My suspicions were correct - it was windy. Darn windy. Windy as in 25 mph sustained with gusts up to 40. Windy as in a wind advisory was in effect today. But more on that later.
My goal was to break 4 hours today. The Big D Texas Marathon official results (http://www.texasmarathon.com) haven't been posted yet, but according to my timing I missed my goal by 2-3 minutes. The announcer at the finish line kept saying that the conditions added about 15 minutes to everyone's time, or about 30 to 45 seconds per mile. I would have to agree with that. The course was relatively flat, and I think if the winds had been normal I would have totally exceeded away my goal.
The first half went great, and I left Alan behind at mile 11. He had complained a few times that I was accelerating up the hills, which I normally do, so he dropped back at that point. He ended up coming in about 15 minutes after I did, so it was a good race for him, especially under these conditions.
The first half of the race went very well, but about mile 16 or so my calves started cramping. At several points I was afraid they'd seize up on me. At mile 20 I bonked. I didn't stop running, because I knew if I did it would all be over. Plus I didn't want Alan to pass me. But there was one incline where I slowed way down, which is abnormal for me. Most people were walking that hill, but I kept going. At mile 23 I picked it back up a little, but still couldn't muster the energy to go much faster. At that point I realized I was going to be close to breaking the four-hour mark, but with the constant swirling winds I just didn't have the energy to push it any harder.
When Alan and I were talking about the course yesterday in relation to the wind we figured we would have mostly tailwind on the west side of the lake since the wind was supposed to be NNW and we would be running south and east. We figured wrong. I don't know how it happened, but I didn't get a true tailwind until mile 24. And that lasted about half a mile. The finish was near the Cotton Bowl, and as I turned a corner for the last long stretch I was blasted by a fierce headwind. At that point I exclaimed out loud, "You have to be kidding me!" as if there was some unfairness at work.
I've never had calf cramps as bad as I did after crossing the finish line. I walked around until Alan finished, stretched, and generally tried to not let them tighten up. Daughter #1 took me to where the water bottles were and on the way back my left calf and foot stopped working. I had to hold on a railing and stretch for a couple of minutes. When I finally went to sit down on some steps several minutes later both calves totally cramped, and again I spent some time stretching. I feel fine otherwise, so I attribute this to the extra effort required by running into the wind for 25.7 miles (remember that half mile of tailwind).
The race had a lot of volunteers, and police were stationed all over the course to direct traffic. They did a great job. The one minus to the race was that all the post-race food and snacks were gone by the time we finished. Seems to me that if we're going to pay that much for a race the organizers should be able to put the food out in stages. All the half-marathoners and 5k racers took it all, which I can't really blame them for if it's put out in front of them. If you're an organizer you know that most of your marathoners are going to come in after three hours, so to me it would make sense to stage your food accordingly. Or to have enough to handle everyone.
Overall, this was a tough race because of the wind. I was hoping to blow away this scenic, flat course, but (ahem) I was the one who was blown away.
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