Med-City Marathon in Rochester

May 29th - Med City Marathon Rochester.

I got to the Mayo Civic Center for the Expo at 3pm.  For 2 hours, I greeted runners as they came to pick up their registration and seek advice and tips from us. I recalled a young man who said that this would be his first marathon, and his goal was to finish, but if he could do it in less than 5 hours, it would be excellent.  I gave him some advice and motivation.  For the rest of the time, I talked to Matt and other pacers. 

Afterwards, I toured the city and explored downtown, trying to find some tasty foods.  I loaded myself with tons of carbohydrates from the delicious pizza and pasta in my hotel room. Then I headed for bed, but I was woken up by the whistle of the train at 4:30 am.  So, the rest of the time, I laid there for awhile before I had to get ready.  At 5:40, I caught the bus out to Byron, where we were going to start the race.  It was only about 20 minutes before I met the rest of the pacers.  A few minutes prior to the race, I headed for the restroom since it was on pavement instead of trail. 

7:00 sharp, we all started screaming with excitement.  The runners, as usual, moved along slowly with me; as a pacer, you just want to maintain your pace, so it didn't matter to be first at the finish line.  At the moment, the weather was nice even though there was a threat of rain in the morning, it soon cleared away.  Around the first mile mark, I looked at my watch to check my pace, and I noticed that it was 25 seconds faster.  I quickly corrected it.  Alongside, there was a girl whom I was quite worried about since her breathing apparatus sounded very agitated; I told her to slow down and breathe through her nose.  Meanwhile, other runners began to go faster than me; however, I didn't say anything because in the last race, I was lacking behind by some 15 miles due to the restroom episode. 

The atmosphere became lively when I caught up to them.  We saw a lot of people cheering and clapping their hands, as we got closer to the finish line.  I passed a runner by the 24-mile mark, and she asked me why I was not tired because I going faster than she was.  I told her that I am, but I had to finish on time.  When I breezed by the 26 mile, I saw the US flag.  I was pretty sure that I was 30 seconds ahead of my time, but when I saw the clock, I ran as fast as I could.  However, the timer won, and I crossed the line a minute after my 3:50 goal time.  What a disgrace...but I still carried on cause I have my 100-mile race in Wisconsin waiting for me.