I arrived at the expo with plenty of time to do some shopping and get my number and shirt. Unfortunately the parking situation didn't allow for that. After more than an hour of inching along and sitting stranded in my car I finally got to the expo just before it closed. There was no time to shop, besides I was in no mood to shop at that point. My stress level was off the charts and I was furious with the organizers for having such a pathetic parking plan. (The 5K was going on at the same time adding to the problem. I actually watched the finish of the race while sitting in a line of traffic in the parking lot.)
After getting my number and shirt and calming down a bit I found my hotel, checked in and headed out to find something to eat. I found some pasta (carb loading a great reason to run). It was late and I still wasn't in the mood to shop so I went back to the hotel to eat.
I woke up early on race morning and headed out to avoid the traffic and parking disasters of the day before and arrived with no issues in the parking area more than 1.5 hours before my race time. After sitting in my car for awhile I decided to brave the brisk air to find a potty and the start line.
On the walk to the start line I ran into my running buddy K and her hubby. We chatted for a bit, he is a retired Air Force pilot and was telling us about some of the planes that were flying over and that lined the finish line (totally cool). I left K in the potty line and headed to the start line.
I lined up between the 2:00 and 2:10 pace group and stretched for a bit. They did the National Anthem complete with fly over (again, totally cool) and we were off.
There was a bit of a hill about 1.5 miles in then the course was totally flat running through the base, along a bike trail, around the base golf course and residential areas. I was feeling good and running fast (for me anyway). At mile 8 we left the base and headed on the streets of Dayton. The flat, fast course had a huge hill in the form of an overpass! Mentally it was defeating and I struggled to the top. At the bottom the marathon and half course joined, yet another mentally defeating moment. The marathoners started an hour and fifteen minutes earlier, so now I'm being passed by 3:15-3:30 marathoners! Talk about feeling slow!
The next three miles were a mental struggle over some rolling hills. It was getting hot and I was tired and dehydrated from starting too fast and not taking in enough during the early miles. I saw a couple of people I know from the running group on the course, which helped a little.
By the last mile I was ready to be finished. The finish area seemed like it went on forever. (Actually it was about a half mile.) At the last turn I heard K's hubby cheering for me and waved. After that I focused on the finish line and crossed at 2:07:36, a PR by 2:30!
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