MADISON MARATHON 26.2~I AM A MARATHONER!!!!

OMG!!!!!   I DID IT!!! I RAN A MARATHON!!!  I AM A MARATHONER!!!!  I seriously cannot believe I did it! I am still in shock days later! I completed a marathon!  I didn’t DNF! I wanted to several times towards the end, but thanks to some awesome new running friends, I made it through the entire 26.2 miles!  I feel ridiculously sore, but I am the happiest and proudest I think I have ever been of myself!  I DID IT!!!!  

I was so nervous waking up this morning!  I didn’t fully know what to expect since it was my first full, but I have run so many other races that I just used my normal routine to get myself going.  I ate breakfast and got myself dressed, then went on to waking up the rest of my crew.  My awesome Mother-in-law spent the night since we had to be up and going so early.  I wanted to leave the house by 5:45 but we never leave when I want to.  Getting my crew up and going is quite a feat this early in the morning!  We were out the door by 6 so I was happy about that.  I just wanted to make it to the start line before the race started!  We found a place to park and headed to the start line.  It was 6:45 when we got there.  Not too bad but not enough time to find a port-a-potty like I usually do.  However, I hadn’t drank anything on the ride and had gone to the bathroom several times before we left home.  I knew it was just nervous peeing now anyway.  I got myself ready and joined the corrals.  I lined up with the 5 hour finishing time.  My goal for finishing was somewhere between 5 hours and 5 ½ hours.  I was thinking it would be closer to 5 ½ so I was sure this group was going to pass me quickly but I figured I would try my best to stay with them.  I actually passed them and stayed ahead of them for the first part of the race.

I’m such a sap and almost started crying when my husband, kids, and MIL gave me kisses and wished me luck before the race started.  I don’t know why I was so emotional before this race.  But I guess it was a pretty big deal.  What made it even more special was that both my husband and MIL commented before we left for Madison that they had never known a marathon runner and that they would meet one today!  I think it was their confidence in me that made me emotional.  I didn’t want to let them down!

I felt amazing once the race started.  I knew I was on my own for the most part and that I would just listen to my music and plug along.  The first mile was downhill so that was my fastest mile which you’re not supposed to run your fastest mile in the beginning.  But I kept plugging away and was feeling really great.  I was passing some people and just enjoying running.  

As we were running through the Arboretum, I joined up with a group that were running a similar pace to mine.  I was still feeling really good and at this point I felt like their pace was a little slower than mine, but I knew that I shouldn’t push it so I figured that sticking with them would be a good idea to help pace myself.

As we were exiting the Arboretum, I figured at some point, since we were only about 7-8 miles into this race, I should probably start talking to them so they know that I am pacing with them and not being a stalker or anything!  LOL  There were 2 younger girls in tutus running so I wanted to ask them about how they made them since Maddie and I want to make some for our Santa Hustle in December.  So this is how I struck up a conversation.  They told me how they made their tutus and then a lady named Michelle and I started talking.  The younger girls I found out were cross country runners so they took off ahead of us.  Michelle and I ended up striking up a great conversation and hanging out for the majority of the rest of the race.  It really made the miles tick by that much faster. I am usually a solo runner, but having Michelle as company made all the difference in the world.  I mean I had my music and I had run my 21 mile training run all by myself, but getting to know another runner and sharing our stories and struggles made running this race so special.  It was Michelle’s first full marathon as well so we commiserated about our training and all the anxieties we had about running 26.2 miles.  We talked about our kids and our careers (we actually both work in schools!!).  It was so amazing and I am so blessed and thankful to call Michelle a friend now!

This picture is from Monroe Street after passing my Alma Mater Edgewood College.  Michelle and I had just met a few miles ago and were chatting and having an awesome time!

Eventually the 5 hour pacing group caught up with us, so we decided to stick with them.  Michelle is next to me in the pink.  She is awesome!  Tom was our pacer!  He was great.  He has run a ton of marathons so he was a wealth of information on how we should pace ourselves, take walking breaks, and make sure to hydrate.  He was so positive as well.  He was definitely a great cheerleader to have.  Several of us in this group were first time marathon runners, so he cognisant of that and generous with the tips and motivation.  He’s a beast for sure, but such a kind man.  

This pictures is at about mile 13ish.  My husband, kids, and MIL had gone to breakfast after the race started so they decided to come and find me after they were done.  We had picked up a map at the Expo on Friday night so they knew where we were running.  I love that Michelle and I are smiling and having fun in this picture.  In a few miles those smiles would not be so cheery looking.

Here’s Michelle and I at mile 18, I think.  This was about the time we were both hitting the wall a little bit. I am so thankful for her encouragement throughout these next couple miles.  They were seriously tough and I wanted to give up so many times.  

