Carlsbad

Carlsbad was a blast!
There was a pre-race pasta feed Saturday night for those of us running for Insulindependence. This was at Nate and Peter's house. They're the core of Insulindependence.
Among others, I met Ryan, the kid in the first frame of this video.
A lot of the people there had been to a party Friday night for all of the charities involved in the race. Bill Carlson, one of my Triabetes team members, the first insulin-dependent diabetic to complete an Ironman, was one of the Heroes of the Marathon, an honored guest at that dinner.
Then they had a surfing event at the beach Saturday morning that I arrived too late to enjoy. Then Peter worked at the Expo all day while Nate worked on the pasta feed.
So anyway, I picked up my number at the expo, was there for about an hour, and went over to Insulindepence HQ for pasta.
That went until everyone had finally decided we should get some rest. Then we got up at 4 AM to go to the race.
I started out running with Peter Nerothin, who was going for 3:30, a PR for him, but certainly within his reach.
Peter's pre-race blood sugar was 202, I think, and mine was 192.
I told him there was no way I could run his pace for the whole race. His friend, Jason, who ran a 3:14 in Chicago, was going to stick with him through the race. Both Peter and Jason had run the Disney World Marathon two weeks before, but not racing all out, as part of a contingent from CWD, Children with Diabetes.
After three miles I said something that Peter said I had to put in my blog, so here it is:
"I think my legs just figured it out. They're starting to say, 'Not again!'"
I ran with Jason and Peter past the 7 mile mark, then said "Adios" at the bottom of a big hill. This race is all rolling hills... some big, some steep, throughout the course.
I still managed to keep up a fair pace. I only slowed way down after about 20 miles. I had set myself this goal of finishing in under 4 hours, and it was never in doubt. I didn't have to push.
The weather was perfect all day, overcast, but never too cold. Some wind, but seldom so much that I felt I was fighting it.
At around 22 miles, I was starting to drag. That can happen, your energy can dip, especially 22 miles into your second marathon in 8 days.
So I checked by blood sugar for the first time in the race. It was 143, and that little sense of success at being close to target was enough to encourage me to pick it up a bit. Of course, knowing that diabetes wasn't going to give me an excuse to wimp out was also motivating.
The four hour pace group finally caught up with me at mile 25, and they were talking about the fact that they were on a pace to finish 7 minutes ahead of schedule. So I knew if I just kept them in sight, I'd be fine. I let them go and just kept chugging along.
Then I saw the two pace group leaders again about the same time I saw the sign for 26 miles, and I thought, "I can catch them." So I did. I had a decent kick.
I was a little over 3:57 gun time, and 3:56:25 chip time.
My blood sugar in the post-race marathoners area was 132. It was a good day for blood sugar management.
When Peter and I finally got back to Insulindependence headquarters, the post-race party was already well underway, fajitas and beer.
It's amazing to me that I felt like it was just a go-go-go weekend, but I missed all of the events prior to Saturday afternoon.

So now I've knocked out 46 marathons, and I'm thinking I should do number 47 on Saturday, the Arizona Road Racers Desert Classic Marathon in Surprise.
I'm trying to keep costs under control. This is a cheap, local race. If I skip it, there isn't another one I can do as inexpensively.
I can't expect to do very well at the Desert Classic, but at least it isn't as tough a course as Carlsbad. With any luck, I may be able to run it faster. That will be my objective, beat 3:56.
I'll hold off on doing the Bataan Death March Marathon again until next year.
Numbers 48 and 49 will be Lost Dutchman and Whiskey Row.

Then Ironman Arizona will be #50.