Yesterday felt (& still feels) very surreal. It’s nice to be able to surprise even myself sometimes with how much I think I can do or handle. Part of me didn’t believe I’d ever be a marathon runner, and there were definitely a few times during the race where I didn’t think so either. But here I am!! A marathon runner after all!
No I did not qualify for Boston… which is reeeeally unfortunate, because now I
HAVE to run at least 1 more. I can’t let it go!!! I’m in too deep!!! I’m sure most of you saw
that one coming. J
Sooooo as you know, I couldn’t run in the SB Marathon (or
even 1 mile) last November because of tendinitis in my left knee. After almost
3 months of physical therapy & being under the expert guidance of a coach,
my knee is fine and I was able to run my first full marathon without (ab)normal
pain! 4:38 isn’t exactly a record-setting finish, but it’s a TIME. I had to
walk a few times & knew by mile 16 that Boston was out of the picture,
which actually was a blessing because I started to allow myself to enjoy the
run. I mean, as much as one can enjoy themselves at mile 16 of 26.2.
Not qualifying, but knowing I was for sure going to finish
the race, took some pressure & expectations off my mind & allowed me to
be very thankful I was running and accomplishing a huge goal of mine. I was
able to appreciate the chilly weather, felt fortunate to be on the same journey
as 24,000 other runners, and to have amazing friends & family there for
support. I only ran with my iPod from mile 10-20… which is less than half, so
give me a little leeway on that one. A little more leeway for listening to Dropkick
Murphys?? J
It was not all roses & rainbows though, it was hard as
hell and I wanted to drop out a few times, even FELL at mile 19! A lot of
spectators were handing out bananas, orange slices, pretzels, etc. which is
totally awesome (orange slices are the MOST delicious treat during a race
btw!), but with thousands of people eating them the peels were everywhere. I
wasn’t paying attention & slipped on an orange peel & went down…
directly on my left kneecap. I popped up fast in hopes that not too many people
saw & because I wanted to assess the damage. No blood… no reason to stop. My
kneecap is a lot of different colors now!
The thousands of spectators, live bands, tranny WeHo cheerleaders,
ACTUAL cheerleaders, running the last
10k with Alex & seeing my mom at the finish line definitely kept my spirits
up & carried me all the way through. Also I can’t forget to mention the
ever-amusing race posters like “May the course be with you”, “If this was easy,
it’d be your mom”, or “Chuck Norris never ran a marathon”. There were a few
times where I “almost cried”, meaning I had the scrunchy face + had to give
myself a little pep talk to keep it together before any tears leaked out, but
otherwise was loving trying to love as much of the experience as I could!
Emotions are a bit harder to control when your body is toasted.
[ROLLING CREDITS]
-Thank you mom for being at ALL of my races! I’m so proud
that you know how to upload all the photos now too.
-Thank you B… my sherpa boo. Even though you probably
consider me crazy for signing up for race after race, thank you for always supporting
me anyways J
-Thank you Mike for being an awesome coach and inspiration,
& for being able to fix me if/when your workouts break me. I want to be on
your level someday! And thank you to Ryan Y. (PT) & all of Elite Rehab for
getting me back out on the course quickly so I can continue doing what I love
-Thank you Rynell, Jen & Toby for being awesome friends
& training partners!
-Thank you Alex for running with me! Talking about competing
in an IronMan made the marathon not seem so bad haha. That, & the last 5k
just talking about what we wanted most…
Alex: “I
want a pizza & beer”
Me: “I
just want to stop running”
-A huge thank you to anyone who’s had to hear me talk about
my marathon training, to my supportive family, friends, tri-clubbers and
co-workers. And thank you to my legs… even though I’m going to be hearing a lot
about it from you the next few days.
YOU.GUYS. I ran a MARATHON. I actually did it. I can’t even
believe that yesterday I ran 26.2 miles and today I can barely walk to my
kitchen. (Why is it sooooo far away!?!??!) Also anything I’ve accidentally
dropped on/near the ground is going to stay right where it is unless someone
gets me a wheelchair or one of those arm grabby things. I will be doing the
AARP shuffle for a few days, but I’m SO HAPPY I DID IT!!! It’s definitely a
huge experience and accomplishment, and I’m over the moon that I can join this
elite group of people that call themselves MARATHON RUNNERS.
PS - In case you were wondering… I had green beer, a grilled
cheese sandwich and french fries(!!) as my celebratory meal J. It was the best meal
I’ve ever had.
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