1st - I finished my first marathon! Yay! I'm a marathoner and only 1/10th of the population can actually say that! Matt finished his first half marathon! He's my rock star running husband!
2nd - I didn't die and that was my only goal.
3rd - the experience... It started Saturday. I didn't drink coffee, b/c I wanted to drink milk with my donuts, and at noon when I had a caffeine headache, I realized it was too late. It morphed into a migraine! I tried to cut it off with Maxalt, with no such luck. I started throwing up at 5 PM. I crawled in bed at 7 PM. Seriously?
At 1:30 AM Morgan cried out for me telling me that her stomach hurt. Lots of vomiting and diarrhea followed. Perfect, just what I need. A sick baby and a marathon to run in six hours! Seriously? Frustrating! It didn't last long, and I crawled back in bed around 2:30, but couldn't help constantly checking on her. We totally escaped all sickness (flu, cold, etc. that is going around), and she gets sick the night before my marathon! Totally Murphy's Law.
Alarm goes off at 4 AM. Brutal time of morning! We are out the door by 4:45 AM bound for Jye and Karen's. They were hanging with the munchkins while we ran. These are my sweet friends I met through spin, and did the tri with. Lisa, my running partner, also met us to head down. We get down there about 6:30 AM, and it was a little brisk! We headed straight for the bathroom line, of course. There were 10,000 runners, half and full marathoners. The opening ceremony was moving with that many people! It's exciting being out at these races. It's addicting. :)
My headache came back right after mile one. Arrrrr. So, I felt like I was gutting it out the whole marathon. At mile eleven, Lisa and I passed Matt. We were feeling pretty good, and Matt told us how much the half marathon sucked. But, he did so good! Yay Matt! He's hooked! I knew he would be. :) He would tell you tonight that he wouldn't do a half again, but I bet money on it he will. Matt finished his half marathon in 2 hours and 20 minutes!
Mile fifteen Lisa and I were still feeling strong!
Brick wall - mile 18. At mile 20, I had lined up Amy, a coworker of Matt's (and a very up beat, fun positive gal, who runs too!), to meet Lisa and I and run and encourage us the last six miles. Rachel and Ryan gave me that super idea. And, super it was, but Amy couldn't find us and wasn't there. We were SO disappointed! We needed her desperately. At this point Lisa and I had stopped talking and enjoying ourselves, and were just running in pure misery. :) To our surprise, Amy was at mile 22! Yay! We needed her badly! I immediately started sniffling, and had to hold back tears. I was so happy to see Amy, and tell her how much pain I was in. She was jazzed to finish the race with us. Lisa slowed down at mile 23 and Amy and I kept running. I got a horrible cramp in my leg at mile 25, and Matt was cheering me on at mile 25. I love his support, but I got so emotional seeing him and just wanted him to save me from this crazy marathon! I was trying my best to hold back tears.
I crossed the finish line!!!!!!!!! I immediately found Matt and wept like a baby! It felt so good to let it all out. When Lisa crossed the finish line, she was weeping just like me! That was refreshing too! Then, Rachel, who got this whole half/full marathon thing in motion, told me she cried after both of her races too! Then, I walked right over to the closest tree without anyone standing near, and threw up!!!! Yes, I'm a hurler! I needed a good cry and a good vomit. I threw up four times! So, I'm glad Jye and Karen didn't bring our kids down to see me in that shape!
By far, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. It's WAY harder than having kids. Rachel liked that! It's beyond words how my body feels. I have lots of blisters. I'm pretty sure I have a toe nail that will fall off. Every muscle in my lower half is in knot (but that truly doesn't describe the agony). It's crazy how hard it was. I totally underestimated it. I followed an intermediate training plan and did all my runs! I tapered down well, and it still sucked! Bad! I came in just under 5 hours! I totally expected to do better, but it pretty much kicked my butt.
But I do like half marathons. A lot! So, I signed up for the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in San Antonio on November 15th!!! Hope I can walk by then!
BIG thanks to Jye and Karen for watching our Morgan and Brady. Morgan informed me she wanted to go back to their house! Thank you to every one for the much needed support! Amy for finishing the run with me! It was all the difference in finishing! Thank you Ryan, Rachel, and Kathy Volk for rooting me on! Ryan actually ran the half marathon and rocked it in 1 hr and 49 minutes! I hope you are back to being my running partner after Baby Girl Volk makes her debut. :)
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