I Did It...It Is Done

Wow...what an experience. It is amazing sometimes how something can be over and it is like..."Really? It's over?"

Not that I wasn't wishing those last 5 miles or so away. The last 4 miles were MURDER. This wasn't because I didn't fuel up or hydrate properly--that was perfect. And not because I didn't train properly--I did well (the best possible under the circumstances), although getting terribly sick the week before last left me in less than optimal health, all things considered. I chalk the pain and diminished performance in those last miles (really everything after 22 miles) up to the COLD wet weather. My muscles still felt strong, but my joints felt frozen stiff. It was like I had about 10% of my range of motion available and no amount of will or mental energy could remedy it. I did use my mental capacity to get me though. I imagined being pushed, pulled...helped along. I called on Jesus...I thought of William...I told myself that if I could give birth to my son--knowing he wouldn't survive--that I could do THIS. It was with great relief that I ran down the home stretch and across the finish line. Tears of hapiness were in my eyes.

Despite the challenging finish, our time was fan-frickin'-tastic! Our dream time was 4 hours, which we were on pace for until, well, mile 22...we ended up finishing in 4 hours and 8 minutes. We were on pace to finish in 4 hours until those last few miles...but really, at that point I was doing all I could! Erin was always a step or two ahead of me and while she was having issues of her own my perception was that she was strong and that I was holding her back. Her joints were frozen and painful though, too, and her arches were giving her the business...she asked me at one point in those last few miles "Is it possible that my hip might give out on me and that I could collapse?" I told her no. I was so wrapped up in my own little world that I didn't pay it much mind. I had wondered that, myself, during my first marathon because I had a terrible hip injury that I had been nursing for weeks. It didn't happen then, so I knew that this pain--which was "situational"/due to the weather, I am sure--wouldn't take us down. Luckily, my brief but confident answer brought her peace of mind. She had to remind me of it after we finished when I was going on about how she had to babysit me during the last few miles and that she could have finished in 4 hours without me.

On our way to the marathon she was saying something and used the phrase "in the long run" which I thought was particularly funny considering that we were heading out for a very long run. This came up a few times. We enjoyed the marathon so much--joked around a lot and had a good time. It was so cool to run through Seattle...down 5th Avenue, across the I 90 bridge--which wasn't as windy as I had feared--out to Seward Park and back (where it felt like one of our weekend long-runs since we run that every so often) and then through the Arboretum and beyond...which actually is quite a hilly stretch of the marathon. They describe the marathon as "moderately hilly" which I almost scoffed at, having run the Anchorage marathon, but from mile 17 or so there are some significant hills. The most notable hill was after mile 21, a very steep hill followed by a long, long incline. There were plenty of other hills to come after that, pretty much until the end. I don't mind hills--my legs are strong and I do hill training--and they provide an opportunity to use different muscles. I think at that point that anything would have felt bad because that's just the way it was.

I love training for and running marathons and will definately run another one. I can't imagine running one without Erin, though, so that is definately a factor. If all goes well and we make another baby I won't be training for one any time soon. And Erin is seriously considering teaching abroad next year. I'd like to keep running a "new" one each time. And I think I prefer a late Spring/early Summer marathon. I enjoy training in the Winter and into the Spring...then taking it "easy" during the Summer to recover. I also think that I wouldn't mind traveling again for the next one--it worked out fine for the first one and I have the food thing down well enough that it won't pose a problem.

Ahhh...the future...who knows what it will hold?