It has been a while and so much has gone on that I totally forgot to post my race report from the 2014 Phoenix Marathon. I really love this race and I was looking forward to it. The route is point to point, it passes all my childhood haunts and it is on a Saturday - all reasons to love it! I signed up for this last year right after I did it for the first time....
What I didn't realize was how different this race would be from last year. I have taken over responsibilities for Latin America for my company and I ended up scheduling a trip to Brazil/Argentina right before the race. I literally got off the place noon the day prior to the race. Coming off the fitness I had accumulated from IMAZ, I wasn't worried about being able to complete it but I had no idea how I would feel after 18 hours of flying, jet lag, time zone differences and climate change.
Prior to the race, we had about 70 days without rain in Phoenix. Unfortunately, the day of the race was forecast to be a downpour and much colder than before. Sure enough, as we gathered at the start near Usury Pass park, the wind was really blowing. The heat lamps were getting blown out and the rain started to come down.... It was still dark and pretty cold as we walked to the start line...
Downhill for the first half of the race and I actually felt good. In fact, the rain stopped and it got overcast but still a little windy. All in all, it was the best of temperatures for the race. I ended up running just a couple minutes slower than last year - given all the above, not bad at all! I was happy at the end to complete my second full marathon at 4:28:52!
Decided not to do the full next year - too close to IMAZ and as good as I felt, it was really HARD!
DT
