Andy Payne Marathon walk: 6:16 (S P L U T)

Here is what you need to know: it was 75 F at the start and 86 F at the finish, and the humidity was steam-bath like. Or put another way, the winning male runner ran a 3:11.

Note that Barbara walked her 5K in 57 minutes and won an age group medal. In fact, she took FIRST! (Don’t ask her how many were in her age group ). But what I am impressed with is that she has worked through recovering from foot surgery earlier this year (2008).

Ok, what about me: I was at 4:10 at mile 20 and it took me TWO HOURS, SIX MINUTES to finish the last 6.2 miles. Why? Same old same old; at mile 22 I really got overheated, and at mile 23 I sat down for 10 minutes. Mile 23 seems to be tough for me. I tried to get up, dropped to my knees, puked (just a little) and then I rubbed ice all over my body. The aid station crew were unbelievable; I need to find out who they are and send them a card.

The gave me ice, water, and a diet Mountain Dew to get me going, and after spending 30 minutes there, I was able to resume walking at a reasonable pace. I did lose 3 places during this pit stop.

The course is roughly this: you do about 1.5 miles (2.9 km) on bike paths, then you circle Lake Overholser three times; each lap is a bit over 8.1 miles (13 km), then it is just under .5 miles (about 800 meters?) to the finish.
So, here is the rough tale of the splits: 18 minutes for hte 1.5 out, 1:42 for the first loop, 1:44 for the second and, drum roll please, 2:31 for the last loop (plus the .5 or so, so the loop was about 2:24).

The good: I finished this time.

The bad: I sucked. I didn’t suck for the first 20 miles though, and my 17.7 mile split was 3:45, or better than I did the (albeit hilly, but cool) Austin 30K at the beginning of the year.

Note: I was 6 minutes faster here at mile 20 than I was at my Quad Cities DNF.

One final note: Congratulations to the race director and all of the volunteers; they stayed out there on a hot day and really took good care of us. I wouldn’t have finished without them.