Midsouth Marathon.

Yesterday was marathon #7 in Wynne, Arkansas, the MidSouth Marathon.  It was great.

In the days leading up to the race, the whole idea of it seemed a little sketchy and negotiable.  I had missed quite a few weekday runs.  I told myself that as long as I had gotten all the long runs in that I would be fine, but I also just felt blase about the idea of running a marathon.  Kind of, oh yeah, whatever, guess I'll go do that.

But I got up there and we got started.  It was clear from the beginning that it would be a hot one--it was in the 50's at the start but would soon work up to at least 80, and there was lots of direct sunlight.  I have a nice little sunburn to show for it now.  

It was a really pretty course--trees and changing leaves and lots of views of open fields just post harvest, furrowed ground with baled cotton at the sides.  Even though there weren't many spectators, I really appreciated the aid stations at every mile.

I had to pick up the pace at one point to get away from an alarmingly stupid political discussion and caught up with a group of women.  That's when I started running with Kristin from Philadelphia.  She was a normally sub 4 marathoner nursing a hamstring injury.  Quite a few middle-miles went by quickly as we talked about favorite races, not-favorite races, running history, jobs, and the like.  She decided to drop back a little to take care of the leg, so I went on alone for a bit.

Just after the 19-20 mile point or so I caught up to Carrie from Cabot.  I knew she had said previously that her best time was a bit over five hours, and we were on pace to run around 4:30, so I asked.  Sure enough, Carrie was about to shatter her old PR.  We ran the rest of the race together with lots of talking and some laughing and the last 6 miles flew by.  I'm so glad, because it was hot and windy and I had felt myself falling into that place where it all starts to suck.

I said lots of prayers and sent lots of thoughts out to Reesey, my friend's baby who has just had surgery.  I sent my feelings of strength to her, gathered the beauty of the sunlight filtered through the leaves and the sound of the wind in the trees and willed it to her family because I think there is power in beauty and in appreciating it.  I lifted her up in my heart as I ran--the best time for me to pray, very much in touch with the strongest parts of me that are blessings to me, the times when I most feel the presence of God in my heart and soul and bones and muscles.

I realized while driving home after the race that this was the first time I have gone to a race without someone with me.  I was ok with it.  It was nice to hang out after the race ended, eat and talk to people and watch the awards.  (Very cool to see that Carrie placed in her age group to go along with the new PR).

And...marathon number 8 in 2 weeks...