The Marathon- She said

I have always been too much of a follower. One of the things I tend to follow in, is my big brother's shoes, so when he ran a marathon at the ripe old age of 18, I thought, I need to do that one day, too. Fast forward too many years and two marathon's run by my husband. Now my desire is a little stronger. Still not a burning flame, but certainly a flicker. Then I don't seem to loose those last 8 pounds from the last baby and I think to myself, "training for a marathon will definitely help me shed those unwanted pounds." I will fast forward to the end real quick and let you know that I haven't lost a single pound- I eat too well.

I decided to make it a goal for the year, when we did our yearly goals, which we do each year with our kids. I started looking for someone to train with. I am notorious for not sticking to something without someone pushing me. When I started running in Colorado, it was only my running partner and friend, Tammy, who got me off the couch most days. No one seemed to be interested, however; and so I quickly wrote in on our goal sheet that hangs on the fridge, that running a marathon would be a 5 year goal. One day we had the elder's quorum presidency over with their wives and I mentioned that I wanted to do this and had found a marathon that was run on a Saturday, but that I couldn't find anyone to run with. Jodi chimed right in and said she would be interested. I wasn't sure how interested she was until she sent me an e-mail saying that she had started looking at marathon type sights on the web. We started running together on Saturday's. Rob decided to make it a Saturday event and we had all kinds of people come out and join us. Most of them never came back. I don't know why- those Saturday's were amazing, both physically and socially. We had so much fun the first 10 miles of every run. We kicked a paper at mile 3 1/2 (each of us got a turn, but usually it was Jodi), we talked and laughed and made up rhymes, and we designated who got each of the honks from the cars. I think Scott and Dwyne got the most. After 10 miles it usually got a lot quieter and we just focused on running. Then we would stretch and drink and eat a little under the trees at the school. Then we would head to our house for a big pancake breakfast. At one time we had 17 people here for breakfast. It was so much fun. I would have never done this without the team. I knew a few people who were trying to do it on their own and finally when they got to the really big runs- 18 and 20, they gave up. Who can run that long with no one to joke with, no one to kick a paper with, no one to eat pancakes with afterwards. Eventually, the whole group signed up for the marathon. Rob was the last one and didn't sign up until September or October.

Rob told us that it helped if you have a "thing" that people recognize and can shout out to cheer you along the way, so we went and bought a team outfit (red- not Rob's first choice) and did iron-on's of card faces. One lady along the way, yelled out "go K's and Q's" I wonder if she ever got it!? The kids all had red shirts. Dwyne's wife and Jodi's husband did too. We put the suit on them that went with ours and then put their age. Dwyne's youngest is one, so he was the ace of spades. Jodi wore pajama pants because it was so cold. She wore them all the way until the last couple of miles. She got more yells than anyone. "Go pajama pants girl" they would yell. We decided we all needed to wear pajama pants next time!

We left for the marathon on Friday morning. We met up with the others and then went over to the marathon site. We walked to the start and then walked to the finish, just to see them both. It was nice, because when we were coming down the last stretch and I didn't think I could go anymore, I remembered the names of the streets and knew how close I was. Rob didn't want to see the whole course, because he said it would be too depressing. Afterwards, we headed for dinner, but on the way Dwyne and Sara's car blew up. We went to a home depot parking lot and tried to cool the car down. A very nice man came over and offered all kinds of help. He then began to interview everyone. He happened to be a radio jockie who was contributing to the coverage of the marathon the next day. What an amazing coincidence.

I have always been extremely nervous at any race, but the marathon was different. I was determined to enjoy ever minute of it. I had found a site that I read about one person's marathon experience and it had inspired me, when I was so nervous about being able to finish. It is here, if you want to read it. The day of the marathon, Rob had everything set out for us by the door. We woke up before our alarm went off and just sat and talked. Finally, the alarm went off with the song, (you want to) Make a Memory. We got dressed and met our friends outside the room. Scott, Jodi's husband, helped get our kids ready and to the 7 mile mark to cheer us on.

