When people ask you, "how are you?" you instinctively respond, "Well, you?" I think I do this a good 37 times a day. When the question, "So how did your marathon go?" comes up I reply, "Awful, but thank you for asking." I genuinely mean that....it was AWFUL!
I will provide a small photo timeline to help tell my story....
Photo 1: My friends made me signs and hung them on my door to greet me before I left...AWESOME! It was 3:30 in the morning, but I started to get excited....
Photo 2: My pre-marathon selfie....I was feeling great...I was psyched up and ready to get started.....
Photo 3: I was a few miles in and I have to admit I was feeling PHENOMENAL! I was with the pace group and thinking "an 8:23 isn't so bad...I think I can do this" WRONG!
Photo 4: I just call this IRONIC. Yes, I look like hell, mouth open and tongue out, but it wasn't until a few glances at this that I notice the clock....THE TIME I NEEDED BUT FAILED TO GET!
Photo 5: My finishers photo....Exhaustion
The Good Parts....
Photo 6: One of my best friends and her family came down to see me. My handsome boyfriend (the cutie in my arms) saw the 1st person finish and asked his mom if that was me....sorry kid you're gonna be here a while....
Photo 7: My sister's fiance made me a poster to encourage me...he's clearly aware of my fear.
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Photo 8: More of my amazing best friends came to cheer me on....with a poster that had a misspelled word and all...PS they are educators ha ha
Photo 9: My sister calls me Smelly....now everyone knows ha ha love it!
Photo 10: This one speaks for itself
Photo 11: My sweet niece surprised me by coming down to watch <3
Photo 12: Post marathon beer and disco fries.....
Photo 13: Celebrating with friends....
Photo 14: Post marathon Blizzard
And now the story the photo timeline missed...
The best way to start is by saying there's nothing like your 1st marathon. I have lots of comparisons to help define this point...
-Everything was new the 1st time around.
-My 1st marathon was me just getting it off my bucket list and this one had a purpose...get my BQ.
-Perhaps it was the training/time of year that I mentioned, time and time again, didn't go well.
-Maybe it was the difference in events....Besides my fans who were spread throughout the course there were virtually no fans along the course in NJ...I felt like I was running alone. In Chicago there were literally fans 26 out of the 26.2 miles cheering and helping carry me along.
(A quick shout out to all my fans who came to support me: my mom, dad, 2 of my sisters, 2 of my brothers, my sister's fiance, my sister in law, my 2 nieces, 1 of my nephews, my best friends Alice and Kathy (and Kat's family), my friends Jenn and Dave, and one of my students and her family. Not to mention all my friends who followed me via text, Twitter and Facebook)
Whatever the reason, it's true...nothing will compare to my 1st marathon....I'll never get that feeling back.
Race day started off great. Despite the training I agonized over I felt prepared and ready to go. I went in knowing it was going to be a fight and I probably wouldn't get my goal, but I was still positive and optimistic...ok, ok, realistic.
Problem 1: Based on my time in Chicago I was put in corral C but my pace group was in Corral B. They were at the tail end of the corral, but still they took off 2 minutes before me. I know, you're probably saying, "so what? it's 2 minutes" and yes, that's true, but it's not the same with running...two minutes is a big thing.
It turned out that catching up to them was fine and sticking with them was actually not a problem either. The race was going great....I was wishing there were more fans, but thankful I put my name on my shirt so the few fans out could cheer just for me. ha ha I saw my student and her family around mile 7 and I looked and felt great. A bit down the road I saw friends...I was so excited. I was ahead of my pace and I realized that wasn't necessarily a good thing so I backed it down a bit. I continued to look and feel great. At mile 10 I was surprised to see siblings I didn't know were coming. Still looking and feeling great. At mile 10.5 I took in too much Gatorade and too fast. I got a cramp...WTF?!?! My pacer, Paul, (who, btw, was AMAZING...he was positive, helpful, entertaining, etc) asked if I was ok. I told Paul I had a cramp to which he replied, "take it easy...we're just getting warmed up" I heard that and wanted to die. He was right tho....mile 10 is pretty early on when you're doing a marathon. We weren't even half way there....ahhhhh
Problem 349670349760346: I broke the #1 rule.....I tried something new on race day. After reading a book about marathon nutrition I was terrified I wasn't taking in enough carbs so I took a gel pack because it seemed better than taking in more sports beans. The gels were awful and made me puke...twice. There were points where I thought to myself, "puke in front of that cop and if he sees you puke he might pull you off the course and it's not you quitting, it's him pulling you." At that point, anything was better than finishing the race.
You're probably saying, "Oh man Kelly's race did go poorly" but I'm here to tell you it got worse....
I knew this race had uneven pavement from the last time I ran ii when I did the 1/2 marathon a few years back, but I guess I forgot. Around mile 13 I twisted me knee on uneven pavement. I thought I was going to die. I was in so much pain! Again I thought about throwing in the towel and then feared having DNF by my name....I kept on going.
Everyone was excited about running by the shore, but I knew better.....I knew the course would be flat, but in the back of my head thought, "if we get a windy day we're done." Well, we got a windy day. There were points I wasn't even sure I was moving....really.
Shall I go on? I feared walking, but it got to the point I couldn't go on and finish if I didn't walk a bit. I know walking is fine, but for me, in my head, it was failure. I walked through watter stations and slowly starting seeing pacing groups I started waaaaay before pass me. My low point was when I saw the 4 hour pace group pass me. I literally cried. I cried because I was mentally beat and physically I was in so much pain.
I finally made it to mile 22 where I knew I'd see my parents...I let them know with tongue out anguish face and thumbs down motions that it was not going well, but they seemed too excited to see me to notice that.
By some stroke of luck, I got to mile 25 where I saw more of my fans, again....Alice and then my little sister hopped on the course and ran with me trying to cheer me on. Alice assured me the finish was "right around the bend"...LIES!!!! ALL LIES! ha ha I didn't think the end was ever coming. Somehow I did it....I crossed the finish. I felt nothing....I was so upset. I got to see my fans and receive congratulations from them, but inside I was mixed with happy it was done and I actually didn't quit, anger for doing so much worse than I thought I would have done, and frustration for it all.
My mental state was a mess as was my stomach. To continue to add insult to injury I got sick and threw up a good portion of my trip back up north. GROSS!
Regardless of everything that happened it's over, I've sulked, and I know everything will be okay because I've hired coaches.....
To Be Continued.....
