2:26:30
I had picked up our packet at Running Zone earlier in the week. We made the trip up to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday for the expo, just to check it out. I think it was a great idea to have the space coast marathon expo at the space center, However -- that was the most crowded and smallest expo ever! I liked it WAY better at the BCC auditorium. I have to say, other than the WOW factor of the space center itself, the expo kind of sucked. Melbourne Beaches has a MUCH better expo. The best part of our trip was stopping in Cocoa Villiage on the way back, finding a sparking spot for race morning and having a late lunch. If you are ever there, Ossorio is a great restaurant for a light meal or coffee and snack.
Last night we went to bed at 8pm to get up at 3! I have been getting tired with the time change at 6:30pm each night (lol) so I didnt think it would be a problem. Well... I laid there, and laid there, ANDDDD laid there. At 11pm I got up and took a benedryl. the last time I looked at the clock (still awake, counting sheep!) it was 1:13am. We were up and at'em at 3am! Did everything the same as our 3 early morning runs, no coffee, luna bar, etc... we did add fuel shot this morning, I didn't find that it made a difference - more on that later.
We got to Cocoa early - around 4:30 - no issue parking at all in our little parking space. We walked back and forth from the car into the park to get jackets because it was just a little too cool for comfort, and then to put them back. After putting the jackets back in the car we went straight to the start line and waited about 10-15 minutes for the anthem and lift-off! The mic/speakers weren't working well, the crowd helped out with the anthem, that was super sweet.
I didn't think the beginning of the race was so bad! Everyone seemed to take right off at a good pace! There was a Galloway pace group (2:15) beside of us for the first couple of miles. Let me just say, that was the most annoying thing EVER. It was a pretty huge group and the course was still pretty packed, so they ran through us all, then walked so we ran through them, then they ran through us again, and walked, so we had to run through them.... this continued on until I couldn't keep that pace anymore, I think we were on mile 4 but I have to tell ya, I was just happy to not have to run through them again. It was super distracting.
After slowing down a bit and having a GU the run went pretty well again. We ran on, I started looking for Jeanine was we neared the halfway mark, in the crowd passing us with a faster pace. I spotted her right behind the 2:00 pace group. I knew she was going to make great time! 2:07!! I definitely can't hang with her anymore. LOL. Anyway, back to us. Matt had a really strong run; he didn't seem to be struggling much at all until I had to stop for the bathroom :( Yes, stupid IBS hitting again, between mile 7-8, and I had to wait on a portalet. We ran the rest of the race with no real issues, only slowing a couple times to grab a water/gatorade. I saw Matt high stepping it around mile 11-12 so I knew his knees were starting to have issues and my hip flexors were threatening to stop pulling my legs forward. I was seriously counting down the last 4...3.1... 3.... 2.1... 1.2, 1.1, 1.0, 0.8....0.5.... I told Matt to take his headphones out to absorb the finish line and hear our names called out! I still didn't hear them (for the second time!) but I heard everyone else's!
I grabbed his hand to come across the finish line! I hope we have a decent picture :)
