Disney Deads

Hi everybody. Several of you have been keeping up with my training
trials and tribulations on Facebook, but I thought I should share my
race report with the whole Dead community.

I ran the Inaugural Minneapolis Marathon yesterday. It was my second
marathon (the 2009 Disney was my first).

I was pretty nervous about this race because I had numerous setbacks
in my training over the past few months. A concussion in March, upper
respiratory illness and a trip to Florida in April, moving and a calf injury
in May... you get the drift.

Then, on Friday, I discovered that they issued me number 666 - I
thought it was an omen of sorts!

The course was much more challenging than Disney. It featured a
steady incline from miles 17-19 and another big hill at mile 25. It was
also about 10 degrees warmer (we Minnesotans aren't really used to
heat this time of year).

With my training woes and the challenging course, I decided to modify
my race plan (I was really just hoping to finish). I ran for five minutes
then walked a minute for the majority of the course. When I reached
the starting line, I decided to avoid the pace groups and stick with my
race plan. I just kept reminding myself to keep loose and easy. Other
than my intervals, I didn't even look at my pace until I was a good 10
miles into the race. But, I was pretty surprised when I was running up
with the 4:30 pace group.

I believe my plan paid off when I hit those hills at 17. I was told that a
lot of people dropped out of the race at that point. I perservered for the
remainder of the race. I knew I was ahead of my Disney time, so I
pushed it in with the remainder of my energy.

I ended up with a time of 5:03:39 - which was more than 15 minutes
faster than Disney. All in all, I was pretty happy. My goal was simply
to finish, but I managed to set a PR - woo hoo! (Got a pretty snazzy
medal and finisher's jacket to boot). I guess 666 wasn't such a horrible
number after all.

Kelly