Marathon #7 Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon

On November 10th I ran my 7th marathon, Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in Georgia. It was my second attempt at Georgia so I was mainly hoping for a finish and not worry about a goal time. We all know I want that sub 4 but it is so hard for me for some reason. I started running with Vanessa from Gourmet Runner and was running around a 9 minute mile but was feeling really good and I think I started to speed up but I didn't think I was doing that much damage. Vanessa held back so she would have some left in the tank. It might only be her second marathon but she was a much smarter girl than me. I ran a little fast for a little too long. Around mile 18 I was starting to hurt and could see my pace was around an 8:56 which is much faster than the needed 9:09. Mile 18 to Mile 22 started to hurt pretty bad and then at the water stop at Mile 22 I was basically cramped up worse than I ever have. I was seeing double, arms tingling and I felt like I was going to pass out. The volunteers wanted to get me a medic but I refused to get help with only 4 miles to go. I spend the next 2 miles struggling to walk while I watched all the people I had passed run past me well on their way to a sub 4 marathon. I was able to muster the strength to run the last 2 miles and was able to finish at a 4:15:53 which is not my slowest marathon.

Hopefully this video will work. My husband and Parker went with me since it was only 4 hours from home and Parker wanted to run across the finish line with me. I am almost glad I wasn't coming in for a sub 4 finish because I know I would not have slowed down to enjoy that moment if I was seconds from making my goal time. 

I really enjoyed the race and would recommend it too anyone looking for a nice, small, pretty, fall race! I am in my last week of high mileage before I start to taper for my Alabama race on December 8th.