Non-Stop Mom: The Marathon

I just wanted to update you on how my marathon went and kinda give you a play by play of what went on.

We really made a weekend out of it. Neil, Lila, and I left town to make our way to Nashville on Friday morning. We got there and immediately went to the expo to get my number, t-shirt, gear back, etc. The expo was awesome. They had so many cool vendors there. I could've stayed for hours if it weren't for Neil and Lila being ready to go! :)

I made whole grain spaghetti with marinara and LOTS of bread that night. We stayed at our friend's house (Kyle and Blair) and had a great time, as usual. Saturday morning 5:00 came pretty quick. Got up, got ready, ate my oatmeal, drank a cup of coffee to get myself up (and ensure that I would poop before the race and not have to stop during), got Lila up and ready, gear check, check again, and check again. I think we were ready.

Thank God we had Kyle with us that morning because he got us exactly where we needed to be at the start avoiding almost all traffic. It was so unlike my three experiences in the past. Talk about a cluster...32,000 runners, plus those coming to watch them start equals MASS CHAOS! Got to my corral and then found my best friend of the morning, the porta potty! After standing in line and almost pooping my pants for about 20 minutes, I finally made it.

Porta Potty Line

Before the Start

Working up to the start...waving at Lila :)

Ready to GO!!

By then, the race had started, but since I was in Corral 12, I still had plenty of time. We made our way to the start line and then...."The Dirty Dozen" as the announcer called us took off with the blow of an air horn! WOW....my adrenaline was going crazy.

Corral 12 Ready. Set. Go!!!!

Then it hit, my oh so infamous side stitch. BLAH!! I should've expected this. Miles 1-6 or so were run with a side stitch. What a great way to start off 26.2 miles. I knew that it eventually had to go away because I vaguely remembered this happening last time except not for as long.

I was actually feeling pretty good about mile 10 and then there was "the split". The split occurs a little after 11 miles. The split is where the half-marathoners go one way...to the finish line...and the marathoners realize that they aren't even half-way done. At that point it's all mental. Thankfully Neil, Kyle, and Lila were there to make me smile and push me on. I even got a kiss from Lila!

Miles 12-16 were pretty lonely. The runners had thinned from the split and it was in a part of town were there weren't very many spectators. This makes it hard. When there are people there cheering you on, it's easier to keep going. Again, the mental part is the hardest part for me. I just had to keep going. If I just kept running, it had to get over sometime. :)

Somewhere between mile 17-18 I was blessed with seeing not only Neil, Kyle, and Lila again, but my wonderful mom and step-dad. They will probably never know how good it was to see them at that point. Just knowing that my family came to support me meant so much to me! I really got me through the next few miles.

Around 18 I started breaking down. I knew I would. I was actually pretty surprised that I hadn't broken down before that. The next 8 were really hard for me. I stopped and walked a little bit (about a minute) each mile between 18 and 24. After the water station at 24, I told myself that if I stopped and walked again, I would never start running again and walking across the finish line was NOT an option for me.

So I just did it! I talked to more people during those two miles than I had throughout the entire race. Lots of words of encouragement. Mile 25 was mostly uphill. What kind of psycho crazy people make the last couple miles go uphill?! I made it through then I saw it...the finish line. I was so happy to see it, although it didn't take long to remember that the finish line didn't really mean anything. I still had to walk all the way through the line, where there was food, drink, picture opportunities (really who wants that after running 26.2?), and then I had to get to Neil. All I wanted to do was get off my feet.

Once I laid there for a few minutes in the grass and just let my body rest, haahahahahahah, I found I could get back up. Then we had to go find my mom and Denzil. Oh the joys of seeing people you know after a race like that. All in all, it went ok. It was much harder during the race this time around and at the finish I said that one was definitely my last, but the healing process has been so much better this time, thanks to a friend of mine, Verlinda Henshaw, who came and worked me over, that I'm not quite sure if I'm done with marathons now. Neil is gonna kill me. I do, however, think I will do some halves in between this marathon and the next one, just to kinda keep my mind sane! :)

Final Stats