Chicago Marathon 10/12/08
5:01
I am still keeping with the music lyrics/song titles to be the titles to these marathon posts. After the Chicago Marathon, Alexis said something about the events that lead to our 5 hour marathon being in God’s Hands, and that’s a song by Nelly Furtado that I just love, so I decided that would be my title.
This was another back to back marathon- two in two weeks. But, I’ve already run it, and didn’t need to run it for my 50 in 50. I signed up for it a while ago because it’s now the Bank of America marathon and it was free to me. I didn’t know if I would ever really run it when I signed up for it, I just figured, get the bib and if need be I can give it away to someone who wanted to run it but didn’t sign up. Or at least if I bandit run part of the race, didn’t have to feel bad for jumping in since technically I was registered.
I don’t know exactly when I decided to run the whole thing, I think it was the day of the Twin Cities - I just love marathons! I think I just wanted to run with the group I trained with all summer. Some of the girls were asking me after the 20 miler if I would run it with them because they were just so nervous for it (and I motivate). So, that was it- I decided, this was not MY marathon, this was everyone else’s. I’d run it for them.
Amanda was in from Charlotte run/walking it. At one point I thought I was going to jump out at mile 14.5 (where our awesome cheer team was), and wait for Amanda then run her to the finish. Amanda didn’t know if she was fully prepared to take on the 26.2 and so on Saturday I decided I wasn’t going to jump out but stick with my 9:thirsties.
I was still sick all through the week between the two marathons. I ended up taking an extra sick day because I was so weak. Whatever was going around affected people in different ways. Michelle went to the emergency room Thursday so running the marathon Sunday was out of the question. Luckily I was at the tail end of the sickness (I hope), and was able to make it to the start.
The week between the two marathons was an easy running week. I ran 2 miles Monday, 3 on Wednesday and 4 on Friday. I got a massage on Thursday and went to Yoga on Saturday- which when writing this Monday Morning- I don’t know if it’s my legs right now that are sore or my abs from Yoga on Saturday!
On race morning, we had a wonderful plan to all start together and stay together. Chanthana, Kathleen, Connie, Alexis and I shared a cab down to the start. We got to the area around 6:30 but it took another 15 minutes to make it to the CARA tent. We made the mistake of not leaving the CARA tent until 7:15 with all of the above mentioned and Dana, Myriam, Terri, Shelia, Jenna - and if I’m forgetting someone- sorry, there were lots of us! We fought through the crowds to try to make it up to the 4:00 start area. That wasn’t happening too well. We lost half our group through the crowds. I lost Alexis! I kept thinking- Dang! I ditched my ipod bc I figured we’d stick it together!
It wasn’t as hot as the year before but in the first few miles we were still sweating a lot already. Around mile 5 Shelia decided she wasn’t feeling it and really didn’t want a repeat of last year. She was fighting an injury too, so she kind of called it mentally for her own sake at that point (but made it past the half). Myriam was kind of hoping for a sub 4 hour marathon, and around mile 6 she also wasn’t feeling it. While I kept on feeling like it was going to be a great run, to thinking it was going to be a struggle. We were running 9:30s but I felt like it was tough- and 9:30 is my easy pace for the most part (the first 20 miles ;) ). I lead that group so I don’t just have energy for my run, but I have energy for my group to cheer them on. I didn’t have that energy. Just Jenna, Dana and I were left together around mile 7 as Kathleen and Connie went ahead on a 9:15 pace. I don’t know where we lost Dana, but we lost her too- so now it was just Jenna and I. Rachel A. saw us on Fullerton and Cannon- when I told her I was already tired- she decided to jump in with me on Clark by the McDonalds. It was nice to have her- at this point I was just thinking- lets make it to our 14.5 mile cheer team and then I’ll have some fun there before I continue on.
I saw Andrea by her building, Laura was cheering at our corner (Clark and Fullerton), and Nick and Courtney were near mile 12 cheering. ..I finally saw them! J After not seeing them at the NYC Marathon. Seeing all them gave me bursts of energy, but when I didn’t see them, I just wasn’t feeling it. I stopped with the 14.5 mile 9:thirsty cheer team (where they were making the 9:thirsty name proud - lol oh dear Kevin!).
I stopped not even a minute with them when Alexis appeared!!! She said she hurt her knee and wanted me to run with her. I was worried that I was just too tired and not motivated to make this a good marathon that I wouldn’t be able to keep up- but I would try. So off we went. As we were running, I realized just how hurt Alexis was. She wasn’t really running- she was more or less limping. Around mile 16 we decided we’d alternate from run/walking and just enjoy the run. I really don’t know how Alexis did it. She got injured around mile 10- tripping on a water cup twisting her knee. She kept saying how much she loved me for being with her getting her to the finish- but as I said to her then- and still am worried- I don’t know how much she’s going to love me for motivating her to the end if her Doctor says she’s seriously injured.
