Mile 16 rolls up on us and I hand over my FuelBelt to Jeff and he goes and fetches the Red Bull. As soon as we passed mile 16 things started to go down hill....rather quickly. My entire lower body got tight. My hips were sore. My calfs were in knots. My IT bands were screaming at me. Jeff had warmed me that a flat course is not always an easy course. It is repetitive motion on your legs. No changes in muscle groups. I laughed as I did not believe him. Laughing at him was coming back to bite me in the ass. My pace slowed. A LOT.
Jeff kept encouraging me, but my body was not willing. My mind was retreating into a dark dark space. I thought about just walking off the course many times during the 5 miles stretch from mile 16-21. It would have been so easy to just stop and call it a day. I was done caring at this point. Jeff kept telling to to relax, push though it. I kept telling him to shut-up. I told him I had to deal with this myself. These were my demons to slay.
I kept moving, albeit slowing and sipping on Red Bull. At one point, I asked Jeff who was behind me. I was in 2nd place. He said " Just men". A mile later I was in 3rd place. Damn. The bright spot in these 5 miles is that I was still passing people who did not follow their plan. I was a total bitch during these miles. I was angry. Upset. I didn't want Jeff to talk to me. I just wanted to give this race the finger and walk off.
At mile 21, I snapped out of my dark space. I was light on my feet. My mood was better. I apologized to Jeff for being a bitch and asked if he still wanted to be my husband. He laughed and said "Yes." Good...crisis averted. My pace I was holding for the first 16 miles came back by mile 22. I only had 2 x 2 miles to go. This seemed extremely doable at this point in the race. I looked down at my watch and knew the last 5 miles at killed any chance of hitting my A goal. So I had to resort to my B goal. It was still going to be a decent time for a first marathon, but I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed.
Jeff was amazing during this race. He was so supportive. He dealt my my highs and lows in stride and did not take it personal. He knows from experience what this is like and having him by my side made me stronger. I have no idea how he swim 2.4 miles, rode 112 miles, and then ran a 2.56 marathon at the end. I thought about this many time during this race.
Each mile, I was getting faster. I was passing more and more people. I was trying to regain back 2nd place, but I knew the damage was done and I have to minimize any other damage at this point. We reached mile 25...only 1.2 to go. My watch was set to beep at 26.2 miles. I finished my last mile in 6.55 and my watch went off at 26.2. But I was not at the finish line. I just wanted to stop running, but I had to cross the finish line. 0.2 miles later, I crossed the finish line in time of 3.11.
I staggered toward my mom, brother and cheering squad. I kept looking for Jeff. He had left me at mile 25. I wanted to see him. I started to get really cold. My legs were not willing to move much further. I wanted to sit down. Jeff finally finds out and we start to walk back to the car. The car was parked about 800m from the finish. It took be about 15-20 min to walk that far.
The experience of running my first marathon was invaluable. I learned a lot. I know what to expect now-both physically and mentally. I know that I trained for only a short period of time and was happy with the result. It has made me look forward to my next marathon. I decided I was going to run one about 2 hours I after crossed the finish line.
Rock On
JK
