After a year and a half of talking about it, I finally did it!
Because my hips hurt when I laid down, I fell asleep on the heating pad and woke up pain free.
Mom thought she would be able to access the marathon route near the hotel and decided she didn't want to do the whole get up and rush to wait around thing but Keri really wanted to navigate to multiple cheer spots so she got up at the 3am wake up call.
The weather was a little cool but much more mild than the previous days. Like the morning before, the first runners started as I was walking to the corrals but I made it to my corral with plenty of time to find Elizabeth as well as Sarah.
When we started, Elizabeth was in the same situation as I was during the 10k so we started with a walk and search for a prota potty. I think it was about a mile before I spotted a porta potty hidden behind a character stop.
After the porta potty, we started running. Unfortunately Sarah and I lost track of Elizabeth fairly quickly. That really is not the way I wanted to go down, I did not mean leave her. I knew she was hurting and really wish I could have supported her more....
Although I really wasn't hurting much, Sarah and I stopped at the first medical tent. I believe she got some Tylenol and I got a handful of biofreeze and smeared it all over my shins.
I haven't said a whole bunch about the rundisney race experience. I have no complaints and I do have good things to say, I have just been so focused on remembering how I felt that I haven't thought to talk about that stuff. But here I would like to say that I loved their medical tent set up. They had people lined up with big tubs of biofreeze and then there were people with towels to wipe your hands so you did not end up with biofreeze in your eye balls. It is a small detail but a well thought out detail.
The first half of the marathon was the same as the half marathon the day before. At first it went by fast. I think it went fast until around mile 11. It wasn't horrible but mile 11 to mile 18 seemed very long.
Well wait a second there was one really awesome thing! The roller coaster! We had been told to get in the single rider line for Everest but it was not moving. So after 3 trains passed we switched lines. It was good decision. That line moved very quickly. In under 5 minutes we were side by side riding a roller coaster in the middle of a marathon!
Although it pushed us back on time, I am so glad we did it!
Poor Sarah was really struggling around miles 14 to 17. Her body was not happy with what she was putting it through. We met some guy from Lawrenceville around that time. He joined us for a little bit, but he was very focused on finding some pretty girl that he had met miles back.
Sometime around mile 17.5 when the rain started, I started to hurt pretty bad. The pain was along the top of my left foot and up my shin. I didn't feel it when I ran but damn did it hurt when I walked. At least when I walked fast and Sarah is a fast walker. Sarah was okay when she walked but it hurt for her to run. So we had to separate for awhile.
I saw Keri and John and let them know that I had confidence that Sarah and I would finish together.
The rain continued for about 3-4 miles. It wasn't bad tough. I guess it was more of a mist. Just enough to keep me cool (the temperature was very different from the previous days).
At mile 22 I got a little emotional. It was partly because I was proud of what I had done partly because I still had 4 miles to go, blah, blah. So I called Henry. He told me proud he was and how much confidence he had in me and the bad half of the emotion was gone. The next two miles went pretty easy.
Leading up to the this experience there was much talk about the mile marker when you could no longer get swept. It is crazy how often that is the topic of conversations on the facebook pages. Anyway, I decided that was officially mile 24. I saw Carol around mile 23 or so, I stuck with her for a little while. But then I went to a strait slow walk.
At mile 26 there is a beautiful choir. Sarah had expressed that it was her favorite part of the race so I figured it was a perfect place to wait for her. She was really wasn't far behind.
Then, with a smile on our face, we finished the last .2 side by side. (As soon as I purchase my marathon foto pictures I will add them. Because there are some good one of us together along the route)
Mom thought she would be able to access the marathon route near the hotel and decided she didn't want to do the whole get up and rush to wait around thing but Keri really wanted to navigate to multiple cheer spots so she got up at the 3am wake up call.
The weather was a little cool but much more mild than the previous days. Like the morning before, the first runners started as I was walking to the corrals but I made it to my corral with plenty of time to find Elizabeth as well as Sarah.
When we started, Elizabeth was in the same situation as I was during the 10k so we started with a walk and search for a prota potty. I think it was about a mile before I spotted a porta potty hidden behind a character stop.
After the porta potty, we started running. Unfortunately Sarah and I lost track of Elizabeth fairly quickly. That really is not the way I wanted to go down, I did not mean leave her. I knew she was hurting and really wish I could have supported her more....
Although I really wasn't hurting much, Sarah and I stopped at the first medical tent. I believe she got some Tylenol and I got a handful of biofreeze and smeared it all over my shins.
I haven't said a whole bunch about the rundisney race experience. I have no complaints and I do have good things to say, I have just been so focused on remembering how I felt that I haven't thought to talk about that stuff. But here I would like to say that I loved their medical tent set up. They had people lined up with big tubs of biofreeze and then there were people with towels to wipe your hands so you did not end up with biofreeze in your eye balls. It is a small detail but a well thought out detail.
The first half of the marathon was the same as the half marathon the day before. At first it went by fast. I think it went fast until around mile 11. It wasn't horrible but mile 11 to mile 18 seemed very long.
Well wait a second there was one really awesome thing! The roller coaster! We had been told to get in the single rider line for Everest but it was not moving. So after 3 trains passed we switched lines. It was good decision. That line moved very quickly. In under 5 minutes we were side by side riding a roller coaster in the middle of a marathon!
Although it pushed us back on time, I am so glad we did it!
Poor Sarah was really struggling around miles 14 to 17. Her body was not happy with what she was putting it through. We met some guy from Lawrenceville around that time. He joined us for a little bit, but he was very focused on finding some pretty girl that he had met miles back.
Sometime around mile 17.5 when the rain started, I started to hurt pretty bad. The pain was along the top of my left foot and up my shin. I didn't feel it when I ran but damn did it hurt when I walked. At least when I walked fast and Sarah is a fast walker. Sarah was okay when she walked but it hurt for her to run. So we had to separate for awhile.
I saw Keri and John and let them know that I had confidence that Sarah and I would finish together.
The rain continued for about 3-4 miles. It wasn't bad tough. I guess it was more of a mist. Just enough to keep me cool (the temperature was very different from the previous days).
At mile 22 I got a little emotional. It was partly because I was proud of what I had done partly because I still had 4 miles to go, blah, blah. So I called Henry. He told me proud he was and how much confidence he had in me and the bad half of the emotion was gone. The next two miles went pretty easy.
Leading up to the this experience there was much talk about the mile marker when you could no longer get swept. It is crazy how often that is the topic of conversations on the facebook pages. Anyway, I decided that was officially mile 24. I saw Carol around mile 23 or so, I stuck with her for a little while. But then I went to a strait slow walk.
At mile 26 there is a beautiful choir. Sarah had expressed that it was her favorite part of the race so I figured it was a perfect place to wait for her. She was really wasn't far behind.
Then, with a smile on our face, we finished the last .2 side by side. (As soon as I purchase my marathon foto pictures I will add them. Because there are some good one of us together along the route)
That is so cool! I'm an old friend of your Mom's Nicole. You are now officially a runner! (As you were before the race too...) I would always keep saying, "I'm not a real runner," until my friends reminded me: I wasn't on the couch. I showed up at the race. I made it from point A to point B. Not fast, but I finished! Be so proud of yourself and keep it up! You have your Mom's wonderful enthusiasm for life!
ReplyDeleteCathy, I am not sure if we ever met, but I know your name well. Thank you for your kind words. It is kind of funny, I wrote a post that I haven't published yet, that discusses that I still wasn't sure if I was a real runner.
ReplyDelete