The Marathon Experience

Alright, this is going to be a long one...

My race day started at 4:30 am. Wait, back up, I guess things really started at 8:30 the night before when I went to bed and had restless sleep for about 4 and a half hours. Once I finally fell into a deep sleep, I promptly woke up from a nightmare that I had woken up and it was 9:45am, and I had missed the start of the marathon (Seinfeld anyone?). After waking up Marc to have him assure me it was really only 3:30 am, I fell back asleep for an hour.

We walked to the start line from our hotel, and it was kind of surreal because although it was still dark out and 5:45am on a Sunday, there were lots of people out doing the same thing we were. After seeing the start line, we headed to charity village, where Susan G. Komen had a tent sent up as a meeting place for all their runners. I was able to avoid long gear check lines and just leave my stuff there. Marc's parents met us there, and soon it was time to head over to the starting line.

I was antsy to get to my start area and find my pace team, but once I got there, it was a lot of waiting. There was still a half hour until start time, and then another 20+ minutes until I moved up to the start line. The energy and crowd were amazing though. Nothing like it. I'm glad I had that long wait time to soak everything in. In the process of everyone moving up to the starting line though, I got separated from my pace leaders. They ended up behind me, but I figured they might end up catching up to me with bathroom breaks and aid station stops.

Well, little did I know, it's pretty hard to reunite with another runner in a marathon (go figure, right?) So, I just started keeping track of my splits on my own, and actually was doing a pretty good job of running fairly even 11:30 min/mile splits on my own. I saw Marc and his parents at mile 2, and it was actually pretty easy to find them in the crowd. It was then time to head north on the course. There was a pretty good crowd the whole way up and back, and I also managed to find Vlade (a fellow Legends employee) along the way for a high five. On the way back downtown was when it started to get hot. I felt ok though, and just made sure that I was getting plenty to drink at each aid station and run in the shade when possible.

Once I was back downtown, I saw Marc and his parents again before heading out west. I was still feeling ok, but I could tell it was starting to get hotter and hotter. I somehow missed my parents at mile 14, but did get a good cheer from the people of Komen at the charity block party. When I started to head back east was when things started to turn less than ideal. It was about mile 15, and since I was drinking more than I normally would at each aid station to try and stay hydrated, I was starting to get that sloshing feeling in my stomach and it was making me kind of nauseous. Yuck. By mile 16, my walking at aid stations was lasting longer and longer, but I pushed on to see Marc and his parents again a little before mile 17.

After mile 18 was when things got really bad. There had been an aid station a little before that mile marker, and then we headed on a stretch down Ashland. Somewhere along this stretch, the heat and sun really got me. There was no shade at all and the temperature had climbed into the 80's. I started to walk, and as I did, I started feeling really weary and felt like I had the chills. I just remember thinking, "Great, I know there's not an aid station coming up because I just passed one." I really wasn't sure how I was going to keep going. Then, I came to what I believe (according to my blurry memory and Google maps) was the Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church. These kind folks had a little card table set up in front of their church and were handing out cups of ice water and ice. I promptly took one of each, drank the ice water, and just held the ice on my head and let it melt. I still felt horrible, but instantly felt better and knew I would at least be able to keep on walking. I walked for a while, stopped to stretch out my legs that were starting to cramp up because I wasn't running, and remembered that my fantastic sister-in-law/friend was going to be at mile 19 with a sign. :) So I slowly started to run again, and I got a small burst of energy seeing Elizabeth and Devon on the corner of 18th and Ashland.

The sloshing stomach and heat were still getting the best of me though, so I did a lot of walking between there and about mile 20.5 where I knew my friends Natalie and Jenny were waiting to jump in and run with me. Although I still felt terrible, it was SOOO good to see some more familiar faces and know that they were going to be with me for awhile. We ran slowly for a bit, and then walked for, well, awhile. I just couldn't run. It wasn't even my legs that were bothering me, it was just the heat draining everything out of me. We got close to mile 23 where Natalie and Jenny had planned to jump back out, but they offered to stay in with me until mile 25 where Marc, Elizabeth, & Devon were waiting. I was so incredibly thankful for that. Although we did a lot of walking in those miles, it definitely helped to have people with me to talk to. Otherwise I would have spent those miles beating myself up mentally for walking and just getting down about how things were going.

