I did it!

Wahoo!! Well, I did it. I ran another marathon and lived to tell the tale. It’s a little surreal thinking about it being over. I’ve already hit the gym again and jumped right into lifting weights. One thing that was really boring me was the same old, repetitiveness of RUNNING. I was really looking forward to the marathon being over just so I could change my routine. I was tired of running all week and every Saturday. I was tired of only focusing on RUNNING. I was ready to ride my bike or lift weights and not worry about if it would interfere with my running schedule. Ok, I know I could have intertwined some weight lifting into my training but give me a break. A girl’s only got so much time. My schedule was already pretty packed with the running and all the rigors of life. I wasn’t about to cram anything else into that jam packed schedule. So yes, I’m relieved the marathon is over. My arms might not be as happy with it because now they’re receiving some much needed attention, but they’ll get over it and thank me later.

Okay are you ready to hear all about my marathon day? Well, if you’re not you better just leave now. ‘Cause you know how I get when I get a talkin’. I never shut up! It was a long day which means this could turn into a very LOOONNGG….. post. Just consider yourself warned.

Let’s start with why I chose to do this marathon. Well, maybe I better start with why I lost my mind and decided to do another marathon at all. Last year when Rob and I ran the Chicago Marathon I felt awesome. We ran it and completed it together but I was still pretty pumped by the end and he was ready to call in the patty wagon. Our finish time for the marathon wasn’t quite what we had planned due to a certain hubby who had become lightheaded and dizzy around mile 20. We ended up needing to do quite a bit of walking during those last few miles just so he wouldn’t pass-out or die in the crowded streets of China town. All this walking ended up being more like a long cool down for me. Well once it was done and over with, Rob told me I needed to do another marathon just to see how well I could do. He was saying all this while he was a little disgusted with me, being that I was still bouncing off the walls. Well ok, bouncing off the walls as much as I had energy to do so after just running a marathon. But anyway, he couldn’t believe I still had so much energy so he really wanted me to try another marathon on my own to see how well I could do. I just said “yea, yea ok.” I wasn’t really planning on ever doing another marathon. We had made the goal to run the Chicago Marathon just so we could prove to ourselves we could do it. Oh, and so we could say we had finished a marathon.

That goal was done and over with. We had completed the marathon. Who cares if it wasn’t the best time we could have done. We finished, that’s what mattered to me. Oh no! It wasn’t good enough. My dear sweet hubby had stuck his little fingers in my little brain and pulled the crank to get the wheels a turnin’. I was actually contemplating running another marathon.

Around January or February of this year I pulled out my list of goals. My cute little sister and I had sat down one night the year before to make some goals. She had been struggling with what to do with herself now that life in high school had come to a close and she wasn’t quite sure where to start with anything else. So I suggested she make a list of goals, both short term and long term goals. I figured I would right down some of my own goals to lead by example. After Mugs and I did some chatting we both ended up with a list of 5 year goals accompanied with the short term goals that would ultimately lead us to the long term goals. In the end Mugs had a better idea how to go about starting a new journey and I had my own set of goals to work on. Yippee!

So as I looked at my goals I realized I needed to get a crackin-McGrackin on things. One of the goals I had actually written was to either ride a century ride or run a half marathon once a year. Oops! What was I thinking there? Oh yea, it was to keep me in shape. Well I upped the ante a little and said I was going to go for the gold and run another marathon. Why not right? At that point it hadn’t been too long since the last marathon so I wouldn’t be starting at square one like I had done the last year. So it should be a little easier to get back in shape and be ready for the grueling 26.2 miles. With that thought I also made the decision to run a marathon closer to the beginning of summer. I didn’t want to have to wait until October for the Chicago Marathon, which would have meant training ALL summer. I preferred to work hard now and get it done and over with so I could enjoy my summer a little more leisurely.

My quest to find a marathon near the start of summer began. I found a few different options. There was one being held at the University of Illinois (that’s a few hours south of us) in April (I think) and one in Wisconsin (about an hour and a half north of us) in May. I originally decided to do the Wisconsin Cheese Head marathon for various reasons and so my training began. As my training progressed and word got out that I was going to do another marathon I had a friend tell me about the Sunburst race in Indiana. Oh man, it sounded much more appealing than the cheese head marathon. Not to mention, I was trying to convince someone to run the marathon with me and this one was a month later. So I made the decision to do the Indiana marathon.

