Posts from the ‘Post-race’ Category

May 12

2013 Mini Marathon – #8

It’s no secret that I have been a little quiet on this blog lately. I apologize! My life has consisted of the usual chaos but for the past 10 weeks, I have also had the almost-full-time job of running for Woman of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The campaign ended yesterday and though I am excited to have my life back, it has been an extremely rewarding experience. Pretty amazing to see how many open their pockets for such an incredible cause. I will blog about that next, I promise.

After my marathon in March, I have truly taken a break from training. I still lace up my shoes about 3 times a week for small mileage and have loved this warmer weather. It makes such a difference to be able to dress in one layer vs three! Since March 24th, the longest run I have done is 6 miles. And the entire month of April, I only ran 47 miles. It’s actually been quite lovely. My body, and more importantly, my mind needed a break from the pressure of training. I definitely don’t feel as light on my feet when I actually do go for a run, but this isn’t my first rodeo. I know I’ll get it back when I start my next full marathon training program this summer. Also during this time, I have put my energy into Crossfit and am loving it. I now go to Crossfit Naptown which is 1.2 miles from my house. I am going consistently 3x/week and am seeing some big improvements. Recently, I was able to do 18 double-unders in a row, can do handstand pushups with an ab mat and a 25 lb plate under my head and just this weekend, finally got my first unassisted pullups! I am still weak in a lot of the olympic lifting, but it’s fun to see progress!

All that being said, I was a little nervous about the Mini Marathon this past weekend. You’d think that 13.1 miles would be nothing after training for 26.2, but with six weeks in between races and very little actual training to mention, I really wasn’t sure if my body would get through the race without a lot of pain. I was pleasantly wrong.

All week long, we were told it was going to be cold and rainy during the race. But last Friday, while I was at the expo with JD, Jake and Meghan, the weather report told us exactly what we wanted to hear: 50-60s and overcast. It would be humid, but no rain. And no sun. World’s different than last year’s beastly hot race! Friday night, JD and I went to Mama Carolla’s for our typical pre-race meal and tucked in early. On Saturday morning, we bustled about to be on the road by 6:30am. I kept thinking back to all the other 7 Mini Marathons I have done. I was so nervous for those first few. Having never done more than a half, the Mini was always the big race I trained for each year. I wanted to improve. I wanted to feel good, back then. Lately, the Mini has been a right of passage. A tradition. Something I hope to never miss. Eight years in the running, I wasn’t nervous about the parking, the course, the crowds. I was just a little nervous about how out of shape my running body just may be.

bumruffled out for my 8th Mini Marathon

As JD and I walked toward the start, he told me “I am going to jog up to my corral to warm up the legs, you wanna run with me?” My response: “Hell no. I am running 13.1. No need to add more distance today” and off he went. I was meeting my running friends in Corral E. This year, the security was extra tight given the happenings of Boston so if you didn’t have an E on your bib, then you weren’t getting into the corral. Unfortunately for Adam, that meant he would have to catch up with us on the course from Corral I. Ted, me, Kristi, Meghan, Jake, Martha, Brian and Kelly all met up in our corral. We had a moment of silence for Boston which made my chest tight. I held back the tears but was proud of our city for remembering. For caring. And for showing respect. After that, beach balls were flying, music was playing and the spirits were high. I doubt many other cities can boast that 36,000 people are up, moving and that energetic at 7:30am on a Saturday morning.

Perfect Strangers before the Mini Marathon

Ain’t no party like the Corral E party

Martha, Kristi, Meg, Kelly and I had plans to just run together and take it easy. Though I hadn’t intended to run without my watch, I forgot it at home. Not one of us had a GPS watch and no one cared. We lost Ted and Jake within the first mile but the 5 of us stayed together. I was feeling it the first 4 miles. The wind was at our back which though that is typically a good thing, it also meant that we were hot. I felt the humidity and just about everything else including a weird foot pain and a hip issue. It wasn’t boding well for the race.

But at mile 4, Adam caught up with us after running 9 min/miles. Kristi was cracking us up with her lack of direction. And there was never a lull in conversation. When we saw the cloggers at mile 4.5, we cheered them on and made a pact: if there was ever a year we can’t run the Mini Marathon, then we will perform at it. Clogging has definitely made the short list. We heard a band sing “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and each of us sang it loudly and proudly as we ran by. Also around this time, we turned north (away from south) and I immediately cooled down because of the wind. At mile 5, I was finally feeling great.

We approached the track and slowed down to take our gels before entering. My chocolate one, having been in my lower back pocket of my running skirt, was warm and disgusting. It was like trying to choke down hot fudge that isn’t nearly as tasty as hot fudge while sweating. Gross. We lost Martha and Adam right before the track but they found us soon after somehow. The track is one of those things that you either love or hate. I have never hated it. I think it’s awesome to run on and it helps me break the entire course into three parts: before track (miles 1-6), track (6-8.5), after track (8.5-13.1). This time, the track FLEW BY. We got into some deep discussions while running and before I knew it, we were approaching the bricks. Each year, I see people stop and kiss the bricks but have never allowed myself that because it would mean I’d lose time. This race, we all planned to stop and kiss the bricks. But first, we waved to the cameras.

crossing the bricks

Then, we rushed across the traffic to drop into a burpee and kiss the bricks. Adam took our pic.

kissing the bricks

We were stopping and walking through water stations and yet still hovered around a 10 min/mile pace with the walking stops. Not that any of us were too worried about it, but I can at least speak for myself when I say that even though I didn’t have a watch, I still did the math and pace calculations every time we passed a mile clock.

Have I mentioned how fun this race was? It really was. We were on and off that track in what felt like minutes. We weren’t running super fast, but the camaraderie really kept this race moving and the laughter never stopped.

All that being said, my least favorite part of the course is miles 9-11. It’s boring. Running down 10th can sometimes be hot. It’s just not fun. And my legs were getting tired. We saw Martha’s dad who took a group picture.

Thanks, Mr Talyor!

With just a couple miles to go, we saw Jake and Meghan decided to finish the race with him. He killed this race with a PR of over 6 minutes! The rest of us barreled toward the finish. We looked at the clock with 2 miles to go and realized we’d be around a 2:20 total time. Originally, I said I wanted to be around 2:15 but I didn’t care. None of us were breaking records that day. In the last stretch, I looked for JD. He always comes back after finishing to cheer for me. But he was nowhere to be found. When we crossed the finish line, Kelly got a little choked up. This was the first time I had ever run the mini with friends and I think all of us had such an amazing time together, it became a special race.

we did it

Once finished, we made our way to Military Park. The girls went ahead to the beer tent and I went to the family meeting area to find JD. When I saw him, he had his finisher’s medal and his Top 500 medal on. He missed his PR, however, by 30 seconds. His GPS watch was telling him he was running 6:15/mile pace the entire race but at the finish, the clock said differently. He was so disappointed because he definitely had more in him. And now, as a result, I think he is going to run Geist this coming weekend to give it another shot!

We then migrated to the beer tent which was freezing. None of us had enough clothes on so when someone suggested we move to the Blue Mile tent, I was all for it. Maybe they were selling clothes! When we got there, it was an actual tent which was much warmer. Also, they were serving free Flat12 beer! So it was there we stayed….reliving the race, laughing and taking pics.

We also went and bought these amazing tanks! We love the message.

Ashley, who manages the Blue Mile, jumped in for a group shot too!

My 8th Mini Marathon is on the books and my medal has found it’s place amongst it’s predecessors. Next up – the Chicago Marathon in October! Until then….I’ll be putting in some miles, trying to stay in shape yet giving myself a break until training starts in June!

Apr 16

27 Comments

Boston Marathon 2013

How does one begin to tell yesterday’s story? I want to tell the good. I want to share the energy, the excitement. I want to try to describe the bop in my step as I walked to the finish line at 8am yesterday. I want people to know that this was still a good event. That people still lived out their dreams. That there were hugs and tears of joy before there were embraces and tears of pain. But to do so seems a disservice to those injured and deceased from yesterday’s explosions. I will tell the story of our day and will preface by saying we are so incredibly lucky. And the heavy heart I carry, and will carry, is for those who were not.

JD woke up at 5am and with energy to spare. I lumbered around in bed until he left for the buses which took all the runners to Athlete’s Village – 26.2 miles away. There, they sit and wait in the cold until the start of the race. I went back to sleep until about 7:20, showered, packed up our room and then headed off to the finish line. Because this is a point-to-point race, it’s difficult to spectate. And because I wanted to make sure not to miss JD at the finish, I opted out of the potential chaos of jumping trains to see him at multiple points. He ran Boston in 2010 so I knew the importance of getting to the finish early. It doesn’t take long for the crowds to grow to an uncomfortable level and I wanted a spot right at the finish and right along the guard rails. As I bopped down Charles Street, I wore my “My husband runs fast” tshirt and had my lucky fishtail braids in. I wore this exact look when JD PR’d in November so was sure it would be good luck. I stopped by Starbucks for a Peppermint Hot Chocolate to warm me up. I knew I was in for a long day but was so excited. I just love spectating a marathon.

When I turned onto Boylston, the course itself was packed full of people. They hadn’t closed it down yet and so runners, bikers and rollarbladers took their opportunity to test the course. I walked past the finish line and decided to go a little further out so I could get a better view (the area closest to the actual finish line is heavily roped off with metal and wood to keep spectators from getting too close). I found a sunny spot right next to the Dunkin Donuts. There were two nice families flanking me – two families I got to know quite well. The crew to my left were cheering for Erin. This was her 13th marathon but her first Boston. Her mom and dad were in from Connecticut and her husband from Florida. He is in the airforce so has never seen her race. The group to my right were cheering for their friend. The man next to me ran in 2011 and so throughout the race, we talked about timing, hills, and pace. A couple from Mexico stood behind me. Though he spoke broken English and I poor Spanglish, we talked throughout and he even offered me his gloves when it was cold. All four of our groups were stalking the BAA.org app, website and twitter feed. Even that early – 2 hours before the men started and 5+ hours before I would see JD, there were people everywhere. My group (me and the families next to me) talked about the things we saw: the three homeless men behind us, the crowds amassing across the street, the K9 dogs, the police brigade. Erin’s husband read aloud the elite leaders’ bios and I kept every abreast of what was happening on Twitter. At one point, I asked them to watch my bag so I could run into Dunkin and get some donys and another hot chocolate. Another time, I asked the same so I could go to the bathroom. Of all the things I thought through- someone taking my bag or even worse, my prized spot at the finish, I wasn’t aware of my surroundings. Not like I should have been. I just watched people for interest. Looked at signs people made. The different nationalities represented. And I did what every spectator does at every marathon – I became part of the community. I knew the names of the runners my new friends were cheering for. I checked their bib numbers on my phone to track pace. I knew their goal time and my new friends knew all the same about JD. We had united over this event.

Around 11am, we started to see some action. The wheelchair participants were coming in hot and what an inspiration these people are. Using all arms and core, they flew by us. The winner of the female race, an American! As we listened to the National Anthem play for her, the other participants raced toward the finish – some juggling for that lead spot with the person next to him/her. The crowds roared. The cowbells rang. And the sun, finally, started its way to us. Though I had picked sunny spot at the beginning, soon after, it dipped behind the Lenox Hotel and didn’t return for hours. It was freezing and though a great day for running, I was happy to have JD’s extra long-sleeved shirt in my bag to wear.

Winner of the Male Wheelchair race

During this time, I was communicating constantly with my friends back home who were not just tracking the elites, but also JD. The elite women had a 30 minute head start so it wasn’t long after the first rush of wheelchair participants came through that the lead pack charged down Boylston. From everything I was reading on Twitter, it.was.a RACE. Felix, who had led for miles was overtaken by the chase pack including Shalane Flanagan (USA). With only a 7 second gap, Shalane looked like she had a chance for 3rd place. My friends were tweeting back and forth and I was ready with my phone to capture the speedy women as they passed. Shalane ended up in 4th (you’d be amazed how long 7 seconds is at the pace they are running). The crowd went wild for these women and you’ll notice below, the sun creeped closer.

Women winners – watch the video!

One of the many women who sprinted 26.2 miles

The family next to me and I had a bet – whether the elite men would finish before the sun reached us. When I had walked down to Starbucks for the bathroom, the weather was so much warmer down there. We were building up body heat by cheering, but the sun would make it a perfect spring day for spectating.

JD was doing great, by the way. Every split was consistent and right on pace for his 3:05 goal. Though he has already qualified for Boston 2014, I know he wanted to requalify at Boston (something apparently only about 30% of runners do). It’s a tough course – so much downhill (which shreds your quads) and then brutal uphills. He and his friend Michael run together on Saturday mornings and have been running fast. I know both were hoping for a great time. Though my BAA app was slow to respond, I was getting updates on JD every 5K from the website. And my friends Jake, Meghan and Amy were tracking JD online and could provide even more detailed updates. I hated not being able to see him at more points in the race, but felt I was close to him just being able to see his splits.

Not too long after the women elite ran through, the men turned the corner. But right before the male winner passed me, the sun reached me. I bathed in it. My toes became unnumb. My fingers thawed out. I was ready to spectate even harder. And again, as the men flew by towards breaking the winning ribbon, I got a video of the top 3.

Men winners – watch the video!

