NJ Marathon Relay

Today: 9.5 miles

Week: 36.5 miles

Workout: Ran the third leg of a 4-person relay in the NJ Marathon.

I went into the race thinking I could run at least 6:40/mile for the race since I did that at the NYC Half Marathon, and my leg of today's race would be shorter. However, as soon as I was 2 miles into the race, I knew that pace wasn't going to happen. It was about 10:30 a.m., and it was already nearing 80 degrees. I managed a

6:21 for Mile 15,

6:47 for Mile 16,

6:51 for Mile 17,

7:08 for Mile 18,

7:17 for Mile 19,

7:22 for Mile 20,

???? for Mile 21,

10:30 for Mile 22 + 0.7 mile

Denie started us off with a 9.4 mile first leg. He came in under 7:00/mile. Bruno ran the next leg, approximately 3.5 miles. He handed off to me for the third leg, 9.6 miles. The heat was awful. I tried to go through all the sprinklers and water hoses that people were offering. I felt bad for all the people running the half marathon and full marathon. They must have been miserable. I ran with a guy from Van Cortlandt Track Club for about 3 miles since I didn't want to run by myself. He was trying to keep up a 7:15/mile pace and did it for a little while, but he dropped off the pace before we hit Mile 21. At Mile 22, I saw Alanna and Stu. It's tough to understand how nice it is to have someone cheering for you in a long race unless you have tried running a tough race without any support along the way. Alanna, Stu, and Jeanne, thanks for coming out!

I finally reached Rob for his anchor leg. I remember seeing the overall time at Mile 21 and thinking our team was about 4 minutes under 7:00/mile, which would result in a finishing time right around 3 hours. Denie met me, and I was about to walk to Mile 23 or 24 so that I might try pacing Megan or Josh. I made it about a block and decided it wasn't such a good idea. So I turned around, and Denie and I walked to the finish line. As we got close to the beach, which was only a couple blocks from where I finished running, I could feel the cool ocean breeze. It seemed like there was a 20 degree difference in temperature!

We saw Rob finish just under 3:01. But that was the gun time, so we're hoping we finished under 3 hours for the net time. I can't seem to get online to check the results. I think we may have been the 4th or 5th place relay team.

Everyone ran slower than they expected. Ten hours after I finished running, I still have a headache from being dehydrated, and I've been drinking water non-stop for the past few hours. A few people got a serious sunburn. I was fortunate someone had some sun block which I put on before I started running.

It was funny to see everyone back at Stacy's mom's house. We were all walking around rather gingerly.