Sacramento Cowtown Marathon

Packet Pickup
This was a fun well-organized race. I love the Cowtown Marathon! It was a good size race... not too big, not too small. There was no "expo". Just a race packet/shirt pickup. No frills. I was out of there in about 3 minutes.

Pre Race
I bought some water, juice, and spicy garlic shrimp crackers at Raley's. Then I ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant called Akebono. I had the katsudon and ika geso. Good stuff. If I'm in the area, I'll probably stop by again.

Later that night I revisited Futami and ate their teishoku, beef teriyaki and sashimi. Good stuff. The waitresses kept speaking Japanese to me. I had to force out some phrases and words that I learned about 13 years ago! The younger waitress told me that I could come back and practice Japanese with her. Yeah, too bad I only live 400 miles away. I went back to my hotel to rest. I ended up watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor.

First Half
I lined up between the 8 and 9 min/mile corrals. The ~8:30 pace that I was running felt comfortable. The miles flew by. I ran with a girl from TNT for a few miles. She said that she had been sick and was planning to run between 2 and 2:05. I told her that at the pace we were going, she was going to hit at worse a 1:55. I think she finished around 1:53. By mile 9 I knew I was going to be under 2 hrs for the first half so I started to cruise.
1: 8:56
2: 8:18
3: 8:20
4: 8:52
5: 8:24
6: 8:15
7: 8:41
8: 9:07
9: 8:46
10: 9:29
11: 9:25
12: 9:22
13: 9:35

Second Half
I was feeling like I was going to have a shot at lowering my PR until my right ankle and Achilles started feeling weak at around mile 17. Then I started taking longer walking breaks at 19 and 20. Then the wheels really came off when I ran out of fluids and started feeling dizzy, nauseous, and borderline wanting to pass out at miles 22 and 23. When I finally reached the aid station and took in some more Nuun + water and a gel, I felt better. While I was zoning in and out of consciousness the word, scree, kept popping in my head. The last 2 miles was pretty fun, to go from such a low point to rallying and finishing with a semi-strong stride to the finish line.
14: 9:59
15: 10:01
16: 10:21
17: 12:20
18: 11:27
19: 14:15
20: 14:01
21: 12:47
22: 15:29
23: 18:24
24: 19:08
25: 12:00
26: 10:22
26.2: 1:52

Finish: 4:48:08

Post Race
I'm thinking I should just carry 2 handhelds with me during my marathons. I'll just be a trail/ultra-runner doing speed work on a road race. Nuun worked great... when I had it available to drink. But I must have skipped an aid station fill-up because I thought that I had enough to reach the next station.

I had unexpectedly bought 2 gallons of water. I only drank 1 during the weekend. So after the race I was looking to give away the 2nd gallon. Near the start/end of the Cowtown marathon, I found an old couple sitting at a golf course bench eating sandwiches. I asked if they could use a gallon of water and the old guy thanked me and prayed for me. When I was leaving, he told me that he'll see me in heaven. I guess it must have been a divine appointment. God sent me to Cowtown to run a marathon and deliver water to this couple.

Since my flight home was delayed, I ate a salad at the airport... my celebratory "white wine spritzer". I couldn't have possibly eaten a steak with that kind of a performance.