Cape Cod Marathon

Marathon #2 is in the books. 

It was hard to get a solo shot with so many people around... I have about 8 of these and this was the best one.

I'm having a tough time starting this recap. I have so much on my mind. I wanted to take a couple of days to think about what to write, but being that this is my only day off from work, I probably wouldn't get around to it until the weekend. So here goes the mess that's on my mind:

This is the first time that a weekend getaway revolved around a race. Took off to the Cape on Thursday night with my brother-in-law and the wives met us on Friday night. Spent the day Saturday bike riding with the family and just relaxing at night.

The day started at 4:30 for me on Sunday morning. Actually, it was tough getting any kind of sleep. I was not in my own comfy bed and I kept getting up to check the time like every half hour. By 5:30 we (brother-in-law and myself) were out the door headed towards Falmouth. Packet pick up was from 6 to 7:30, so we needed to get there early, plus we got prime parking not to far from race start.

Race start was at 8:30.... at 8:25 I'm trying to calm my nerves. I felt my heart pounding against my chest as I'm lined up at the start. America the Beautiful was sung, a canon went off and so were we! At mile 2 my brother-in-law, on his bike, met up with me. He was with me on and off through out the whole race.

At mile about mile 4, a friend of mine Jenn caught up with me. I was wicked surprised to see her! I knew she was running the race, but I didn't think we would meet up on the course. We ran and chatted for about 5 miles until she decided to back off a bit and slow down. It made those couple of miles fly by!

The next couple of miles where a blur. I was just chugging along at a 8:45 pace The scenery was great. My brother-in-law kept riding back and forth, we'd chat for a bit. It really helped pass the time.
I felt good all the way through until I hit mile 22. I started to feel cramps on my calves and thighs. It was weird, It honestly felt like hands where squeezing them and I would yell every time the grip got tighter. They came and went until the end of the race. My brother-in-law kept trying to motivate me, but at that point I just wanted to say "Shut the F up!!"... it wasn't helping. I didn't though....  but a lady running near me did... LOL. Made me giggle for a sec.

At mile 24.5 I had enough. The urge to stop running and start walking won. A runner going by said "It's Ok. Walk a little, run a little. You got this!!" That made me feel better. The walking lasted for about 30 seconds. Picked it up again and walked some more at about 25.5. Picked it up again. I can see the mile 26 marker up ahead. I saw my sister-in-law right next to it cheering me on. She ran with me 'til we took the corner towards the finish line.

There was my wife, my daughter and my nephew up ahead snapping pictures.

Yay... almost done!!

Heel Striker!!!

 As I got closer the kids ran out and started to run with me. I grabbed my daughter's hand and made my way to the finish line. It was hard to hold back the tears. I did it. .... I did it!!!

Unofficial time - 3:54.... still waiting on them to post official results. If good, this will be a 2 min PR!!

I'm pretty happy with my pace over all. 

This is the first time I had this much support from my family. As those of you that follow now, I usually run my races alone. Which honestly I'm OK with. But this being one of the bigger races I've done, I'm glad they were all there. That made this race that much more special!!!

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Believe it or not, I had to go to work for a bit after the marathon. Long story short, I needed to get something done because I was out on Monday.  It sucked. But dinner and a 120min IPA (aged for almost 2yrs!!) made it all worth it!!

Soo tasty!!

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Congrats also to my friend Jenn that came in at 4hrs 04mins. This a huge PR for her!!!

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Thank you all for reading. Have a great week!!!

**** UPDATE**** PR confirmed!!
Official time posted:

382  1015 Jose Rivera 38 M   144/288   M1439 Webster MA  3:54:50