Everyone wants to know what it is like to run a marathon for the first time.--ok, mostly just my family, but whatever. I know it has been a long time. In a way it feels like years have passed since I ran mine. Still, I remember every detail. Finally, I am ready to share with you. I've only just regained my energy to do so...just kidding (kinda).
I've decided to do something different with this blog update. I'm going to break it up into three parts. Much like running a marathon was broken up into three parts in my mind. That way it has the added benefit of not boring you to death. We know that I can go on, and on, and on, and...you get the point.
I'm going to give it to you straight, so be prepared. The good, the bad, and the ugly. No holding back. Today I'm starting with the bad. If I wrote the good first you would just accuse me of sugar coating the experience and say it's been so long I just remember the highlights. Like childbirth...If I started with the ugly you might never want to return to read another post of mine. So, bad it is.
Let me first set the scene. I wake at 4am --I say, "wake up," but I'm not really sure I even slept. Even so, I am feeling good. I'm wide awake despite the circumstances. The jitters are building more and more. I check my gear for the millionth-no-zillionth time....yep, a left shoe and matching right shoe. Yep, energy gel, yep, water bottles--will I even need these?---but, im getting off track now.
The weather report says it will be partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Great, I think, at least it won't be hot. I HATE running in the heat. We wait around at the start for around 3 hours. It's really cold. We sit down (by "we" I mean my BFF Julie and her lovely hubby Josh) on the cold pavement in the "8 minute mile" section. Someone intermittently declares something we can't quite make out over the loud speaker.
As race time approaches people begin to crowd in around us. Some jump over the fence we are next to in order to obtain a better location. No one wants to be stuck in the back of the pack--even people like me that are slow and probably should be stuck back there. We are all clamoring to maintain our position. The difference between those people and me is that I have been in this spot in the corral since 5 am hunched over in my best throw away sweats...THEY are endangering themselves and the runners around them by carelessly hurling themselves over the 8 foot fence at the last possible moment. I begin to get very concerned that I have come all of this way in training injury free only to have one of these morons landing on me before I even cross the start. I get frustrated. Is this just how it goes?
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| My view from the corral. Just before the gun goes off. The start is waaaay up there. Can you find Waldo? |
Now I can understand what the mystery speaker man is saying. He announces the hand racers. We hear the gun go off. Then another as the female and then male runners begin. "Eat my dust," I picture them saying. It must be nice to be elite right now. Loud music is playing...I think it was Britney Spears. Josh says, "at least it's not the Black Eyed Peas, it could be worse." "Hey," I think, "I like the Black Eyed Peas...well, MOST of their stuff at least." The crowd shuffles excitedly forward. There are cheers. There is more movement..."is this it?" I think. And we begin.
People are weaving in and out of other people carelessly...some, a lot more than you would think, are stopping to take a leak on the wall outside of Dodger Stadium.--But, I digress, because that fits into the "ugly" category of my trilogy.
About 10 yards after my feet cross the start I am bumped by another runner and my left water bottle flies into the air. There is far too much commotion for me to retrieve it. Lost forever. Oh well, I think. It's just one out of two and I'm still not even sure I will need it. There are plenty of aid stations on this race. We dodge countless items of clothing, plastic trash bags, and other obstacles out of the gate. I worry a bit about getting my rhythm amongst so many people and with friends.
It seems like just after we detach from the starting madness that the rain sets in. Around mile 3. It's a nice welcome slow drizzle at first. Ok, I think, this will be fine. I'm actually enjoying this. Mother Nature had other plans.
Fast forward to mile 7. The rain really picks up now. I am trucking along and looking around me people are starting to get really uncomfortable. The onlookers are finding cover. Julie has been shivering non-stop since 5 am. The cold is getting really tough for her now(it's that runner w/low body fat thing that I have yet to experience). She starts to run faster without realizing it-maybe in an effort to get warm--or maybe to get to the finish that much faster. I try to continue to take it slow and steady. My goal is to finish. I really don't care about the time.
I know my family is planning to be around this marker so I've spent the last mile searching relentlessly for their bundled up faces in the crowd. Part of me is thinking that I may have missed them somehow along the way. When it became clear they weren't there I began to cry. I didn't realize until that moment just how important it was to me to have them there. I had done this all alone & now I wanted them to see what I was accomplishing & be part of the experience. Thank God for friends at this point to lift me back up & help me focus on the task at hand. We push forward and so doe the rain.
