Making it through

Marathon No. 9 is now in the books: Dallas White Rock.
This marathon was supposed to the easy one, with no hills and mild weather in a southern climate. Things don't always work out the way they're planned.
The whole notion of a cool, sunny, calm, flat race just went right out the window. Rain was forecast all weekend long, including Sunday, race day. It did rain, and it was cold, and it was windy. The conditions were the most miserable and challenging I've encountered in any of my marathons. I wore rain gear, but there was no way to stay dry in conditions like that. Water ran down the streets and into our shoes as we trudged along, we splashed through ponds that formed at most cross-streets and in all other potholes and low areas. It didn't rain every minute, but frequently and sometimes heavily.
Once we got going I knew my only job was to find a way to finish.
I was determined not to start out too fast and was successful, averaging exactly 10 min. per mile for the first 6 miles and finishing the first 13.1 in 2:08, a 9:46 pace. As early as the 8 mile mark, with no pain in my foot and the rain temporarily halted, I knew I was going to finish.
Right about mile 11, however, I felt a very minor twinge in the bottom of my left foot, the foot that had been the subject of physical therapy. That came on a slight uphill and went away immediately when the course leveled off. Still, I was officially on notice.
Then, about mile 15, the foot began to hurt moderately as I went up hill. The hills on the course were not particularly challenging, but the extra stretch they produced in my foot was becoming significant. At mile 16 I knew my foot would be a problem the rest of the way. If this would have been almost any other course, with a normal number of hills, I'd have been in big trouble. But this one was flat enough that the pain never got unmanageable, and I was saved.
That's not to say it didn't have it's effect. I changed my stride - I knew I was but couldn't help it - and that led to a lot of extra energy burn in my quads. I slowed my pace, and I had to walk quite a bit especially in the last 5 miles to calm down the pain in my foot before I could run again. Time wasn't important, but I was still determined to finish, and to do it without crippling myself.
I finally ran across the finish line in 4:28:40, a 10:16 pace. I've seldom done worse, but I was very pleased with the outcome. As I walked away from the finish line I had a flash of emotion as I realized how fortunate I was to overcome the injury and extreme elements and finish another 26.2 race. You don't always have to have a great time to have a great race. -- Rob