This race is an incredible race. The athleticism is just unbelievable. I have been to plenty of races where JD is running in a sparse field and finishes in the top 10% every time. But Boston? So many are fast. With the winners done, I was just waiting for JD to get to me. And was amazed by the thick field of runners all finishing under 3 hours. It’s just crazy.

so many speedy runners

We had about 45 minutes before JD would come through so I was tracking him like a hawk. But not just JD, I tracked my fellow spectators’ runners as well. The crowds had gotten extremely thick and so though I had posted up along the guard rail, more were squeezing in. A little boy and little girl stood right between me and one of the guys I had been there with for over 5 hours. The mom had dark hair and we chatted about the fact that this race was 30 degrees cooler than last year’s race. The kids were a blast – trying to determine what country each runner was from and cheering loudly. I talked with my Mexican friends and told them to cheer for JD. And when one man ran by with no shoes on, they yelled “No zapatos!” which made me laugh since it’s one of the few nouns I remember from Spanish class.

There is a group of service men and women who every year start the race much earlier in the day and walk the entire 26.2 miles in full gear and packs. These packs weigh up to 50lbs. When we saw each small group of them in uniform, making their way to the finish, our cheering crew chanted “USA! USA!” and cheered so loudly. When we saw multiple men cramp up and stop in the middle of the course, we’d yell “Come on 1234! You got this! Hang in there. Keep it up!” When we saw people walking, looking like death we would seek their bib number and yell “Pick it up 1234! You are so close! KICK IT UP!” When we saw those runners with the last minute sprint, going full force into the finish, we would scream as loud as we could. We created an unspoken cadence of how to cheer together and we were loving every second. The crowd was happy. Energetic. We were united.

My friends who were cheering for Erin expected her around a time of 3:30 (and she started at 10:25 or so, so that put her at 2pmish). My friends to my right expected their friend around 3:40-3:50 (which put him a little after 2pm). I met a man from Fishers, IN who was cheering for his girlfriend but he expected her later too. So JD was the first of our group to cheer for. My new friends asked me his bib number, what he looked like and were on high alert to see him come through Boylston. Unfortunately, right around the 30k mark, JD’s pace started slipping. My friends told me that’s where the hills are so I hoped his pace would be back on track by the 35K mark. But it wasn’t. My at-home friends were giving me the play by play and it was clear, he was struggling. I assumed injury and just hoped he wasn’t in too much pain. We waited and waited and waited for the 40K (which is the 25 mile mark) to come up. When it finally did, I knew we were minutes from seeing JD. Jake texted that he was 500 feet out and my brother told me he should be there any second so my entire group was staring and searching. One lady asked me what he looked like and I said “I don’t know, attractive?” and another was scared we missed him. I told them to keep looking, we’d find him. In panic mode, I texted Jake and said “Did I miss him?” and he said “No, he just ran by an Apple Store.” Now I have no idea how Jake had such details, but given JD and I had spent the past 2+ days in this area, I knew Boylston like the back of my hand. I knew exactly where that was and stood up on the guardrail to look for him. There he came….much slower than normal but with a smile on his face. My friends screamed and screamed “GO JOSH!!!!” and rang their cowbells. You’d have thought it was a group of people that had known JD for years the way they carried on. When JD reached me, he stopped, grabbed my face and kissed me. And then raced ahead. As I grinned ear to ear, I heard one man say behind me “Let’s hope he didn’t just miss his PR by 8 seconds for that kiss!” I grabbed my bag and weaved and ducked through the crowds to head to the family meeting area. I wished everyone good luck and thanked them for the lovely morning. At that time, I felt a more poignant goodbye was necessary. We had spent all morning together! But I knew it was time to meet JD.

Here he comes on the right!

Getting to the family meeting area takes patience and skill. I walked by the finish area, down some back streets, around the entire course, back around the other side of the spectators and straight for Letter D. I waited and soon saw JD hobbling toward me with his heat blanket on. He collapsed on the concrete next to me and recounted his race. He knew at mile 14 he wasn’t going to get 3:05. He surged on until mile 18, still averaging around a 7/mile pace. But with the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill, he had nothing left. His legs were spent. He wasn’t injured or out of breath. He just had nothing left. He was disappointed, but knew he gave it his all. He risked going out fast and wasn’t able to get the time he wanted (he finished around 3:24) but still ran fast. In fact, he ran so fast, he very well may have saved my life.

We didn’t wait long before making our way back out of the chaos. I can’t describe the chaos. People everywhere. There is an attempt at order but there are strollers, kids, double strollers, runners, bags, guardrails. It’s a mess. As we reached the subway stairs, we stood at the top about to descend and JD said “There’s Boston Common right?” I said yes. He said “Ok, I think I can walk back to the hotel.” So we did. People stopped along the way to tell JD congrats and I was bursting with pride. I may never qualify for Boston but I can tell you, at that very moment, I wanted it so very badly. There is NO race like Boston. NONE.

JD in Boston Commons. Right before we found out about the explosions

Right around this time, my friend Amy texted and said “I’m seeing tweets about an explosion near the finish line. Are you guys safe?” I told her yes, and then immediately turned to Twitter. By typing in “Boston Marathon Explosion” into the search, I pulled up everything that was happening. The images. The reports. Tears filled my eyes. JD asked what was wrong and I told him. But we both hoped, and thought it was possible, it was just a man hole cover or maybe some firework went wrong. Clearly it couldn’t be more. Back at the hotel, we stood at the hotel bar with other runners, glued to the TV. Over time, other runners joined us and told us what they had heard. Family members stood at the escalator waiting, begging for their loved ones to arrive. Texts and tweets and messages flooded in. Both JD and I barely talked as we just focused on responding “Yes, we are ok. We are safe” over and over again. It was incredible to see how many people thought of us and loved us. And we checked in with our friends: Michael and his girlfriend were ok. As were Ramsey and Ali.

As we learned more, my heart continued to pound and my face got hot. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I was there. I was in that exact spot for almost 6 hours. I know that area and can paint every detail in my mind. The explosions were on my side of the course. And I was gone before it happened, so I was safe. But what if? What if my friends weren’t? I looked up and JD was staring at the ground. Tears in his eyes. He said “If it had been you, I couldn’t have helped you. My legs were so tired. I couldn’t have gotten to you” I told him that was silly and adrenaline would have kicked in but it’s fine. We’re fine. But neither of us could shake it. It was just 40 minutes or so before, that I stood there. Front row. Amongst a crowd of wonderful cheerleaders. Completely unaware of what lay near us.

We realized pretty quickly that we needed to get to the airport sooner than normal. We stood outside the hotel and waited forever for a cab. I eventually downloaded a local Boston cab app and we managed to get a car. By this time, my phone was blowing up. Because I had live tweeted the entire morning, local radio hosts and news anchors asked for my account of what was going on. I was happy to provide information, but felt guilty doing so. We weren’t there when it happened. We didn’t see it. We didn’t hear it. We were safe. So many others were not.

We checked into the airport just fine and despite me apparently trying to smuggle an entire jar of peanut butter as a carry on, we managed to find a restaurant with a phone charger, beer, food and a TV without any concern. JD went to the gate to check on our flight while I took calls from local stations. My story was the same: I wasn’t there when it happened. But the crowds were massive. There were kids. And no, this won’t stop us from attending races in the future. With each conversation, my heart got heavier and heavier. Here I was providing such little information and yet craving all the information I could get.

Our flight was delayed (apparently just for mechanical issues?) and we were booked on a later one. We didn’t care – we just wanted to get home. I couldn’t pull myself from the news and when I was on the plane, I got online immediately. I scoured Google maps to find out exactly where I was in relation to the explosions. The visual still makes the tears fall.

The blue X represents where I was. Where my new friends may have been

The blue X represents where I was. Where my new friends were

I don’t know if my friends are ok. I have done the math over and over to see if they would have been out of there by the time the explosions started. I think about the kids that essentially stayed beside me for an hour. The mother had dark hair. There was at least one boy and a girl, maybe another boy. Could it have been Richard Martin? Unless I see pictures of them dressed as they were that day, I am not sure I’ll ever know. JD tells me I am torturing myself by going over this. But I don’t know how else to deal with it. I want to know everything. I want to see everything. I have looked through every slide show of pictures to see if I recognize the wounded. I think about the fact that if the bomb was in a trash can or a backpack by the finish, then I walked by it at least twice. It’s so surreal.

And I feel guilt. I was there, but just not there when things went bad. Maybe I could have helped my friends. Or at least I would have information by being there. I left them all and was happily strolling through Boston Commons when it happened. I am safe. JD, thank gosh, is safe. But so many others aren’t.

I posted this on FB last night:

I am so angry at the people behind today. I’m so mad that they took away dreams—dreams of those who were killed and injured and dreams of runners unable to finish their race. This was supposed to be a day about accomplishment, goals, celebration and support. And despite what these monsters did, it still is. Though I’m so grateful to be on my way home and know JD and I are the lucky ones, I am saddened to leave the community of runners and Bostonians who united over this tragedy. I witnessed the best kinds of people today— and heard about the true heroes who ran towards the danger to help those in need. the families who brought stranded strangers into their homes. The finishers who ran straight to the hospital to donate blood. A piece of my heart is left in that city. And tomorrow I will do the only thing I know to do to remain connected and to not let evil win: I will run.

We got home around 1am this morning and were thrilled to be in our bed, home and safe. Yet I do feel sad not being there. I see the images on TV and know that street so well. I quickly get my whereabouts and imagine yesterday morning. The imagery of such happiness and accomplishment. The sounds of the cheers and cowbells. The people’s faces I met. I try so hard to remember every face I met. I don’t want to forget. And though we are so so lucky, I know that there is a piece of that city and that race in our hearts. This morning I called the Boston FBI hotline with a couple strange things I saw. I am sure they are nothing, but they promise no small piece of information is too small. If I can help in any way, I want to.

Today, during my run, I ran fast. The pain in my lungs and the rain pouring down on my head felt good yet, at one point, I was so emotional I almost collapsed to my knees in pure sadness over this situation. I am angry. I am sad. I look at the map of the explosions and tears instantly fall. Some evil doer(s) tried to ruin one of the greatest athletic events in our nation. Someone took down not the runners, but the spectators who spent hours waiting for the one chance to root on their loved one. As a marathon runner, I know the importance of these people and this article says it best: The People Who Watch Marathons.

The running community has always been a close one. For an individual sport, we really rely on each other. We support, listen, encourage and understand each other. Had this happened at a race far away from me and JD, I would have still felt a connection to the terror based on that running community alone. But the fact that we were there. The fact that JD ran fast enough to maybe save my life. The fact that I don’t know if my new cheering friends are ok. The fact that this race was tarnished by something so awful. I won’t forget. I can’t forget. And every day I run, will be a testament to not ever forgetting.

My heart goes to those who were there. Those who are safe like JD and I. Those who were injured. And those who lost their lives. My heart goes to those who didn’t get to finish their Boston Marathon. I will be at every race as always. We will not be afraid, but we will be aware. And I will run harder and faster and maybe someday, I will cross that finish line as a runner and remember April 15th, 2013 as the inspiration that got me there.

Mar 25

9 Comments

Circular Logic – Marathon #10 (recap)

Since I crossed the finish line on Saturday, most people have had one question “How did you survive running the same one-mile loop 26 times??” And my answer has been universally the same: it was actually pretty awesome.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning.

FRIDAY:

While some of you may have left work early to get in on the March Madness action, Meg and I were strategizing on all the important pre-race logistics. Throughout the day, we organized our topics that all of you crowd sourced. We got some really good ones and then added a few of our own. We also came up with a game plan for our “pit stop” (the place our fans would congregate with their own snacks and beverages, while also being on-duty to hand us ours). That night, she went to the Running Company and stocked up on gels while I went to target and picked up food, gatorade, water, diet coke etc. Also that night, Nathan and Hunter arrived so we went to Mama Carollas (my favorite restaurant in Indy) for some carb loading. The laughs among JD, Hunt, Nathan and I made the pre-race jitters go away. It was a perfect pre-race meal.

Cheers to Marathon #10!

When I got home, I laid out my clothes and we all packed up our coolers, bags, etc. It was going to be chilly at the start so we had plenty of blankets for the spectators. My outfit consisted of two long-sleeved tops, my lucky marathon tights, long socks. And I brought an extra layer for the beginning.

Saturday:

I set my alarm for 5:16am and was wide awake when it went off. I got up, brushed my teeth and then realized I had plenty of time so got back in bed. Of course I didn’t sleep….but just tried to relax and focus on the day. At 5:46am, I got up for a second time, got dressed and started packing the car with the boys. Nathan, Hunter and JD all wore their See Meggie Run shirts which I LOVE. They made them back for the San Francisco Women’s Marathon years ago and hold plenty of good memories. We bundled up and packed into the car while Meg, Jake and their dog Slater led the caravan up to West Lafayette. On the way there, we listened to my Songza app and chose some pretty awesome playlists. Starting with the 90210 Slumber Party Mix (Yes, we DID hear “How Do You Talk to an Angel” by Jamie Walters but as Nathan put it “No one will ever take him seriously as an artist after Ray pushed Donna down the stairs), we then moved on to “2000′s One Hit Wonders” (my personal favorite, “Do Your Chain Hang low.”) We knew the other girls were en route too – Christi, Kristi and Dana were running the relay as a team, as were Kelly and Jaime.

Hunt and Nathan dancing

When we arrived at the park, we saw no signs of running life. There weren’t posters directing you where to go. There wasn’t another single person even wearing running shoes. We parked and asked a woman standing in a snowsuit if we were in the right spot and she confirmed that we were. There were 2 parking lots for the race and we picked the one less traveled. And it made all the difference.