I was pretty excited. This marathon was going to start at the Football Hall of Fame and finish on the football field at Notre Dame. How cool is that? Ok, yea, I’m not a huge football guru, actually I’m not really a football guru at all but come on. It’s where Rudy went! Rudy! Rudy! I could hear the crowd chanting even thinking about it. He,he. :-)

Well, no more time for training. Marathon weekend was here. Friday afternoon we jumped in the car and headed over to South Bend, IN. We found our way to the tents to pick up my packet and it was a bit of a shock factor. I mean I knew this race was going to be much smaller than the Chicago marathon but Holy smokes! My race number was only 271! There were only approximately 650 people registered to run the marathon, quite a HUGE difference from 40,000 participants. Granted there was going to be a lot more people on the road running the next day with all the half marathon, 10K and 5K participants but geez. So after I signed in and grabbed my race info they sent me to the next tent to pick up my participant t-shirt. While I was waiting to be helped Rob and Aaron said they were going to go look at the registration information. I met back up with them and they were getting all pumped up. Rob really wanted to run. So he convinced Aaron, which didn’t take a whole lot of convincing, to sign up for the half marathon. He was throwing around the idea of signing up for the actual marathon but I told him he was out of his mind. So he settled for the half marathon. I still thought he was nuts for wanting to go out and run 13 miles without training but at least he would have a friend with him.

Ha, ha, I even told them that with them out running the half marathon the next day it would give me a little more courage to keep running. If I’m suffering, all I would have to do was think about them and know they were suffering too. Yea, I know. That wasn’t very nice of me but I really thought they were going to pay for their spur of the moment decision to run (which Aaron did unfortunately).

With all of us registered for the run we headed out to find some pasta for a carbo-loaded dinner then to the hotel to catch some shut eye. Somewhere along the way we realized that Indiana was an hour ahead of us time wise. Eek! Good thing we figured that out before the next day. I was due at the start line at 6:00 A.M. the next morning. If we hadn’t realized the time change I would have been an hour late. That would have really sucked.

I went to bed that night just a bit nervous. I can’t really explain it but for some reason I had been jittery and nervous about the marathon for the past few weeks. I was worried I hadn’t trained enough, if I would be able to finish, was I going to be able to keep myself motivated all the way to the end? All these things kept creeping into my thoughts. Rob kept reminding me that I had trained enough and I had probably trained more for this marathon than I did the other one. I think what was causing all the doubt was the fact that I was going to be running by myself. Sure I had been running by myself the entire time I trained but for some reason the thought of running the actual marathon by myself was causing some inner turmoil.

Marathon day! It was finally here. We woke up and started getting ready, but oops, we didn’t quite get moving fast enough. We had to make a mad dash to the start line or I wasn’t going to make it in time. We pulled into the parking lot and Aaron and I jumped out of the car so I could get to the start line while Rob found a parking spot. I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it there before the race started. Lucky for me, we found the start line and the pace group I thought I should be in, with time to spare. I had just enough time to gather my senses and relax. Rob was even able to make it over to give me some more encouragement (kiss, kiss :-)),before the race started. While I composed myself at the start line I decided I needed to find a friend to run with and keep a good attitude. One of the things that was so fun last year was the fact that Rob and I were our own cheering squad. We were exhausted yes, but we never stopped encouraging each other and those around us. So that was my quest. I was going to find someone who looked like they would be running at about the same pace I would be going and be an encouraging voice to those around me.

It just so happened that the girl I stood next to at the start line was the perfect fit. I asked her if she would be running by herself and when she said yes, I asked her if she wanted to be my running buddy. That turned out to be a great decision. Corinna is from the southern part of Indiana and she had only run one marathon previous to this race also. Granted, her race was in the winter time in the woods, with snow. That sounds even more crazy than just a regular marathon but to each his own. We did a lot of talking, or rather I did. I think I might have talked her ear off. She’s used to running in the woods by herself so running with a chatter box with a bunch of people around was probably just a bit different. However, with all my encouraging the other runners, (ya know the “you’re doing great, keep it up!” and “you’re looking good!” and “way to go, you look awesome!”), she eventually started joining in. We became fast friends.

Having Corinna as my running buddy was pretty sweet. I don’t know if I could have picked anybody better out of the crowd of runners. We matched each other’s pace so nicely that we never felt rushed or lagging. We talked to each other and encouraged each other. When I noticed she was looking like she was struggling and she told me she was getting cramps, I shared my resources with her. She couldn’t believe what I was carrying with me. Really I didn’t think I had that much stuff with me but to her it was a lot. I guess I’m just used to carrying extra food, energy boosters, ibuprofen and water. Pockets in cycling jerseys sure are handy for that kind of stuff. I guess I go for the “be prepared” rather than the “I’m dying and I have nothing to help.” But anyway, I was able to help her through her rough spots and she was willing to stop and wait for me when I need to use the facilities. My body works like clockwork and it pretty much never fails that when I’m running, I have to use the bathroom around mile 10 or 11.

