Marathon of Errors

I ran my 7th marathon yesterday here in Denver and the first of a two week double header. It was a new approach for me to recognize I needed to run this marathon differently than I had before. Of the few resources that I could find on what to do when running 2 marathons in 2 weeks (beyond, "are you nuts?!?!") was that for the first one, run easy and treat it like a training run. Ergo, I dropped my hope for a new PR and tried to ease back to see the bigger picture. It was a little refreshing honestly, but hard one the day itself. Luckily, the universe managed enough set backs to keep me from ever getting too competitive on my 26.2mi "training" run.

Here are the set backs I had on the Denver Rock n Roll yesterday, for your viewing amusement:

1. The start line was ridiculously close to my home allowing a near humane wake up time. That was foiled with a simple mistake on my alarm. I woke up with enough time to get ready and out the door on time, but it was far from the leisurely pace I thought I was in for.  Just started off my day a little off balance.
2. It got cold here in Denver with starting line temp's near 40 degrees. When the sun came up it was immediately behind clouds. Then the wind picked up a little. It actually was colder by mile 25 than it was for mile 5. Running clothes are not meant to stop wind usually slow the chill factor got your attention. I'd rather run cold than hot though.
3. iPod fail. My higher tempo playlist failed to upload on my aging iPod. Music isn't all that important to me, but it was disappointing to be at the mercy of shuffle again. I know have a band and a song nemesis for running that my iPod loves and I do not while running. Again, not a big deal.
4. Hydration belt fail. My hydration belt is on its best day a nascence. On it's worst, it is like a hangnail that you can't stop hitting. Yesterday was the later. Additionally, I was wearing my runner bib lower due to my PAWS singlet and it kept snagging it, my shirt, and my drawstring on my shorts. I was quite happy to drop it with my family at our first rendevoux. 
5. My sportswatch took a dive. I wasn't using it so much to watch pace, but distance. I am pretty regimented on my refueling so as to not crash later and once it stopped tracking where I was on the course, I couldn't keep up so much as to when I should be popping gels till I hit markers. Again, not a terrible problem, but I needed to time them with water stations that were not always before markers. Slight annoyance.
6. Lastly, my ITB started talking. Any runner fears that chatter. It means bad things are coming if you don't ease up. It might also mean no running by injury if you don't take heed. I began peppering my running with walking the last 8 miles to avoid it getting more aggravated. That worked out well with the plan of "training" run, but remember how I said it was getting colder?

When all was said and done, I was certain I had just logged my slowest marathon ever. It was a jaw dropping shock to find out a actually hit my second fastest. It was fun for the most part, all the setbacks aside. My family was there and that makes any marathon an incredible experience.

By mid morning, I starting to move a little easier and am ready to do the unusual between marathon recovery. Thank you again to all those that have been sending support, both encouragement and donations to PAWS. There is one more week available to donate before the New York Marathon.