Meg and I hiked up the trail to get our packets (read: 2 bibs and a tshirt). The race organizers had let us pick our own numbers so I was my lucky number 22. We put one bib on the front (the one with the chip) and one on the back so that when people passed us on the trail, they would know our name. Pretty brilliant really.

When we got back to our cars, the rest of the crew had arrived. Poor Jaime was deathly ill so when they picked up their packets and saw the medal in their bags, they all contemplated just hanging with the boys, eating donuts and drinking beermosas. But of course they were going to finish – they didn’t drive an hour north to relax in the park!

It was quite cold at this point – we were all bundled up and I had no problem keeping on my mint sweatshirt all throughout the first lap even!

Jaime, Meg, me, Christi, Dana, Kristi, Kelly

Kristi and Christi had both made signs! Kristi focused one on the Crossfit Games which Meg and I loved. We did our own 26.2 that day!

Ryan Gosling anyone? YES.

With only ten minutes until the start, Dana, Kelly, Meg and I walked up to the start line. With only 105 people running the marathon plus the relay teams, it was easy to navigate. We bundled together and before we knew it, we were running.

Ready, set, go!

As you guys know, we had topics for every mile and Mile 1 was just talking through the race and seeing for the first time what the full lap looked like. It’s pretty easy to describe: we crossed the start line where the organizers marked our every mile (and as we passed, our names popped up on a screen telling us what lap we were on). We turned right and ran a long stretch that was lined with the spectators. Families had blankets and chairs lined up and some even had tailgating tents. For those that had observed the Circular Logic water bottle system, this is where they picked up their bottles and had them refilled. This is where all those who parked in the other lot went. It was by far the most populated. From there, we turned right and faced a slight incline – luckily it was VERY slight but still was my least favorite part of the course. We turned right again and ran along a sidewalk next to the road. This was the most congested part of the race and often we had to run single file to let people to pass. We raced by a softball field that later in the day was occupied by some Purdue students. We then hit a very sharp almost u-turn which brought us up by our pitstop. We could hear them cheering for us and other runners well before we actually ran past them but it was (of course!) the highlight of the laps. There were also no other people around so it kept the energy up! Then we turned right one last time before heading back to the start line. The first lap, we jaunted off to pick up the .2 miles which was nice to get over with.

Jaime and Kelly were swapping every mile whereas the other relay team ran in increments of 2 miles. Every single mile, we ran in a pack. Sometimes it was 4 of us. Sometimes it was 7 of us. But Meg and I were never alone. And that made all the difference.

Christi, Kelly and Nathan running alongside me

We were quite committed to the topics the first 15 miles. Each lap, Nathan would hand us a strip of paper with the respective topic and we’d spend the mile discussing. So thank you for all who submitted ideas and thoughts for us to discuss. At the bottom of this post, you will see the topics and what we talked about!

Miles 1-5 flew by. Seriously flew by. I think I even said “I really love this race and could see all of us doing this again.” The course became familiar quickly. I knew the part I didn’t love and luckily, it was brief. We started to get to know other runners and the spectators. This little girl yelled “Good job Meghan! Good job Meggie!” every time we ran by. And it made me smile every single time. As one man passed us and saw the back of our tops he said “It’s a MEGATHON!” which we really loved.

Megathon

There were a couple costumes – mainly a monkey and a bee. And though we started to create stories around our fellow runners, we got most of our information from the pit stop. Our fans were interacting with every runner, every lap. Nathan, a former University of Iowa cheerleader took to this race like a fish to water. He and Jake both had brought dry-erase boards so every time we passed, they had a different sign for us. Some of them were song lyrics and some were just hilarious (like “Donna Martin graduates” and “I’m a 90′s bitch”) But they just didn’t make the signs for us – they made them for other runners. The relay runners were our liaison between the path and the pit so each time they switched out, we would hear what was happening back on home base. We learned that Bryce won the race last year but that Jake had already lapped him twice and was in a great position for a win (which he did! Bryce got second) Laura was working hard for a win and ended up PRing at 3:09. Anne was running with her husband but was actually beating him. And our pit crew thought that the Monkey and the Bee were dating. We were right smack in our own little community and each lap brought us all closer.

pit stop action and

At mile 4, we took our first walking break. We only fueled up at the pit stop rather than the water station the other runners used. When we approached the pit, I would yell “JD – Water!” or “JD – gel!” “JD – Gatorade” and even once “JD – donut hole!” Our team and supporters were amazing. I can’t even begin to tell you all how much I appreciated every single one of them.

lap??

JD took lots of pics of us in the beginning. We were all smiles. The weather was warming up and we were running really well. Our first 3-4 miles were all sub 9:30/mile and every time I said we would slow down, we didn’t. But we felt good so carried on. That’s never a great strategy – we should have started and held at 10/miles the entire time but oh well. We fought for every mile that day so I have no regrets. At mile 6, we took our first gel. At mile 8, another water stop. At mile 12, more gel. At this point, I was just “chunking” the distances in my mind. Every 4 miles was water. Every 6 was a gel. Mile 13 was more than halfway. Mile 15 was IBprofen and mile 17 meant we had single digits left to run.

Jaime, Meg and I on the sidewalk strip of the loop

JD climbed a fence for this pic

My hips started to hurt at mile 12. And though I promised myself I wasn’t going to let those mental demons in during the race, I did. I let the pain in my hips seep into my brain. I was negative and in a bad spot. But at mile 16, with IBprofen in my system, I caught a second wind. I take absolutely zero credit for that energy – it came 100% from my friends. JD, Jake, Nathan all rang alongside us. We had the 4 of us runners, plus at least 3 more fans packed together, taking on that trail. I didn’t have to talk, but instead could just listen to their conversation and be distracted by the course. Hunter jumped in the next mile. And on and off it went for the next 10 miles. Nathan ran more that day than he ever has in one day! Hunt kept the questions going. JD was by my side for every mile I needed him. Jake was the same for Meg. And my girls…..I still don’t know how I got so lucky to have such incredible, fierce women who get me. They know when it hurts. They know how to inspire. They know how to make me laugh. And they, along with Jake, JD, Nathan and Hunter made all the difference.

second wind?

Because every lap is the same – literally – it’s hard to sort the memories of when I felt good and when I didn’t. I know that Meg and I were very eager to get to that “single digits left” point in the race and I even tweeted “9 more to go.” Once in the 20s, I didn’t feel AWFUL but I was mentally in a bad spot. And not so nice. At one point JD was running ahead of me and when I asked why, he said “I am trying to pull you along.” I said “I want you by me. Next to me. Not one single inch in front of me” and then apologized that I am such a beast at the end of a marathon. Luckily he gets it

The hip started to hurt again at mile 22 and you’d think with only 4 more to go, we’d just put it into high gear but that wasn’t going to work. The loops seemed to get longer. At one point, I asked JD to find me some headphones. I just needed one mile to zone out. I listened to Taylor Swift and PINK and Kanye and then pulled the headphones out and reengaged with our crew. I had stopped a couple times to stretch out the hips which felt incredible. So when I complained to JD about how I hurt he told me to walk. I said “I can’t. I don’t want to be last place.” He said “Oh, you won’t be. XXXX is going to be last place.” I said “Who is XXXX?” and he replied, “the person who is going to get last.” It made me laugh and I realized I was being silly. We were fighting for every mile.

With 2.5 miles to go I said out loud to JD “I can’t do this.” He said “of course you can. You are so close.” I responded “Well I just don’t want to.” Of course every marathoner probably thinks these things but we should all be smart enough to never say it aloud. Even to oneself. It opens up the weakness that is dying to pour out. No one wants that Pandora’s box.

When we had 2 to go, I was barely talking. I listened to those around me and kept Meg in sight. She had planned for a fun “mystery topic for miles 25-26 but neither of us were really talking. We were just running as hard as we could. With one more lap to go, I said “Why do we do this to ourselves? You know what we are doing next??? 5ks. That’s what we are doing.” And every time I passed a cone I would say “We will never see this cone again!!” I wasn’t nearly the cheerleader I had planned to be. I wanted to be fun and uplifting and strong and positive. But once I let those negative demons in, they just took over. They didn’t ruin my race, but I had to rely on my friends to keep picking my spirits up over and over.

When we passed our pitstop, it was empty because everyone was at the finish waiting for us. WHAT a beautiful sight. We were close. SO CLOSE. We took off. A little faster. A bit faster. Then full out sprint to the finish. The tears came before I even crossed. I buried my head in JD’s tshirt and sobbed.

Then I hugged every one of the girls, Jake, Nathan and Hunter. JD handed me a class of champagne and I collapsed with it beside me. I was upset. Not because my time wasn’t as fast as I wanted – and it wasn’t – but because I was SURE we would get Meg her PR. I just thought there was no way we wouldn’t. We worked hard. We didn’t slack off so I am proud of us, just always want better.

Right as I was thinking this and feeling down on myself, Meg brought us all together and said “So guys, I want to tell you something. Jake and I are engaged!” HOLY HELL! They got engaged two weeks ago and I have seen her a thousand times, even talked about marriage and she never once let on! This was her mystery topic for miles 25 and 26 that we failed to get to given how bad we felt! Her timing was perfect though – we were done with the race and finish time just didn’t matter anymore. We had bigger fish to fry! She got to tell all of us right there, with champagne in our hands after 26.2 miles of running. PERFECT.

Right after the announcement

The medals are awesome – one big circle. Well played, Circular Logic. Well played.

Number 10 is in the books. I loved the course. I loved how small it was. There was no expo or massive packet pick up. The start line was easy to get to. The finish line was easy to collapse across right afterwards. I loved the community of runners that became my friends for a day. I loved seeing the pit-stop crew at home base every mile. I loved having water, Gatorade, diet coke and even donut holes there whenever I needed them. I loved the familiarity of the path – just like the Monon. I do better when I know what’s coming. I would do this race again – whether the marathon or the relay. But one big piece of advice: if you are thinking about doing this race next year – follow our lead. Bring a party. It makes all the difference

1-0

Thank you to all of you who emailed, texted, tweeted and facebooked your way into my inspiration on Saturday. I am so grateful for your support.

Thank you to Nathan and Hunter who drove down to Chicago, made signs, and were the best cheerleaders not to just me, Meg and the girls but to every runner out there. You two are incredible. And thank you to Jake for being witty with your signs and loud with your voice.

Thank you to the Perfect Strangers for putting up with my beast mode. For hugging me when I needed it. For making me laugh. For talking about our ideal hot tub scenario and for being the best girlfriends anyone could ask for.

Thank you to JD for being my running rock. You know me and what I need at any given mile better than anyone. I couldn’t have done Saturday without you and I promise to support you and cheer my heart out for you during the Boston Marathon next month.

And to Meg for being such a great running buddy. All those runs in the rain and snow and ice. At 5:30am when we didn’t want to run. The hundreds of circles we did on the track. And for waiting until the perfect time to share your amazing news. I am so happy for you and Jake.

results

And to all of you who gave us topics to run to…..I give you a recap. Thank you!

The first topic was from my mom “Would you give up 20 IQ points to be able to be your ideal weight without ever having to exercise or worry about what you eat for the rest of your life.” As we tackled this one, we considered how much 20 points really represented. We through out some statistics about average IQ to see if we really have enough to spare but in the end, just about everyone said no, it wasn’t worth it. I can tell you, however, that laughably, at the end of this race, Meg and I were close to changing our mind. We were done with exercise.
Vacation spots. We all agreed we would go across the sea and while I brought up Spain other girls wanted to go Asian. Meg and Jaime both suggested Laos and Jaime had our brains swimming with visions of eating sticky rice and living in tree houses while moving only by zipline.
Pick a movie and recast it with people you know in life. I love this one but it was HARD to find a movie we all knew that had enough leading characters to recast it. I went with the obvious and did Sex in the City. Kristi immediately said “Please don’t make me red head! I am always the red head!” I told her that I was happy to take Miranda as I too typically get casted as her. We gave Samantha’s character to Meghan, Charlotte to Kelly and Kristi took Carrie!
Rank 5 European countries from top to bottom. I chose England, Italy, Spain (although I have never been), Ireland and Germany. Others threw in Scotland, France and Switzerland into the mix.
Talk about some of your favorite memories from college. Since Meghan and I went to school together and are sorority sisters, we had fun talking about some of our favorite memories. It’s hard to narrow them down to one single event or time. All of them seemed to shape us. But it was a good way to focus our attention on the past and laugh about some of the crazy times – and hear about some of the other girls’ college experiences.
Who would be the 5 celebrities you want in your ideal hot tub? Every single girl + Nathan picked Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling. Some added Justin Timberlake, Adam Levine (good call, Christi!), Tae Diggs (Meg), Hugh Jackman (Kelly) and I added in Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny from Grey’s) and David Beckman! That tub is HOT!
If someone made action figures of you, what is your special power? And who is your arch nemesis? That was easy for me! Flying (because that sounded good as I was running) and my arch nemesis was the picture-taker with the newsletter. Some said wheels (same reason as running). We also joked that boys would have had a lot more creativity with this one that us girls.
Play 3 songs out loud: This one was fun! We just turned on my phone and listened to music as we circled the track!
If you were guaranteed honest responses, whom would you question and what 3 questions would you ask? We had some great people in this one. Obama. Tiger. I chose someone in the CIA (can you imagine those secrets!) George W. (Clearly we stayed in a similar genre.) As for specific questions, we didn’t get into details about the questions other than just to find out the back stories on some of the “big stories’ involving these people.
We also talked about crossfit, training runs, past Perfect Stranger girls who don’t run with us anymore (status updates). Kelly interviewed Nathan about his cheerleading days. Hunter came up with amazing questions on the spot about TVshows we would want to star in, etc. We were never short of topics and it’s all because of you guys!

