April Fools!

Happy April everyone! Judging from my twitter feed, it seems like yesterday was full of PFRs!

My maiden voyage to Atlantic City was....an adventure. It did not help that it was raining and there were 20PMH winds. But I made it there in one piece, and met up with my lovely friend Vee who was treating me to a belated birthday weekend. There was lots of seafood and pasta had, $5 lost to a quarter slot machine, and how could I forget the amazing trip to the Coach Outlet store??

Unfortunately, my pre-race night sleep was far from ideal (aka, I didn't get any sleep) but I tried to make sure it didn't stress me out. I knew a cup of coffee and half a bagel would set me right. We walked up to the boardwalk, passing many amusing Atlantic City sites (Lacy's strip club, with the slogan, "The only thing we wear is a smile" was one of the most amusing) We started to see lots of runners warming up and I was starting to get nervous. Would my legs hold up? Or would I feel heavy and tired? Vee split off to go to the bathroom and I told her I wanted to get a quick warm up in. Running for a just a quarter mile, I knew exactly what I needed to find out from my legs. All systems were good to go.

The race ended up starting 15 minutes late, due to a lot of runners having issues parking. I didn't think 15 minutes was long time, but I got REALLY restless just standing around. I did not want to spend more time on my feet before the race then I needed to. I was just basically bouncing on my feet and trying to keep myself mentally and physically ready.

Pre race smiles!

The race finally started and I knew it was game time! Coach didn't want me looking at my watch, and I knew I'd try my hardest not to, but I don't think I did too well with that. I had a page on my Garmin that showed my average pace, and I was going to make sure I didn't slow down too much throughout the race. The first 4 miles I average around 9:08-9:10. Doing some mental math I knew I was on pace for a sub-2. I was enjoying running on the boardwalk, and I felt great. I was able to find a nice little space for myself in the race and felt like I had plenty of room to move. 

Around mile 4 the race turns off on to Atlantic Ave. This was definitely the hardest part of the race. I knew there was a turnaround around mile 6.5...but I kept seeing people running towards me and I wanted to turn around already! I also found the course strange because it seemed like miles 5-6 were a really, really slight uphill, but it seemed like coming back on mile 8-9 it was a really, really slight uphill as well! I really wanted a downhill to help me out. I was starting to feel fatigued by mile 9, and my average pace had dropped a bit to 9:16. I had hit the halfway point right after an hour, so I knew I was really close, and this race could go either way. 

I wanted to try and drop my average pace down a bit...but I found it hard to keep the pace up. I was more than happy to see the turn on back to the boardwalk around mile 9.5. I was able to pick up the pace a bit and passed a few people, and played tag with a few others.

Around mile 11 I saw a woman that had a Chuck Norris sign, and was giving out free candy! I decided to take a chance, and grabbed a mini-Twix bar. I took a bite of it, and let the caramely goodness melt in my mouth. I hoped I would get a sugar spike and maybe I could pick it up a little more.

I loved being able to see the Trump casino in the distance. I knew the race ended just after that, and it gave me something to focus on. Every time I looked up, it was just a little closer. With a mile and a half left, I was around 1:47. I did the math and thought I could run that far in 13 minutes, about a 9 minute pace...might be tough but.....only half a mile left, in about 4 minutes? Oh...I don't know...this is going to be a close one...

Backwards...April Fools!

I crossed the finish line in 2:00:07. 8 seconds over my goal, but with a 3 minute and 34 second PR. Happy April Fools Day, indeed!