So where was I?  Oh, yes!  The start of the 2008 Baltimore Marathon!  As I was saying yesterday, Phyllis and I started the race with the 5:15 pace group, and since we were starting toward the back of the pack, it took us just over three minutes to actually get to the start line.  WBAL had reporters and helicopters in the area, and we were actually able to spot Phyllis and I  running by a couple of times when we watched the coverage via TiVo at Katie’s later.

The first couple of miles were uphill, and although my grumpy achilles tendon did some complaining, the adrenaline of the start kept me from really noticing the incline.  Phyllis and I chit-chatted a lot for the first several miles, and a few times we were so engaged in conversation that we actually started to pull away from our pace group and had to reign ourselves back in.  Around mile 6-7, the course flattened out a bit and we circled back to an area not too far from the start and Phyllis’s hotel, then continued on through the Inner Harbor area toward Fort McHenry.  When we got to Fort McHenry, the road became a narrow paved path, so our pace group stretched out a bit to accommodate everyone.  Phyllis and I stopped just long enough to snap photos of ourselves (we actually have our legs raised in the photos as if we are in mid-step) and then continued back toward the Inner Harbor.

All through the first thirteen miles, Phyllis and I talked about our lives and our families.  I showed her my mile dedication wristband and she listened to me talk about the honorees as each person’s mile clicked past.  We talked about our training, and Phyllis confessed to me that her longest run prior to the marathon had only been eight miles.  She was looking good, however, at that point, so we pressed on with a shared laugh at her daring.  Just beyond the halfway-point, we saw Phyllis’s boyfriend perched on a guardrail with a camera, and waved to him as we went by.

Around mile 16, we merged with the half marathon runners, the hills returned, and I could tell that Phyllis was starting to get a little tired, although she still looked really good.  We hung together for a little bit longer until she decided she wasn’t going to be able to stay with the 5:15 pace group for the full race.  Having a friend with me had helped me so much, and I hated to leave her behind, but she encouraged me to go on.  I fell in close behind my pace leaders, hoping that if I had to drop back a little in the coming miles that I would still have them in my sights.  I was entering new territory, as my longest run to date had been 18 miles, and one of the longest uphill sections was just ahead.

Tune in tomorrow for the third and final installment of....Andi’s First Marathon!