What’s up next?

I am not 100% sure. I am signed up for the Illinois Marathon on April 27th but I think I am going to opt-out. I like the idea of focusing on the Mini Marathon and taking a good break from running while ramping up my crossfit. From there, I start training for Chicago in early summer. Though I already feel good about getting back to pavement and feel motivated to run (every race does this), I also love that I am not sweating this snowfall right now. Because I don’t HAVE to run in it.

Nov 26

3 Comments

Drumstick Dash 2012

Since my parents moved to Indy, we’ve had the luxury of not traveling for the Thanksgiving weekend. So in lieu of a long car drive to Galesburg, a new tradition was born – JD and I start the day by running the Drumstick Dash! Last year, I walked the shorter course with my friends and family. This year, I was back to running and had some of my favorites by my side.

Meg, Bri and I had talked all week about running the race and doing it with a little holiday flare. Bri already had a cute turkey hat but Meg was planning on crafting our turkey hats the night before. However, on Thanksgiving morning, she texted me that she and “free-hand crafts” don’t do well together. So with only 20 minutes before departure time, I pulled out my craft box and made us extremely authentic and stylish Pilgrim hats. Wearing all black, I was sure that I looked like I stepped right off the Santa Maria.

JD decided to get some extra miles in so ran from our house to the start line (approximately 7 miles) and I picked up my friend Cole to carpool together. Cole is one of the funniest human beings I have ever met (follow him on Twitter @colefarrell) so I knew we were in for a laugh-a-minute morning.

Cole and I

We all congregated by the start and had quite the crew! Dana and Christi were there. Our friends Adam and Rory. JD. The Blys. We saw plenty of people we knew. Over 12,000 people participate in this event from dogs, babies, runners, walkers, grandmas and grandpas. The entire parking lot and street are packed with plenty of people in costume (some dressed up as a cornucopia!) and the overall feeling is just one of happiness. Especially since it wasn’t freezing or raining like in years past!

We took our traditional group pictures….

Bri - the cutest turkey I know.

Meg and Meg - pilgrim twinsies!

Perfect Strangers dashing for drumsticks

…and eventually, Dana suggested we make our way to the start line so we lazily did, never once considering where our position was in relation to the actual start. We found out soon enough. JD started at the front and took off right at the gun. He finished 28 minutes later – 9:28ish. We didn’t even cross the start line until 9:25am!!!!!! We had positioned ourselves amongst the families, strollers, kids, dogs, walkers. Oh well….it’s not like we were competing! So as we moseyed up with the herd, Cole kept us all entertained. “The only reason I still do races is it’s my chance to hear Black Eyed Peas” he claimed as the speakers blasted “Tonight’s Gonna be a Good Night.” He also told me that by cleaning my ears with Q-tips after every shower, I am essentially shoving a cotton covered battering ram down my ear canal and turning my ear into a Yankee Candle. We were all in fits of laughter.

Bri and I also noticed that some of the turkey hats out there looked quite phallic. And there were SO many of them. I pointed out an entire herd of penis-turkey hats only to realize that it was our friend Martha and her family!! She came running over and we took a picture of her awesome hat.

She's adorable.

She vowed to find us on the course and within a mile or so, she did.

Cole was walking the short course and Dana/Christi had made their way up towards the start so when we finally did get moving, it was Bri, Meg, me, Adam and Rory. We bobbed and weaved through the massive crowds for the first mile, which was about a 10:10 pace as a result.

By mile 2, things started to disperse and we came in around a 9:40 pace. We ended up averaging a 9:54 pace which included a walking water stop. Definitely not my fastest, but I was happy with it. I realized while racing that I am not in my best shape. Not that I should be – I have been barely running the past month and just enjoying my time off. But with a marathon training program looming ahead of me in the near future, I know it is going to be rough getting back in shape.

Anyway….Martha joined us for the last 3 miles and we had Adam take our action shot.

Boppy Fairy and I

action shot!

Now you might be looking at that last picture and thinking “Meggie, are you wearing underwear to run in?” and the answer is no. But I was wearing new spandex shorties that I hadn’t run in before. And very early on I realized I will not be running in them again. They move right on up my legs and don’t stay in place at all. So within just a few steps, I felt like I was running in undies. I think these are going to be crossfit shorts only.

With less than a quarter mile to go, Martha and I sprinted it in. Every time she edged in front of me, I picked up my pace and she did the same. It was a fun way to cap off the 4.5 miles.

We took a few post-race pics, met up with Cole and JD and headed our respective ways for the remainder of the holiday.

JD got 101st place overall! He’s a beast.

We all had a great time running together and felt at least slightly better about our calorie intake after a solid morning workout!

Meg and I have since run and it only furthered my hypothesis that I am just plain out of shape. December training is gonna be rough….but that’s for another post

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Oct 10

17 Comments

Chicago Marathon – #9

I have been itching to write this post. Because Sunday’s marathon was by far one of my favorite running days of all time.

A little background….

As you all know, from previous posts, this training season has just been different for me. In the beginning, I justified feeling a little slow and pokey because it was the beginning of training and it’s always hard to get back into the swing of things. But unlike previous training seasons, as the weeks dragged on, I never felt like I got my stride. And it was all my fault.

To say that life has been busy is an understatement. And though that is always the case in my life, this time, I let running fall to the back burner. I didn’t miss many long runs, but I am not sure I ever ran more than 30 miles in one week. If I made it 3x a week, that was a feat!

And though this lack of commitment stressed me out in the beginning, I finally was able to let it go. As I have said before, this wasn’t going to be my last marathon. And if I choose to do 2-3 marathons a year, some will be good (Illinois Marathon) and some will be bad.

Last week….

Last week I didn’t even think about the race. In previous years, I would blog every day in the week preceding the race. In the past, I planned my meals, my runs, my hydration. I made bracelets with my race plan. I created playlists days before and I had my outfit picked well in advance. This year, not even close. On Thursday, I met the girls to talk race plans. Goody bags of socks, gels, etc were passed out (my friends are the best) and Kel was there to cheer us all on. Bri said something that calmed my nerves and I held on to until I crossed the finish line: No Perfect Stranger left behind.

On Friday I built a new playlist. And on Saturday, Josh, Meghan, Jake and I headed up to Chicago. With two bags of Halloween candy with us and more luggage than ever necessary for just one night, we trekked up to the windy city to get this party started.

Karen, Bri and Christi carpooled up and we just missed them at the expo. We saw Dana from afar and Adam was a late arrival, so it was just us four exploring the fun booths and free samples. We stopped for the requisite photo opportunities and found our names on the big wall of runners.

Meg and I on the podium

big day.

bam.

say my name, say my name

From there, we went up to the Half Acre Beer Company to meet my brother and taste some beer. And then we went to lunch at Bad Apple (seriously delicious) with my BFF Nathan. The six of us ate burgers and drank beer. I laughed about how I typically don’t drink the week before a race, no less a day before. But this race was different.

From there we went across the street and had additional beverages with Meg and Jake before they headed back downtown to meet the rest of the crew. They had a huge group going to dinner but given I wanted to see Nathan and my brother, I opted out. So instead, the four of us went to this adorable Italian restaurant which even served “The Marathon” pasta dish!

Nathan and Matthew

When we got back to Nathan’s, he showed me his race sign. He even made it for all the Perfect Strangers! As a former University of Iowa cheerleader, Nathan takes these duties very seriously.

The show…

I woke up to nerves. My brain was finally wrapping itself around the fact that I had 26.2 miles to run that day. I tried on various outfits (I brought my entire wardrobe essentially) and opted for capris, the matching socks Dana bought us all, a neon yellow tee and my black arm warmers. I sent Bri a picture of my outfit since she was debating hers as well and she responded with, “Please take one of you smiling next time.” And so I did.

By 6:20, the three of us (Nathan, JD and I) were out the door looking for a cab. The plan was to meet at the girls’ hotel and all walk together to the start. But cab after cab drove by – none of them stopping. As the corners started to populate with more runners, I looked at Nathan and said “I think we have to drive.” So action man that he is, he ran back to his place and barreled towards us in my car. We jumped in and were at Grant Park within minutes. He took the car back and took the train back to the first cheering point to meet the guys while JD and I walked into the starting area. We had an hour before the start so I waited in line 25 minutes for the porta potty. The rest of the crew were on their way but our cell signals were so bad that we couldn’t find them. I did some stretching while waiting to hear from them. My nerves were at an all time high and I was pushing back the tears.

A text from Jake finally got through to JD and so we raced through the corrals to find all the guys. But where were the runners? They had to enter the starting zone before 7:45am and so did I. So there I was, in Corral J all by myself. The tears came. I kept looking at the guys (Jake, Josh, Ted, Sean, Nick) and asking if they could see the girls. FINALLY, they spotted them. As I ran towards Bri, Meghan and Dana I was crying in relief. I knew I wasn’t mentally prepared to run that race alone. I needed them.

bundled up in our "Throw away" clothes

Unfortunately, Becker was in the corral behind us so though we had planned on running with him, he’d have to catch up to us. He did take this great pic of us with the skyline behind us.

game time.

It only took us about 10 minutes to get to the start line after the gun went off and before we knew it, we were running. Within seconds I said aloud “Oh hey Plantar Fasciitis! There you are!” There was a guy in front of us who was super obnoxious as he explained the importance of negative splits so as we bobbed and weaved our group around him, Becker caught up to us. We were a group of 5 strong – 4 of which wearing the same crazy socks.

The weather was cold, but actually turned out to be perfect running weather. A few wind gusts that I could have lived without but SO much better than last year. By mile one, I had stripped off the orange “throw away” shirt just in time to see our fans! (And yes, it landed on a runners head when I heaved it across the mass of people). Nathan and Matthew had joined the crew and they were screaming loud and proud.

oh hey!

If you compared the first few miles on Sunday to a typical Saturday long run, the biggest thing you’d notice is the lack of conversation. We were just quietly running next to each other. Our miles were fast – 9:40/mile or so. We’d point out people we saw or if we lost sight of one another, but otherwise, we just ran silently next to each other. I know that Bri and I both were on the verge of tears at any given second. We didn’t discuss why, but she is my equal when it comes to emotions. It was her that grabbed my hand at the Bellagio in Vegas when I was just overcome with how beautiful things were. So though I wanted to hug her and calm her emotions, I knew it would only bring them out in full force for us both.

We entered Lincoln Park around mile 5 and Meg and Adam had bursting bladders. As they ran behind a tree and did their business, we waited for them as we surveyed all the other bare-assed runners we saw in the field. It only took a minute before we were running again and it wasn’t something I was concerned about. In fact, I welcomed the break. I knew already how that my legs were pretty weak. It wasn’t going to be an easy race.

Up until mile 6, I was in a bad spot mentally. I was nervous, grumpy and had plenty of doubt. But then everything changed during that sixth mile….that’s where I found my happy. First, we saw Bri’s family. Holding up a huge yellow sign for her, I ran up to them and high-fived them all as she hugged her dad. Right after, I heard someone yell “MEGGIE DIALS!!!!!” and to my left was my long-time college friend, Eddie. I haven’t seen him in years and he spotted me amongst the crowd. My heart started to lift. Then, in a sea of orange tshirts, I spot my friend Stacey (also a college friend) who was screaming for her little brother who just so happened to be right in front of me! As I yelled for her attention, she introduced me to Alex who I fist-bumped and wished him well on his first marathon. My heart moved another inch north.

me yelling, Alex running

And then, same mile, I noticed most of the herd of runners waving upward at the brownstone to our right. And there, on the 3rd floor of the building, was what had to be a nursing home. All the elderly people living there, some still in their robes, were sitting at the window watching the race. They had the biggest smiles on their faces and were waving like mad at the mass of people running below them. As I waved at them, I laughed out loud. It was just the happiest sight. I choked back the tears and when Bri looked back at me with glassy eyes I said “Don’t you look at me, Bri. Don’t you do it!” I knew it wouldn’t take much to get us to full on crying. But it was those people in the window that gave me my happy. And I carried it on for the next 20 miles.

At mile 7.5, we found the guys and stopped for hugs. Matthew had to hop on a plane for a work trip but I was able to hug him and give a smooch to my niece’s best little friend Elsa, who was with her parents and the crew. I handed my gloves to Ted. I hugged JD who had a gel ready and waiting for me. It’s pretty awesome that my biggest fan is also a runner, as he knows exactly what I need. And then I asked if they’d take a picture of us. Never before, in all my marathons, have I stopped to talk to fans. I wave and blow kisses but have never wanted to lose a minute of race time. On Sunday? We stopped every single time.

Approaching our fans

All smiles!

