I'm a Marathoner!

I did it.  I really did it.  It feels so surreal to me.  I don't even know how to start this post.  My apologies on the possible rambling and overload of pics!

I hope I haven't annoyed too many folks, but

YEAH, I RAN A MARATHON!!!

We headed up to the expo after lunch on Saturday.  We would have gone a bit earlier, but Tim did a 5k that morning- PR for Timmy!  It was kind of nice getting to the expo a bit later.  It wasn't nearly as crowded and it gave us an opportunity to do some of the fun stuff.  Brooks had an awesome area this year.  Both Laura and Tim won a free pair of shoes!  I was totally jealous of course, as I just got a key holders and a t-shirt.  :P  I was still iffy on what I was going to wear the next day, and found some arm sleeves that I thought that even if I didn't wear them on race day, they'd come in handy at some point.  I also bought myself a 26.2 Sweaty Band. 

I was pretty much a ball of nerves that evening.  I was trying not to think too hard about what it was I was actually going to be doing that next day.  Also, it didn't help that Tim was a bit of grump-- he was hungry.  Once I got him fed though, we headed back to the hotel and I tried on all the potential outfits, trying to decide on which one.  I went with my capris, a tank and the arm sleeves.  I kind of felt goofy in the sleeves, but they were really comfortable and it eliminated having to wear a throwaway shirt. 

The Cardinal's game was on, so I settled into bed and watched a bit of that.  I eventually fell asleep and then woke up to see the crazy obstruction call that led to a Cardinal win.  Tim came to bed after that and pretty much fell right to sleep.  I did not.  I tossed and turned pretty much the entire night.  When the alarm went off at 5am, I was not a happy camper.  I tried to shake it off and headed down for some breakfast.  I had a bagel, peanut butter and a banana.  A lady saw my blue bib that indicated I was doing the marathon and said, "Oh my, the full?  Bless your heart."  My low self-esteem took this the wrong way, of course.  What is it about me that made the very idea of me running a marathon seem like such an impossible feat?  Then I realized, she was doing the Half Marathon Relay, so maybe she was just trying to compliment me.  Shrug.

We finished up getting ready and headed back downstairs for some pics with the crew.  It was a chilly morning out-- 30ish degrees-- and we all had various ways of dealing with it.  I actually think the trash bag was pretty effective.  I wasn't cold at all.  I look pretty goofy though. 

Many miles have been shared with these folks.

 Cold air?  Don't care!  :P

We headed towards the start line and sang "Happy Birthday" to Leah along the way.  I was on the look out for Laura and was thrilled that I was able to find her and wish her luck on her first half marathon.  Leah and I made a quick dash for a potty break and I was thankful that there were little lines AND toilet paper still available.  In the past, this was not the case.  The wait in our corral didn't feel that long.  We snapped a few photos, and then waited for the corrals to start going.  Oddly enough, I was still pretty relaxed that point, which is very unusual for me.  I don't think it quite hit me that I was actually going to run twenty-six point two miles!



We finally got going and honestly, the first 10 or so miles, flew by.  Leah and I had fun giving high fives to the various cheerleaders (and bananas!) and just  taking in the whole the thing.  Tim was being a goof and taking photos of us, and we were just having fun.  Around mile 11, I decided I really needed a potty break.  I was hoping to wait for the split off point, but my stomach was a bit upset and I was afraid that waiting would be a bad idea.  Thankfully, it wasn't anything (no poops for me!), but boy, did I ever have to pee. 

We soon came to the "No turning back now" split.  Half marathoners went to the right, marathoners to the left.  I did get a bit of butterflies at this point.  This was it.  This was when the run got real for me.

No turning back now! 

It was also at this point that we caught up with the 5 hour pacer.  I had a moment of excitement because we were doing so much better than the 5:30 time we had originally signed up at.  I had told Leah that I thought we should aim to beat Katie Holmes NYC Marathon time of 5:30.  When our long training runs started, I wasn't so sure that would happen, but once the weather got better, I thought we would be closer to 5:15, than 5:30.  Seeing that 5 hour pacer made me feel like things were going great.

Then we hit Forest Park.

Now, I love Forest Park.  It's one of my favorite places in St. Louis.  However, the route was ridiculous.  It was a lot of out and backs and I was just not feeling it after a few miles of it.  We started walking the water stations after the split to make sure we were getting in enough fluids.  I started to long for those walk breaks.  Also, my fingers were super swollen, like sausage fingers.  I started doing the Gatorade as well, but it was so sickly sweet.  I finally figured out to grab a water and pour that into the Gatorade cup.  That seemed to help.  When we finally started heading out of Forest Park around mile 20, my right calf seized up.  It was the worst charley horse in the world.  I stopped and cried out.  It pretty much sucked- physically and mentally.

