2007 - Suntrust Richmond Marathon
Training:
I actually had the most miles in training for this marathon than I had for my last four marathons. I felt like I did everything right starting off- built a good base and was about to add speed work in to the mix when I broke my toe in week 3 of the program. The next three weeks were spent getting healed while trying to keep some running going. I started over again with the training had built the miles pretty well until late in the program when work/travel/vacation came in to play. I ended up having two long runs of 17 miles each and that was it for this program.
All in all I feel very good about this training period, I just had a lack of 4-5 long runs that I really needed.

Race Weekend:
The weekend got off to a crazy start as I got to the Atlanta airport only to see that there was no electricity on teh concourse I was flying out of. There had been a fire earlier in the morning and they didn't have the electricity restored. The airport/airline personnel did an excellent job keeping things moving and we were only about 50 minutes late leaving.
Then I got to the hotel in Richmond only to find they had chnaged the name 2 days before and the hotel was under total renovation. It was messy every where and only one of the two elevators was working.

I headed down to the expo where I ran in to Barbara and Tim- after chatting for a minute and doing the expo thing we met back up for lunch. I kpet watchng for Tricia and James but never saw them- turns out they were caught up in traffic. Had dinner with Barbara, Tim, and Michelle (2L's).
Upon returning to the hotel I saw who I thought to be Tricia checking in. It turned out it was Tricia and James just getting in to town.

I met Tricia and James Saturday morning to walk over to the start line. We decided to wait in the host hotel by the start line and saw Barabra, Tim, and Michele again. After a couple of pictires we heaeded out to the start line.

Race:
Tricia and I had close goals for this race so we started out together. The course was beautiful- even on a cold/windy/cloudy monring. It took us through the downtown area, through beautiful neighborhoods, across and beside the James River, then back to town. I had studied the course map and knew where the hills were but I totally under estimated some of the hills. None of them were horrible by standards of what I train on but the course profile on the website doesn't do them justice- especially with the 10-15 mph wind in your face. I had planned on mapping out the course on google maps to see what profiloe I came up with but ran out of time before leaving to do so.
I wan't sure how long I would be able to stay with Tricia. I was hoping to stay with her for the entire distance but also knew I wasn't hydrated quite like I needed to be and was worried abou tlegs cramps- something I have had a problem with in the past.
I made it to about the 19.7 mile mark with her. I had started feeling my hamstring really tighten up earlier but thought I would be ok. We crossed a long bridge that had a pretty good uphill slant into a pretty strong wind for the entire distance at mile 16 and that one pretty much did me in. I was able to hang with Tricia for almost 4 more miles and then it was time to do whatever I could to make it in. I strectched at each mile marker and slowed my pace the rest of the way and thank goodness never cramped.
After the race and sitting with Tricia and James for a bit we made our way back up the hill to the hotel. After an ice bath and a hot shower I went back out to watch and cheer for Barbara and Michele.
After seeing them- Tricia, James, and I went to an Irish Pub for celebratory drink and food where we watched football and chatted for quite a while.
It was great to see Barbara, Tim, Michele, Tricia and James.

Tricia ran a very solid race- thanks for running with me. I look forward to watching her improvements over her future races.

I looked and there are a few seconds difference between mine and Tricia's splits but that is just the difference of when we hit the lap button on our Garmins.

Mile Split
1- 8.50
2- 8.50
3- 8.49
4- 8.42
5- 8.48
6- 8.53
7- 8.47
8- 8.52
9- 8.46
10- 8.46
11- 9.00
12- 8.43
13- 8.43
14- 8.36
15- 8.51
16- 8.55
17- 9.00
18- 8.49
19- 8.59
20- 9.52
21- 9.16
22- 9.17
23- 9.34
24- 10.03
25- 9.40
26- 8.51
.2- 1.51 (8.03 pace)

Total Time- 3:57:39
Overall place: 1371/3783
Age group place- 180
Gender Place- 994

My goal for this marathon was to run a 3:45 - 4:00 and I ran a 3:57:38. I am happy with the race and hope to use this as a push in to the next program. After a couple of days off it will be time to get ready for the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thnaksgiving day.