Well, the day of October 4
th finally came. I began training for this marathon in
November of 2007. I wanted to run a marathon before I turned 30, but I didn't want to run on Sunday. So few marathons are done on Saturday. I think it is to avoid traffic. Anyway, I found this marathon in Leavenworth, WA that is held on a Saturday. Unfortunately, it was on Conference Saturday, but it wasn't Sunday, and that was more important to me.
(Picture at mile 13).
When I woke that morning it was pretty cold to me. So I wore long sleeves and long pants. Big mistake. I was roasting after a couple of miles. I also figured out right before the race that my
ipod hadn't held it's charge. So I had to run without any music, and without any distraction.
The beginning of the race was a sea of people. There were approximately 1000 runners. Most were half-marathoners (13.1 miles). There were relay times of 3, 4, and 5-person teams. There were also early bird walkers that began an hour and a half before everyone else. Then there were only 100 full marathon runners, I being one of them, running the full 26.2 miles. The beginning of the race began with a 2 mile up hill run, which didn't seem like much at the beginning. However, since the race was a half-marathon course that same hill was much more torturous at mile 14 and 15. To pass the time I began giving encouragement to each runner that I saw. Funny thing, the more I encouraged others, the more I felt encouraged and invigorated. At about mile 16 I decided to catch up to a woman that I was steadily running behind for much of the race. Her name was Holly.
I enjoyed chatting with Holly and passing the time, and mostly having some distraction from the wear I was beginning to feel. Holly and I spent the rest of the race with her or I being slightly ahead of each other or just running together. At mile 20.5 I had to go to the bathroom. This is the picture of me at that point. It was by a park and my family was there playing. Laurel ran to give me hugs. So sweet and welcome for a tired mommy.
You can see the pure exhaustion on my face here. I had only trained to mile 20; I was starting to feel very tired. Again I had to use the bathroom. However, unlike every other aid station, this point had no port-a-potty. I got confused about where to go to use the bathroom, and it cost me a good 5 minutes at least.
Starting up running was very difficult at this point. It was my lowest point. I didn't want to run 6 more miles. I had let the enormity of my trek get to my head. Physically I could do it, but my mind was not on board. Walt told me to go do it, to get running. I did. Then there were more highs and lows that came minute to minute. So I ran during the highs, and walked as fast as I could during the lows.
As I neared the last quarter mile or so of the race I spotted my dear husband waiting to run me in. Exactly what I wanted. He ran with me, and suddenly I felt the adrenaline surge and I was sprinting to the finish line. I was trying to spur Walt on in hopes that he would push me to run faster. I called him a "slowpoke". Very rude, but I hadn't meant to do so. I apologize formally, my love. I was so proud to finish that race with you. I felt like I hadn't done this alone. You supported me in this entire endeavor. You were the only person who
constantly believed that I was capable of finishing this goal. You are my best friend, and I love you forever.
There is a greater race and battle to finish here in this life, and like this race I hope that we endure to the end, and finish together in that eternal and most glorious of goals. Thank-you for believing in me, so totally.
Also thanks to all the others of you out there that gave me words of encouragement and showed so much interest in my running.
