26.2 Miles is Nuffin'
Friday, December 18, 2009 at 7:00AM OK, that is an outright lie. 26.2 miles is a lot. I just started walking like a normal person again yesterday, and high heels won't be touching my toes for a couple weeks... even though I don't really wear heels anyhow. Erk.
My marathon weekend started very early on a Friday morning - 3:45a in fact. Things were a bit crazy, the cab was 20 minutes early, I wanted to be in bed. After a Gingerbread Latte and settling into our flight, I started to relax a little. I was especially antsy because the night before I was NOT so happy to see that the marathon had a 6.5 hour time limit, from the gun start. Ummmmm, I'm a slowpoke, and I was not sure that I could finish in less than 6.5 hours. Most marathons have an 8 hour time limit.
I chose to ignore my panic.
Four hours later, we landed safely in Dallas and picked up our rental car. We headed down to my parents' house to hang out on our only totally free day before marathon events started kicking off. Now, some people will advise laying low in terms of the meals preceding your marathon. These people are totally right. My Friday was full of fatty food you should not eat... but COME ON, how can you turn THIS down? The BBQ lunch was my mother's fault...
...And the pizza dinner was my father's fault! Clearly, they conspired.
And no, I didn't eat all that pizza myself, Jokers.
Bossyboots and I stayed with my sister Tweets and her hubby for the weekend since they live ten minutes away from the marathon start line AND because it was a fun thing to do. :) On Saturday morning... Bossyboots, Tweets and I headed to the Runners' Pre-Marathon Expo. Now, most people hate the runner expos - we love 'em! We become total nerds and try all the new products (ill-advised) and wear ourselves out looking at everything (also ill-advised.)
We tried this vegan recovery drink, the name of which escapes me. Now, I was actually excited to try this because I feel like most runners' fuel tastes too sweet to me. Over the course of a long run, I feel all sugary and gross.
Mmmm, this drink landed somewhere between grody and ok with extra surprise fiber here and there.... not my fave. I hope you notice all the bags full of dumb stuff we are holding. Slick marketing, that's how you trick us into endangering our marathon for the sake of a Dixie cup full of goo.
At this booth, we tried these bracelets that supposedly increased balance and strength. They are magic bracelets with alien metal in them that keeps you upright and running in a straight line.
I am making up the alien metal part, but... it kind of freaked us out. We tried these Before and After tests and I have to say, the bracelet significantly helped. When we asked the reps how the bracelets worked, they said "The bracelets work with the frequencies in your body to cancel out negativity."
I don't really think that's an answer, more just a line they were told to say. We are now conducting our own tests to figure out the trick!!!
Saturday night, we relaxed at the Tweets' house with their dogs that I am in love with... We ate a last meal of potatoes, Rye bread, eggs, and a banana. I also drank a last load of water and turned into bed early after checking my running outfit about ten times.
The next morning, I was up as soon as the alarm went off at 5:15a. I munched on my bagel and banana, and then drank OJ.
Ugh, to the OJ - you'd think the BBQ and pizza would have upset my stomach, but no - the OJ was the traitor. My stomach was hurting me all the way til a few miles into the race. No bueno, sister, no bueno.
We arrived at the marathon starting line about five minutes before the starting gun. I have to tell you... when that gun went off, things were crazy. Confetti was everywhere - smoke cannons were blowing - the jumbotron was overwhelming - 25,000 runners were all packed in together. As Bossyboots said, we had a "false sense of energy" :) GO GO GO!
The White Rock marathon course is pretty perfect... mostly flat, running through both the city and around the lake. The weather was cool and crisp with a misty fog that kept our body temperature at a comfy level!
Bossyboots ran the half marathon, and his course coincided with ours for the first 7.5 miles. After that, Tweets and I had to say SAYONARA and continue on our own. We felt great. We had a plan: run in intervals of 8min runs followed by 1min walk breaks for the first 20 miles, then run the last 6 miles straight through. Tweets was our pacer and she kept an eye to make sure we stuck to our plan so we could finish the marathon before the time limit.
