The Marathon

O.K. so here it is. My marathon story. I want to start this post by saying that this marathon was really hard and to me only compares to being in labor. What an experience. I was really prepared. I had done the training and done really well through all my long runs, but nothing could prepare me for the mental struggle I experienced in this marathon. My body may have been ready, but my mind was not. My mind got the best of me from the very beginning. Jaynie was up all night throwing up and I had a horrible stomach (I attribute this to the food, but who knows because just Jaynie and I were sick) so I just knew I was going to have a bad run and I did. I think with a Marathon you have to go in to it with a positive attitude and for all of the training I had a great attitude, but I woke up that morning with a negative attitude and I think it really affected me. Anyway I started out pretty good, but because of my stomach ache I wasn't drinking my accelerade (a glorified gatorate) and I tried the gatorade they were offering, which I think made it worse, one because it was so sweet and two because that wasn't what I was used to. I knew better, obviously race day was not the time to try something new!! Then at mile 8 I stopped to go to the bathroom to see if that would help my stomach, but of course I couldn't go and after that I just couldn't really get in a groove. I felt really sluggish and at mile 14 there was a huge hill and I actually had to walk up it. I had never had to walk up a hill in all of my training and here again the mental struggle came into play. I started questioning, What in the world as I doing. What am I trying to prove? Who cares if I run a marathon? I watched my buddy Marcia get up the hill and keep going and I thought, "I'm done. There is no way I can finish anywhere close to where I wanted to so why bother." You can see why going on would be a little difficult, but I also knew I would see Whit, my girls, Mom and Dad, and Kim soon and I didn't want to give up because of them. So I kept going, but at this point my stomach was really bothering me. **Warning!! This story is probably going to get a little graphic so if you get queasy easily don't read on. At the water station at mile 14 I tried to go to the bathroom again, and again no luck. Then just before the next water station I tried to take another gu (a really disgusting substance that you squeeze into your mouth that is supposed to give you a quick boost of energy). Gu is really horrible to take on a normal stomach, but as I discovered if you have an upset stomach it is extra horrible. Needless to say the gu came right back up. Right on someones front lawn. Now I have done my fair share of throwing up. In fact after four pregnancies I feel like I have made it a skill, but this was the worst thing I have ever experienced. In fact afterwards the only thing I could compare the pain in my stomach to was the contractions during labor. I doubled over on the ground and a man right behind me asked if he should get someone. I hurt so bad that I just said, "yes, please send someone to help me." Luckily I was able to lay flat and stretch out my stomach and by the time the EMT's got to me, I felt a lot better. I was just really discouraged. That had cost me a lot of time and I did not want that to happen again. I really didn't know what to do. The EMT's were really "encouraging" saying things like, "you have done a great job to make it this far, no one will think less of you if you stop now." Yeah that's just what I wanted to hear. I decided I would keep going until I found Whit and then decide. Luckily he was just about half a mile up the road. When everyone saw me this time, they were pretty worried. I guess I looked pretty bad, plus as soon as I saw Whit I started bawling. I gave him some of my bottles from my fuel belt so it wasn't so heavy and decided to keep going. I was walking a lot at this point, I just couldn't make myself go. I was really dragging and I knew I needed some nourishment, so stupidly I tried taking a gu again at the mile 18.9 water stop. All I had to do was put the gu in my mouth and I threw up again. This time the stomach cramps made the first cramps feel like a walk in the park. I really thought I might pass out. It hurt so bad. My EMT friends had been worried about me since the first time I threw up so they were slowly following me on their bikes, so they ran to me again and of course this time they were a little more persistent about me stopping. Again I laid flat and stretched my stomach and felt better, At this point I wasn't sure what to do. I knew I was getting super dehydrated because all of my fluid had come back up, but I also knew I couldn't stop. I didn't put in all this time and do all this work to have nothing to show for it. I decided again to get to Whit and see. My EMT friends stayed close and on I went. Whit was at mile 19 in the car. I really wanted to get in the car. Whit was awesome he just said, "I will support you in whatever you decide, but I know you can do this." That was exactly what I needed to hear so I went on. The next two miles were really lonely. There was a point where I couldn't see anyone in front of me or behind me. I was convinced that I was going to finish this thing dead last, but I finally realized I was going to finish. I was really, really dragging though and I was worried I was going to get really dehydrated if I just kept drinking water, so finally I wised up and started drinking my accelerade. Just little sips because I didn't want to throw up again, but it was enough. I finally started feeling myself pick up and I was able to run to each water station. They were about a mile apart at this point and I just kept telling myself. Just run to the next station and then you can walk and drink some water, so I did. I was feeling really good. I had caught up to all the people that had passed me when I was throwing up and by mile 23 I had passed those people. My fans were at mile 23 and I think they were very glad to see me a little more perky. Here they told me I wasn't very far behind Kim and Marcia and I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what had happened to them, but I was pretty excited because I was sure they would have already finished. At mile 24 I saw them at the bottom of a hill and I just started bawling again. I couldn't believe that we were going to finish this thing together. When I got to them Kim was in really bad shape. She had thrown up as well and had just let herself get really dehydrated. She was pretty delirious and walking. When I got to her I tried to get her to run, but she would get really dizzy when she would so we walked. She had to lay down a couple of times and the EMT's really wanted to take her to the Medical tents, but Marcia and I wouldn't let them. We knew she would want to finish. In hind sight that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but we knew if we were her we would want to go on, so we were going to carry her if we had to. There was a point when Kim had one arm around Marcia and one arm around me, but we got her to the end. When we had about a quarter of a mile to the finish we dumped some water on Kim's head and we decided to run. Kim took off and it was all I could do to keep up with her, but it was a pretty awesome feeling to finish all together. We started this journey together. Why not finish it together?

Before

Mile 11

Mile 23

I had the best supporters ever!!!

My Girls finishing with me

My time-an hour later than I hoped for, but at least I finished. Maybe next time.

Thanks Mom, Dad, and Kim. Having you there is what got me to the finish line!!!