Marathon Recap

Okay, here's the total recap of the marathon in all of its wonder and glory.  The morning started off quite chilly - in the low 40s, so I dressed in pants and long sleeve shirt.  I had a short sleeve shirt on underneath, but didn't quite know about the pants.  It turned out okay.  But I think I would have been fine in shorts too.  I just really hate being cold all the time, so I opted for the warmer option hoping I wouldn't get too hot on the run.  Waiting at the starting line wasn't so cold either since people were packed in tightly in the starting area.  I was a little concerned as to how we would all start running once the race started since I have never done this before, but it all worked out smoothly.  You had to watch where you were going for the first mile or so to make sure you wouldn't trip over anyone.  My race strategy was to "run 3-4 miles around a 10 min/mile pace and then walk one mile" cycle since that's how I've trained in order to keep my foot in working order.  But after running four miles, my foot still felt good.  So I decided to try running 5 miles and then walk one.  But I'm super competitive and when I started walking a bit after the 5 mile mark, I felt like I was losing!  So I only walked for about two minutes before running again.  My foot still felt good, so I decided that I was just going to push it and see what I could do - only walking when I really needed the break.  Afterall, I was saving my foot for this day and if it hurt after the marathon, I could just take the time to let it heal finally.  My pace was really good and felt easy - I was running at just under 10 min/miles for most of the time.  The picture below is at the halfway point.  I still felt great and had only walked about 10 minutes total by that time. 

Julie hadn't quite caught up to me by the halfway mark.  Since I was planning on walking lots of it, she was going to start off at a slower pace and would catch up to me early on.  But since I was not walking quite as much as planned, it took her until about mile 15 to catch up to me.  Here she is at the halfway mark.

Meanwhile, Aaron was having a good race ahead of us.  We were able to see him briefly once along the way as our paths crossed.  He was about two miles ahead at that time.  He was enjoying himself until around mile 18.  Here he is - looking good.

It was starting to get warm by this time, but a cool breeze would hit every once in awhile, so he wore his long sleeve shirt kind of like a shawl over his sleeveless shirt. 

Below, is our awesome support person (and picture taker) Tim - Julie's hubby.  Having someone who knew me cheering for me was definitely a highlight.  This was taken around mile 22.  It was at this time that my body was really ready to be done and every step seemed agonizingly slow.  Julie had run with me for about five miles, but felt good enough to go for it and had moved on ahead of me.  By this time, my body was well past the high mark of my actual training for running.  I had only run 15.5 miles of my 20 mile run.  So, considering that by this point I had already run at least 20 miles and had another 4 to go, my body was tired!  I was feeling discouraged and prayed, "God, I could really use a friendly face cheering for me right about now."  It wasn't 15 seconds later that I heard a gusty, "GO MELISSA!!!"   Tim said he was looking for my black shirt and didn't see me coming, so he went to put his camera stuff away, not realizing that I was in my purple short sleeved shirt by now.  He turned around just in time to see me and cheer me on.  I think that was God nudging him to turn back and give me the cheering that I needed.  Thanks, Tim!

Along the way, there were very interesting things to see.  This guy finished way ahead of me, but I saw him run by early on.  He was running barefoot in a kilt.  You would think that would hurt your feet!  I saw another guy running barefoot too.  Ouch.

There were also various entertainers along the way.  Lots of music groups of all skill levels.  My two favorite music groups were an old tuba guy playing peppy tunes with a tamborine and a couple playing/singing fun old pop tunes - they were playing/singing brown-eyed girl when I ran by.  They sounded really good.  There were also various people dressed up in various styles to add interest to the day.  Here are some dancing green guys that showed up at various places along the course.  One of them escorted me for about a minute during my walking breaks around mile 21.  They didn't speak, only acted.

There were also people dressed up in animal costumes, a guy like Austin Powers talking and singing to the runners as they passed - he was a little creepy, people holding signs of encouragement, jangling bells, kids lined up along the way giving high fives, a guy offering cocktails of various sorts to the runners, the support staff on bikes handing out tissues, candy, advil (as if it were candy), and other various things.  I stuck to my drinking water and a bit of gatorade and ate one energy bar along the way.  Candy did not sound good while running at all.  And finally - we made it to the finish.  Julie came in with a strong finish of 4:38 - she was thinking she probably could have done better, but is happy with her time.

Here I am - finally finishing!  I was so happy to be done.  I beat my original goal of 5:15 - coming in at 4:42.  So I was very happy.  I ran probably around 23 miles or more of it.  It beat my longest actual running distance by about 8 miles or so.  There really wasn't anything left in my legs to give at the end. 

Yea!  I'm done!

The three happy finishers.  Aaron ran his in 3:55.  He was pretty happy about that - he wasn't sure what to expect with his calf injury and the fact that he hadn't run more than 10 miles in over 5 weeks prior to the marathon.  And we got some pretty cool medals.  They are heavy.  I didn't feel very strong in holding it up around my neck.  :)

They had piles of food to eat after the race.  I made sure to eat a lot.  :)  My plate is heaped up high with fruit, yogurt, ice cream, bagels and protein bars.  I opted out of the BBQ pork sandwich, chips, and pizza - all sounded a little too heavy.  I went back for seconds on everything else - especially the ice cream. 

So today, my legs feel shredded.  It hurts to move them or change positions.  I feel like I've run a marathon.  But I'm really quite happy that I did it.  It's something I've always wanted to do and I did it!  I'm not sure that I will do one again.  It's a big commitment - especially with time when it comes to training.  We'll see.  I said I would never run a half marathon after my first one, but I did and am thinking about training more seriously for them since I enjoyed it so much the second time.  Maybe once my legs don't feel so completely dead, I will remember only the fun parts of the marathon and want to do one again.  I really did enjoy just about everything.  The last four miles were really tough physically, but I was mentally handling it well and was in the back of my mind enjoying it from a mental aspect.  But I think in the meantime, I will just enjoy the fact that I reached my goal and did it well.