When we got to Wendy's we headed over to the Expo at Union Station.
We got our packets. there is soo much excitement at an expo! I love to see all the fun stuff too. After we were done there We were on search of a good restaurant. We didn't find one and ended up at chili's. I thought they had chicken alfredo but they didn't and I ended up getting a country fried steak-phhst big no no huh?I was fine I only ate a little bit of it because of my nerves and the chips and salsa lol.
We got a movie and headed back to Bridgette's house got settled in, watched the movie and went to bed. I slept a little. I thought my alarm would go off at 3:10 I woke up at 2:50 so I played on my phone, when my alarm didn't go off I was worried so I checked my alarm and it was to go off at 3:40 lol so I got off my phone and laid in bed drifting, finally alarms started going off.
We got dressed and headed out to the shuttle pick up. Wendy and I were dropped off at the same spot since our pick ups were across the street from each others. We waited around and finally Angela started texting me saying she was there so we went and found her and Wendy left to go to her bus. We goofed off in our nervous selves. Greg, Angela, Charles and Charles' friend were standing waiting for Sonia who then texted saying she was there so we went and found her and her friends.
We finally got on our bus, we were lucky that we got on a shuttle bus, it had a bathroom in it and we all took turns using it. That turned out wonderfully because when we got to the start line the port-o-potties were in the mud! We didn't even have to get in it we just stayed on the road. I said I don't think I am nervous any more I am just so excited! It was soo neat to be up at the start line knowing I was about to run 26.2 miles!! 26.2!! I was soo anxious! They ended up starting about 15 minutes late. but we were finally off! There was a helicopter flying above taking pictures of 3000 crazy people starting to run 26.2 miles! I started off good and found it very difficult to stay in my targeted pace and my watch kept going off telling me to slow down. It was sooo hard to try to stay there when you are running down hill. I finally gave up and turned the alarm off and set a good pace. I ran to about the 3rd water stop and grabbed a drink and walked long enough to drink and kept on going I did this about every 2-3 water stop.
I knew my cousin was running the third leg in the relay so when I was getting close to her exchange I looked all over for her and I watched for her throughout the leg distance and even at her finish but I never saw her. I kept going kind of bummed I didn't see her. During this time we came to an incline. Almost everyone around me was walking so I started to walk and thought this is crazy I feel great so I got back to running (I only walked about 10-15 steps). I ran clear through to mile 17 when I really started to hurt (this is also where I had trouble in training). My legs started to hurt, and I tried to run but would start walking a little more and more.
I got to an aid station where they actually had first aid and they had icy hot and sunblock. I got my shoulders sprayed with SB and my legs rubbed down with the icy hot. My legs felt soo much better and I was able to continue on. mile 22 I really was soo done The 5 hour pacers had caught me and I could hear the pacer saying now s the time to dig deep find someone to dedicate this mile to. JaNae had asked me to run a mile for her so I did 22 for her, thru her strength I got through it and mile 23 I dedicated to Hayley, both "my fallen running buds". during the 23 mark we came out of the canyon and onto a walking trail. There were soo many people I just couldn't walk. I don't think I walked through another water stop. I was running pretty slow though it took every ounce of energy to make it. Don had texted me at some point saying he was at 24th street I didn't know what he meant but when we finally turned onto another road I saw a stop light ahead it said 21st street. Someone shouted just 5 blocks to go!! I counted down the lights I knew the finish was on 25th street. I knew where to look for Don. slowly I ran, as I saw all the lines of people and the stop lights became less and less finally I was past 23rd street and started scanning for don and the kids. I think I saw Cora first I took my visor and sunglasses off (I hardly used them anyway since the sun was on my back the whole time) and through them at her. All of a sudden Don was at my side almost pushing me, the pacer lady had passed me but she was just in front of me and I picked up my pace a teensy and passed her right before we crossed. the clock said 5:05:.I didn't know if I wanted to collapse or what I was in a huge daze. I didn't know where to go or what to do. I told Don to go back to the kids. so he did. I went and got an orange slice and just wanted to sit but the grass was all wet. I found a dry spot and sat for a few minutesI knew i had beaten the 5 hour mark. My watch said 4:55 so I sent a text to my friends that I finished in 4:55. Then my phone pretty much died. i got back up and walked around in soo much pain. I couldn't stand in line for a massage so I decided to leave the runners area and find my family. I wanted to go home. We went and bought my 26.2 charm and then walked to the car. Drove to Bridgette's and got my stuff and headed home.
I had to stop twice at the bathrooms. I rarely had to stop when I trained so this was discouraging to me. But they were VERY quick stops! although the second one I just wanted to sit... I forgot I had stopped my watch when I went in the bathroom but I was still confidant I made my 5 hour goal because I passed in front of the 5 hour pacer and she should have finished about 3 minutes before the 5 hour point.
Waited all day for results to be posted but they never were. I finally saw on facebook that they were posted and so I went and looked it up. My heart sank, I almost cried it said 5:00:18. How could I have missed my goal by 18 seconds! 18 SECONDS!!! I was pretty cranky the rest the night. I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to get up I got on the computer and saw a couple people talking about how their times were off. I KNEW I passed under the clock at 5:05 and I looked at my results again, they said I passed at 5:08. They are three minutes off! It made me feel so much better! My watch distance said 26.44 in 4:55:17. So really I did do my 26.2 miles in under 5 hours..
I am pretty happy about it. And even though At mile 24 I thought this was worse than natural child birth I was thinking about my next marathon two hours later. How can I NOT do that again... The only question is when? WILL I do Ogden again next year? I feel like I HAVE to beat my time!! I am going to take cross training seriously because I see how well it benefited my friend. So I know it will make me a stronger runner! And I just know I have to do this again. Next thing... Is the marathon pictures. ugh...
