I ran Charlotte, North Carolina's "Thunder Road Marathon" on Saturday. The rolling hills course that goes through downtown and residential neighborhoods in Charlotte was a lot of fun! I ran a 3:55:47 (my third best marathon time ever!). The weather was near perfect - upper 30s at the start, mid 40s by finish time.
The first couple miles I was sore and hobbling with shin splints and aches (probably from last Saturday's 50K!). I was running like 9:30 miles and feeling like I was fading way too soon in a marathon (feeling awful in mile 2 and 3)! I was running in the grass next to the road for a couple miles for a softer surface and I slipped and fell into some wet mud. It's pretty rare that you get to fall in mud during a road marathon! I just got back up and kept going. By one hour in, about six miles, the aches and pains went away and I was able to accelerate. I actually ran a faster 2nd half than first half which is rare, I think. I ran 7:30-8 min splits in the last three miles "just because I still could". It was a fun run and another state checked off the list!
To see official race results: http://www.runcharlotte.com/2008-races/AWARD&RESULTSMARATHON.txt (Hopefully, website pictures to come later...)
