Cleveland Marathon Experience!

  I'm not completely sure where to even begin.  This whole weekend was simply amazing.  I suppose it started out with Tim and I riding up to the marathon expo with Jay.  The expo improved a bunch since last year but we arrived late in the afternoon and only got to stay about an hour.  It started out with seeing the ever so famous Bill Rodgers.. He's da man!  What a great guy!  He is a 4 time Boston winner with a 2:12, 2:10 and (2)2:09s and many other great races.

  Next I picked up my race gear.  The shirts were really nice this year, and 2 companies sponsored the pace team.  Boom and Sure Sport were both sponsors of our pace team this year.  So, i was looking forward to trying the Boom energy gel and wear my new calf sleeves.  They seemed more comfortable than ones I have worn previously.

Trying out the Sure Sport compression socks.. so comfy!

  I was the 3 hour pacer and I was nervous the week leading up to the race as I have never paced that fast before.  I've paced 3:05 before as my fastest but it's been a few months.  I gained a lot of confidence and the nerves went away when I got to the pasta dinner.  I talked to many pacers and elites at the dinner.  It was such a nice dinner with pasta, salads and deserts.  The runner's atmosphere is so enjoyable and relaxing as everyone has their own personal goals and wants to achieve something great.  For me, it was pacing a 3:00 marathon the next morning.

Boom!!!

  At the dinner, I ended up getting the contacts of a couple elites who may very well run in the Peace Race this year.  A couple months ago, I ended up signing up as the  chair of the elite committee due to the fact that the ones who coordinated the elites last year are no longer on the board.  I love a competative race and would hate to see the winning times drop so I signed up.  I've been on the Peace Race board for 3-4 years now and took the position as the secretary my 2nd year on the board.  I didn't realize how involved it was to plan a race, especially one that has 3 races, kids race, 2 mile and 10k where they bus the runners to the start of the 10k. Everyone on the board is a volunteer and the board donates about as much to local charities as is in the pot for prize money.  I joined the board because it was my favorite race in the area and a couple of my running friends were already on it.  The website is www.peacerace.org. We are looking to launch the new website soon.

  Back to Cleveland.. it was about a mile walk from the hotel to the pasta dinner which was only a couple blocks shy of the starting line.  The  baseball stadium was only a couple blocks from the hotel and there was a great view just outside the elevators outside my hotel room.  So, we walked passed the stadium going to and from the dinner and the race.

  Last year was my first year pacing for Cleveland and each year, the pace coordinator, Kara, has a milk-n-cookies party the night before.  It's a good way for the pacers to get to know one another and talk about our experiences.  That was at 8:30, about the time we got back from the pasta dinner.  I was down there talking to Dave after and it was already 10:30 before i went back up to the room.  We heard booms from our room and I immediately thought they sounded like fireworks and sure enough they were.  The firework show lasted 10-15 minutes after the Indians game and I walked the whole thing from the windeows outside the elevators.

Fireworks over the Indians baseball stadium

Race morning:
  The pace group met in the lobby at 5:45 as the race started at 7:00 and we walked to the starting line as a group.  We took a group photo in front of the start which I have not seen yet :(  Anyways, there was another 3:00 pacer with me but he wanted to only do the second half as you never know what to expect at the end of a marathon at such a fast pace.  I was quite impressed with the group and the amount of people trying to break 3:00 with me.  There must've been 30 in the group with only a handful of half marthoners.  I took a bathroom break at mile 8 and ended up running a 5:50 pace to catch back up.. I was in there for 50 seconds.  Luckily, this lady held the sign for me as she was an elite herself using Cleveland as a recovery run from her 2:42 in Boston.  You never know who you will me out there!

                                                          I'm in the orange shirt and orange compression socks. You  

can barely see my sign but can see the huge group i had!

  I decided to try the boom, which is an energy gel.  Gu and Hammer were the only ones i've really cared for previously but Boom was really good.  It's made of complex sugars like Hammer and has a very similar taste and texture.  I took one along the course around mile 15 and i felt fine the rest of the race.  I took both water and poweraid on the course and tried not to take too much the first half so I wouldn't have to pee a second time.  Luckily, the other pacer, Mike Ryan, was there and i didn't have to go until mile 19 or so.  I was in there just over a minute this time and ran a 6:15 mile to catch up and then still ran behind them for the next mile talking to another guy and cheering on people going the other direction.  Pacing is so much fun, it seems the more I cheer on other runners, the more others cheer back and people around me start feeding off that energy.

  There were stil 4-5 in the pace group after 20 miles and i remember 3 running the last 3 miles with us.  There was nearly zero crowd support on those last 3-4 miles running down 3 lanes of freeway with walkers on the other side of the concrete dividing wall.  Some people sat on the wall and were cheering, others were standing at various spots and also cheering.  It was so much fun, the girl I was running with, had a previous pr of 3:13 and was trying to break 3:00.  She said she was going to the Lady Gaga concert later that night and I asked her what her favorite song was and began singing the chorus to "Applause".   We finished and my final time was 2:59:23 and hers was 2:59:27.  2 others came in a few seconds later then they rolled in 1 by one with about 10 breaking the 3:00 mark with me.  It was such a great experience and I was full of joy seeing so many runners accomplish something so big.

                                                Not the best pic but showing off my medal and shirt