So we were on a run walk, not looking at time or anything else, just getting to the end. This is exactly how this marathon should be for me. Alexis found some nice shades at one point so we took a picture and picture mailed it to Rachel Johnson- letting her know we were just enjoying this run. I texted a few people on the run - I almost went onto face book on my phone- that’s when you know it’s just a fun run. While I was having fun- Alexis was in real pain- I do feel a little guilty for that- I wish she didn’t have the pain and just the fun I had. I take that back- I don’t know if my thighs have grown in the past few weeks- but I had some bad chaffing at Twin Cities from the rain - and this was amplified in this marathon- I mean REAL bad.
I don’t remember what mile marker we were at- it was between 18 and 20 but they changed the weather risk warning to red - which means slow it down, and there is a chance the marathon could be stopped. I just wanted to work on my tan. It wasn’t as bad as the year before but I think the weather scared some people off. Record lows for people to show to the start. While 45,000 people signed up, only about 33,000 showed up to the start (Shelia mentioned the start wasn’t as crowded as the year before so there you have your reason why!) And then I forget how many finished but I think the news last night said about 200 were rushed to the hospitals. So- it was still a hot and dangerous one…we always seem to get that heat wave just at the wrong time (We want it for our Run 4 Cover 5K fun run that takes place two weeks after the marathon!).
Rachel Johnson was at 23.5 waiting to run with us to the finish. Those last 2.7 miles might have been slow but it was fun with the three of us together. After getting some Vaseline for my horrible chaff-age we started doing the “Greased Lightening Dance” (as the extra Vaseline just went in my hair) I texted with Andrea as she was near the finish ( but we missed her!). And we made it to the finish just over 5 hours.
How my body responds to two marathons in two weeks is always an unknown - last year I PR-ed, this year I didn‘t want to fight the pain and just enjoy it . How Alexis was never able to predict she’d trip over a cup and injure her knee in the actual marathon itself. How it’s amazing two years in a row the Chicago Marathon was haunted with high risk alerts due to heat. How are we ever able to know how things will turn out in a marathon? We don’t, and when issues arise, there’s no point in getting all worked up while you are running (though it’s easy to do). You just gotta remember, it’s in God’s hands and if you keep breathing, putting one foot in front of the other, hopefully you’ll make it to that finish!
5:01
I am still keeping with the music lyrics/song titles to be the titles to these marathon posts. After the Chicago Marathon, Alexis said something about the events that lead to our 5 hour marathon being in God’s Hands, and that’s a song by Nelly Furtado that I just love, so I decided that would be my title.
This was another back to back marathon- two in two weeks. But, I’ve already run it, and didn’t need to run it for my 50 in 50. I signed up for it a while ago because it’s now the Bank of America marathon and it was free to me. I didn’t know if I would ever really run it when I signed up for it, I just figured, get the bib and if need be I can give it away to someone who wanted to run it but didn’t sign up. Or at least if I bandit run part of the race, didn’t have to feel bad for jumping in since technically I was registered.
I don’t know exactly when I decided to run the whole thing, I think it was the day of the Twin Cities - I just love marathons! I think I just wanted to run with the group I trained with all summer. Some of the girls were asking me after the 20 miler if I would run it with them because they were just so nervous for it (and I motivate). So, that was it- I decided, this was not MY marathon, this was everyone else’s. I’d run it for them.
Amanda was in from Charlotte run/walking it. At one point I thought I was going to jump out at mile 14.5 (where our awesome cheer team was), and wait for Amanda then run her to the finish. Amanda didn’t know if she was fully prepared to take on the 26.2 and so on Saturday I decided I wasn’t going to jump out but stick with my 9:thirsties.
I was still sick all through the week between the two marathons. I ended up taking an extra sick day because I was so weak. Whatever was going around affected people in different ways. Michelle went to the emergency room Thursday so running the marathon Sunday was out of the question. Luckily I was at the tail end of the sickness (I hope), and was able to make it to the start.
The week between the two marathons was an easy running week. I ran 2 miles Monday, 3 on Wednesday and 4 on Friday. I got a massage on Thursday and went to Yoga on Saturday- which when writing this Monday Morning- I don’t know if it’s my legs right now that are sore or my abs from Yoga on Saturday!
On race morning, we had a wonderful plan to all start together and stay together. Chanthana, Kathleen, Connie, Alexis and I shared a cab down to the start. We got to the area around 6:30 but it took another 15 minutes to make it to the CARA tent. We made the mistake of not leaving the CARA tent until 7:15 with all of the above mentioned and Dana, Myriam, Terri, Shelia, Jenna - and if I’m forgetting someone- sorry, there were lots of us! We fought through the crowds to try to make it up to the 4:00 start area. That wasn’t happening too well. We lost half our group through the crowds. I lost Alexis! I kept thinking- Dang! I ditched my ipod bc I figured we’d stick it together!