Once we hit mile 24, I knew we were going to be seeing Marc, Elizabeth, & Devon soon, and after that it was only one more mile, so I decided to start running again. That mile was pretty eventful as we had a wonderful Chicago rat run in front of us! I wouldn't even call it scurrying across. He literally came out onto the street, was kind of looking around, and then slowly started making his way back to the curb. We had to jump over him to avoid stepping on him! Definitely gave me a slight adrenaline rush to keep running!

As we made our way to mile 25, I found my friend Anne along Michigan Ave. who had borrowed a pair of running shoes from her aunt that lived there and jumped in to run a few blocks too! Her excitment for me gave me another push to keep going!

Natalie, Jenny, & Anne jumped out when we got to Marc, Elizabeth, & Devon, and I knew I only had a mile to go. There was a HUGE crowd at the turn onto Roosevelt, which little did I know, my parents were in. For those that aren't familiar with the Chicago Marathon course, the very end of the course turns east onto Roosevelt, where there is a "hill" where the road crosses the railroad tracks below. Once you get over this hill, you turn left onto Columbus, and are within 200 feet of the finish line. It's right there. So this "hill" is the like the final obstacle. It doesn't seem like that big of a hill just looking at it, but when you're running, and have 25 miles behind you, it's a bit obstacle.

I had decided months ago that I wanted "3 to 10" by Lucky Boys Confusion to be playing on my iPod when I crossed the finish line. Many of you know I am a huge LBC fan and have been to many, many of their shows. This song is the song they always end with, and it has a lot of energy. So as I was about to turn onto Roosevelt, I skipped to that song in my playlist.

The next part was really surreal for me. As I went up the hill I remember thinking, "Just get to the top and you're pretty much done." I also remember hearing "Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash playing in the crowd, and the trees along Roosevelt had little yellow leaves that were falling like snow. I know it sounds cheesy, but it felt like something from a movie.

I made it to the top, and as I turned the corner and saw the finish line, I definitely got choked up. There was no problem finding the energy to keep going then. The crowd was screaming, and I was about to finish a marathon. After my finish line photo experience in the Shamrock Shuffle, I made sure that no one was directly in front of me so the finish line camera could see my bib number (that's how you find your picture). I crossed that finish line, and couldn't believe it was over. I had finished the Chicago Marathon.

After getting my medal and collecting my free food and water, I headed to the designated meet-up spot. My in-laws were the only ones there at first, and although I was feeling a little bit down about my time, their excitement to see me finish made me feel better. My parents came over next, and then everyone who was at mile 25 came over. We took lots of pictures, and then everyone headed home or back to their hotel. Marc and I headed back to the Komen tent, where a few other Komen runners were hanging out. I got some Gatorade and snacks, we took some pictures together, and then headed back to the hotel. (I must share that I was willing to walk back to the hotel, but it was my husband who insisted we take a cab because his legs were beat from walking all over the city...) :)

After showering up, I headed down to one of the conference rooms where I was able to get a 1/2 hour massage, compliments of Susan G. Komen (Yep, that's it, now you all know my true motivation for fund raising! Just kidding of course!). It was the greatest thing ever. I was still definitely sore, but felt a lot better. We then headed out for dinner with my parents to celebrate the marathon, and my mom's belated birthday. And then it was time for bed. At 7:45. Yes, you read that right. :)

Stay tuned for one more post tomorrow (if you made it to the end of this one). I feel like there's a lot of stuff I still have to say about the experience, but I think you've read enough for now. :)

Only hours away!

I'll make this short because I need to get to sleep soon...