Rob had warned us about the start and so it wasn't frustrating to walk slowly to the starting line. It took us almost 5 minutes to get up to the start, after the gun was fired. That's why they give you those little chip things to wear on your shoe- to measure your real time which is different from the clock time. We stayed in a large group for quite a while- longer than I thought we would. We had trained to run 5 minutes and then walk 1 minute, but we had determined not to start this for the first few miles, because of the crowds. In the end we didn't start it until mile 4. It's funny that so many people seem against this idea of walking at all- like it's cheating or something. All I know is that we ran a really good time for first time marathoners and at one point someone said, "look their walking again." Jodi said, "it's all part of a system." Then another person said, "hey, that must be a pretty good system, if they get to walk and they are in front of us." His friend then said, "no, no, no, no" but, I didn't hear his explaination of why it was a bad thing. All I know is that we beat them!

Like I said, I was determined to enjoy the whole experience. I gave high fives to the little kids, I yelled back to the crowd, I pointed out cool looking stuff to the group. It was all fun and games until I hit around mile 14. At that point, my shouts back to the crowd were a very weak, "woohoo" (without an explanation point.) Just before mile 16 we hit a bridge, that must have been the really bad part- all those hills were nothing compared to the bridge. I think it was because it was so cold and the wind really blew hard while you were on it. I became very tired and just wanted off that bridge. As soon as we came off there was a perfect cheerleader. She yelled stuff like, "you're done with the bridge, now it's easy, just 10 more miles." and "It's not hot, it's not raining, it's a perfect day to run a marathon!" The people there cheering you on and the people who came out and set up stations for you and all the volunteers were amazing. At one point there was a family who set up their own water station. The kids had put out water on a little table and were now huddled under a blanket on their lawn. The parents kept going, filling up more water and handing them out. If that's not amazing enough, they had to clean up all the water cups afterwards that were littered all over their front lawn.

At mile 19, our family was there to cheer us on again. It was so nice to see them. I was so exhausted by this time. Right afterwards, we had to go up a long hill. Rob got a cramp in his thighs and had to stop. Jodi and I ran to mile 20 and then took a bathroom break so that the guys could catch up with us again. They caught up before we had gotten in the bathroom. Most of the marathoners, didn't wait for the toliets, they just pulled off to the side and went- even the girls. This was a little bit gross! Rob stayed with us until around mile 23. I don't know where Dwyne was at this point. He caught up with us around mile 24, but then said "see you at the finish" at mile 25. Jodi had a really bad pain in her foot and she said she just had to finish right away, so we sprinted off. I have never been that exhausted before in my life. Around mile 22, there was a little girl giving out chewie lifesavers. I had gotten a pack and I knew I needed to eat something to get my energy back up, but I didn't even have the energy to get it out and unwrap it, so I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I would have never finished in such a good time without Jodi pushing me. The last 4 miles people kept saying, "your almost done." I got so tired of hearing that. I wanted to yell back at them, "liar!" 4 miles seems like an eternity when you have already run 22.

The last leg was straight down a steep hill. I was so glad to see that finish line, but it seemed it never got any closer. I just kept going faster and faster and it didn't get any closer. When I finally crossed the finish line, my first thought of was how much I had wanted to finish holding the hand of my wonderful husband, but also at the same time, "I'm done!" At least I finished with Jodi, though. I went through, got my blanket, got my medal and then stopped and waited for my husband. Dwyne came next. I asked him if he had seen Rob and he said he was right behind him. Finally he came. I was so glad to see him and see us all finish within 4 hours and 26 minutes. Dwyne had a really bad cold with chills and everything. Rob had a stomach bug that he brought back from the Ukraine. The doctor adviced him not to run the marathon and gave him some antibiotics. He lost 6 pounds the week before the marathon. I was just so amazed by both of those guys. I don't think I would have ever run, let alone finished in such a good time.

What a wonderful experience. I guess sometimes it's not so bad to be a follower!