Training started in November 08 and was simple enough, started off running 2-3 miles which was already mastered by my & my trusty jogging stroller. Doing it with Team in Training was AmAZiNG, everybody is so nice and you always have a coach to run to and a teammate to run with. As the miles got harder, so did the fundraising. Me and my procrastinating self just relied on people to know that I was raising money and I pretty much thought... YOU CAN DONATE ANYTIME NOW! Which didn't work. Because not only is my whole family not in the position to give a whole lot, my friends are all broke college students (sorry guys, but its true :]). Which would be fine except I had no other resources. I finally cracked and went to places like WalMart and Kroger (aka the grocery store for those who don't know what the heck a Kroger is). Those places would've worked if I had enough time to sit outside with a bucket, but I didn't and I needed $2300... fast.
So I ended up dropping Team in Training, which was really sad because I wanted to not only complete a personal obstacle, but I wanted to do it for a cause. I did raise about $350 so to those who gave, thank you! And to those who wanted to give but couldn't, thanks for your support!
So then I was on my own, right? WRONG! I have a good friend named Kristen :) and she stuck with me through all my training days when I needed a running partner. And, not only did I have wonderful Kristen, but I still had all my ex-fellow teammates to run with, mostly Megan, Karin, The Erin's, Jean, and Jen (and of course Kristen and Tori).
I have to say, if you're training for a long distance run, the best way to do it is with other great people. There's no way I couldve ran those distances by myself. I tried and it hurt!
So anyway the longest I ran was 20 miles, I did that twice & with other people at a good pace. Now all I had to do was make it another 6.2 miles to finish the marathon!
Nashville!
Going to Nashville was SO exciting! Travis's grandmas live about 30 minutes away from there so we stayed with them. Tennessee is simply amazing. All the land and mountains and rivers and waterfalls are breathtaking. I love beautiful scenery. While we were up there we contemplated moving to Tennessee once he gets out of the army & I am done with school...we shall see ;) I love the beach but there's nothin like open air.
anyway we drove around Nashville trying to find something to see, maybe the Grand Old Opry, Carrie Underwood or SOMETHIN but we got nothin. that's alright, we were just happy to be there and ready to get out of the car! Somewhere in Nashville is a very happy person because we lost our camera!! It had a full battery and an empty memory card. Such is life.
The Marathon!
Here it is, April 25, 2009, the day I had been waiting for! We woke up early, about 5 to arrive hopefully at 6 since the race was starting at 7 and we knew there would be traffic. We got there at about 630 which turned out to be fine.
We hung out with the Team in Training folks, who are always entertaining.
So I decided maybe I should pee before the race, right? Makes sense. I look over and see a HUGE line of port-a-jons. Kinda ew but oh well, all I have to do is get through this huge crowd of people to get to the line for the bathroom. The closer I get, the more I see this 'crowd' is standing still in a sort of formation. Wait a second, this can't be! This huge crowd of people WAS the line for the portajons!!! There had to have been 20+ port a potties and at LEAST 50 people in each line!!!!!!! OMG I've never seen such a thing...I think I can hold it.
Headed towards the start line at abooout 650. They had it set up by corrals. Corral 1 was the super fast people who would start right at 7, then they wait a couple minutes and send corral 2.
Before the race I did my research and saw they had pace groups, if you wanted to finish in a certain time, just stick with those guys.
I put myself in about Corral 17, had my sights set on the pace group sign that said 4:45.
At about 730 I said my goodbyes to my boys and started the race! I stop at the 1st port-a-jon I see which only had 2 people in the line (as opposed to 50 before the race). It was right next to where one of the bands were playing, so we got to listen to music while we waited and peed.
And I'm off! I ran a 4:1 run:walk ratio which was extremely helpful.
It was so cute seeing all the cheerleaders with their different themes, the first one was a bunch of girls dressed all nerdy with signs saying "run before the jocks come & take your lunch money!". Super cute. Everybody was out there cheering so early in the morning!
I would have to say the best part was running through the neighborhoods and seeing all the people on their lawns drinking beer watching us run our booties off. Some had kids who held their hands out for you to give them a high five as you passed by :)
One or two lawns we passed by actually had their water hose out spraying it over the entire road so we all could run through it. So nice :) and even though it was so cool of them to do that, all I could think about was how high their water bill was gonna be lol
Another person we passed by had a big sign that said FREE BEER!
(This photo compliments of Megan Bodenstine)
And as I laughed at the thought of drinking beer during a marathon, I saw a guy who had been drinking a beer, put it down on the road, keep running, then a girl run up, pick the beer up and started drinking it haha. oh man.
This wasn't the only guy who did this, others had dixie cups and they filled it up just enough to take a shot of beer and keep running.
Still got my eyes set on the group sign that said 4:45.
After getting out of the neighborhoods we ran through part of downtown Nashville, got to sight see a little bit including statues that flashed us:
after about mile 11 there were signs putting the marathoners on the left side, half-marathoners on the right side. There were A LOT more people running the 1/2 marathon than full! Don't get me wrong, 1/2 marathons are cool and all, but if you're gonna come all the way to Nashville, run the full!! Turned out to be somewhere around 25,000 people doing the 1/2 and 5-7,000 doing the full. After we went our separate ways, it got boring. It was quiet, there were no more fans, the fun disappeared!
