10.13.09
The marathon has been completed. Lots of stuff happened on the adventure but I will keep this record confined to the race. We got to the check in area around 6:15am. (Woke up @ 5am) Checked in our bags (change of clothes ect) to be picked up after the race. Got into the Open Class Corral 10 min before the start. There were about 34,000 running, and all of the "fast people" started throwing off their warm up clothes at T-3min. The clothes would be gathered up by volunteers later and taken to homeless shelters around the city. The race started, and we crossed the start line about 27minutes after the front runners. That's how many people were there!
Ran the first 6 miles with no issues except trying to get around all the people that started walking after the first mile! Chris and I relieved ourselves on some oak trees at 6miles. The porta john lines were long to say the least, and being fully hydrated with a 45 degree air temp caused "issues" throughout the day. At 8 miles my body let me know that it needed a porta john with paper in it, and that it wasn't kidding. Chris ran on, leaving me behind. It was a good thing he did since this stop took 15-20min! Most of it spent waiting. Glad to know I wasn't the only one with "issues." =)
13.1 miles felt good until I realized I had 13.1 to go. I made myself a promise not to run out of electrlytes like I did on the 20 mile training run. The result of an empty stomach, 45 degrees, and lots of Gatorade was me going to the bathroom more than I ever remember doing in my entire life. I figure it cost me about 45 minutes total for the race.
15miles. Time to lose the compression shorts that were slowly turning me into Justine.
18 miles. Welcome to hell. For anyone wondering "The Wall" is 18-22 miles, and it is a bitch. My feet were pounded by this time, and I actually looked to see if I still had shoes on. I had started walking intermittently after 13.1 miles. I hurt so bad that I walked the 18th mile. At 19 miles two girls passed me. One was wearing hot pink running shorts and had two of the most perfectly sculpted, tan legs I had ever seen. And as they were running my pace, I took it as a gift from God, and ran behind them for the next 2 miles! +).
21 miles: Stopped at a medic tent for a Tylenol. The medic asked if I wanted to quit..."hell no." Do you have any liver problems? "No" Are you in good health? This is when I actually had to tell myself not to rip this nice man's throat out while taking the pills from him. Something about it not being in the spirit of the race.
23miles: Turn north onto Michigan Ave into a biting head wind.
24miles: ate a banana
25 miles: Walked 100 paces and started running. "Will not stop, will die before stopping, just keep running." This sounds like I overcame enormous amounts of pain, when in fact I was just numb from the cold and running.
26 miles: right hamstring just "tweaked" ouch. Limped over the last bridge, threw many curses at my leg for the betrayal, and then the hamstring released. Ran the last 1/4 mile. Total time: 5.41 and change.
I spent the rest of the evening bouncing between chills and profuse sweating until midnight, when my internal thermostat finally settled down. As of today, I am still Very sore, and moving slow.
I want to thank all of you for the support, and kind texts, emails and phone calls. I needed every one of them. There was hardly a spot of the enitre route where people were not out cheering us on. It was very encouraging. I ran through lots of neat places in Chicago, but really don't remember much between Wrigleyville and China town.
10.9.09
Ran 8 miles last Saturday. It was cake. The team just took its time and we all enjoyed the run. I leave tomorrow morning for the Windy City. I am sure this will be a real adventure. I bought my runner's goo today, and will finish packing tonight. If you know anyone who has been putting off donating, we are at the 11th hour here. The race is sunday and we have to check in and be in the corral NLT 0630hrs. We ae returning Monday. I will post what happens here. Thank you for the suppot guys, and wish me luck.
Justin