Meghan was our task master the entire day. She had a schedule of our miles: when we saw the boys, when we did water stops, when we took our gels. She called this “chunking” and I have used the concept in past races too. We didn’t think about eating the entire elephant (running all 26.2) but instead we took one bite at a time. At our next water stop, we lost Dana and Adam. At this point, we were still tracking around a 10/mile pace but knew we were slipping. Bathroom and “fan” breaks were going to slow us down even if we could continue running that pace. I pulled out my pace calculator on my phone and said that if we could do 10:30′s, we would finish in the 4:30s which would give Meg a PR. At the time, even though we weren’t taking the race super seriously, we were still trying to do our best, time wise.

But Dana and Adam fell behind when they thought we breaked for water. And when they caught up to us, we all agreed that they should go on. Both had energy we did not and the last thing I wanted to do was slow anyone down.

Adam took one final race pic and off they went.

A quick note about the fans. First of all, Chicago? You know how to churn out a fan base. Everyone screamed and yelled. Some people were so sincere and forceful that I wanted to shrink them into a Polly Pocket and take them with me. And our fans? Damn they were good. They saw us 6 times! Jumping all over the “L” system, running to catch us, texting us along the way. And with signs and screams, it refilled our energy time after time.

By the time we got to halfway, I needed to stop and stretch my hips. Damn piriformis issues means they get super tight but a quick stretch can make all the difference. When we started back up again, I snapped a picture of us three.

First half complete. Second half with our hearts.

At the next stop with the guys, our spirits were a little down. I know at least Meg and I hurt. She said her legs had never hurt like that before in a race. And for me, it was my hips. They just ached and ached. But the guys, after taking a sake bomb at a nearby bar, were fully spirited (pun intended). They told us they had seen all the other runners and our friends were doing great. JD also told me that he had given away my gel to Becker as he thought it was an extra. So with no more gels to go, I stuffed as many Jolly Ranchers in my fuel belt hoping they would suffice. And so with a few hugs, hard candies and a lot of well wishes, we started up again.

serious face

At one point when I was complaining about my hips, little Miss Boppy Fairy (Bri) suggested that the Medic tent could have medicine so I asked them for Tylenol and a spare hip. They could help with the former. It was the first time I have ever stopped at a medical tent but Sunday was a day of race firsts for me. Bri was in good shape throughout and often I told her to go on as I didn’t want to slow her down. But it was her motto that kept us together – No Perfect Stranger left behind.

At mile 18, we decided we would run straight to mile 20 and then take a break. At mile 21 we would see the guys. We’d figure out the next chunk then. Somehow, we were already within single digits of the finish line.

Meg squared

Also at this time, I turned to the girls and said “Ladies, we aren’t going to get a good time today. Plain and simple. So we need to make this damn fun. Let’s have a story to tell.” And so we did. From that point on, we talked nonstop. At one water stop, we sang at the top of our lungs “Let’s hear it for the boys” as it played through the speakers. And no lie, our legs followed this burst of energy. When wee were running, it was at a healthy clip between 9:50-10:15/mile.

And one of my favorite points was when Bri asked why there were tamales all over the ground. They were banana peels! I guess Bri thinks tamales would be a nice mid-race snack to hand out. (WHO’S BRI!?)

At mile 21, we saw the boys and I stopped to stretch. JD asked me why my hips hurt so badly (“Because they don’t lie) and was quite concerned. I just told him I was out of shape. Truth hurts – my body really wasn’t trained to run when tired like in years past. But I was getting through it. Nathan, the ever so helpful cheerleader reached down and started massaging my leg which felt equally awful and amazing.

making nice with the photogs

When we reached mile 23, I saw the familiar point where a group of people were handing out Busch Light. JD drank two of them with this group last year (and still finished with an incredible time). As Bri suggested we stop, I said “I’ll do it if you guys do” and before we knew it, we were walking along the course, drinking Busch Light out of a paper cup and laughing hysterically. Let me tell you – this BL was the best beer I think I have ever tasted. And at the very same time, Meg spotted a man with a whole tarp full of medical supplies, one of which being a roller. He told us to get in line and he first rolled the outside of her hips and legs and then I asked him if he could roll my ass. He knew what I meant – piriformis. So there I was, drinking a beer in the middle of a marathon while our medical angel rolled my hip. It felt glorious.

The next mile was the Gatorade mile and they handed out delicious chews (thank gosh both Clif and Gatorade had fuel so I never even needed that gel JD gave away!) And right after, a lovely woman handed us small packets of Wild Berry skittles. I don’t mind if I do.

We were running pretty damn fast when we were running. I just had so much energy. My legs felt fine as long as they were moving and at one point I told Bri I felt like I could fly through those last 3 miles. I have no idea where it came from, but it felt good to feel good.

speedy and happy

Trust me, we did our fair share of PJ (pretentious jogging) but those last 5 miles or so, we looked and felt strong. We just took breaks.

As we approached mile 25, we scanned the edges of the course around for the guys and low and behold, there they were drinking Bloody Marys and eating chips and salsa at a bar. We ran up to them and while I ate a chip and sipped Ted’s beer, we chatted with all of them. They told us that everyone else was finished: Christi at a 4:04, Karen a 4:06, Dana a 4:35, Adam a 4:41. They all killed it with huge PRs. We were thrilled for them.

As we started to depart, we decided to sing “Let’s Hear it for the Boys” for them since they were such amazing cheerleaders. They got some good pictures of our tomfoolery.

dance it out

Mile 25. Typically I am crying at this point. On Sunday? I danced.

Our final mile was tough. Maybe it was the dancing or the chips or the beer. Maybe it was the fact that with only one mile to go it always feels like forever. But we trudged through and ran up the worst and final hill of the race (which happens to be within .2 of the finish line). As we approached the finish, we grabbed hands and wore the biggest smiles of the day on our faces.

The clock said 5:04. It’s my worst time of all 9 marathons. But there hasn’t been a single minute where that mattered to me.

The After Party….

After we crossed that line we wrapped our then frigid bodies in a space blanket and went straight to the 312 tent for a post-race beer. Becker was waiting for us and the four of us hobbled toward the family meeting area.

all smiles after the race

Becker, Meg, Meggie and Bri

The family meeting area feels like another 26.2 miles away so as we slowly made our way there, Bri stopped to finally relieve her bladder at a porta-potty. The poor girl had to go for 5+ hours! While she used the facility, I decided I needed a little rest.

space blanket + rest + beer = happiness

When we finally met up with the fans we all just sat in the grass in the sun and told stories. The boys told us about all the crazy stuff they saw like someone wiping vaseline in a private area out in the public. We laughed about the costumes we saw (One guy dressed as Queen Elizabeth including a handbag, mauve women’s suit and a mask!). We went for multiple beer runs. We danced. We ate beef sticks and craved more of them.

Ted me and Becker

my boys

jack line, what?!

The Hotel Lobby….

I got the race I trained for. My body wasn’t in good enough shape to run this nonstop, with any hope of a PR. My head wasn’t right until mile 6. But I had the BEST time. In fact, we kept calling it our BR instead of a PR – it’s our best race. I was able to relax and forget about the pressure of a specific time. I was with two of my absolute favorites. We felt so loved by all of our fans who worked hard to see us at every stop. I drank a beer, I ate skittles, I danced, I sang. I crossed the line holding hands with best friends. And the minute it was over, I wasn’t obsessing over my finish time. I wasn’t doing math to determine the per/mile pace. I was just blissfully happy.

We took what could have been a frustrating, depressing day and made it a great one. Marathon #9 goes down in the books as a pretty monumental one.

Sep 8

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20 miles + Color Me Rad

As you guys know, running has been a bit of a chore for me lately. Two weeks ago, I talked about this big wall I am trying to run through and though I ran 5x last week, my long run capped at 14 rather than the 20 I attempted. The humidity was 90% and my body was just drained of energy.

This week, life got in the way of running. Buying/selling a house + work + a short work week meant I got 3 miles in on Monday and nothing after that. So yesterday, as some of the girls were going to run Friday morning instead of Saturday, I decided I was going to do 20. No excuses. I just had to get the full 20 miles in.

So I did. I started at 5:15am and ran 4 with Jen and Meg. Then we met Karen, Lori and Ashley for the next 10. Ashley, Karen, Lori and I ran the next 2 together and Karen kept with me for the last 4. I felt REALLY good between miles 9-15. The last four, however, were SLOW. But I did it and was so happy to get over the mental block of doing 20 miles.

completely drenched

Last spring I felt like I was doing 20 every other weekend – no big deal. But this training season, it’s become this behemoth that has stressed me out. With 4-20 milers under my belt I have one more before I start tapering for the Chicago Marathon. And at least now I know I can do it. My shoes were soaked from all the sweat and humidity. And my body just hurt. I have self-diagnosed myself with plantar fasciitis and I can feel my achilles tightening again. My hip (piriformis) hurts. My calf is tight. This body is no wonderland. But the positive of all this is that I am seeing a sports massage therapist today at 1:45! He promises to work out my calves and hammys and for a full hour! I will be sure to report on it’s success but I need something. I can’t risk achilles tendinitis again.

Fast forward to this morning….the Color Me Rad 5k! I had quite a few free passes I was able to give out (thanks, Gretchen!) and so Dana, Christi, Adam and Stacy met at the Fairgrounds to take on this rainbow adventure. The idea is to wear all white, pick up as much color as possible while running and end up colored rad.

tatted up

Christi and Dana ran 9 miles beforehand and Adam planned on 16 after. But Stacy and I were plenty happy with just 3.1 today. In fact, this was her FIRST 5k! You can read all about her fitness adventures on her blog. She wanted to run today’s race in 38 minutes and typically runs by running a minute, walking a minute. Not today…..today she rocked it!

dressed in white

Before the race began, some of the participants had purchased extra bags of color so were already getting messy. We stayed pretty clean until the first half mile when we reached the purple station. As we approached, I put on my sunglasses so I wouldn’t get the food colored corn starch in my eyes. I wanted to get blasted and blasted I got! As we ran through, a volunteer threw a huge handful at my face. It was awesome.

headed toward a cloud of purple

Adam's awesome action shot

all smiles

We all stayed together throughout the entire race and hadn’t walked once at this point. Stacy was incredible! She ran much better than I think even she thought she could! Plus her bubbly personality just made everyone around her happy. I’m guessing that’s pretty common in her world. The next station was a green blast of water which was cold and yet awesome. Although at this point I realized I needed to protect my phone just a little better from the blasts!

Stacy and I

From there, we hit the pink cloud of color and were just covered. Christi looked like a pink serpent.

after pink

We took a few brief walking breaks but overall kept a steady pace. And all of us just reveled in the fact that this was such a fun way to run. There were good runners and walkers. Kids. People of all ages and shapes and sizes. I didn’t see a single person NOT smiling. It was exactly what I needed to remind of why running can be fun.

As we neared the end, we were handed our own packet of color so at the finish, there was just a dense fog of dust. We shook color all over ourselves and others and crossed the finish line strong and laughing. Stacy’s boyfriend, Greg, was right there cheering us on. Even he had picked up some blue dust! We washed the color out of our teeth and then surveyed the damage. We looked absolutely ridiculous and yet awesome. This is exactly what we wanted.

Looks like we emerged from a skittles explosion!

It was immediately decided that we needed to cap off this awesome morning with a Bagel Deli breakfast so we took our blue bodies north. We definitely got some stares as we entered the restaurant but thank gosh we had strength in numbers.

I couldn’t be happier about this weekend’s running. Though the 20 miler wasn’t easy, breezy beautiful, I got through it. And this morning’s 5K gave me such a renewed sense for my love of running. Being able to share with people who had just as much fun as I did made it a perfect morning.

Jul 6

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Freedom Run – 2012

To celebrate our great nation’s freedom, what better than to run a 4.5 mile race in stifling heat and humidity?

JD and I have done this the past two years and we do like this race. It’s well organized and not too crowded. But it is always, without fail, stupid hot. So this year, just like last, I wore my best patriotic garb….with as little clothing as possible.

from sea to shining sea

JD and I arrived early and he ran 1.5 miles to warm up. Christi ran from her house to the start line so also was warmed up. I was warm just standing there. We saw some familiar faces of running friends and kept our eyes peeled for U S of A outfits. But no one dressed in costumes like years prior. I think the heat was just too much.

before we got sweaty

Jaime arrived with her boys and soon after, we lined up at the start. Though this is a pretty short race, just 4.5 miles, I had no intention of “racing.” We ended up (SPOILER ALERT) at a 10:04/mile pace for the entire distance. Jaime was pushing a double stroller, for heaven’s sake. We were just running.

The course is pretty much all sun so we were sweaty beasts. I have to say, though I don’t make a practice of it due to body issues, running in a sports bra was incredibly freeing. The “wind” on my skin helped keep the body heat down a bit. But what I could not get over was Jaime rocking out our pace while pushing a 2 and 4 year old. At one point, Christi took over and then I did. Let me tell you….I know that these strollers are engineered for the most minimal effort possible. But it’s still tough as hell. What I didn’t realize is that having to have my arms engaged constantly, rather than swinging at my sides, just wore me out. I doubt I made it even a full mile before I handed her offspring back to Jaime. Moms and Dads out there: You guys are badasses for pushing those things while running! I have a new appreciation for you.

Christi, Luke and Jacob with their medals

When we turned the corner and saw the finish line, there was JD waiting in the wings. He, of course, got 5th in his age group. Because that’s just what he does.

we wear short shorts

This was my 8th race this year. By far my most “race heavy” year thus far but things will slow down over the next few months. I’ll still be running in this heat…in fact this morning I did 7 miles with Jaime and tomorrow I’ll be doing 17 with the girls. But summertime races? With heat and humidity? No thanks.