So at about mile 15 it really started to get rough, maybe that's where I started to hit my "wall". I set my watch to a 3:1 ratio so I took it easy on myself, even though I felt like I could run 4:1. My knees were starting to hurt along with my thighs and feet. For some reason the bottoms of my feet were killing me!
There were still bands all over the course, which I loved because they let you float away with the music.
I LOVED the water stations! They had every thing you needed. I wanted Travis to be waiting at the 20 mile mark with some food, but knew the chances of that happening were 1 in 100,000. Around mile 19 I was STARVING and got to a water station & saw a plate with only one more apple piece on it...perfect. Oh man that was just what I needed, I think that was the best tasting apple I've ever had in my life :)
I started running again, went around a curve & saw a stroller. I loved seeing the kids in strollers because they reminded me of my little boy & I got to see them smile. Seeing that & smiling back at them took the pain away for just a little bit.
I looked into the stroller and saw the best thing ever, MY BRYCEN!! Looked up and saw my wonderful Travis smiling at me. I couldn't believe I was seeing them & how happy I was to kiss my baby. My mind was so BLAH that I don't think I even gave Travis a kiss or say hi to Kristen & Shawn who were standing right there. The only thing I did comprehend was that if I stood for too long, my knees would start to hurt and running would be painful again.
I said goodbye and ran again, this time with a smile on my face. I had something to smile about for the rest of the 6.2 miles :)
The closer I got to finishing, even at about 20 miles it was amazing to me how many people were walking. Not because it was their "interval" to walk but because they were so exhausted. It was rough! It didn't feel like a marathon! And soon I realized running it was no joke. People are in pain and we still have 6 miles to go! I kept going of course, I smiled at all the cheerleaders and kids. I passed by people who were breaking down on the sidelines, people getting leg massages in the middle of the road, people chafing...then I saw it!
The 4:45 sign!
I ran up to the guy and told him about how I had been watching his sign the whole time & he told me I was doing great. Then I passed him :)
I kinda felt bad for the bands because it was getting hot out, the fans & cheering people were NOT enthused. And the runners were NOT wanting to hear this music right now haha.
The last 3 miles was the hardest part.
I kept looking at my surroundings to keep my mind busy, we were in another neighborhood. I looked up this hill and saw this guy with a white dog on a leash. This thing was the size of a bear! NO JOKE! It took my attention off running for a few seconds :)
I couldn't help but think about how bad my feet were hurting. every time I scrunched up my toes it hurt. SO BAD. I just couldn't wait for it to be over with. I was gonna be so happy, screw all the people who cry at the finish line, I'm just gonna be ready to leave and get it over with. Maybe I'll cry out of pain.
We went around this huge circle in a park & it was nice. There was a family sitting in the shade watching us run. A band and more cheerleaders who were AWESOME. They were the last set of cheerleaders I was gonna have to run by. The amazing part was that they were still cheering. They were screaming like we were running in the football for the last touchdown of the game. I love them :)
A guy started talking to me, I think he was the only person who tried to make conversation with me the whole run. Asking me where I was from & stuff. He told me he was trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which is pretty prestigious for marathoners and gives you major bragging rights if you do qualify. But this guys stomach was all messed up. The culprit? CYTOMAX!!
If you don't train with it, don't use it during your marathon!
Anyway as soon as I mentioned "husband" and "son" he started to feel better and ran ahead of me :) works every time!
So there I was, running past the 25.2 mile marker, only 1 mile to go!!! oh my goodness that road was horrible! Couldn't they have made it a good finishing point? like run past the Grand Ole Opry or somethin? No, we ran past the only part in Nashville that looked like a desert lol
I turned the corner and I saw people...The Finish Line! oh my goodness...5 hours and 6 minutes after crossing the start line I became a marathoner :) I heard my name and looked, there he was, my knight in shining army, pushing a stroller was smiling at me. I walked over to him, hugged him over the fence and started bawling.
My shoes immediately came off & my toes looked like sausages...so swollen. I took Brycen from Travis, it felt so good to be done with it. I walked with Brycen over to get my medal and in the process of trying to find Travis, Brycen got heavier and heavier and the road got hotter and hotter, what was I thinking taking off my shoes on a summer day AND carrying Brycen after running a marathon!
After that all I wanted to do was sit down. I sat on the grass, then we had to walk a half mile to the car...WHAT?! I wanted to ride in that stroller so bad. We made it to the car & I did not care one bit to see any part of Nashville.
I took 800 mg Ibuprofen, which definitely helped a lot, took a nap, then woke up, went to Nashville and saw Billy Currington who was the official post-race concert headliner :) Needless to say there were not many people standing for this concert!
All in all, it was a wonderfully amazing experience. But for anybody who decided to ask "how was your marathon?" within 1 week of the race got the whole truth. I'm glad I did it, I learned so much from my training and most definitely will be doing another one
