My Marathon Recap
This post is going to be a long one....and not about Claire for once! I want to write about my experience while it's still fresh in my mind. It might not be too interesting to anyone other than me, but it's an experience that means so much to me and one day I can look back and think - "Wow, I did that!!"
After
training last year with MTT (Marathon Training Team), I was hooked and signed up again!
After almost 6 months of training, many many miles on the road, blood (literally), sweat, and tears....we were ready for the marathon!
The Thursday night before the marathon, we all gathered for a big carb-loading dinner and to get our jerseys ready! We put our names on the shirts so people can cheer for us - it really helps!
So marathon morning finally arrives and we meet up in the James Center lobby. I had a very nervous energy going on, but was excited and ready to get going. My only goals were to try and keep up with the girls for as long as I could, try to have as much fun along the way, and *hopefully* set a PR (personal record)!
After MTT photos and port-a-potty lines, we got into our corrals and before I knew it, it was time to start running. Tom, Allison's fiance, took this photo and it's one of my favorites. I was so excited and happy to be running - I had no idea what kind of day it would be or how I would feel several hours later, but I was just
grateful to be there.
Unfortunately, we separated from Niki early on. She's been battling some injuries this season and it was really sad for me to not have her by my side. She's one tough cookie though and ran her heart out - with an injury and pain in her IT band starting at mile 5!! I thought about her many times during the race and am super proud of her for her 2nd completed marathon!
The first few miles felt like a breeze. We were running with Coach Marc and he was being goofy and making us laugh. It got hot pretty early on so we ditched our jackets and gloves - the coaches are there to help as much as they can so they carried our jackets for us until we reached the MTT drop-box. Such a small gesture, but it sure was nice! Early on we saw Christy's husband and son Murphy. Murphy jumped in and ran with his mom for a minute and I literally almost cried when I saw it! It was so sweet and you could see how very proud he was of his mom. I hope one day Claire will want to run with me :-)
It's so great to have people out there cheering for you, and especially when it's someone you know! I was very thankful for my friends and family that came out to cheer for me - there's something about seeing them that would give me an extra boost!
Meredith was the first one along the way (besides my friends' families - who I was just as excited to see as you can tell by the pictures of me waving furiously and yelling!). She had gone out at 7am to secure a good spot to cheer. Here we are around mile 7. We were trying to stick together and doing a roll call after each water stop to check on everyone.
Don't we look so cute all in a row? In the words of Heather: We rock! Seriously.
After crossing the Huguenot bridge, we turn down to Riverside drive and run along a beautiful part of the course. The river and fall leaves were so pretty, but I was disappointed how crowded it still was and I was hoping it would thin out soon. After the pony pasture, the course gets a little hilly. At some point around here we passed my friend Sonja, who I had run almost every single Wednesday morning with. It made me nervous to pass her - I knew it meant I was going a little faster than I was used to and I was sad not to stop and chat with her more.
Once we got to Forest Hill Ave., I got excited because I knew it was almost time to see my family. Once I saw the famous orange flag (my mom has used this at my races - it helps so much to find them in a crowd) I started to speed up and Heather had to reel me back in. Mom, Dad, Rob, Claire, Matt, Alison, and Katie were all there to cheer. I was so happy to see them - as you can tell in this picture! I look like I'm about to eat Claire. (I was told later that she was not too happy about me running right past her. She buried her face in the stroller and got a little upset.)
After we passed my cheering squad and passed the half-way mark, I started to get a little more worried. I was feeling more tired than I would have hoped at that point, we started losing people (Christy, Anna, and Allison had dropped back), and we were about to hit my least favorite part of the course. I tried to keep telling myself "mind over matter" and tried to ignore any little ache or pain....it was still a loooong way to go. We came to the Lee bridge and for some reason, the actual bridge is never that tough for me - most people hate it. I tried to help Heather draft behind me and then I tried to draft behind Travis, but it didn't really work. I just tried to enjoy the scenery and keep moving. Here's Heather, me, and MC getting ready to cross the bridge:
Once we hit mile marker 16, I called Brooke (yes, I carried my phone with me!) and met up with her at mile 17. She jumped in to run with me for a couple miles. It was a huge help because by this point I was getting very tired and needed a distraction. I knew I was pushing a little faster than I normally run - I was happy about that, but at the same time a little worried because I didn't want to run out of steam. We moved along and turned onto Boulevard where I ran past my boss, Bryan and waved hello! Brooke dropped off right before the BIG hill in front of Sportsbackers Stadium. We run this hill every week - but it's the
end of our run. This time, we had to run up the hill and keep going for another 6+ miles! We started singing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey as we were running "up and down the boulevard." I didn't have quite the same enthusiasm as MC did at this point, but it was a nice distraction!