Mile 8-10 I begin to notice that I'm wanting to use the bathroom a lot. My stomach is disagreeing loudly with my decision to run long distance today. Maybe it was that grilled sandwich I had yesterday. ...I've broken a rule of thumb to "never eat something different before a marathon." Whoops, I might have to pay for that. I've never had this problem in training, usually I can eat whatever I want before a run. But, I usually don't eat handfuls of meat and melted cheese, and french bread followed by a rich caramel dessert either. So I'm not sure what to expect. I start to wonder if I'm slowing my friends down too much. There are lines at least 8 people deep at all if the port-a-johns & it takes me awhile to peel off my wet bottoms to go.
Mile 13. I see my family for the first time (that part is not bad) It's a welcome sight but they are soaked and I feel terrible for them. My son is wrapped up in a sweatshirt (not even a rain repellant coat!?). He's holding a precious sign he worked so hard on to surprise me with---it is running (no pun intended) down the poster board in a stream of red. I can't tell what it says.---He waves it proudly as I approach. (Come to think of it I still have NO idea what it did say.)
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| Approaching my fans!--I mean family. |
I stop to say hello. He yells "Mom! All of these people are out here running with you! This is crazy! I'm so COLD!!!!!" He is shivering and more wet than I've ever seen him before. Rain drips down our faces as we hug. I can't help but giggle. When I look at my Mom she resembles an Eskimo. She's come all the way from Chicago to see me run and won't be able to see me finish since she has to catch a flight out.
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| My son with his sad little poster in a soaked sweatshirt. In the background my Mama-Eskimo |
I hand them my coat. "Are you sure?!" She says... looking at me in a tank top and capri's. She's no running expert but as a Mom she wishes I'd just hang on to it in case. "Yeah," I say. "I've been waiting for the last 3 miles to hand that off. --I've broken another marathon rule. "Don't buy any new clothing items to run in on race day. Only use the ones you've tried out in training." Oh well, no harm done. It was just a bit too snug and constricting for this kind of day. It got really toasty and heavy with the rain. "I'd rather get wet...you can only get so drenched and then it rolls right off," I say. I give quick hugs and continue on my way, rejuvenated.
I was so happy to see them all. It truly was a surreal moment...but wait, I am sneaking into the "good" here. I'll get to all that later. On the bad side....I was worried that they would get sick standing around waiting for me in the rain. The plan was for my son to go with his Dad for the rest of my race and cheer me on as they could. My sister's family, including her two little ones were planning on being at mile 18 and 22. So, they would be in the cold too. Also, the race was in LA and my Mom was due for a 1:30 flight out of Orange County. I was worried she'd miss it on my account.
Now here we are onto mile 14. I have to admit I did feel pretty good. My spirits were still up. Throughout the race no matter what was happening I was very confident I would cross the finish line. What was bothering me now was the people I was running with...that's the wrong way to put it. What I mean to say is that they were on my mind. My bathroom problems were getting more cumbersome. The weather was not letting up...I felt I was holding them back. I had only run with Julie one time during the 4 months of my training. I have never run with anyone else. I started to feel like it was taking as much effort to be concerned about them as it was to think about myself. It seemed like every time we slowed down to walk it was due to my suggestion.
We talked about it and they were concerned that I would feel abandoned. They didn't feel a big need to separate. Finally, after about a mile of contemplation I cut them lose. "Hit the bricks," I said. "Get outta here, I'll be fine." They are such a sweet couple and I really will never forget our 13+ miles together.(Julie, it's your shout out. You are a B-I-G part of the reason I even had enough courage to tackle a marathon as my first race and I owe you big time. You know I love you...). But, it was time to be on my own.
As I progress the big things on my mind are:
1. My iphone is on my arm in a case which is now soaked and my husband is tracking me on that phone. If it goes dead I not only no longer have music but no one will really know where I am...and I have no backup plan...other than the $20 I tucked in my pouch in case I have to bribe a phone call out of someone later.
2. I can no longer feel my feet. My socks and shoes are so wet that I am wondering if my entire foot may blister.
3. My stomach problems are getting increasingly worse.
And I'll stop here because that is when things got good & ugly all at once...
