I look like a deer in the headlights! Before... then 1 day after!!!
So, I Saturday morning, I woke up at 3:15 am, got dressed in my moisture wicking shirt and shorts, put vaseline on my toes to decrease blisters, put on my warm-up sweats and went out the door. Isaac's dad, Dan, his sister, Chelan, and her husband, Jeff, and I all left for the shuttle busses. We got there in time to meet Becca, Jeff's sister, and to ride the 4 am bus the 26.2 miles up the highway.
The temperature felt very warm for it being before 4:00, so we were pretty sure that it would be a warm rain if any. Boy were we wrong! By the time we got to the starting line, the wind had picked up and the rain started to fall. We were greeted at the start with gloves and trash bags to wear. As we waited the 2.5 hours before race time, we sat by the fires and tried to keep warm and dry. The lines started to build up outside the row of 100 port-a-poties a little earlier than normal and as I waited to use the bathroom, I realized there were some that never opened up! They were being hogged by other marathoners trying to stay dry and warm. Seems pretty boring to me, but I am sure they had their cell phones out, texting or playing games... or maybe there were 3 or 4 people crammed in there playing poker!
We started to run at 6:45. It was still very dark out. I have never seen so many people in trash bags! I have never seen so many people running all at once!
It was so cold. We had ditched our warm-ups, but kept our bags and gloves. It rained the entire run. The sun never shone. My entire body was soaking wet the entire run. My shoes were completely saturated with water and weighed at least an extra pound each! Needless to say, there were no problems with overheating! I felt great through the majority of the race. I ran by myself and just kept up my own pace. After running over 2 hours, I realized that my legs were really getting tired and that I still had at least 2 more hours to run. I thought, "That is a really long time!" Duh. Luckily, as I started to wear out, a pace-setting runner (sponsored by a company to run and keep a certain pace for the entire marathon) came by. He had to run the entire thing with a stick with balloons on top with the finishing time written on them! I figured if I could keep out in front of him, or at least with him, I would do ok.
The last little bit in the city was very tiring, but all the people cheering really helped me. I kept running! I saw Isaac's mom, sister and cousins and my baby girl Cyprus on the side of the road a few hundred yards from the finish line. I got a little emotional but kept running and pushed it hard all the way into the finish. I got 4 hours and 31 minutes! I am so happy with the whole experience.
If any of you want to run a marathon... I say go for it! You can if you want to. One warning, it is a very LONG time to run! I have a photo of myself after that Jeff's mom took... I havn't seen it but I probably look like crap. This photo is of me 24 hours later with makeup on and after a good nights sleep!
I am happy I did it.
