Marathon Recap

Sunday morning started out pretty darn early... the 4:15 AM wake up call was a bit brutal for me, but was probably worse for David since he had been out at a bar until late watching his beloved Mizzou choke.

David's such a good sport that he didn't complain about getting there crazy early and sitting in the car.

He just napped, which is totally acceptable.

Man alive, it was FREEZING on race morning.  It was about 32 degrees at the start and the high was only in the mid-fifties.  I looked at the weather report last Monday and thought it would be in the 60's...so I wasn't adequately prepared.

Luckily, we were able to park close to the start and sit in the car for a while.  Then Mom and I posed for pre-race photos.

But Mom refrained from being as dorky as I am.

David and Grandma tried really hard to snap a shot of either of us at the start, but it was a little crowded...

But they managed to find me at mile 6.25ish...

I was feeling good, so I started to chat.  Then David informed me that I needed to keep running.

Oh yeah :)

do you notice my arm sleeve things?  It was colder than I thought it would be so I broke a cardinal rule of racing and wore something new on race day.  I body-glided like crazy, but still had a little chafing under my arms.  I'm not sure if that's due to the sleeves or the shirt, but I really liked having those sleeves.  

They were worth the chafing! 

They also got to see Mom around her mile 9.5 or so.  She's looking pretty good!

Here's Nanc at the finish...her goal was around 4 hours, but she finished just under 3:30.

How great for her!!!

David practiced taking this pic...and I love it.  I wish I was sufficiently skilled in editing photos to change the time to my Garmin time (4:18:29), because then I would totally blow this up!

I am in so much pain here.  I never thought I would finish that race and all I wanted was to collapse.

But I sucked it up for a photo op with a slice of pizza and a trash can.

And then politely hid my pizza for a shot with Nanc.

And here's the official documentation of my Garmin time--twenty minutes faster than last year... 

AND I BEAT OPRAH.
I also beat Jared, Al Roker, and Meredith Viera.
(They all ran the NYC Marathon on the same day as the Raleigh Marathon)

I was about an hour and twenty minutes faster than that Chilean Miner, but it was probably harder for him to train than me :)  Plus, he wins for lots of other reason.

I was so close to beating P-Diddy, or Puffy, or whatever he wants to be called.  Someday.

But at least I beat Shia LeBeouf  and Mario Lopez

It's the small victories.

Thoughts:

• This race was HILLIER than I was expecting.  Maybe I was a little cocky about having done the hills in San Fransisco, but I about died on these hills.  I didn't prepare, mentally or physically for what 26.2 miles of rolling hills would feel like.  ROUGH.
• I was faster, but this marathon felt HARDER than the last one.  I think it might have been the difference between running to finish (and not die, as I often said) and running to get a PR.  
• I cried.  From pain.  Last year I cried a bit from just the idea I was going to actually do this...this year, it was just from hurting.  I hit the wall...and hit it hard.  Thank God for one race volunteer who shouted at me, "YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK."  It snapped me out of my pity-party for at least half a mile :)
• Running on my birthday was...not bad, not good, just eh.  It didn't really feel like a birthday, you know?  It was a unique way to celebrate, but I'm not sure I want to be in that kind of pain on "my special day."
• I'm so lucky for amazing family and friends.  Having my mom walk the half with me and David, Grandma, and Mary come to watch me (in the EARLY hours and FREEZING cold) reminds me of how lucky I am...plus, the tons of emails, texts, and FB messages were a delight.

Last year when I finished, I was all geared up for another...this year, not so sure.  I'm thinking maybe a spring marathon would be better to train for (so I wouldn't have to fight the heat), but that'll put my next a year and a half off.  We'll see...anything's possible.