It wasn’t as hot as the year before but in the first few miles we were still sweating a lot already. Around mile 5 Shelia decided she wasn’t feeling it and really didn’t want a repeat of last year. She was fighting an injury too, so she kind of called it mentally for her own sake at that point (but made it past the half). Myriam was kind of hoping for a sub 4 hour marathon, and around mile 6 she also wasn’t feeling it. While I kept on feeling like it was going to be a great run, to thinking it was going to be a struggle. We were running 9:30s but I felt like it was tough- and 9:30 is my easy pace for the most part (the first 20 miles ;) ). I lead that group so I don’t just have energy for my run, but I have energy for my group to cheer them on. I didn’t have that energy. Just Jenna, Dana and I were left together around mile 7 as Kathleen and Connie went ahead on a 9:15 pace. I don’t know where we lost Dana, but we lost her too- so now it was just Jenna and I. Rachel A. saw us on Fullerton and Cannon- when I told her I was already tired- she decided to jump in with me on Clark by the McDonalds. It was nice to have her- at this point I was just thinking- lets make it to our 14.5 mile cheer team and then I’ll have some fun there before I continue on.
I saw Andrea by her building, Laura was cheering at our corner (Clark and Fullerton), and Nick and Courtney were near mile 12 cheering. ..I finally saw them! J After not seeing them at the NYC Marathon. Seeing all them gave me bursts of energy, but when I didn’t see them, I just wasn’t feeling it. I stopped with the 14.5 mile 9:thirsty cheer team (where they were making the 9:thirsty name proud - lol oh dear Kevin!).
I stopped not even a minute with them when Alexis appeared!!! She said she hurt her knee and wanted me to run with her. I was worried that I was just too tired and not motivated to make this a good marathon that I wouldn’t be able to keep up- but I would try. So off we went. As we were running, I realized just how hurt Alexis was. She wasn’t really running- she was more or less limping. Around mile 16 we decided we’d alternate from run/walking and just enjoy the run. I really don’t know how Alexis did it. She got injured around mile 10- tripping on a water cup twisting her knee. She kept saying how much she loved me for being with her getting her to the finish- but as I said to her then- and still am worried- I don’t know how much she’s going to love me for motivating her to the end if her Doctor says she’s seriously injured.
So we were on a run walk, not looking at time or anything else, just getting to the end. This is exactly how this marathon should be for me. Alexis found some nice shades at one point so we took a picture and picture mailed it to Rachel Johnson- letting her know we were just enjoying this run. I texted a few people on the run - I almost went onto face book on my phone- that’s when you know it’s just a fun run. While I was having fun- Alexis was in real pain- I do feel a little guilty for that- I wish she didn’t have the pain and just the fun I had. I take that back- I don’t know if my thighs have grown in the past few weeks- but I had some bad chaffing at Twin Cities from the rain - and this was amplified in this marathon- I mean REAL bad.
I don’t remember what mile marker we were at- it was between 18 and 20 but they changed the weather risk warning to red - which means slow it down, and there is a chance the marathon could be stopped. I just wanted to work on my tan. It wasn’t as bad as the year before but I think the weather scared some people off. Record lows for people to show to the start. While 45,000 people signed up, only about 33,000 showed up to the start (Shelia mentioned the start wasn’t as crowded as the year before so there you have your reason why!) And then I forget how many finished but I think the news last night said about 200 were rushed to the hospitals. So- it was still a hot and dangerous one…we always seem to get that heat wave just at the wrong time (We want it for our Run 4 Cover 5K fun run that takes place two weeks after the marathon!).
Rachel Johnson was at 23.5 waiting to run with us to the finish. Those last 2.7 miles might have been slow but it was fun with the three of us together. After getting some Vaseline for my horrible chaff-age we started doing the “Greased Lightening Dance” (as the extra Vaseline just went in my hair) I texted with Andrea as she was near the finish ( but we missed her!). And we made it to the finish just over 5 hours.
How my body responds to two marathons in two weeks is always an unknown - last year I PR-ed, this year I didn‘t want to fight the pain and just enjoy it . How Alexis was never able to predict she’d trip over a cup and injure her knee in the actual marathon itself. How it’s amazing two years in a row the Chicago Marathon was haunted with high risk alerts due to heat. How are we ever able to know how things will turn out in a marathon? We don’t, and when issues arise, there’s no point in getting all worked up while you are running (though it’s easy to do). You just gotta remember, it’s in God’s hands and if you keep breathing, putting one foot in front of the other, hopefully you’ll make it to that finish!
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