Monday, October 6th, 2008
Man, what a day. It started out bright and early when Anthony (trainer) picked me up and we were downtown by 6am. He took me through a quick warm up so I could break a sweat before the race started, followed by a sports massage from Heather. I still can’t believe that they both woke up at the crack of dawn to come down and see me off!
Rockin’ the k-tape courtesy of Dr. Scott.
Getting a final little pep talk.
Go Vegan, Go!
And so, it began… And it went pretty well up until the steep hill leading up to the St. John’s Bridge, which irritated my knee. I was ok for the next 4 miles or so, but hit my rough spot between about miles 20 and 25. It is crazy how much my body was trying to make me stop, and I was giving myself the speech in my head that I was was in charge, not my body. It was rough. I even stopped to walk for about 5 seconds and then said “what the heck am I doing?!?!” I didn’t run 20 miles to start walking.
In the end, I finished in 4:08:09, about 8 minutes slower than my goal, but still a decent time for a first marathon. When it was all over, I wandered through the post-race area on my way to the reunion area to meet up with Michael, the kids, Anthony and Heather. During this time, I was trying very hard not to cry. But there seemed to be great sympathy among runners for the emotions of a first time marathon finisher.
Here I am looking pretty beat up about half a mile from the finish line.
Am I glad I did it? Yeah… even though it was WAYYYY harder than I thought it was going to be.
Would I do it again? Probably, but I don’t really want to think too seriously about it for the next week.
Sunday, October 5th, 2008
Michael turned the tables on me tonight, the night before the marathon, to ask me a few questions. One question I still don’t know the answer to is “why did you decide to run a marathon?” I don’t know, and had I known it was going to be such a common question, I would have made something up months ago. But, as it stands, I’m just not sure. I can’t remember when I decided, or why. It is like I woke up one day and was training for a marathon. Oh well!
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
Now that Michael’s state test to become a registered geologist is over, the king has resumed his rightful place on the throne.
Goodbye study guides and flashcards, hello X-Box 360.
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
No turning back now…
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Today I was rushing around super stressed out trying to hit up a half dozen stores to get things to prepare for our post-marathon party on Sunday. I’m scrambling through the condiment aisle at Fred Meyer and catch this out of the corner of my eye.
I mean, seriously?
I have since found out that most people already knew that this British delicacy existed. How is it that I can be 33 years old and not have had any idea that there was such a thing as Spotted Dick Sponge Pudding? And how is that I am 33 years old and still can’t even think about this photo without laughing out loud?
According to Wikipedia, it is also known as spotted dog, plum duff, steamed dicky, figgy dowdy, dotted lloyd, packphour’s lament, biff togger, Haverford lumps, nuns in a criddle and Dicky Widmark as well as plum bolster, “A DD (Dotted Dick)“, slattern’s bonnet, Spotted Richard and, occasionally, Dickie Burton after the famous actor.
Seriously? Could this be any funnier?
Anyway, the second I saw it, the stress left my body and I’ve been in a super mood ever since!
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Even though the hardly know the difference between 4 minutes and 4 hours, or between running to the next room and running 26 miles, seems fitting to include the kids in the training interview series.
Here they are… the two joys of my life that make running a marathon seem like a cake walk!
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
Michael is a man of many disguises. Here he is in the sweatshirt aisle at Ross, channeling some cross between 50 Cent and a matador.
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
A little over a week ago, I posted an interview with my trainer, Anthony. In it I made a specific comment about how he had METAPHORICALLY been there with me every step of the way during my marathon training, implying that he would never literally run with me.
OK, I can admit when I’m wrong or when I’ve misjudged. This morning, on his day off, Anthony got up at the crack of dawn and went downtown and ran the first 8 miles of the marathon course with me. Maybe you’re thinking “sure, he did it, but for his master trainer rate!” Not true, I said HIS DAY OFF, meaning NOT ON THE CLOCK, meaning NOT FOR MONEY! I’m not sure that all trainers would be so invested in seeing their clients succeed. I’m pretty lucky!
I’m almost positive he still thinks I’m insane for wanting to run 26 miles, and, actually, he might be right about that.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
I’ve convinced myself that I have this memory of being a child and climbing into the laundry basket with my blanket and taking a nap, even though it isn’t a real memory. It is really a story I’ve heard and a photo I’ve seen. So the story goes that my mom came home from running some errands to find my dad asleep in his lazyboy and me asleep in a laundry basket, and recognized it as a good photo opp.
Still, the memory came flooding back when little man called me into the kitchen and I found him maxin’ and relaxin’ in a basket himself.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Another day, another training interview. Today, I got a few minutes with Heather Macedo, massage therapist at Body in Balance Chiropractic. Several months ago, Michael started seeing Heather for deep tissue massage to try to work through the injuries he sustained in the car accident we were in last summer. The first time he met her, he said to me “I’m not sure she is going to be able to massage me…. she is pretty small.” I remember relaying this concern to my trainer, and he, having had deep tissue massage from Heather, laughed and assured me he had nothing to worry about.
I don’t mean to make it sound like the massage is torture, just that it isn’t a day spa experience. The actual massage is sort of like a workout, with the payoff coming afterwards when the muscles are all relaxed and happy. Ahhhh….
I never really thought about massage as a part of training for a marathon, but Heather has worked out some issues I thought would never get better, and undoubtedly cut some others off at the pass (so to speak). I seriously can’t imagine anyone putting their body through 50+ miles of running a week and NOT having some massage work.
Even though the visits can be painful, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone sweeter to put you through that kind of pain!