Jun 14

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Ragnar Relay 2012

It’s taken me over 4 days to start this blog. I don’t know how to describe 34 hours and 21 minutes of running with a team of 11 women, across states in 100 degree heat in some sort of succinct way. So, screw it. I’m just gonna write. And if this post gets too long and you get bored, I ain’t mad atcha. This is therapeutic for me, whether anyone reads it or not. That being said, it’s a good story. So I encourage you to grab your coffee (wine?) and settle in.

The Setting:

The Ragnar Relay is an 198 mile race starting in Madison, WI and ending on the Lake Michigan Beach in Chicago. Start times are based on the paces you provide for your team as the organizers would like everyone to roughly finish around the same time. (Ours was at 7:30am on Friday.) The typical team consists of 12 people who transport themselves in 2 vans. Van 1 runs the first 6 “legs,” the van meeting at each exchange to drop a runner off and pick up the one that just completed. When Van 1 is done, Van 2 begins. Each person runs 3 legs. The legs are labeled as “easy,” “moderate,” “hard, “very hard” which are based off a number of variables like hills, time of day, isolation, and lack of sleep. Vans cannot “shadow” a runner (drive behind the runner) but they can “leapfrog” which means driving a few miles ahead to cheer for the runner along the course. Speaking of, the course is not marked off. Cars still drive along the roads. And you aren’t ever running in a pack as other runners are few and far between. Things like healthy meals, sleep, water- stops and sanity do not exist in this race. It’s not for the weak at heart.

Our team truly consisted of Perfect Strangers – a smattering of girls I run with every weekend to girls I knew not at all. That, of course, changed quickly.

Thursday:

After much planning by our team captain, Kelly, the two vans left Indianapolis around 2pm. Jessica, Stephanie, Karen and Meghan left from my house as the “southsiders” and Bri, Kelly, Jaime, Rachel and Sandi left from the northside. They picked up Donna and Megan around the Chicago area on the way up. Our van took about 6.5 hours to get to Madison and we spent the majority of our time getting to know each other, eating Skittles and telling stories. There were also at least 3-4 playings of “Call Me Maybe” as it was no doubt the theme song for our team. It was evident very early on that the girls I was teamed with were incredible people – all with their own battles and challenges. All with amazing spirits. All inspirations.

Upon arrival in Madison, we went straight to dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. The girls from the other van were already seated and enjoying an adult beverage. We couldn’t wait to get out of the van and see/meet the rest of our team. As Meghan (our awesome driver for the entire route) pulled into the parking garage next to the restaurant, I made a joke about how “I hope our van doesn’t hit the garage ceiling.” Hahahaha we all thought. But as she drove further into the depths of shallowness, we all got quiet. And then we heard the screech when the van roof scraped the ceiling. Without thinking, all 5 of us ducked as Meghan pressed the brakes. As she cleared the low rafter, I suggested she just park in the handicap spot to our right. We couldn’t risk going further down so I popped out to direct traffic. But when she started to maneuver the van in that direction, she stopped. Put the van in park, hopped out and said “I’m done.” After 6.5 hours driving a 15-passenger van, who could blame her! So I got into the driver’s seat and thought I could clear the hanging light and get into that spot. It only took about 12 inches of moving forward before I realized this van was going nowhere. The girls in the back of the van agreed: it was time to retreat.

So after some three-point turns and more scraping, we finally got back to where we could see the light of day. But you know how most garages have that bar that hangs down and tells you how tall the ceilings are so you don’t scrape the the roof? Well we managed to ignore and avoid it completely on the way down (obviously). And with a truck doing essentially the same thing and blocking our exit, our only way out was to drive “under” the bar. Meg tried to hold it up for me to clear it but we eventually had to ask the other car to move and we were finally ready to exit the garage.

“Meg, do you have the ticket?” No. She didn’t. We searched the entire van. Meghan’s purse. Her person. NOTHING. So as the line behind us accumulated and the “call for help” button did nothing but ring, a man came to our rescue. “What’s the problem ladies?” I explained how we couldn’t find our ticket and we had only been in the garage for 4 minutes but we couldn’t get out without it. He found an old ticket on the ground, inserted it and for $11, we were finally free from the garage. Our hero.

Alas, dinner awaited us. Sitting on the patio, staring across an amazing lake I looked at our team. Some were complete strangers to me. Some were complete strangers to me a year ago. But what we were about to embark on would bond us for life.

me and my girl, Jaime

Bri, Jaime and Me

Team Ragnar!

After dinner, we spent time in the hotel parking lot packing our respective vans and decorating the outside. And within minutes of completion, we were nestled in our beds, ready to sleep. After about 10 minutes of silence in our room, I bursted out with “Guys. I really can’t get “Call Me Maybe” out of my head.”

Friday:

We woke up bright and early and changed into our matching outfits. Van 1, wearing yellow, consisted of (in order of running) Bri, Kelly, Meghan, Karen, me, Jaime. Van 2, wearing purple, consisted of Sandi, Stephanie, Jess, Rachel, Megan, Donna. We met in the lobby to take a team picture and then Van 1 headed to the start while Van 2 rested.

Perfect Strangers

At the start line, we picked up our materials, attended a safety session and then lined up at the start line to support Bri. When they announced our team name, the 6 of us erupted with cheers and then started singing Call Me Maybe to help calm the nerves of our first runner. But she didn’t need any calming – our Boppy Fairy killed her first leg! As she ran, we took off towards exchange 1 with a quick coffee pit stop on the way.

Van 1

Boppy Fairy before her first run!

Van decoration

At exchange 1, Bri came in strong and passed off to Kelly. Though it was early, we could tell it was pretty darn hot. And on the drive to exchange 2, we noticed how sunny Kel’s run was. It was just the beginning of the heat element we’d all deal with over the next two days. There was no letting up.

Bri handing off to Kelly

As we waited for Kel to round that corner at Exchange 2, we saw a man take off who clearly had trouble running. Watching him race after it, with his awkward gait and clearly struggling, the first tears came. Jaime and I laughed that it only took 72 minutes before I cried. But he inspired me. If he was going to do this, so were we. Kel ran in strong and passed to Meghan.

the "baton" was a slap bracelet

On the way to Exchange 3, we saw that man again and Jaime said “Quick! Someone distract Meggie before she cries again!” I love how these girls know me so well. Meg passed to Karen after her fast first leg. And as we waited for Karen to complete her 7+ mile run, we decided it was time for a dance party.

We opened the doors to the van. We cranked up the volume. And we danced. Hard. People watched. Some took pictures. Some even danced with us. You’ll never guess what song we were dancing to.

epic.

And as we started our trek to the exchange point, we spotted the Oscar Mayer mobile. So of course, we posed.

My first leg was up next and it was my worst – 6.3 miles and “hard.” So the nerves were obvious. I cranked up the music. And when Karen came flying in, I took off.

nervous!

My first couple of miles were on a trail so though it was boring, it was at least flat. But when we turned onto the country roads, it was rough. The temp was 81 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. The roads were rolling with hills. And the scene in front of me was nothingness. Just miles and miles of road. I took a walking break at mile 2. And again for water at mile 3.6. At this point, I texted the girls “This is effing brutal.” They heard my cry and came to my rescue at mile 5.35 cheering their heads off. It was exactly what I needed to continue running and to make it to the exchange chute without another walking break.

unrelenting sunny, country roads

Jaime was up next and the minute I got into the van I told the girls that we had to help her. It was too hot and this was the longest leg of the race– 11 miles on those country roads….she was going to need us. She ran the first 3 on her own and felt good. As we waited for her so that Karen could jump in with her for the next two miles, we started choreographing our Call Me Maybe (CMM) dance routine. The van next to us loved it and ended up videotaping us as Jaime rolled in. She stopped for at least a couple minutes to break it down in the middle of the road with us. We danced next to barns and cows and had other runners cracking up. I tell ya – this group knows how to make running fun.

so happy

Jaime - mid run

yep, those are cows behind me

After the song wrapped up, Karen took off with Jaime. Then Meghan ran two miles with her. Then Kelly ran a mile alongside her. And then, as the 5 of us navigated our way to the first major exchange (where we’d meet up with Van 2), Jaime knocked out the final one by herself.

Jaime & Karen

Meghan & Jaime

After we parked, a woman yelled after us “Hey! I follow your blog!” which made us all so excited. She recognized the Perfect Strangers! We hugged our other teammates and wished them luck. It was the first time we had seen the other van since the hotel that morning and it felt weird that we were all a team, yet had spent so many hours with just the 6 of us. On the way back to the van I said “It doesn’t feel like we are a 12-person team. It feels like we are two separate 6-people teams” Ha! Little did I know….

Leg 1? DONE.

During our break, we ate Qdoba (great idea right?) and went to Target for more supplies. We stood in the Target parking lot, wiping ourselves down with baby wipes and using spray baby powder to feel fresh. Only during Ragnar is such behavior acceptable!

It should also be noted that Christi, who couldn’t be on Ragnar because of her 10-year college reunion, was an incredible cheerleader from afar throughout this entire race. She texted us pictures of signs she made and always had the most inspirational messages for us. We definitely felt her presence and missed her on our team.

From there we went to the major exchange to wait for Van 2. We had plenty of hours to wait so we played a game that Meghan brought, I asked random questions and once people got their second wind, we started choreographing our Call Me Maybe dance routine. You’ve probably seen the Harvard Baseball team’s video. And there are plenty of others out there, so you better believe we had talked all week about making our own. We memorized the lyrics and brainstormed our moves. And trust me when I say that practicing outside our 15-passenger van, wearing matching yellow tanks and spandex got a lot of other teams’ attention. When we finally felt ready, a stranger offered to videotape the dance for us but upon review, we realized we needed to tighten up some things. So when Jaime’s brother Robb came by with his teammate Brad, we knew we had our videographer. And without further ado….I present the Perfect Strangers Call Me Maybe video.

Call Me Maybe

After our masterpiece, we rested in the air conditioned van and waited for updates on Van 2. We also tested who could make the better lioness. Clearly the sweat and lack of shower made for some awesome hair.

roar!

After a quick bite to eat, we all took another baby-wipe shower and got dressed into our nighttime running gear. Rules stated that from 7:30pm to 6am, we were required to wear reflective vests. And when running, we had to have a headlight and taillight. At this point, the second van cruised into the exchange and we heard the awful news about Rachel’s mom. An emergency at home, we were all scared for what was happening. Her strength and attitude were incredible and the fact that we had 3 nurses on our team didn’t hurt. I was once again in awe of the women I was running alongside. Each one is both beautiful inside and out. We lined up at the corral to wait for Donna to come through and took a team picture.

reflective vests? check.

As Donna came running in like a speed demon, Bri took off. Our van was back in action. At the next exchange, we found a playground and of course, we played.

Jaime doing some rock climbing

Bri is so reflective

Bri rocked another great leg and Kelly did too. As we waited for Kel to show up, Bri and I started “tagging,” which basically means writing our sign or team name on other teams’ vans without them noticing. We got through at least 5-6 vans with “PS4eva” and felt so scandalous doing so. Meghan was up next and had 5+ miles to run so Karen vowed to run the last couple with her. The night had fallen. Though we were all thrilled that the temperatures had dropped significantly, it was very dark and a bit scary.

smack that.

When Meghan finished, she jumped on the bike we brought so she could ride alongside Karen and keep her company. This was right around the same time I was crying silently to myself.

handoff

I only had 3.9 miles to run but I was supposed to start at 9:30pm. Given the heat, we all ran slower than expected so were at least 2 hours behind. And the thought of running at midnight, by myself, in the dark, scared the shiz out of me. I didn’t want to do it. I wanted a friend. A biker. A van behind me. And once I let those emotions start, they didn’t stop. But the last thing I wanted was for my team to think I was weak. So I wore my sunglasses at night to hide the tears. And I texted the only person I knew to be awake – my bestie Dan. He quoted Game of Thrones and told me “The only way you can be brave is if you are afraid.” It was what I needed to hear. So as I stood in the dark, waiting for Karen to arrive, I vowed no more tears. K & M had gotten a bit lost but arrived in good time. I turned on Bri’s knuckle lights (which, btw, are amazing!) and took off. No music this time as I wanted to be aware of my surroundings. My legs felt strong and so I ran fast. The more afraid I was, the faster I ran. I had borrowed Kel’s GPS watch and didn’t understand her settings so couldn’t figure out the distance or the pace but I knew that I was flying. Each time I heard a bush next to me rustle, I propelled myself further into the middle of the road and turned the feet on turbo. I passed a couple of runners and when I ran through the chute, passing the slap bracelet to Jaime, I was just thrilled to be done. I am not sure of the exact distance -it seemed shortened but I did the math and think I did around 8 min/miles (which is fast for me!). I guess it pays to be a scaredy cat.

I survived!

At the major exchange point, we waited for Jaime to come flying through and talked with Van 2. Sandi was night-ready with all her accessories! To see what it’s like running at 3am, check out our teammate Rachel’s video of her 2nd leg in the middle of the night. Now you can understand why I was so scared.

accessorized!

Van 1 was done with 2 legs and we were ready for food and “sleep.” We found a Denny’s on our way to Racine so we pulled in. It dubbed as a truck stop so a few of us went in and changed into our comfy clothes after another baby wipe down. Jaime, Meg and I went into Dennys for a late night meal. The other girls slept in the parking lot. Oh….Dennys. We ran into another Ragnar team who came up and said “Which one of you is Meggie Dials. I just started following you on Twitter.” I laughed that I surely looked nothing like my Twitter handle. I mean….just look at this amazing fro.

