No medal on this Monday, my first DNF
Yesterday was the TC Marathon. It was my third marathon but first time here. I had a great training block, didn’t get sick, was injury free except for a few whispers from my old friend IT Band. I was so ready for this race. It was warm, windy and had pop up rain. The best laid plans…..
I’ve wanted to do this race for awhile but didn’t think I was ready, until now! I love Twin Cities in Motion events and feel lucky to be local and participate in most of them. I usually run the 10 mile which finishes on the same course so I was familiar with the end but not the first part of the course. You start in Minneapolis, run around the chain of lakes, up the Mississippi River and then down Summit Ave to the Capitol in St. Paul. It’s gorgeous and the crowd support is unbelievable!

I was having the time of my life, dare I say even more so than Disney?
We started in the city people seeing their runners off. It was a little quiet from mile 1-2 until you see Justice Page playing his sousaphone. The after that it’s a full on party. I’ve never seen so many people out spectating. Miles 3-8 go around the chain of lakes and the number of lawn parties, no words. Bottomless Mimosas. None for me but there were many takers! The Vikings were playing so lots of score talk. One house even had a DJ! Mile 9 things started to go sideways. The whispers from my IT Band turned into a not so subtle poking. I’m thinking I’m still going to gut it out, I’m pacing well and enjoying the race too much. Mile 11 the nausea I battled earlier in the summer when it was hot returned. NOOOO! I texted DH and asked him to bring Goldfish crackers at our next meet up. When I saw him at Mile 12.6 I told him how I was feeling and he told me I didn’t look so good. I sat down on the curb and he went to wipe the sweat off me with a towel, only there was no sweat. I was in trouble. I made the awful decision to drop out.
It sucks and I’m having all kinds of feelings about it. I really want to run the whole course, it truly was amazing, but I’m scared to death to run into this same scenario again in the future. This race was cancelled in 2023 due to heat and I think the reality now is that I need a later fall marathon as insurance for the weather. So right now I don’t know where I stand on this marathon for me but I can’t recommend it enough.
So I’m taking the week easy and then jumping back into training for MW. Not sure if this is going to change my plans to focus on fun during the marathon or not. I was going to focus on pics this year but now I have the itch to run for time.