Marathon

I'm a marathoner! I never thought I'd be able to say that! (Never thought I'd WANT to be able to say that.) My running partner, Dan, came to WR on Friday, and we took Cael to my sister-in-law's house so he could play with his cousins while we were in Lincoln. Dan and I left around 9 to Lincoln and went to the expo at the Embassy Suites. We picked up our packets, and I got a cool wind jacket. We hung out the rest of the day, and made it back to my father-in-law's house early for bed. (Ya, like we could sleep much.) We left the house a little after 5:30am to head to the starting line. We needed to check our bags, warm up, and wait for people to line up. The whole time, I was worried about the wind. Wind in my biggest nemesis when I run. There was a breeze, and it was chilly, but it wasn't too bad - yet. We found my former student, Cathy, who was running the half, and lined up. The gun went off and here we go! - standing still. Walk about 4ft. Stop. It took about a half hour just to get going through the chute. The support in Lincoln is awesome! So much energy! I was cautiously optimistic about how my stomach was feeling. This was not the day for my ulcers to decide to misbehave. 4 miles. Good. 6 miles. Good. 13 miles. Good. Could it be? God granted me a stomach-pain free day! I felt stronger than I ever have on a run. Around mile 10, Dan started slowing down. I asked him if he was going to drop to the half, since I could tell he was not doing well. This is the guy that has run 19 miles without stopping. Needless to say, I was a little worried. I stayed with him for a while, but my hips started to stiffen since I wasn't striding out. I asked him if I could keep going, and he said yes. I felt really bad leaving him behind, but if I would've kept at that pace, it would've been bad for my whole body. I made a pit-stop at mile 17.5, but I really didn't stop running until mile 19. That was after I had made the turn around. I had watched the weather (duh, I'm Red's daughter, remember?) and it said a NW wind. The WHOLE last 6 miles were headed NW. Soooooo, that meant a stiff headwind the WHOLE way back. I had to make it from Holmes Lake to the Stadium. I only walked about 2.5 miles of the whole thing. I joined the 5:10 pace team around mile 22. They pulled me through probably the worst of the race, and for them, I am truly grateful. I lagged behind them around mile 24.5, but I made sure to keep them in my sights. Around mile 25, I lost them completely, because there was a guy that needed some motivation. We could see the stadium, so I got him to run with me. "Look! There it is! We're there, man!" He stopped a couple of times. STOPPED. And bent over. "Don't stop! Your body won't let you start again!" He said he couldn't breathe, so I told him to breathe through his gut, and his cramps went away. I lost him with about 1/4 mile left. As I turned the corner to go through the tunnel to the stadium, I started to choke back tears. This was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Ok, God and I had ever done together. There was no way I could've done it without out Him. I crossed the finish line with my face on the jumbotron and got my medal. I looked around for the 5:10 pacer ladies and gave them my heart-felt thanks. Cathy found me and we congratulated each other. Then my sister came running towards me. It was so awesome to see her! She got pics of me coming in, crossiing the line, and with my medal afterwards. I'll post those soon. I found out, after my massage, that Dan was picked up at mile 21. His stomach and kidneys were not letting him run like he wanted, and was in a lot of pain because of it. I felt so bad for his situation, but 21 miles is nothing to sneeze at! He pushed himself really hard, and I'm proud of him. After Dan found the car (that took some doing), Dan, LeAnn, and I went to lunch. I think LeAnn was just amazed that I was upright, much less smiling and in a good mood. I just want to thank everyone who supported me through the whole process, and I'm looking forward to running some 5k's with my sister this summer!