This week was different. Monday night there was a mandatory leadership thing we had to go listen to at the wellness center which actually was very neat. Tuesday, both of my classes had speakers come in a talk about Fred Smith and leadership. I missed my Sport Management class because I had a Leadership Award banquet where I received an 'award' for student leadership. It was actually a book that the President of the college picked out.
I had an overnight field trip for my Facilities class Wednesday to Thursday which totally could have been done in one day. We returned back to campus Thursday and that afternoon was the Honors Convocation. I was getting some sort of award, not sure what it was. I thought for sure I was going to get the Begley Scholarship (a full ride) because my essay for it was legit and very thought out. Turns out I did not get the Begley, which sucks, but I received an award for my major where I was given a plaque. Hopefully it has some sort of scholarship that comes with it, but no guarantees. So, that means I am zero for two on the things I applied for and was sure I'd get - R.A. position and the Begley. NOPE. I must admit, I was pissed. Very pissed. Then I got over it because since I did not get it, I'll be out of Columbia in December most likely for graduation, then bigger and better things will come my way.
Friday Jimbo and I headed up to Louisville because we were doing the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon. I was kind of nervous about Jimbo doing the marathon since he had like 15 miles of run training in the past two weeks and has knee and IT band issues, but he did it anyway. I knew that I would be fine. Saturday morning came around and the logistics were all sketchy and I had no clue what was going on, but that's kind of expected when you do something with Jimbo, but it worked out...
The race was about to start and there were thousands of people there!!! It was awesome. We were relatively near the front, but not at the front. probably 30 - 45 minutes before the race started I consumed VESPA and I was ready to go. I had used it in two training runs prior and it worked fine, but my stomach is different on race day compared to training days so I was a little worried about how it would work on race day. The gun shot and we had to wait for the massive amount of people to start moving. We finally crossed the start line and I said, 'see you at the finish' to Jimbo and weaved in and out of people while running past them. I swear, within the first two miles I must have passed at least 1500 people, if not more. I also ran into a good friend, Jessica, who was doing the 1/2 marathon, within the first mile. I said HEY and then continued going. I was a little nervous because for the first five miles I was averaging between 6:30/mile to 6:45/mile pace (depending on terrain) and was worried about massive bonking later.... turns out that I was able to hold that pace for quite some time. Miles 10.5-14 were hilly in Iroquois Park. The hills slowed me down a bit, but my 1/2 marathon split was right at 1:30, which is under 7 minutes/mile for 13.1 miles. SWEET!
I continued and after I reached mile 15, I saw Jimbo heading towards Iroquois Park, which meant that he was almost at mile 10. There were not as many food stations there as I hoped and the three that I passed in the whole race only had PowerBar Energy Gel. Near mile 20 I was hurting and hungry and the pace was in the 7minutes/mile. The last food aid station, which had the gels, was around mile marker 18 or so, which left me hanging for 8.2 more miles. The VESPA definitely helped and I was steady and focused for the first major part of the race, but I should have carried another one for during the race and consumed it about 12 miles in to help me focus more and hold my hunger needs during the later miles. Lessons learned, right.
The miles passed and there were neighborhood hills in the last 5 miles of the race which really hurt. But.. Lance said, "Pain is temporary...." and forward I went. I ran the last 5 miles by myself pretty much since there was no one to pace with, which was fine.
Finally, I could hear and see the finish area and I crossed the line at 3:17:21. Would have been nice to hold the 3:00:00 pace, but not too shabby for having two weeks to prepare for the race. Turns out I was 7 minutes away from qualifying for Boston. Dang... next time I will break 3 hours for sure. Jimbo finished at 4:19:12. Here's the medal we both received for finishing (to the right).
I am officially registered for the 10 hour Run Under the Stars on June 11, 2011 which will be my first ULTRA run!! I will soon be able to call myself an ULTRA runner! YES! A guy from school and from the cycling team, Alex Pepper, is also going to do it. I've got 6 weeks until race day, so the marathon was a training run, in essence.
School has one more week of classes and then the week after is Finals Week... then I start the internship with the Cycling Team. I'll also be working at the HWC to help cover the cost of the internship since I have to pay to do it and since I do not get any sort of stipend or anything. So it will be a busy, but good summer.
And we press on..
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