I did it! I ran a marathon. I started training in February for the June 1st San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. I trained and ran it with with 3 awesome friends here in Winslow who helped me push through all the grooling long runs on Saturday mornings. Leann, Susie, and Christal I love you guys! Here are some of the memories I have of the day.
2:10 am - Woke up freezing cold and needed to go to the bathroom.
2:13 am- Got back into bed, checked the clock and the anxiety kicked in, tossed and turned.
3:00 am- Still awake, heard the alarm clock from the room next door. Told myself if I fell
asleep I could still get another hour. Totally didn't help! Only made the anxiety worse.
3:45 am- Still awake! How annoying! I guess I'll get up and run a marathon now. Got dressed, put on some mascara for pictures, went down to the lobby to catch my shuttle to the start line.
4:30 am- Got on shuttle to start line.
5:00 am- Ate part of a bagel. Drank some powerade.
5:15 am- Got a massage. This was awesome! There were about 15 tables set up with volunteers to give massages to the runners. The lady who worked on me worked out a kink in my butt. Yes, my butt. I was having some syatic pain. She totally helped me.
5:30 am- Met up with the girls did some stretching, took a few pictures, turned in bag at the UPS trucks.
6:00 am- Stood in line for the porto-potties. No T.P. by the time we got up there. I grabbed a piece that I found on the grass just outside of the potties. No doubt it was on the bottom of someone shoe at one point. Yuck!!!
6:37 am- Crossed start line. One step down, 26.2 miles to go. I kept a 10 minute mile for a little more then 7 miles then I decided not to push it. I don't know if it was the humidity or what but I couldn't keep up with the girls. So i put my head phones in, turned on the ipod, and did my own thing.
Around mile 12- I was feeling down, struggling with not seeing my friends for awhile, I looked up at the people cheering us on and there was a woman holding a sign that said,
"GO JEN
JESUS ROCKS
YOU ROLL"!
So this sign was totally not meant for me, but I got really emotional and even cried. I told myself Jesus is my rock. I can do this! Ya cheesy I know! But it got me through.
Just after the Half Marathon point- I recorded myself with my phone, and if I can ever figure out how to put the video onto the comp, I will share it with you. I was pumped and I didn't realize it but I was only like 3 minutes behind my friends.
I think it was around mile 14- I saw Christal coming out of the porto-potties. I got so excited! We stayed together for about 3 miles. We both stopped to get some water, I started running again and I looked back but I didn't see her.
Mile 19- Called Burr, asked if he was waiting at mile 21 like we planned. Not there.
Mile 20- Called Burr again still not there.
In between mile 20 and 21- Burr in route to mile 21
Mile 21- Talking to Burr waiting at mile 21 to run with me. Oops I passed it but didn't realize I had passed it until I saw the mile 22 sign.
Mile 22- Called Burr and told him to sprint to catch up. This wasn't to hard, I was going so slow by this point an old man, I mean really OLD man passed me he was speed walking. But in my defense he had really long legs. Lol
Around 22.3 miles- I was sweating so bad that the sweat was poring into my eyes. I couldn't see a thing and the salt hurt so badly that I had to go to the side and try and blink the sweat away. I had nothing to wipe it away from my eyes. My clothes were soaked with a combination of sweat and water that i had poured down the front of me and my arms were completely sweaty.
About mile 22.5- I saw Burr. I was so excited! I got a burst of energy for about a mile. Then I really needed to focus. It was great having him run with me but I think it threw me off focus.
25.8 miles or so- Almost there! The finish line was on a military base. Just before we got onto the base they told Burr he had to get off of the running course and go through security. Well that sucked! I was envisioning holding Burrs hand running over the finish line. I quickly told him I loved him and that I would call him after I had finished.
5 hours and 5 minutes after I started running- I crossed the finish line. I turned to my right and this random guy gave my a high five and yelled, "WE DID IT"! That was awesome. I was going to cry but no, I held it back. I did it!
Jenn and I recently took a trip to San Diego for our 7Th anniversary. We drove 8 Hrs to get there but it was well worth it. We left Brekk and Brock at home with Aunt Christina. It was hard for Jenn to leave Brock but she manage to get through it. The first day we went to the San Diego Zoo and went and saw the animals my favorite was the Panda Bear he was munching down some bamboo like it was candy. Jenn's favorite was the Elephant of course because that's her favorite animal. It was really fun. That night we went to red robin one off Jenn and my favorite places to eat. The second day we went to Sea World and went on the rides there and got soaking wet. We tried to touch the dolphins but they don't liked to come to you unless you buy the fish to feed them. We did get to touch sting rays which was really cool. We saw killer whales and sharks and all types of fish it was really fun, I cant wait to come back with our kids I know they will love it. That night we eat out at olive garden so Jenn could load up on carbs for here marathon. The next morning Jenn got up at 3:45 am to catch her shuttle ride to the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. Her and 3 of her friends here in Winslow have been training for months to run this marathon. They met her there and they ran the 26.2 miles to the finish line, it took Jenn 5hrs and 5 min. which I think is totally awesome for her first marathon. I ran the last 5 miles with her to help keep her excited and focused. I missed her by like a mile, so i had to run pretty fast to catch up to her. I felt really bad because i was passing hundreds of people who just ran 21 miles and I was fresh zooming past them, if i was them i would be ticked off. Jenn did it she accomplished her goal to be a marathon runner. I'm so proud of her it not an easy thing to do. The five miles that I ran left me hurting, I cant imagine how she felt. She was sore for about a week and would not go upstairs for anything. I cant Wait for next anniversary. 