I pushed on, having to stop every now and then and try to stretch my calf.  Going up any kind of hill made it feel like it was going to explode.  I got a little weepy and whiny.  Tim and Leah were pretty encouraging though, and I am grateful that I was not alone during those last 4 miles.  I think my real breaking point was around mile 23.  My calf was hurting and I stopped to stretch and just sat down.  I mentally was giving up at this point.  I think I even said I didn't want to finish.  Tim came over to me and kissed my salty face and said, "You got this, babe.  You can be mad at me, but you got to keep moving."  I wiped the snot off my face and got moving.  We soon came to the 24 mile marker and I just told myself that I would crawl the last few miles if I had to.  No more complaining. 

Leah and I hitting miles 13, 20, 24 and 26!



Those last few miles felt endless.  Our watches were way off.  They would beep and then three tenths later we'd see the mile marker.  This was messing with our brains.  I think that was the only time Leah even said anything remotely negative during the entire 26.2 miles.  Her knees were hurting, but really I think it was the damn watch that annoyed her more than anything.  There were random folks encouraging us at this point, no more big crowds.  They were angels to me.  Just hearing, "Great job, you got this!" made me push a bit harder.  When we turned at the start of mile 25, I had a bit of a surge of energy that was quickly demolished by hill.  Guh. We walked a little more and then saw that turn off to the finish.  We were almost there!  We were ready to run it out.

I cannot even put into words how emotional that last half mile was.  I looked over at Leah and said, "We are doing this!"  It still felt so unreal to me (it was very real to my calf though).  We turned and could see the finishing shoot.  We saw Dennis and then Travis,  then we heard our group cheering us on.  I felt tears (salt?) stinging my eyes and I pushed as hard as I could.  As we crossed the finished line, I grabbed Tim and Leah's hands and it was the best feeling ever.  It was so hard running 26.2 miles, but finishing it made it so worth it! 

Point 2 miles to go! 

After we crossed the finish line, we got our medals and some pics.  Tim was on the look out for the chocolate milk.  Like a good husband, he grabbed 3 cartons:  one for each of us and one for us to share.  :)  We found our family and exchanged hugs and congratulations.  There were 7 of us running:  6 doing the marathon and 1 doing the half.  How cool is that?  I have no excuses not to be inspired when I'm surrounded by so many runners! 



At the expo, I told Tim that it was a priority for me to get my beer bracelet this year.  As most of you know, I don't really drink and I when I do, it's typically not beer, but I was going to run 26.2 miles!  A toast with a beer was a must!  (FYI- two sips and I was buzzed!)

Happy Birthday, Leah!  Thanks for running 26.2 miles with me!



Overall, I am pleased with my first marathon.  We finished in 5:09:59 (We beat Joey Potter!) and that is under my 5:15 goal.  Sure, I would have loved to finish in 5 hours, but those last six miles slayed me.  I knew they weren't going to be easy.  During our twenty miler, Leah and I  said we would get through those miles no matter how long it took us and that is what we did.  We walked when we needed to.  I whined when I had to- Leah deserves a second medal just for tolerating my weepiness!  We managed to get through those last six miles and FINISHED.  I'm so proud of us!

Tim.  I know I get mushy about him all the time- how he supports and encourages me.  How he tells me that he actually enjoys running with me, even when I get all Bitchy Betty on him.  I would have never thought I could actually run a marathon if it wasn't for him.  Tim never doubted me.  He always believed I could do it.  On bad days he let me vent, on good ones he told me how much I rocked.  Without him, this running thing wouldn't have ever happened.  I'm so lucky that he shares (and totally gets) the crazy love for running.

I want to thank everyone that sent me messages encouraging me and congratulating me.  I got so many texts and Facebook messages the day of the race.  Thank you so much!  It feels great to know that so many folks were rooting for me.  Special shout out to John H.  Thank you so much for the kind words!

I love signs with my name on it!  :)

So, what's next?  Well, I'm pretty sure my first words to folks after I finished the marathon were, "That was hard.  I'm never doing that again!"  And it really was hard.  But I totally want to run another marathon!  Now that I know I can do it, I want to do it better.  Train better.  Eat better-- cause I seriously failed at that!  I know it sounds crazy.  But that is part of the fun of running.  If you aren't a little bit crazy, then you are never really pushing yourself hard enough.  :)

That's the plan!