Phoenix Marathon 26 miles. I ran with a cute girl I have been helping with her training. She was aiming for 3:45-3:55 or B goal of sub-4. It was only her second marathon but she is a very strong runner and has ran several halfs in the 1:45 range. I do believe she was capable of her goal and I do not believe I paced her out too fast in the first half.
First half: 1:54
At mile 14 she began experiencing awful stomach cramps. Yuck! I felt so bad for her. She had to stop twice to go to the bathroom and had a hard time mentally recovering. It seems like a lot of runners had stomach problems and I am wondering if the heat had something to do with it. The second half was pretty miserable for her fighting the cramping so we just made the best of it and made friends along the way. She told me I could leave her but I was committed to running with her and I didn't really care to run for myself. I ended up helping 3 girls to the finish line and we all stayed together. We finished in 4:15. It was a lot of walking towards the end but it was still a fun day. It is so humbling to be in the back end of the marathon, especially one like phoenix where it became progressively hotter at the race went on!
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