With about a quarter-mile to the end of the second lap, I started jogging – mostly to be able to run through the crowds. They had started to thin down a little, as most had moved to the finishing chute. It was about 8 o’clock – I had hoped to have been coming in to finish myself at this time, but considering the calves and the bike/dehydration, I was very happy that I was only about an hour and a half behind.
Then, normally where I had stopped running and started walking again, I was able to keep running. I kept running up to the second aid station (the one with the massage tent), used the portajohn, and then kept running. It seemed I had my fill of liquids, and so I was going to take on fluid every other aid station.
I kept running until the next aid station, where I thought I might have a PowerGel. Alas, it was coffee flavored – and I HATE coffee. I had to take a drink of water and clean out my mouth. I walked up the steep (but short) incline, past the message board, and proceeded to run to the next pit stop.
I kept this up – running where it was flat or downward-sloping, walking up hills and through the aid stations (where it was crowded enough to make running difficult anyway) – for the rest of the course. I think the compression socks I bought the day before were the best $15 investment I ever made. The wall that everyone mentions when they talk about a distance event? I realized, with about 5 miles to go, that I had already broken through that on the bike. The run, even though I had walked most of it, was on the other side of the wall. And I had not only broken through, I was getting faster.
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