Shelly, our waitress, was bitterly hilarious. We ordered pancake poppers. And I ordered off the Senior Citizens menu. And as we rewatched our CMM video, Shelly scolded us “I hate that song!” At one point, Jaime curled up on the bench and I yelled at her “Under no circumstances will you fall asleep at Dennys at 2am in Racine Wisconsin. I will not let that happen.” The laughter was constant.

On the drive to the exchange point, the back four benches were full of sleeping beauties. Jaime drove, and I kept the conversation going. Meg later said she could hear us talking and thought “Why on earth is Meggie asking Jaime about her 4th of July plans at 3am?” But I was doing anything to keep us both awake. Sleep teased our eyelids. The minute we pulled into the YMCA, we both crashed in the front bucket seats. I wish I could tell you we slept for hours….but it was actually just one, single hour. When I awoke at 4am, I was stressed about missing our exchange. I knew we were super far behind from our predicted times, but we hadn’t heard how the other team was doing so we weren’t sure when their final runner would arrive. Jaime turned to me and said “I’m done. I want to go home” and I lost it. It as everything I was feeling but not saying. But I too was homesick. And yet we had so many hours before we’d even be on our way back to Indy. Bri and I went into the Y for the bathroom and saw showers. Glorious, beautiful showers. But we aint got time for that.

Saturday:

When we returned to the van, Karen was talking to Rachel and we got the bad news. Their entire team felt sick. Donna and Sandi were vomiting. Everyone else was feeling sick too. But our van also didn’t feel well. No sleep. Unhealthy food. Running in the heat. Our bodies felt hungover and our tummies felt rebellious. Kel made the dreaded call back to Rachel “Hey Rachel. So we kind of feel like we are being prepped that not everyone in your van is going to be able to complete their 3rd leg and we just need to be prepared if we are going to need to run more miles.” Rachel was the only one feeling good out of that van and was confident they would rally. So we did too. With about 30 minutes before go-time, I crawled into the back bench and slept like a baby for 20-30 minutes, only to be awoken by a horsefly. Don’t worry. He paid the ultimate price.

We made it down to the beach to see Bri off for her final leg. She felt awful but looked adorable and by the time we got back to the van, all of us were committed to finding our second (third? fourth? fifth?) wind. We changed into our final running outfit and took a few pictures as we waited for Boppy Fairy to come through.

Meg Squared

Looking pretty good for no sleep

Pointed toes on our tiny dancer

We had some time to spare when Kel was running, so we hit up the gas station for more water and ice. And then we frolicked near this beautiful lake. We took pictures. We did a cartwheel contest. And we were approached by a man who recognized us as “the dancers.” By this time, we were up to 600 hits on our CMM video and Ragnarians were loving it. Maybe it was the yellow glasses that gave us away, but we didn’t shy away from the attention.

Call me, maybe?

Meg, Karen, Jaime, Bri, me

Kel came running in blasting CMM from her phone and saying “FML” the minute it ended. It was hot already and none of us were too excited about what that implied for the rest of our day.

Kelly is done! (Or so she thought.....)

Meghan took off on her trek and this was her hardest leg – in both difficulty and distance. As we waited for her at the exchange, we all decided we would weigh in on this little concept called “kills” at the Ragnar Relay. We noticed a LOT of vans had this tallied on their windows and quickly realized this mean how many people they passed as they were running. And it infuriated us. First, no one likes being passed. Secondly, to know when it happens that someone is counting you in some fictional competition? Makes it only worse. Not to mention, when did this become an actual race? We were out there with our team, getting through the grueling miles. And if we passed someone, we said hello, good job and kept on. We never once thought we were better than that runner. In fact, it made me want to baby-wipe-off every tally count I saw. Also at this exchange, I entered a porta-potty that was occupied. As I ran away in embarrassment, I ducked behind Jaime and said “You did that, not me” as I hid in the background. We erupted into giggles.

Meg is "done"

Meghan came in running strong but feeling emotional. We all were. Lack of sleep, hot temps, long miles. None of it was easy – and Karen knew that all too well as she took off on another 7.7 mile run. She was a machine this entire race – with fast splits and tough legs. So this time, we made sure we could see her halfway through. But before we leapfrogged her, we took some group shots. One of which referenced a late night conversation.

beauties

Scissor Sisters

We stopped on a trail and hung out with some other teams about halfway through Karen’s leg. We cheered for every person who ran through whether they were Rangar runners or not. And when Karen was spotted, we told everyone around us to yell for her.

waiting for Karen to run through

My leg was up next and I was nervous about my 4.9 miles. Mainly because of the heat and lack of sleep, but Karen came in strong and I cranked up Pandora. I was off.

stretch it out

My third leg was on the most boring trail imaginable. There was shade for only 1/2 a mile. The rest was sunny. Next to a train track. The miles dragged on but I was running decently fast given the heat and came in at a 9:35/mile pace.The hard part is that when you are running a normal race, it’s all about you. If you need to walk, you make that decision. You let yourself down. But in a relay, you know everyone is eager for you to finish so when you walk or slow down, you feel like you are disappointing 11 other people. Though I felt strong in all of my runs, I still wanted to be stronger for my team. And when I finished, I wanted to jump up and down with my team and celebrate and relax. But you can’t do that. Because another runner has to go and the van has to get on the road. This isn’t a race for the weary. When I entered the chute, the girls were waiting for me with their hair teased like lions. I love them.

The handoffs of my 3rd leg

Jaime is off!

We met Jaime halfway through her “final” run and gave her (as well as the man running behind her) some fresh baby wipes to clear the sweat. And from there, we went to the final major exchange. We met van 2 and we could just see on their faces the anxiety they had over running in the heat. It was hard to be excited about being finished with our legs when our teammates still had so much to go. Also at this time, Rachel got an update about her family situation and needed to leave the race early. Kelly immediately volunteered to take her leg. And then the wheels started turning.

Jaime pulled in strong and Sandi started running in her hilariously large hat.

giddyup

And Van 1 grouped together and made a decision. We could go to the finish and relax for 5+ hours. OR, we could stay with Van 2 and help them get through their miles. We could split them up. We could cheer them on. And we’d all probably be done sooner. With this decision, we were finally going to be a 12 person team, not two 6 person teams. So even though we had all scratched off our final leg, we were going back for more. It’s the Perfect Strangers way.

So with this change in plans, we started strategizing the next 5 legs. Sandi was rocking hers out alone but from there, Van 1 was going to be present in some capacity with Van 2. As Steph took the next leg, we met her halfway and Kelly jumped in. During this time, I somehow crashed and got another 20 minutes of blissful sleep. When Steph jumped into the van with us she told us how appreciative she was that Kelly and her split the 6 miles. It was so brutally hot. At the next exchange, Kelly was struggling. We had all planned to eat lunch during our break but with our new plan, there was no break. So none of us had eaten anything other than Skittles. Jaime came to the rescue and when they rounded the corner, Meg and I took off.

Our most brilliant move of this race was the bike/running combo. I wish we had started it much earlier! I ran for 10 minutes with Meg next to me on the bike. Then we swapped. While I got to rest and feel the breeze on my face, she ran. Then we’d swap again. We did 4.8 miles this way and not only was it much easier on both of us, we also could run much faster. We knocked that leg out in record time and actually it was quite glorious. We were on a beautifully shaded trail almost the entire time and had fun chatting and laughing together.

As we approached the chute, we called Jaime and told her that every leg should do the running/biking combo and so they did. The next group was Jess with Steph on the bike. Jess ran her entire leg but loved having the company.

While we parked the van to wait for the next exchange, I could see Lake Michigan. I said “I am going to shower in that lake.” All I wanted was to be clean. To change clothes. To tame the Lion Mane. So with a baggie full of toiletries, we snuck down to this private, secret beach. Bri and Jaime sat in the sun while Kelly, Meghan and I went to the quiet part of the water. It was absolutely freezing but we didn’t care. Well we didn’t until we got in trouble with the lifeguard for bathing in the dog section of the beach. Ooopsies! Meg and I did a little investigating and found a hose by the bathroom. So I stripped down to my sports bra and running skirt and showered. It felt incredible. And was the boost I needed.

And from there, Megan S. rocked out while Steph biked alongside her. And then….the FINAL leg. Jaime ran the first 3 miles with Donna on the bike. We drove to meet them and Jaime jumped in the van, Kelly jumped out. Kelly and Donna biked/ran the final 5 miles together.

There aren’t a lot of pictures during these last few legs because we were all just trying to get through them. Our spirits were down. I was crying on command. We were all just wiped. And because I was an emotional wreck, I managed to miss our exit to Montrose Beach where the finish line awaited us. With a 20 minute detour and quick driver change, we pulled in after Donna and Kelly. They waited for us to arrive so we could all cross the finish line together – 11 strong women, with Rachel in our hearts.

The finish line was anticlimactic. We got our medals. We took some pictures. And then we GTFO. But we felt like a 12-person team. We were no longer 2 separate vans.

34 hours 21 minutes

We stopped in Merriville on the way home to clean off our van and to get some lunch (at 6:30pm) finally. It was then that we all started to become our normal selves again. Bri had been so quiet since noon. Karen had a migraine. I was constantly crying. But at Chick-Fil-A, we laughed. We were feeling normal and surprisingly, were already entertaining thoughts of next year’s Ragnar.

The drive home was long but we kept the spirits high with 90′s rap songs and Disney showtunes. And when we said our goodbyes, we weren’t sad. We were all so happy to be home, we didn’t feel empty leaving each other. At least not yet.

But at 1am the next day, I felt uneasy about not being in the van with those girls. I was clean, comfy and in my own bed but I wanted to be with them. They are another family to me. What we went through was crazy emotional and physically draining and mentally exhausting. We all felt “hungover” for days and the tears (at least for me) didn’t stop until Monday afternoon. I don’t know how to explain why this is so hard. I ran a total of what, 18 miles? So the distance wasn’t that bad. But when you add in no sleep and long hours of waiting and constant adrenaline and the fact that you can only control one little tiny part of the whole big equation….it just takes a toll.

It was an incredible experience and I applaud any of you who made it through this entire post. If you are considering a Ragnar in the future, a few things you must have:

A wonderful planner (we had Kelly!)
41 oz of Skittles
Chocolate
Lots of baby wipes
Plenty of water bottles
A few people always willing to drive and a couple navigators
Laughter
An AUX cord for the van so you have good tunes
Cheerleaders on the outside who can talk you off a ledge
Best friends

Want more? We’ve got your back. Two more blogs from other Perfect Stranger Ragnarians.

Rachel’s post

Kelly’s post

Jun 4

6 Comments

Rainbow Run

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog. Don’t worry….I didn’t disappear. I just didn’t do a lot of running. After 3 weeks straight of racing, my body decided to reject running. No really. I don’t know how I could run a 31 mile Ultra Marathon and then 10 days later not be able to do 3 miles, but that’s exactly what happened. I told JD “I am so out of shape” after a painful 3 miler last week. His response: “You are an idiot. You ran three races. You aren’t out of shape. Your legs just haven’t recovered.” And I think he’s right. Because this weekend, Stella finally got her groove back.

It started with the Rainbow Run this past Saturday. As a kick off for Pride week, this inaugural event was a 5K where all proceeds support the IndyPride Resource Center and fund HIV education. Say no more. I wanted to be a part of this.

So a few weeks ago, I put out a request on our Perfect Strangers Facebook page to see who else I could wrangle in. Meghan, Christi and Micki all chimed in immediately. And then last week, we all decided we’d wear fun socks and bright colors to be part of this rainbow event.

Now with all the racing I have done, this was only my second 5K. Typically, if I am training for a marathon, 3.1 miles just isn’t enough distance to justify the hassle of getting to the race, picking up a packet, dealing with crowds, etc. But this one came at a perfect time. It was the perfect distance. For a cause I care deeply about. And with fun friends.

So at 7:15am, Christi picked me up. The weather was actually perfect for a race -in the low 50s but with the sun shining. So I wore a neon tank, black shorts, tall socks and then used another pair for arm warmers. With a little help from a pair of keys, I was able to cut holes for my thumbs!

thumbs up!

We grabbed our bibs and tshirts at the registration desk and waited for our friends to arrive. Though the field was only 360 strong, we found lots of people we knew and the energy was infectious. Whoever created the start/finish line playlist needs to come make one for me because all I wanted to do was dance! C and I were stoked about the tees and loved checking out people’s outfits. We were slightly disappointed that more people didn’t dress in their best Pride wear, but it was the race’s first year. I am sure next year will be even better!

race prep

Meg and Jake showed up soon after, Christi found a couple of friends, and Micki (who lives just down the street from the start line) arrived in plenty of time for some photo ops.

Meg, Christi and I

The way I am standing makes me look like a little person

Micki, me, Christi and Meghan

The race was set to start at 8:30am so we lined up without so much of a race strategy. In fact, I didn’t even bring my watch. Like I said, my body wasn’t really feeling the whole running thing as of late so I was just happy to be out there, doing a fun run with little pressure. And when the gun went off, we took off through the beautiful Herron Morton neighborhood.

we're off!

JD and I have been considering a move downtown for some time now, so this race was a perfect scouting trip for me. We ran through the exact neighborhoods I would consider so it was fun to size up the houses.

