California International Marathon Race Recap 12/2/18

Happy New Year! This recap is pretty late, but as always better late than never. I ran CIM as my 4th marathon earlier this month. It was my second time running this run. You can check out last year's recap here. This year it wasn't a goal race for me so I figured I'd run with a coworker as it was going to be her first. Turned out to be a pretty fun run until I got calf cramps but we'll get to that later.

PACKET PICKUP: Packet pickup was at the Sacramento Convention Center. I went with my friend Maria and her friend Kevin who flew in from Maryland on Friday afternoon to pick up our stuff. It was lots of fun because we ended up seeing a bunch of people from the Fleet Feet Davis training group along with some Sacramento Fleet Feet coworkers. Pickup was fast and easy and it was fun browsing the booths and talking with everyone.

Here's the shirt for this year. Love the color and print.

RACE DAY: I was lucky to have my friend Maria pick me and Kevin up around 5:30am and drop us off at the start. It saved us from having to get up even earlier. I think the shuttle buses left at 5am from Sacramento. Thanks again Maria for dropping us off! We got to Folsom with enough time to check out the VIP Fleet Feet training area and use the private porta potties before the 7am start time. It was so nice to not have to wait in line.

Dropped off my bag before heading to the start line.

I didn't really have a goal for this race but to keep Kristine company as she was tackling her first full marathon. Here's a shot of me, Kristine, Nick, and their friend Amanda just before we started.

Below is a shot of the start line. There are two sides. This year they lined people up by pace, so the right side went before the other side could go (last year both sides started at the same time).

We crossed the start line at 7:06. I can't remember if it started late but it did take a while as we were by the 4 hour pacer which was towards the back of the corral. The weather was pretty great for running. Similar to last year but maybe a tad cooler.

We started out pretty good but probably faster than we should have. The rolling hills came and it was fun to remember things from last year and also see new things.

 It was fun to see Gumby along the course. We saw him multiple times cheering us on.

Still having a good time.  

I felt great, we were all feeling pretty good at the halfway point. We crossed the halfway point at 1:57:42 so our pace was 8:59. Not bad and I was feeling real strong.

However, with it being Kristine's first marathon, she started to struggle around mile 17. She still pushed through and never gave up which was awesome. Here's a shot of the wall at mile 20.

When we got to to the 30K mark our pace dropped to 9:05. Here's a shot that one of our coworkers took (Thanks Karen!). Kristine was doing great even though we knew it was getting tougher for her. 

 

The crowd support was pretty awesome throughout the race!

 

Here's mile 22.

I cant' remember where exactly, probably around mile 22ish but I ended up having calf cramps and had to stop multiple times. I would leave Kristine and Nick, then catch up to them but then it would happen again. It hurt pretty bad and reminded me of my cramps last year towards the end of the race. So weird that it happened again.

It was fun to see all the signs on the course. This was one of my favs especially since the end was really near. At the last mile I cramped again so I just wanted to finish.

 A shot of the mile 26 sign.

 I was so happy to cross the finish. I finished my 4th marathon! Yes!!

 My results.

 My finish pic in front of the State Capitol.

A shot with Kristine and Amanda. So proud of Kristine, finishing her first marathon!

Congrats to Kevin for finishing as well! He has done a bunch of marathons but it was his first CIM.

This was a fun run for me minus the calf cramps. It was fun to actually enjoy the course and see things that I missed during last year's run. I could see myself doing this one yearly. Maybe next year I'll race it? We shall see. :)

Happy running!!