We came down to the city this afternoon, and there was already a buzz going through the city. You could just pick out the people on the street who are running tomorrow. We headed down to the expo at McCormick Place for packet pick-up. It was almost surreal seeing all of the 10-10-10 stuff, and seeing all of the thousands of people I will be running with tomorrow. I have got my bib number, got my marathon technical shirt, signed up for my pace team, and stopped by the Susan G. Komen booth. And most importantly, I got my 26.2 sticker to go on my car. A Marathon for the Cure one, none the less!

My gear check bag is ready, my clothes and shoes are laid out for the race, I have the locations of my "fans" written down, along with the points where I need to "fuel" (ie eat pretzel M&M's). I will be transferring this information onto my arm with the help of a Sharpie so that I can keep everything straight while I'm running. I've done everything I can to prepare.

So this is it. 26.2 in the morning. Let's do this.

It's the Final Countdown...

Hope I just put an amazing song in everyone's head with that title. :) Yes, the final countdown is here. In 3 days, I will run the 2010 Chicago Marathon.

This morning I did my final training run. It was only two miles, but thanks to a reminder from my dear friend Anne last night, I got a little emotional when I finished the run. Stupid, yes. It was just weird that after months and months of being a slave to a training program, this was the final run. The next time I start running, it will be at the start line of the marathon.

I started out the week feeling not so pumped about the race, and my confidence was kind of at a low. After getting out and running on Tuesday and Wednesday though, I started to feel better. And yesterday, I got two "good luck" emails from friends that really started to get me excited. Then last night, Marc and I started game planning where he and everyone else would be along the course. As we were doing that, I got 2 phone calls from friends saying they were coming down to watch. To top it off, I had a student bring me some Jelly Belly "Sport Beans" this morning and said, "My mom says, 'Good luck in the marathon!'" So cute! That put me over the edge, and now I am super energized for Sunday.

I now have more people coming down to cheer me on than I ever thought I would, and I am soooo incredibly thankful for everyone who is coming, or even thinking about coming. I know that everyone has their own busy lives, so the fact that so many friends and family are taking a big chunk of their weekend to come cheer me on really means a lot. Between the people that are coming down specifically for me and the people who I know that will be there anyway, I know I will have plenty of motivation to keep chugging through those mile markers.

I hope to write one more time before the race, probably on Saturday from the hotel. If I don't get around to it though, the next time I write, I will officially be a marathon runner. :)

Mile this week: 8 miles
Weeks of training finished: 29 weeks
Total miles of training: 453 miles

I thought this was supposed to be the easiest part...

Two weeks ago, after my 20 mile training run, the tapering phase began. The purpose of tapering off your mileage the three weeks leading up to the marathon is to give your body some time to recover and rest up for the race. I was really looking forward to this stage, and thought it would be a breeze. I'm finding out that it's not though.

The past two weeks have been incredibly busy and stressful at work. Just a lot going on, exhausting days with kids that are much more immature and needy than my past classes, not to mention having a student teacher thrown in with me. So, the first week after my 20 mile run, I completely blew off all of my mid-week runs. I just could not fit them in. I felt better though after doing my long run (12 miles) last weekend. It was easy, and it reassured me that I hadn't set myself back by skipping my mid-week runs.

I was only slightly better this past week. I only did one mid-week run of 4 miles. Again though, I thought I would feel better after doing my long run yesterday (8 miles). Then I came home from work on Friday feeling like I was coming down with some sort of cold/sore throat thing. I woke up on Saturday morning not feeling terrible though, so I still went out for my long run. It went ok at first, despite the 45 degree temp and 18 mph wind burning my throat, but around mile 5 I started to get that achy sick feeling, and I couldn't shake it. So I stopped. :(

So now I'm freaking out about the fact that I haven't done the miles I was supposed to over the past two weeks. I know that I have the strong training base that I need, and this is only the tapering phase, but I still don't like not finishing my mileage, especially a long run.

I did find a great article yesterday about the woes of tapering, such as phantom pains, anxiety, and just a general feeling of sinking confidence. It reassured me a little bit that a lot of this is common during tapering. I also read a few places that it's pretty common to get sick while tapering because your immune system is so run down from the heavy training the previous few weeks.