When I told Corinna I would need to stop and she could either go on ahead without me or wait, she actually chose to wait for me. That was pretty awesome. She said it was nice having someone there to pace her. So I’m thinking the running buddy thing was going both ways, it wasn’t just for my benefit of having a friend, or rather someone to listen to me jabber while we ran. I was actually helping her too.

The run was absolutely gorgeous. I thought starting at 6 in the morning would be a little chilly since we haven’t exactly been in the summer temperatures around here yet but it was awesome. It wasn’t cold at all. It was the perfect temperature to start a long run and it stayed nice for the whole run. The run went through some pretty neighborhoods but my favorite part was when we were running by the river. We ran down the side of the river for a while then up through some more neighborhoods with big beautiful trees, then over some bridges and down toward the park, through the park at the side of the river, through more neighborhoods with more trees and ultimately we ended up on the football field of the University. Most of the morning, I just couldn’t get over how beautiful our surroundings were with all the trees, the park, the river and the birds. It was so quiet and peaceful. I loved it!

It was probably around mile 17ish that I noticed my muscles were starting to get tired. They hadn’t gotten too tired yet though so it wasn’t a problem. Corinna and I just kept encouraging each other and those around us and we were well on our way to the finish. By mile 22 I think, we were both pretty sore. My legs were tired and she was getting cramps again. So we slowed it down at the water stop and walked for just a little bit while we ate a banana and regrouped. Then we picked up our sad, sorry legs and started running again. Oh boy did that hurt. It hurts to start running again after you’ve slowed down and walked a bit. Ouch! Luckily it only lasts for just a second then it settled back into just the tired achy stage.

Rob, Aaron and I had decided we would meet up on the course where our two runs intersected and we would finish together but Rob had called me and said he was just going to go all the way in and he would meet me at the finish line. That was perfectly fine with me because I knew if it were me, I wouldn’t want to wait. It would hurt too bad to start up again if I had to wait too long. So I was planning on just running to the end and meeting up with him there. Then when Corinna and I were getting near mile 25 Rob called again to find out where we were. We were so close that he decided to head back down the road and meet up with us. He had already finished his half marathon but the way the finish line was set up, they wouldn’t let him take pictures. So he decided he would meet up with us and run back across the finish line so he could take pictures of our big finish. When he met up with us, it was the energy boost we needed. We were still moving forward and giving each other words of encouragement but that finish line sure felt like a long ways away. So when Rob met up with us and he was full of energy and excitement it boosted our spirits and we were able to lift our heads a little higher, give each other high fives and look forward to the finish. We were so close. Yay!

As we rounded the corner toward the stadium Corinna made the comment that the last mile felt like it was the longest mile ever. Oh boy did I agree with her. We were pretty happy when we finally made it to the entrance to the field. Heck, we were so happy that we started hooting and hollering and we even picked up our pace. Can you believe that? After 26 miles we were able to pick up our pace and cross the finish line with a little extra zip in our giddy up. It’s crazy! Quite frankly I think there might have been a few people who thought we were crazy for being so energetic. I know Aaron did. When he saw the pictures of us he told me I looked way too happy for running a marathon.

But, why not? Why not be excited to cross the finish line? Why not put a little extra zing in your step when you’re about to finish a marathon? It’s a huge accomplishment and you should be proud of it. I was proud of finishing another marathon and for how well we did. So of course I let out a few good hoots and hollers. That’s just what I do! :-)

I hope this doesn’t sound conceded or anything but HECK YEA! I’m totally psyched that I did so awesome in this marathon. I finished it in 4 hours 12 minutes. That’s an average of about a 9.3 minute mile. That’s dang good! At least for someone who’s just running a marathon to finish, not race. If I were a racer it might not be that great of a time, but I’m not a racer. So it was a great time. Heck, I’m actually contemplating doing this again. Yep, I know I am crazy!

I have to say, Thank you Rob for being such an incredible husband and supporting me. You have given me so much encouragement over the past few months while I’ve been training and on race day. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks for backing me up when I decide to do crazy things. Or more or less, thanks for planting the seed and getting the wheels turning to make me think about doing crazy things. You’re the best and I love you to death.

I also have to say how incredibly proud I am of my hubby. I thought for sure he was going to suffer for the crazy stunt he pulled when he signed up for the half marathon the day before it without training. But he did incredible. He ran the half marathon without any problems and still had energy to come greet me in the midst of mile 25 and run with me to the finish line. Wow! You are incredible.

There you have it, my marathon day in a nutshell, or a novel. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I told you it would be a long one. :-)