CIM, according to Stephanie.

0: I line up a few people behind the 4:00 pacers. I don’t see my running partner, Brandy, from the training group, but I’m in the middle of a large crowd. When the gun goes off, the pacers get sucked forward quickly. I’m a long way from the starting line, so I decide it’s not wise to run to catch them until I cross it.

1 mile (9:19): I’m not dodging people, but the course is crowded. I hold back to avoid going out too fast and let the people sort themselves out. It feels like a jog. I alternate looking on the side of the road for signs of Kyle and not looking out of fear I will see him. I hope that his knee is feeling good.

2 (9:01): Things are pretty rural. I can smell farm. I can also see men on the side of the road peeing. Now I’m close to the pacers. My goal is to slowly work up to them.

3 (8:53): Too fast, but I don’t panic. I heard miles 2-3 can be fast. We’re going up and down hills and I’m just following along.

4-6 (9:07, 9:02, 9:09): I seem to be settling into the right pace. I feel good. At the first relay exchange I realize I’m running with my head entirely turned to the right looking for my brother-in-law, Chris, in a verrrry long line of people. I wave to someone and then realize it is not Chris. It would probably be impossible to spot him.

7 (8:59): I’m not sure if it is here, but at some point I realize that one of my water bottles started half empty (is it leaking?) and that I’m taking in water faster than usual. The sky is clear (hooray for no rain) but it’s making wearing a hat far too hot for me.

8-9 (9:10, 9:10): I’m going along at a consistent pace, but it’s crowded and at times hard to find a good spot in the group to run in. I get stuck on the painted lines in the road (who knew they were 3-D?) and have to dodge reflectors. At one point, I almost slip on a reflector. Yikes. Time to get out of here…

10 (9:01): I start looking for Kyle’s mom and step-dad, who said they would be in a church parking lot at mile 11. I see a church parking lot, but it’s not the right one. I finally spot Brandy a few people behind the pacers in the group.

11-12 (9:07, 9:11): I wave vigorously at a woman in a church parking lot who turns out to be very clearly not my mother-in-law. This street has an unbelievably large number of churches. I listen for their vuvuzela. I finally spot both of them. I’m still towards the center of the road so there are a lot of people between us. “Ron” is apparently the easiest to yell out, so I go with that and waive frantically. They see me and seem unusually excited. I can’t ask how Kyle is doing, but I’m encouraged that he’s not there.

13 (8:57): I finally catch up to the pacers by the halfway mark. My split for the half is a nice 1:59:27 and everything feels easy. But I’m thirsty (not good) so I grab some aid water even though I have some left in my belt. It’s time to supplement. The cup has hardly any water. Not much help. The road narrows substantially as the relay runners go one way and we go another. A woman falls down in front of me and causes a chain reaction. I put my hand on someone for support and have to stop for a second and then run around her. That’s all it takes for the pacers to get away from me again.

14-15 (9:09, 9:07): Still feeling good. I try to work my way back to the pacers.

16 (9:12): Not easy, but still feeling good.

17 (9:21): Suddenly I can tell I can’t keep up 9:10 anymore. The pacers are getting too far away and 9 miles left is too far to push that hard. I can’t figure out what I can do.

18 (9:51): I fall back to my easy/long run pace. I am disappointed in this development. I see one of my coaches, Ryan, on the aforementioned bicycle with the California flag. I flag him down and he rides with me for a bit. He takes the hat I had clipped to my fuel belt. He tells me to concentrate on my splits and that Brandy is not very far ahead (probably 25 meters) and not feeling well. He says we should work together. This seems like a good idea, but an impossible distance to bridge. I’m also not sure what splits I can keep at this point. I ask how Kyle is doing. Ryan tells me that Kyle is doing great and that his pace group was going too slow so Kyle went on ahead. I’m relieved that Kyle is feeling good. I know 8 miles is a lot to go, but it sounds like the knee is good.

19 (9:52): I’m now actively looking for water and taking it in twos at every aid station. Granted, once I spill almost an entire cup on the ground, so I’m not necessarily actually drinking two cups of water every time.

20 (9:54): We pass through “the wall.” It’s a fake wall. It makes me a little nervous for what is next given how I’m already feeling. I see the men that Kyle mentioned offering beer. I’m confused. Are they kidding? Is it actually sport drink? I grab an orange Gu and stash it in my shorts pocket for later.

21 (10:21): A woman passes me and pauses to say that she’s been running behind me for miles and offers me encouragement. This is really nice, but again, I can’t seem to do anything other than keep at this pace slower. Also, now that I know I won’t hit 4:00, I don’t exactly have a goal. 4:05? 4:10? 4:15? They all sound good enough to me at this point. I kind of like how I am feeling right now. Maybe it’s all the drink, but I seem to be coming back. Still, 5 miles seems like a lot to push and I see more people starting to walk around me. Who would give up this feeling for that? I concentrate on looking forward to seeing Ben.

22 (10:11): I push up the bridge. Not bad at all. This makes me feel good. I’ve slowed down but I’m still strong. The 4:05 pacer comes along side me. I contemplate trying to stick with him, but eventually it’s clear that’s not happening either. On the downward slope, I see Ben in a purple Kings sweatshirt scanning the crowd. He starts clapping and yelling like he does when he coaches basketball. He is holding a fuel belt already. I take this as a positive sign from Kyle. I’m thinking that at this point he will at least finish. I give Ben my fuel belt. It feels really nice to get rid of it.

23-24: After 22.5, my watch dies. Perhaps for the best as I don’t care about time too much at this point. My calf is intermittently cramping up. I appear to keep moving at my 10 minute speed, but I fear something terrible is about to happen (like that my calf will completely cramp up). I take my orange Gu. Unfortunately, the next aid station is a ways off. It’s not tasty. I concentrate on getting to 26th and L, where one of my favorite coworkers, Andrea, has promised to be on the corner. After, naturally, waiving to someone who is not Andrea on the sidewalk between 25th and 26th, I find actual Andrea on the corner (I realize now Andrea is too precise to have strayed from the corner) with the same scanning-the-crowd squint Ben had. I wave and she waves excitedly. This gives me a boost.

25: Calf appears to have worked itself out. I’m still not motivated to push (apparently my mother was right about me being obstinate) but I’m not slowing down. I appear to have locked into this speed and it cannot be altered either way. My two other Fleet Feet coaches, Russ and Tina, are on the side of the road. Tina yells out, “Stephanie is looking good!” Stephanie is looking good because she’s been running easy for miles now. By 19th street, I’m counting each block down to 8th.

26: As I turn the corner from 8th onto the final stretch, I see my mom and Kyle standing next to each other and yelling. They look so excited. Kyle looks very refreshed. Did he really just run a marathon? I’m finally able to pick it up. I wonder – where was this energy the last several miles?

26.2: Finished at 4:09:30. I’m pleased that I’m not at all dead when I cross the line, and can obtain my medal, fake blanket, and get my timing chip clipped without any difficulty. It takes me forever to find my family (the finish area is very crowded), but when I finally do, they are really good about getting me my stuff and helping me navigate the food line and get my sweat bag.