I'm feeling better today and hope to have this sickness kicked by tomorrow. In which case I will make sure I get in my midweek runs this week. I have a feeling the fact that the marathon is next weekend will light a fire under me to get me going...

P.S. If you read this and know anything about marathon training, and in your head you are thinking, "You haven't done your mid-week runs??? You are SO screwed!" please do not let me know. Just let me find out for myself around mile 20. :) I don't need anything else to weaken my confidence at this point.

Miles the past two weeks: 21 miles
Weeks of training finished: 28 weeks
Total miles of training: 455 miles

All that remains is 26.2

I have officially completed my longest training run: 20 miles! I knew this run was going to be a big obstacle, physically and mentally, so when I saw that there was a 20 miler "race" in Elk Grove, I decided to register. I call it a "race" because it wasn't timed and there were no "winners", but everything else was set up like a race: pace teams, aid stations, etc. I always do better when I'm running in a race setting so I figured this would help my motivation.

After only about 6 hours of sleep last night due to attending a rehearsal dinner, I sleepily drove myself to Elk Grove. It was still dark out when I got there, but I could feel the race atmosphere as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. I love that feeling. Then I started noticing that at least half of the cars there had "26.2" stickers on them. It made me excited, but also a little intimidated. Where were my fellow first timers?? Luckily the running community is a friendly one, so as soon as I got out of my car and the person parked next to me struck up a conversation, I knew I had nothing to worry about. That may be one of my favorite parts of running: how friendly and accepting everyone is. No one cares how long you've been running, no one cares how fast you are, we're all runners and we're all in this together (Ooh... High School Musical idea for playlist... also, what is with my overuse of colons in this post... can you tell I need sleep???)

The race started in waves, and each wave had pace leaders. Except for my wave. Our pace leader was apparently MIA. We were orphans. :( So we set our own pace. With people walking through aid stations and stopping at bathrooms though, most of the groups broke up anyway within the first 5 miles. I was on my own for most of the run, but I was ok with that because there was still a group feeling along the whole course.

Around mile 14 (right before the last turn around), it started to rain a bit, and the sky was pretty dark. And then that little bit turned into A LOT. The rain was literally coming down in sheets, and the thunder and lightning was pretty crazy, but at that point we were no where near a shelter or aid station, so our only choice was to keep going. When we did get to the aid station, they were encouraging everyone to stop and go under the shelter until the lightning past, however I knew that if I did this, physically my legs would cramp up, and mentally I would be out of running mode. So the girl next to me looked at me and said, "The lightning would probably hit a tree before it hit us, right?" I agreed, and we kept going. Needless to say, the last 5 miles of my run involved a lot of sloshing in my shoes, and my shirt and shorts plastered to my skin. FUN!

Other than that, the run overall went very well. I felt great (well, as great as you can when you're running 20 miles), and I only had a couple moments where I really had to battle it out mentally. I'm still not sure how I'm magically supposed to add 6.2 miles to my distance for the marathon, but I know it must work since that's how almost all of the training plan work. If I've learned anything from these long runs though, it's that this is mostly a mental feat, not a physical one. I'm sure that I can physically run 26.2 miles, I just need to get beat the mental aspect of it. I'm sure though that running with 40,000 other people and having over a million people cheering me on will help me get through that.

But for now, I shall enjoy the glory of tapering over the next 3 weeks. Oh, and a pedicure. I get to go have one of those in an hour because of the wedding I'm in tomorrow. It's going to be amazing.

Miles this week: 27 miles (Yes, I am completely slacking on mid-week runs. Whatever, I still did my 20. That's what matters in my mind.)
Weeks of training finished: 26 weeks
Total miles of training: 434 miles

Did that really just happen?

I've been bad about updating since I started training again, so I will try to get things up to speed...

