It was really an amazing experience all around.  It's been a 5+ month journey and the end was truly moving. 

 

Our weather was perfect, I thought.  It rained (lightly) for the first 5 miles or so, then the sun peeked out a little then it was overcast for the remainder.  Probably hit about 60 degrees but no higher.  It could have been much warmer or much muggier, but we got lucky. 

 

We came to NOLA with several hundred AIDS Marathon people from DC (and also LA and SF).  That in itself was great - being with such a large group with a common purpose.  My mom and my daughter (11) also made the trip to cheer us on.  I had no idea how important that really was until they were NOT at the 16 mile cheering section (lunch break for them...).  I almost cried.  Then they called us when we were around mile 20 and said they were at the next cheering section and that got me motivated.  Their presence really pulled me along at certain times.  Plus, my daughter had pretzels for me! :)

Around Mile 5

 

So your "negative split" comment was a mystery to me until I finally figured out what it meant.  I've been going around telling people that I shaved 15 minutes off of my time in the second half of the race.  If I had known it had a fancy name like "negative split" I would have strutted around saying that like a REAL "thon woman" !!  :)  When we passed the halfway mark and left the half marathoners behind, I saw that my split time was pretty much exactly 3:30.  I wasn't happy that I'd most likely come that close to 7 friggin' hours, but being that my goal was to finish before they re-opened the roads (at the 7 hour mark), I knew I'd still beat that, even if only by minutes. 

Around mile 9

 

I hit what was probably the wall for me around mile 18 - in that damn Audubon Park.  I had the energy and I wasn't tired, but I think my brain knew I had less than 10 miles to go, but there was some arguing going on between my brain and my legs around then.  I also knew the route and knew that we were basically going to circle around and then have to turn and backtrack so that was probably psyching me out a bit.  We also had the blessing and curse of other AIDS Marathoners always running by in the opposite direction saying things like "good job" or "way to go" or "you're almost at the turnaround."  Well, at mile 5, 9, 15...that was all fine and dandy.  But by Audubon Park, I was like "yeah yeah...shut the hell up."  I told my husband and the two girls we were generally running with that I was going to spend some time in my head and I didn't want to talk, etc.  They were cool with that.  Good thing, because you don't want me getting cranky at that point.

 

An aside here: I don't know if you know anything about this AIDS Marathon training program, but they do the Jeff Galloway-style training where you constantly do a run:walk ratio -- run for a certain amount of minutes, then walk for another amount of minutes, and repeat that over and over.  Our general ratio throughout training was run 3 minutes, walk one minute.  For the first 15-20 miles of the MGM, we were doing this ratio pretty much.  Plus we were trained to stay slow and steady for at least the first 10 miles, if not 15.  Which we did.  Such good little trainees we are!!

 

Well, finally around mile 20, I turned to my husband and told him that I needed to step it up to run 4, walk 1 because that walk break was coming too soon for me at that point.  I would just get into my groove and then *beep**beep* time to walk.  So we changed our ratio, left one of the girls behind, and that's when I started to feel an amazing burst of energy and speed.  Mile 20 to 23 or so were the best, most efficient feeling miles ever.  It felt as though my legs were a separate entity from the rest of my body.  That's where I picked up those 15 minutes, I'm quite sure.

 

I was still pretty much in that groove when we re-united with the Hash House Harriers at the Mile 25 water stop (the folks in the red dresses).  Seeing them originally at Mile 14 or so was fun and funny, but now....hmmm.... At that point, they'd been out there drinking and carrying on for 6 hours and I was 1.2 miles from my goal.  They did their best to get me to drink beer and dance with them, but I waved them off.  My next half mile was completely messed up - they got my stride way out of sync.  But I quickly got it together again around 25.5 and I finished nice and strong.  After turning into the dome and hearing my name, I actually sprinted to and through the finish (my quads paid for that but it was worth it!).

Down the Chute

Sprint for the finish

I'm a Big Baby

Living Easy on the Levee...MARATHON WOMAN!!!

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