9 Months to Tri

[Brett] Howdy all, just checking in on Chris as I’ve been away for a week. Where was I? Well, Phoenix of course! I went out for the PF Chang’s Rock & Roll Marathon Arizona. It was a pretty amazing event, there were about a million people (ok, I heard there were 12,000 runners). It’s wild to see an event with THAT many people participating - and incredibly enough - it went really smooth from what I saw. Jordin Sparks sang the national anthem, Frank Shorter gave a little speech and the media coverage was super cool. There were helicopters hovering above the buildings with cameras on us and several camera stations all over the course. The scenery was great in some areas, but 90% of the course was on big, multi-lane roads. Aside from the run through Scottsdale most of the streets really didn’t have as much character as I had hoped. The finish line was absolutely AMAZING though, finishing in the chute with thousands of cheering spectators next to Sun Devil Stadium (ASU) was exhilarating! The only way it could possibly have been better would be to finish INSIDE the stadium! The pre and post race expos were top notch too. I’m looking forward to doing it again next year… I hope I do a lot better.

I had some issues with the restroom lines at the start (12,000 people were in line ahead of me… or so it seemed) and ended up running the first 4 miles with a full bladder. Once that was taken care of, I got right back on pace with the 4:00 finish group. I ran with them pretty easily until mile 14, when I started getting stomach cramps. I held strong until mile 17 or so, until I had to make another pit stop. I never really bounced back though, after I got going again I cramped up pretty good in both calves. I stopped quickly at 19 to stretch them and got scared when they started firing back with “locked up muscle cramps”. I kept moving my legs, but it wasn’t the same and I was never able to get back on pace. Between mile 20 & 21, I had a serious “Uh Oh” moment when I realized I still had another 10k to go and my legs were quitting on me. Even though I was nervous about stretching, I took some time and stretched my hammies, calves and quads REALLY slowly (5-10 minutes) before I started running slowly again. Luckily, my legs bounced back and I was able to get going towards the finish. Mile 23 had a nice touch - the only hill on the course! It was only a bridge crossing, and it actually broke up the monotony of a totally flat course. I stretched a bit on the uphill and felt a lot better on the downhill. Mile 25 featured a bunch of pirates handing out water and beads and they lifted everyone’s spirits (usually you need to lift your shirt to get beads in NO, glad we were in AZ). About a half mile later, there were a bunch of earlier finishers rooting us on, telling us the 26 mile mark was around the corner… and then the crowds started growing! The streets were lined 10-deep with spectators on each side and it felt like we ran through a huge crowd toward the finish line - I was looking up at the second story of the ASU parking garage when I heard Schmoop (Kristen) and Jason yelling to me! That was awesome, I’d waited all day to hear my wife’s voice and it was absolute music to my ears. I can’t wait to see the pictures Jason took with his crazy-expensive camera with the mondo lens. I was really proud to cross the finish line, I felt like I’d learned a lot by sucking it up and finishing even though I was in pain for 7+ miles. My time suffered, but I’m really OK with 4:30ish after wondering if I could make it all the way.

Great time, VERY well-run race, definitely a “do-again next year”. After an ice bath in Jason’s new pool and some stretching (and a couple handfulls of Advil) I actually feel about 90% right now!

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