I'm a squid in the bottom of the ocean

Akron Marathon 2008 Race report

What a great day! I had a simple plan RUN & FUN. Run as comfortable as my body will allow and have fun with all the sights & sounds of the event.

I didn't plan to set a PR, run a particular pace, or have a goal in mind. As I walked through the expo I caught Llyod & Brett Hines at the paceteam table. Brett was pacing the four hour group. I thought OK I'll run with Brett for awhile and see what happens.

Brett Shriver & I decided to carpool and ride together to the start. He picked me up at 5:15am, this way we had prime parking and time to deliver the goods to the port-o-potty if needed. Brett was really excited...All bug eyed and read to go.

OK here's a better picture of brett. It was his birthday, on his bid it says MY B-DAY

Before the race we gathered a group for a VR Training & Vertical Runner Friends photo. Hey Where's Vince???

Here's Rose praying for good run and Sean in the back hexing her with his Heavy Metal Devil Horns.

Here's E-Speed, She was pacing the group just in front of us.

I caught Rob & Jim at the start of the race I thought they were going to run with the 4:00 group, but decided at the last minute to move up with E-Speed's group. This would come back to haunt Jim later. I pasted Jim & Rob (Rob was pacing Jim) on Portage Path, he didn't look good. I also pasted Nick B. he was walking. Nick needs to run an Anchorage AL marathon. Like last week at Yut-c, Nick was plagued by the heat.

Here's a blurry shot on the Y-Bridge.

I had to get a shot of the Half way sign. This is on the towpath.

Pacer Bret kept us on our mark. He got us, I think about 1:40(Min/Sec.) head of 4:00 to make up for the time we would loose in Sand Run & THE HILL. Every now and then you'd hear him bark out "Guy's slowdown." This was a big help. I found myself wanting to pick up the pace, but thought I would just loose it later in the race.

I found the wall in West Akron again. I told Pacer Bret once out of Sand run I would hit a wall near the school. He kept an eye on me and once he noticed I was falling behind he came back and ran me back to the group. This was awesome, I've never had a pacer do this. Not just me, he ran back for others who fell behind.

I fell behind again on the HILL, I was set to just stay back and run a 4:15 or what ever...Once I got into Stan Hywet I saw the group on the other side of the turn around driveway and found energy to catch up to them. After about a 1/4 mile Pacer Bret told a group of girls to take off. I didn't run their pace but I followed them. I got to my favorite part of the course, Market Street. I picked up the pace and let the hill do the work for me. I wanted to look back to see how far I was from the pace group,but didn't want to break the pace or ruin any momentum I had going mentally and physically. at the bottom of Market street my calves started to cramp. I ignored the pain and kept on running. I know I didn't have fat to go.

So my time again 3:57:31. I got to see my family this time. They've never seen me finish a race. I missed seeing Pacer Bret and the group finish, I couldn't find them.

Bret...I have two beers for you. THANKS!!!!!

Next is Columbus in 3wks.