The first week back: I had two mid-week runs right after finding out that I could start running again, so in order to ease back in I ran 4 miles that Wednesday, and 5 miles that Thursday. They were the first times that I had gone running before work, and I hadn't really thought about the fact that I needed to run at 5am, and the sun doesn't rise until 6am. So it was a bit interesting/creepy running that early while it was still dark, but I stayed within our subdivision. Both runs went well!

Last weekend's long run: I was scheduled to run 18 miles last weekend and drop-back to 14 miles this weekend, but since I was supposed to ease back in, I flip flopped those two. The weather was absolutely perfect last Sunday morning, which was a welcome change from the hot, humid summer. Considering that it was my first long run after being off for a week, 14 miles went pretty well, and more importantly, pain free. It was a little tough at the end, which made me very nervous to add on 4 miles the next weekend...

This week: I've been struggling with mid-week runs for awhile now, and while I haven't been too concerned about it because I'm completing my long runs, I still have a feeling of guilt when I don't get in the miles I'm supposed to. I ended up running after work on Tuesday because of the 25 mph winds on Tuesday morning. I was supposed to run 9 miles after work on Wednesday with a co-worker who is also training. We were going to change right after school and go right from there. Of course as I went to go change, I discovered that I had left a key piece of clothing at home... so I told her I was just going to go home and run when I got home. Luckily, another co-worker decided to join her. So, I got home, and of course got distracted by things that needed to be done around the house and didn't get going as soon as I wanted. And then when I did start running, my legs felt like lead. I went about 3 miles and said screw it. I was already nervous enough for my 18 mile run that weekend that I decided I was better off resting my legs for Saturday. So I skipped my Thursday run also...

18 miles: Needless to say, I was really worried about my 18 mile run. With the way 14 miles went, and the way my mid-week runs went, I wasn't sure how 18 was going to happen. And of course when we got up on Saturday, it was rainy. We drove to the trail anyway, hoping it would let up. It was coming down pretty hard when we got there, and it was chilly. I really didn't want to push my run until Sunday, so we waited it out in the car for a few minutes. It finally let up a little, and we got going. We stayed fairly dry until about mile 11 when it started coming down pretty good. It was short lived though, and I pushed on. I found myself not really feeling worn out until about mile 13. It was bearable though, until about mile 16 when I really felt it. At that point though, I knew that if I stopped to walk, I would cramp up and it would be that much harder to start again. I also knew that I would be EXTREMELY upset if I didn't finish, so I pushed on. I'm not sure how, but I successfully ran 18 miles, and my pace was somewhat acceptable (for me, at least...)

So there are a few things that got me through those 18 miles. I'd like to thank:

• My husband, once again. No way I could do that carrying my own water. :)
• My refreshed playlist. Every time I started to feel myself lagging, a new addition to my playlist would come on and get me fired up.
• My new fuel of choice: Pretzel M&M's. As you know, my stomach does not tolerate carb gels, so I have been using Swedish fish. Lately though, they haven't been doing it for me, not to mention how unpleasant it can be to have gumminess in your mouth while running. I found myself craving salt later in my runs, so I had an epiphany when I bought some pretzel M&M's for a cookie recipe: pretzel filling=saltiness, candy outside=sugar to digest quickly and get fuel to my body. They worked really well, and I felt like they did the trick better than the Swedish fish. Plus, they are higher in calories, so I don't have to carry as many!
• The glorious fall temperatures
• The academy
• You, if you have read this far
  

Next weekend will be my longest training run, 20 miles. After that, it's taper time!!!

I still can't believe I ran 18 miles yesterday...

Miles last week: 25 miles
Miles this week: 26 miles
Weeks of training finished: 25 weeks
Total miles of training: 408 miles

I love a good quote...

My friend Natalie (who is also one of my biggest cheerleaders), sent me a running quote today:
"Your legs must be strong, but your head must be stronger." I do not have a credit for it, but it is so true, and got me searching for other running quotes. I came across this one that really hit home with everything that has happened over the past week:

"It is difficult to train for a marathon, but it is even more difficult to not be able to train for a marathon." ~Aaron Douglas Trimble

Still incredibly thankful. :)