This is towards the end with only a few miles to go and I must have gotten my second wind.  Michelle and I had met up with Larisa who was also struggling through the last several miles, so we were all encouraging each other.  Michelle got a better second wind than Larisa and I, so she trucked on ahead of us.  By this point the 5 hour pacing group had long passed us and we all knew we weren’t going to make it under 5 hours.  We were ok with that though.  None of us wanted to hurt ourselves by trying to finish in a time like that.  Honestly, we were all just trying to finish at this point.  I stuck with Larisa.   She had run this marathon before but the two of us were seriously struggling with all the hills at the end!  They were incredible!  

We encouraged each other all the way to the finish line!  I am so happy my husband snapped these pictures of the two of us.  Larisa was my rock at the end!  I seriously wanted to quit (I know she did too) but we kept pushing each other!  I am happy that I made another running friend today!  

I’m trying to smile and wave to my family, but I seriously just wanted to cross the finish line and be done!  

We were both so thankful to have finished and crossed the finish line!   I totally rang the PR bell even though it was broken by the time we finished.  It was amazing!

 

These are my official finish line photos!  I love that I am smiling!  I was pretty much dying at this point.  I was so incredibly glad to see the finish line!  It was such a sign of relief!  I had made it!  One of the greatest things about finishing was seeing my family.  I saw my parents first.  They were a little farther down from the finish line and my mom was yelling and screaming while my dad was smiling and taking pictures!  It felt great to see how proud of me they were.  I kept on trucking away and scanning both sides of the street for my husband, kids, and Mother-in-law.  They were closer to the actual finish line.  My husband was snapping pictures with his phone, my Mother-in-law was yelling and screaming, my kids were yelling and screaming!  It was fantastic!  Seeing my whole family was just the encouragement I needed to make it those last few tenths of a mile.  It made all the hard work that much more worth it! I could tell they were so proud of me!!!

As I said before, my husband and Mother-in-law had told me that morning that they had never known a marathoner and that they were going to meet one today!  I was so proud that I could be that marathoner for them to meet!!

Michelle finished a few minutes ahead of Larisa and I, but she hung out to see our finish.  I am so glad she did so we could snap a picture!  She was such a big part of my being able to finish this race!  It would have been awful to not see her at the finish!

My babes and I at the finish!  I am seriously delirious at this point.  I was so sore and tired and really didn’t know what to do with myself.  I wanted to cry, to scream, to fall over, to sleep, to laugh.  There were just so many emotions going through me!  I had done it!  I had ran a full marathon!  26.2 miles!!!  I was amazed at myself for even being able to do it!  How crazy am I!  I just joined the 1% of people who finish a marathon!!  I am officially full on crazy!!  And I love it!    I did actually tell my husband at the finish line that this was the dumbest thing I had ever done and I am never doing it again.  Now typing this, I am already making plans to do the Conquer the Capital challenge again next year!  After resting and getting back into running, I know that i can do it again!  I will train more for hills and I will be better prepared next time!  

These 2 munchkins!  They are hilarious!  All runners got a Panera Bread snack lunch after we finished.  I wasn’t really hungry but my family kept telling me, I should eat so I ate the sandwich and gave the cookie to EJ and the chips to Maddie.

My mom was so cute!  She bought me a Tervis tumbler that says 26.2 inside it.  She even got me a card to let me know how proud her and dad were of me!  It was so special!  I have used my glass every day since then!  

I will tell you that walking to my truck was the worst part of the day.  I was freezing even though I had received one of those silver blankets and every single bone in my body was sore and aching.  I wanted to cry it hurt so bad.  I almost had my husband carry me, but I wanted to stay strong. I knew moving at that point was better than not.  The drive home wasn’t so bad.  I was in the back seat with my kids but once I warmed up, I was starting to feel better.  The kids were hungry and so was the hubby, so we stopped at Culver‘s to go through the drive-thru.  I didn’t really want anything, but the hubby insisted that I deserved something so I ordered a pecan pumpkin shake.   I didn’t eat any of it until we got home since I had to take my Lactaid so I could enjoy it and not get sick.  

Once we were home, I took a nice warm shower, made myself some hot oatmeal and had a few bites of my shake.  I then started laundry and parked my butt on the chair to watch the Steeler game with my hubby. I got up periodically throughout the afternoon and climbed up in the back of my truck to put my 26.2 and Conquer the Capital 45.5 stickers on.  I wanted everyone to know about my accomplishment!  Luckily I had done most of my normal Sunday chores on Saturday and my hubby grilled burgers for dinner so I didn’t have to do much!  I was thankful for that and being able to wear calf sleeves all day!  

The road towards a marathon and the road to recovery after are both challenging.  I actually enjoyed the training more than the recovery, but looking back on the whole journey, I would totally do it again!  It has changed me as a person!  It has shown me what I am capable of!  It has shown me that I still have a lot to give and I am not ready to say I won’t do it again!  I am a runner!  I am a marathoner!  

Let me leave you with my favorite saying:

RUN ON!!

Laura