I DID IT!

This past weekend Shane and I traveled to Columbus, Ohio with Matthew & Jill Buskirk. The purpose of this trip was so that Jill and I could run in a marathon together (26.2 miles). Now, Jill called this a vacation. I have another word for it...not vacation. This was my first marathon and I was ready. Our goal was to run it in 4 hours which is about 9 minute miles. Jill had another friend from Ft. Wayne that we met up with to run also. The weekend was anything but nice and relaxing. We ended up leaving Ft. Wayne about 1 1/2-2 hours later than planned. We took an unplanned route which took even longer than the directions we had. When we got to the hotel our rooms were not clean. We got to the expo just in time to RUN and get registered (we were the last ones they took). We wanted to find a nice place to sit down and eat and ended up in a very loud bar on campus where everyone was watching the Ohio State game and Florida game. Tons of screaming and yelling. When we got back to our hotel they didn't have rooms any longer. They had over booked. So we got sent to another hotel. We asked about late check-outs and they told us we had to wait until first shift came in at 7:00 a.m. to request this and there were only so many available. So we finally get to bed. We ate a quick breakfast at the hotel in the morning and it was about 5 till 7:00 so we thought we would just wait and be one of the first to request a late check-out (along with about 4 other runners). As we are waiting we over hear the guy tell another person they only had 15 late check-outs available and they had already given those out that night. Boy were there some angry people. Jill and I just left and went to the start. Later we found out that the manager came in at 7:00 to a ton of unhappy people and said anyone running could check out at 1:30 p.m. This made us happy. We started the race on time and were feeling great, keeping on pace until about the 12 mile when Jill's knee really began to bother her. She stopped to stretch and Catherine and I kept going...very fast. Neither one of us was much for pacing without Jill there. The 18-21 mile hurt so bad for me that I wanted to cry. At about 21 it was like a switch and all was well. I think I was just so numb and out of it by then. Lack of oxygen to the brain will do that. So I picked up the pace to finish this last simple 5 miles. That was the longest 5 miles ever. It truely became a head game. Mind over body.....who won? Well all I really wanted to do was stop running. Right about the time I really considered it I saw Shane and Matthew cheering me on. That was much needed motivation. I kept going and a short while down the way, Shane showed up at my side. He ran the last mile with me pushing me all the way. I really don't know that I could have done that without him. Shane and I finished my first marathon in 3:45. Catherine came in at about 3:48 and Jill had a PR finishing in 4:02. It turned out to be a great race and a great weekend. We had a good time with Matthew and Jill. For those of you who don't know, to qualify for the Boston Marathon you must run a 3:40. There is always next time.......