water. Around mile 3 I tried to cinch it up with the drawstring, & realized that my skirt was on BACKWARDS - explaining it's odd feel. Nowhere to change on the busy trail with the half marathoners overtaking, so I just kept running.

Around 11:02 I got nervous as I wasn't to mile 11 yet. Where was it? Ran faster to make the 11:15 cutoff time. When I ran in, the volunteers seemed very casual. Not much time, kept going on the 5 mile loop. Finally had breathing room to put my skirt on right direction. Later, I realized I'd made a basic math mistake - the cutoff was 11:45, not 11:15. 

Kept walking all the ups, running the flats & downs. Never really went super fast, just enjoyed the day, eating & drinking, electrolyte every hour. After mile 22 aid station, it was all downhill to the end, so I picked up pace, ending with 8:43 for final mile. My own timer said 5:45, but by official race time, 5:54 as I started late. 

At the end, Marisa made an announcement I was 2nd in my age group! So I picked up an age group medal. From looking at the results, there were ONLY 2 women in my age group, but hey, an award is an award. 

Things I did well:

1) Ran own race - didn't get stressed & try to catch up.

2) Ate bagel on drive down so always ahead of nutrition.

3) Said thank you to volunteers. Even the slow ones at the aid station who had pitchers but weren't using them.

Things to improve on:

1) Check direction of clothing (frontwards/backwards)

2) didn't apply bodyglide but not an issue