Olathe Marathon Race Report

What a day.....It started at 3:45 am. Kim drove me to the start area so I could start setting things up there. I jumped out of the car at Gardner Edgerton High School and realized it was MUCH colder there than at home. The wind was howling there out of the east. Kim had to take the car back to the finish but stopped off at our house to grab me some old sweats to put on. She parked the car at the finish and took the first transport bus back out to the start. We had 5 volunteers for the start area....it turned out to be woefully inadequate. Last year it worked but we had fewer runners and it was warmer....all the volunteers were tied down taking check in bags for clothes that runners wanted transported to the finish. The chip guy that does the race timing showed up less than 30 minutes before the race and the cannon guy showed up just as a local boy was starting the national anthem. It was extremely hectic and I was being pulled in every direction. I had never done this before so I was grossly unprepared as it turned out. I learned a lot about it though and I know what I need to do next time (assuming they want me back!). It felt extremely chaotic, but I spoke with 10 - 15 runners and they thought it seemed fine, so hopefully a lot of it was just the all the running ragged for that last 30 minutes. I got the race off on time and then jumped in and ran.
My plan was to get to the 18 mile mark by 2:50. The wind was going to be a factor. I knew I had to bank some time early on because miles 14 - 18 were into the teeth of that nasty wind. My first 14 miles were almost effortless. I crossed the 1/2 marathon mark at 2:02 and cruised right on to the 14 mile marker. That is where we turned east and things changed. The wind was brutal and it drained you to run against it.....all that effortlessness just disappeared and it became a labor. I ended up hitting the 16 mile mark at about 2:32 or so, but the next 2 miles were tough and at times I could walk just as fast as I could run and I hit 18 miles at about 2:57. We turned out of the wind at 18 and I ended up being a little over 18.25 miles at 3:00. I did a walk-run in from there and finished at 4:42:37. I was pretty disappointed about not hitting my 2:50 goal. I really just underestimated that wind and how it would zap my energy. I needed to have banked far more time earlier on when the conditions were more favorable. Kim came in at 5:28:01 and seemed happy with that.....so we waited on the people we knew to finish up to cheer in and headed to eat.....there is a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant and we decided that it sounded good. I devoured two of their burritos, a ton of chips and salsa and a maragarita.....I was stuffed and happy and went home and did what I know I am not supposed to do....crawled in bed and watched "No Country for Old Men" and slept away the evening. I did get up in time to turn on all my porch lights for earth hour though.....