I woke up yesterday morning thinking that I was sick and wouldn't have to run the race afterall (darn), then I realized that was just in my dream. Ugh. I still have to go through with it. Literally as I was about to walk out the door to leave, I start my period. Double ugh. I get terrible cramps. At least I knew before starting the race and I could plan ahead. I took a leftover ibuprofen 800 from when I had Davis and was on my way to the train to downtown. I could not believe how crowded the train was at 6 a.m.!
When I got downtown, I kind of started to freak out. What the heck was I thinking?! It looked to me like I was the only person there without a running buddy and would be doing this alone. Panic. Then I kept seeing old people, etc, and I kept thinking, okay, if they can do this, I for sure can do this!!
The gunshot went off at 7:30 and it took me 30 min. to get through the starting line. It was crazy how many people were there running this. 45,000!
I honestly went into this thinking I would not finish the whole run. But at about mile 15.5 I turned off my ipod and called Grant to tell him I got this, meet me at the finish line... this is cake.... I haven't even had to walk yet, blah blah blah. Then at about mile 17 my crazy cramps started to kick in. I was in a lot of pain, so I had to walk for a couple minutes. After that, I was good to go again. Again, thinking, I got this.
Around mile 20.5 I started to understand why people say the last 6 is a killer. My feet and knees all of a sudden were killing me!! I had to walk a minute at mile 21. Mile 24 I thought I was going to die and had to walk a little bit again. Each step hurt, and downtown (where the finish was) still looked so far away!! But there was no way I could give in after going this far!
Once I finally crossed the finish line, I couldn't talk. I still had to walk a little ways off of the course to find Grant. I literally had tears in my eyes as my feet and knees were so sore and I almost lost it when I found them. Thank the high heavens this dang thing is over!
It was a great weather day, almost a little too warm though for a long run like that, but luckily they had water spraying us all throughout the course. My gps watch said I went 27.15 miles, and I think it's from me running from side to side of the streets getting shade on one side, then off to the other side to get sprayed. I was weaving the whole way.
I think anyone can do a marathon. Really, you should have seen some of the people running and walking. And thank you to the crowds of Chicago for getting me through it! The spectators really helped keep me going and motivated. I loved reading the signs as I jogged along. Some of my favorites:
"Don't poop your pants!"
"This is worse than labor - what were you thinking?!"
"Your toenails will miss you"
"Chafe now, brag latter"
"Don't quit now, we're all watching you!"
Yesterday I was really sore. The hot bath I took right when I got home helped a lot. I'm not nearly as bad today, but my knees are still sore and it hurts to go down stairs! We'll see if I decide to do another one. Maybe next time I'll sign up for it more than 5 days in advance and do a bit of training!
People that say, "i'm not a runner, blah blah blah" are for the birds. No one is just a natural runner. It may take a while to get into a groove and feel like you can go farther than a mile, but everyone can become a runner. It just takes work and motivation. So sign up for a 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon, whatever. Something to motivate you. I dare you. :)
