vermont city marathon relay

Earlier this year, I decided to sign up for the Vermont City Marathon Relay. Fortunately, I got selected in the lottery. Unfortunately, my partner bailed on me. At the last minute I got a new running partner to run the Memorial Day weekend race with me. On Sunday, I got up bright and early with my friends to run the first leg of the marathon. Of course, the first leg of the race was the hilliest. We went down an awesome hill at mile 4 and of course had to come back up it. That was fun.

After the first mile or so, I was able to catch up to my average pace. It was a bit crowded at the beginning, but it eventually evened out. However, right before mile 11, my right hamstring started acting up. I actually had to stop after it had clenched up and caused some unpleasant pain. I tried stretching it a bit, but it didn’t help much. A lot of people that I had steadily passed the first 11 miles, made their way past me at this point. I had to slow down dramatically. My target time of 1:45 ended with a 1:51 finish for the my 13.1. Not terrible, but still not what I was on pace for.

Good thing my partner made up for my time, and we had a 3:35 finish. Now if only I can complete the Chicago Marathon in that time later this year. Actually, I would have to break 3:35 in order to qualify for Boston. Here’s hoping.

I’m sure it didn’t help, but I wanted to run with my friend who was doing the full marathon and support her in for for a couple of miles (after I completed my leg) and run the last mile with her. It was a bit iffy, but I’m glad I was able to support and cross the finish line with her.

I guess I’ve been lucky that this was the first race that I actually had an issue outside of being tired. I’m going to try to rest this week and take it easy. I’m now going to google the whole internet on ways to get my hamstring better. Especially, now that I’m officially kicking of my marathon training.