Jake took off in front of us and Christi didn’t last too long either before she ran ahead. So it was the three Ms sticking together. I don’t know what our pace was nor did I care. I felt good and was having fun chatting with these two. The only thing I didn’t love was that there were no mile markers. Though I felt good, I had no idea how far we’d gone or how much we had left. Had we at least brought a GPS watch, I think we could have kicked it up even more at the end knowing we could get to the finish line. But as we rounded that final corner, Micki’s family was cheering loudly for us as were our friends at the finish. We crossed around 29:25 which was just fine by me. And even better, we were handed the coolest medals ever. All with different color ribbon, we actually got a medal for a 5k! (Take note, Sam Costa)

We spent the next ten minutes, mingling with friends and cheering on others as they finished. I really loved this race. It was intimate and fun and with a community of people that I could have spent the entire day with.

When we all parted ways, Christi and I headed back north. We went to breakfast at Bagel Deli in Broadripple and as we ate our sandwiches and gossiped, an idea started to form in my head. I knew I couldn’t say it aloud until I had convinced myself it was a good idea. Christi isn’t someone you can throw an idea out to and then back out. But once I was sure, I said “I know this sounds a little silly. But we are in workout gear. And the Monon is right there. Wanna knock out another 3 miles?”

Of course she didn’t even hesitate. So we took off our medals and bibs. We finished our Diet Cokes and we headed to the deck. A few ladies commented on our matching socks and we told them we just ran the Rainbow Run and were tacking on a few miles. And that’s exactly what we did. Three miles on the Monon felt great. Just being out there, in my safe place, was amazing. I can’t tell you the last time I ran on a Saturday morning on the Monon but it’s been a long time. And it felt gooooooood.

We held about a 9:10-9:15/mile pace and cruised in feeling a little stomach crampy (I mean, we did just eat breakfast between our two 5Ks) but with big smiles on our face.

And yesterday I went back out and knocked out another 6 miles- the longest run I have done consistently since the Ultra. I felt great with mile 5 even coming in at a 8:25/mile pace. Like I said, Stella thinks she’s got her groove back.

Happy Pride Week, Indy! Thanks for putting on such a great race.

May 22

12 Comments

Cleveland Marathon – cheering for JD

On the drive to Cleveland, JD says to me “You know, the marathon field isn’t full. You could run this too.” And immediately, the wheels were turning: yes, I had the right clothes and shoes. I could do this. But because I was committed to being there for him, I pushed those thoughts out of my head fast. And thank gosh I did. I can promise you that I did not want to run that race.

We arrived Saturday, checked into our hotel in Cleveland and headed to the expo. It was a pretty good one so we walked around and checked out running products, inquired about races. The minute we stepped outside, we both recognized how hot it was. It was a gorgeous day. Gorgeous, but HOT. I checked weather.com and it was only 42% humidity though. I told JD not to worry – the race started at 7am and he’d be done by 10am. The heat wouldn’t be an issue. (SPOILER ALERT: I was wrong)

From there we watched footy at an Irish pub downtown and then hit up Great Lakes Brewery so JD could stock up on local beer. And by 6pm, we were sitting in an adorable Italian restaurant with my good friend Michelle and her husband Joel. Michelle was also running the full.

By 10pm, we were tucked in bed, lights out. His alarm was set for 4:45am and mine for 5:15am. No need for a late night to keep us from rest.

The next morning, we were out the door by 6am to get to the start by 7am. We were a bit worried about traffic and parking but felt we gave ourselves enough time. Not really. After sitting in traffic we parked at what seemed like miles away. On the walk there, I consulted the weather report and it was 63 degrees (not bad) but 64% humidity. I lied and told Josh the humidity was low. At that point, I couldn’t change Mother Nature so figured lying was my best bet. No need to make him more nervous than he already was. We finally arrived at the Browns Stadium where the start line, finish line, gear check and restrooms were. JD needed the bathroom so we hunted for one that didn’t have lines 60 people deep. How on earth does a race with 20,000 people only have 6 porta-pottys?! We had 28 minutes to spare and the lines were well past that. And the stadium was not any better. He luckily found a urinal though and we raced from there to the start.

Then, another debacle. He had ripped off the gear check part of his bib off which also had corral information. Which meant he wasn’t able to get into the fast starts. So luckily, he sweet talked a woman into letting him get into the corral he should have been in. Finally, with just minutes to spare, he was lined up and ready to go. And because of all the stress and anxiety, he was also pretty fired up. I just knew it would be a great race for him.

ready for 26.2

stretch it out

After dropping him off at the start, I found a spot where I would hopefully see him right as the gun went off. I held up one of my homemade race signs – this one said “Dial It Up!

I noticed that their first task is to climb a bit of a hill right at the start. Poor things….sure didn’t look fun to me. But luckily, I spotted him and he waved. The race had begun.

the masses

The minute he passed, I was on the move. Though I would have loved to drive all around the course to see him, it wasn’t going to be possible. First, our car was way far away. Second, with traffic and road closings, it was just going to be too difficult. So instead, I strapped a backpack on and was ready to run. With a map in one hand and my phone in the other, I started navigating myself to mile 7.

I crossed the Superior Bridge and saw the most amazing spectacle – thousands of runners crossing a parallel bridge. What a sight.

so many runners!

While on the bridge, I realized that walking to mile 7 may not get me there in time to see JD so I started running. My first spectating point was at the intersection of 38th and Detroit. Here in Indy, 38th Street is definitely not a safe area of town. Pair that with Detroit? I was certain I was going to be running into some shady part of Cleveland. But I was there before I know it and other than the thousands of cigarettes littered all over the sidewalks, the area was just fine.

I staked out my point and ended up making friends with a guy cheering for his wife. We exchanged running stories and I learned lots about him while waiting for the runners to arrive. My new bestie and I watched in awe as the leaders passed us. My god they run fast.

The leaders at mile 7

Soon after, I received my first text alert that JD had crossed the 10K mark, perfectly paced at 6:41/mile. That meant he’d be there soon. I held my sign up proudly and when I saw him approaching, ran to greet him. He slowed down and I said “no, I’ll run with you!” but this was one of his planned walking breaks to take his GU. As he did, he handed me his sunglasses and said “wipe off.” Well silly me. I thought he was giving me his sunglasses and wanted me to wipe him off. So I took my hand and swept the sweat off his face while he looks at me like I am crazy. “No, wipe my glasses off.” Oh….right. All within a matter of seconds and then he was back to running. And so was I.

Mile 7

I took off back from where I came and ended up near mile 12, my next point to see JD. I wasn’t there but a tiny bit before seeing the leaders come through. Once again, I made friends with the fans next to me. Two guys were cheering for their daughters doing the half. And even better, this man behind me with a thick Indian accent became my cheerleading partner. While I would clap and scream, he followed up with “Good job. Keep going. Keep going.” I loved his energy and it made me smile from ear to ear.

When I spotted JD, I crossed into the road so I could take a picture and run alongside him. He immediately told me he hurt his back going up some crazy hill but otherwise was feeling really good. He said “Come on! Run with me.” So I tried. Really I tried. But damn that guy is fast. As I was sprinting, he pulled away from me and I am shouted “I can’t keep up!” (which spectators apparently found just condescendingly adorable). I sadly told him I wouldn’t see him until the finish and watched him disappear in front of me.

Mile 12

At this point, I switched my cheering gears to wait for my friend Michelle to reach mile 12. I had some time so I texted her husband to see where he was stationed. He then responded by calling to tell me that due to the heat, Michelle dropped out of the race at mile 6. I was gutted for her. I can’t imagine how hard that was. So I threw the sign I made for her in the trash to eliminate the load I was toting around and decided I needed to find a good place to cheer for strangers.

And I did. Right around mile 12.5, the marathoners and the half-marathoners split off. I rounded that corner and stood right where the marathoners were going. Nothing against those doing 13.1 that day, but I wanted my energy to be for those who were facing double that distance in the heat. Speaking of, the heat was bad. The sun was blazing. It was only 9am or so, but every runner was drenched in sweat. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I cheered my ass off.

I held up my sign that read “Make the Cleve your bitch!” and screamed non stop. The best part were the people that really loved my sign. At least 4 spectators took pictures of it. And runners seemed to take it to heart. I was getting high fives left and right. Multiple marathoners looked at me and laughed as they read it. And at least ten people said “YES! I am going to do that!”

Because I was at the breakaway point for marathoners, I noticed a lot of blue bibs (marathoners) defecting to the half. I didn’t blame them. This was rough. But what totally inspired me, and I truly get choked up even thinking about it….were the runners who turned that corner. Every single one of them who knew they had at least 13 more miles to run. Who felt the heat and knew it wasn’t getting any better. Whose determination and commitment made them turn that corner. And I greeted them with the biggest smile and the loudest cheers possible. I called out people’s numbers “That’s right 980! You got this. Looking great. Stay strong!” Every person who had a name on their shirt got a personalized cheer. And even the people who didn’t glance my way were screamed for. These people were my heroes that day and I wanted them to know it.

my sign

I had received JD’s status updates and he had run a 1:27 half marathon (6:43/mile pace). And at the 30k, he had slowed down a bit to a 7:00/pace. That meant around 9:40am, I needed to head to the finish to make sure I saw him. I ran that direction, alongside the half marathoners, cheering for them the entire way. And then I found a great spot, nestled about 1/4 of a mile from the finish. There were huge crowds. On the left side of the road were the half marathoners. On the right, were the very few marathoners that were finishing under a 3 hour marathon.

And every single one that passed me, I screamed for. At this point, I was in the road with the runners. These elite runners? They don’t even glance my way. They are focused and determined, but it didn’t stop me. They are incredible and I was so proud of each of them.

But then I got mad. Really mad.

Here these marathoners were, finishing under 3 hours in scorching heat. On a hilly course. Looking truly like death. And the crowds said nothing. They didn’t cheer. They just stood. So I lost it. I stood right in front of a crowd of at least fifty and screamed “Hey people! See these people running right in front of you?! They just ran 26.2 miles in this god forsaken heat. We need to cheer for them! Start clapping and start yelling.”

And then I looked at their blank faces. And realized that I could have just started a mob. They didn’t look pleased. I made some enemies. So I did what all good warriors do. I retreated! And fast!

I moved up a bit in front of another crowd, one I hadn’t just pissed off. And I resumed my cheering. I got louder. And then I noticed that a half marathoner had gone down just minutes from the finish. She wasn’t responding. She was one of four people I saw being taken away on stretchers due to heat on Sunday. My god it’s scary.

And soon after, I saw him. I stood right in the middle of the course and started yelling my head off. I snapped a couple of pictures before he reached me. But I knew right away, things weren’t good.

I see you!

I can't handle this face. I know this face.

One look at his face and I knew he was doing what I do every time I see him at a tough spot in a race. I cry. He was on the edge. So I ran beside him. And we together, took off for the finish. And those stupid spectators? The ones who hated me and didn’t cheer? They were going to cheer for my boy. They had no choice. As we ran, I waved my arms up and down and screamed “This is my husband! Cheer for him! He ran 26.2 miles in this heat! cheer!” And this time? They did.

Maybe it was the crazy girl wearing a backpack and carrying her phone screaming at them that made it. Maybe it was the sight of JD pushing with all his might to get to the finish. But they cheered. Everyone cheered.

I am sure JD was embarrassed that I yelled for every new group we passed but I didn’t care. At one point he said “Where is the effing finish lie? Show me the finish line.” I pointed it out to him and said “We are almost there. Kick it into high gear” but I noticed he didn’t. He couldn’t. He had nothing left. And later he told me that had I been within an arm’s reach, he would have punched me for saying the “high gear” thing. Oops.

We made it across the finish line together. And then the tears came. From both of us. What he did was so amazing. So stinking amazing. 3:03:52 and the temperature was 81 at the finish line. He is a rockstar.

He's sweaty. He's pissed off. He's tired. But dear god. He's a machine.

We made our way through the finishing corral and I grabbed two popsicles to cool him off. As I put them on his neck and arms, I knew he was so angry. Angry at not getting the PR he wanted (2:55). As we walked to the car, there was a lot of silence. This is the man that gets pissed when we lose an intramural softball game, so this was a tough pill to swallow. But as we saw more ambulances pulling people off the course on our walk back, I think he finally got it. That heat was no joke. It wasn’t a day for personal bests. In fact, he got 70th overall this year. Last year? His time would have gotten him 89th. Everyone was slower this year. I did try to help by saying “That was the hardest thing you have ever done. Right? You have to be so proud of yourself.” His response “No, the physical therapy after I got shot was harder.” I laughed and said “You win every conversation when you throw out the ‘when I got shot’ card!”

By the time we were back to the hotel, I think he started to feel better. He is in the best shape of his life. He ran a smart race. He held onto that goal pace until mile 20. But sometimes, mother nature has other ideas. She didn’t make it easy for him. But he won in the end. He is still a hero.

JD all showered and with his sign.

I used to hate running. But now, I can't live without it. As a wise man once said (Usher)…these are my confessions.

Posts from the ‘Post-race’ Category

2013 Mini Marathon – #8

Boston Marathon 2013

Circular Logic – Marathon #10 (recap)

Drumstick Dash 2012

Chicago Marathon – #9

20 miles + Color Me Rad

Freedom Run – 2012

Ragnar Relay 2012

Rainbow Run

Cleveland Marathon – cheering for JD

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