I was SHOCKED to find that the race didn't suck. At all. It was challenging, and I was hella pooped by about mile 21, but I thankfully avoided the dreaded Wall everyone had warned me about. I thank the pizza I enjoyed Friday night. Most of the runners were in such a great mood - my favorite group of fellow runners were dressed as ninja turtles. The Turtles were stalking a 5:30 pace group. I don't think they wanted to pay to join a pace group, so they just followed the group about 20 feet behind. If the Turtles fell back too far, they'd holler at each other to speed up and get all excited when the pace group took a walk break because it was their chance to catch up. They were seriously entertaining, if nothing but that they were in such a good mood and having a great time. It was uplifting!
I think Tweets and I were in a bubble - we had a positive attitude and were surrounded by like-minded runners. We were determined to have a good time! After the race, I heard about people being carted off the course, getting injured, etc - one man collapsed ON the finish line! I even saw a few ambulances. I am really thankful that I missed all of that negative excitement - your mental state is HUGE in terms of not hating your life during such a long race.
ANYWAY, by the time we reached mile 20, Tweets and I started to run the back 6 miles straight through, walking mostly through aid stations only. SHEEZ, the miles went so slowly! It felt like an hour per mile. The aid stations grew more entertaining though. Much as I hate to admit it, the Hooters-sponsored aid station was the best. They had special outfits and a truck out there with entertainment (NOT sexual entertainment!!!) The ladies were super-nice, too. Hooters won. The boobs always win.
Another good aid station was the Dolly Parton station atop the biggest hill on our course. This was a station manned by male Dolly Partons, playing gospel music and drinking beer. Worth a chuckle even in my sad running state!
Although we had a lot of fun throughout our run, the best part for me was finally seeing that finish line and thinking about what an accomplishment that marathon was... I did get a bit choked up. Our family was there waiting for us, and that 26.2 marker felt SO good. We did it!
*In the video, I find it humorous that at this point in the race, our run was barely faster than our walk!
Don't we look sexy?
Post-race, we had planned on margaritas and Tex-Mex, but.... we kind of couldn't walk the two blocks to the restaurant. We spent $60 on Pizza Hut delivery instead. SIXTY BUCKS. Whatever - we ran a lotta miles that day. I think I consumed a 2-liter of soda all by myself and then licked the bottle.
My friend Wrigley-T sent me a special present of a blue runner t-shirt she had made for me - it was such a nice surprise when I was laying on the couch immobile!
SO, today I'm a marathoner. Now, that it's over, I totally agree that anybody can run a marathon, if you want to. The sense of accomplishment is overwhelming. 26.2 miles ain't no joke! Now, I'm working out my 2010 race schedule... Bossyboots is planning to run his first full marathon in October 2010. He asked me if I wanted to run it with him, but... I think I will tackle normal distances for now. You know, like 5Ks! I was so happy to share this experience with Tweets and Bossyboots, and I am fully enjoying recovering - which means soda and sushi.
Next week, I'll write a post on the tips that helped me the most in case you are thinking about running your own marathon challenge!
Bossyboots, Family, Running, Travel
Reader Comments (13)
I love blogger's race recaps...they are so inspiring!
Congrats on your marathon!
Congratulations, you're a marathoner now!
Go you! What an accomplishment. I am thoroughly inspired.
Congratulations! How wonderful! I, too, am inspired. The Krispy Kreme donut I had this morning? Not so inspiring.
I'm curious: what was your time?
Congratulations!!!!!!!
Oh, and the pic of that BBQ is KILLING me. I have to get back to Texas. ::drool::
Congrats!! You are so amazing for finishing a marathon! Way to go!
I am one proud papa!
Congrats!! You are a marathon runner! What an awesome accomplishment!
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are amazing!
Great recap! Congrats marathoner!!!
CONGRATS!!
Woooo hooo! Congrats! It sounds like your first marathon was a great experience! You all should come to DC and run Marine Corps! It's awesome - I'm looking to do it again in 2011! Though I'd love to do Chi too!