I like this picture that MC's Dad took because even though my legs felt like lead at this point, you can see I am still running - yes, my feet are actually off the ground! :-)
We came up to Holton Elementary (about mile 20) and my family was there again - this time with Andy, Tara, and Samara! Andy jumped in with me and ran a couple miles. I said "Ok, tell us a story." I was in no mood to chat, but just wanted him to talk to me. He told me about some random stuff which I can't even remember now, but again - a nice distraction. I passed by the beer stop....didn't think my stomach could handle that, but took my 5th gel. I prayed it would give me a 2nd wind (or 3rd, 4th, 9th.....) because I needed it. I started to lose Heather and MC and just kept telling myself to put one foot in front of the other. I saw my parents for the last time and Andy dropped off. This is when the real work begins. They say the last part of the marathon is all mental and it's so true. Besides a little blister, nothing really hurt - as in an injury - my stomach was good, my lungs were good, everything was good.....I just had to keep telling myself that it's normal to feel this tired and to want to stop. I also thought of Shawn telling me NOT to stop running, not to let my brain take over because it wanted to walk and it wouldn't want to start running again so just KEEP RUNNING AND DON'T STOP. (This is when it helps to be an extremely stubborn person!)
I kept Heather (and coach Shawn) in my sight and just worked on catching up to them. I finally did, but then somehow lost Heather. Shawn talked to me for a while and kept my mind from turning to mush. I had to ask what mile we were on and when he said 23, I said "OK, I can do anything for 30 more minutes." With that, he knew I would be fine, gave me a high five, and turned back. It's all sort of a blur, but I focused on water stop to water stop and even started counting to 100 and back down just to get my mind on something else. Finally I heard someone yell "Go Kat! Go Heather!" and I knew Heather was right behind me. We found Marc on the final stretch before Cary and he ran with us for a minute. He told me it was only 5 blocks once I got onto Cary......I have never felt more tired but excited at the same time other than when I gave birth! I made that final turn, got to the top of the final little hill, and saw the crowd. I probably wasn't, but I felt like I was flying down the hill. I saw Rob waving and cheering me on - almost couldn't even look at him because I didn't want to cry. I put on a smile and raced through the finish line as fast as I could! I turned around to see Heather finish and gave her a hug. What an accomplishment! I could hardly believe it...my final time was 4:13:29 - a full 22 minutes less than last year! And I almost forgot to say - guess who gave me a high five right after I finished? -
Bart Yasso!
Here's a few pictures of us - tired as ever, but so happy and proud! After hanging around congratulating friends and MTTers, we hobbled down to Sine's to celebrate. We compared wounds (
Christy won) and enjoyed hearing everyone's marathon stories. I was too tired to stay long and headed home for a shower and nap.
Who says running isn't a team sport? I can tell you, it took so many people to get me across that finish line. First, I have to be thankful for my husband for the many hours I was away and all of his support. Of course, I am also grateful to all my family and friends for cheering, putting up with my running stories, and everything they did to support this crazy hobby!
Next is my group of wonderful women who run with me each week, inspire me, give me advice, and serve as my personal therapists every Saturday. Thank you Christy, Mary Curtis, Heather, Allison, Anna, and Niki so very much. I hope we run many more marathons together!
I am also appreciative of all of MTT and the MTT coaches (especially Shawn, Chelle, and Marc) - I could never run a marathon without this team. Thanks for everything!!!
Speaking of teams, I ran every Wednesday morning with these wonderful folks - thanks especially to Sonja for putting up with my incessant talking at 5:30 in the morning. Andy - you did an awesome job of keeping us organized. Joe, maybe it was the watch that got me a PR?!
Phew, I think that's it! It's funny how you forget about the pain and misery and all I think of now is how much fun I had and how much I love the marathon! It teaches you so much about what you are capable of doing when you work hard, plus you get to make great friends along the way. It's time for me to take a break from the long distance stuff for a while, but I know I'll be back one day.
