Journal Entry 25

Saturday run: MARATHON DAY!!

Well, I can hardly believe this myself, but I ran a marathon on Saturday—that's 26.2 miles! After six months of training, it feels amazing to have finally accomplished my goal! Here are the events of the entire weekend:

Friday morning: I spent the morning packing (using the handy "marathon checklist" Greg and I developed earlier). Around 11am, I stopped by Greg's apartment to pick him up. We ironed our names on the front of our AIDS Marathon yellow singlets. We even decorated the backs of the shirts—we put "Hot Damn!" on Greg's and "Oh Baby!" on mine. I thought we could use the ego boost of people yelling that as we ran by. We then drove to Baltimore to meet my friend, Andrea, for lunch. She showed up with a "Good Luck" balloon for each of us and we had a great time flirting with our amazingly hunky waiter. However, we couldn't agree on which of us got to leave our phone number, so none of us got to take him home.

Around 3pm, Greg and I headed for the hotel, but got amazingly lost (turns out, the exit numbers are different for north- and southbound I-95). After many twists and turns—and one close call with an oncoming train—we found the hotel and checked into our rooms. When we went to get our bags from the car, we ran into Jeanie and Joanie! They were staying in the same hotel, so we all went to the registration expo together. We picked up our runner numbers, commemerative tee-shirts, and the cool electronic timing chip for our shoes. The girls headed back to the hotel while Greg & I strolled around the expo, marveling at all of the crazy runners stuff for sale.

When we returned to the hotel, Greg noticed Pam's car in the parking lot and, sure enough, Pam and Emily were checking in at the front desk. Greg snuck up and gave Pam her Christmas goose a little early. We spent a little while hanging out in Pam's room and then took a second trip to the expo. Around 7pm, we headed for dinner (pasta, of course!) and managed to get ourselves lost—AGAIN—trying to find the hotel. We ended up taking the exact same convoluted course Greg & I stummbled through this afternoon. It was too funny! The rest of the evening was spent hanging out in Pam's room, decorating shirts, getting jittery, and waiting for my sister, Susan, to arrive. She got a shuttle from the airport and arrived just before 11pm. By then, I was ready for bed, so we said our goodnights and made plans to meet in the morning.

Saturday morning: At 7am, we all met in the lobby to check out of the hotel and head over to the starting line. We parked in a lot near the stadium and walked from there. We met up with Emily and her entourage at the AIDS marathon tent. Em's family was nice enough to adopt my sister for the day since she had no way to travel around the race course (my parents were not expected until later that morning).

Around 8:15, we headed for the start line—at the very back of the pack (behind the sign for 14+ minutes per mile). While we were waiting, Jeanie and Joanie found us, then four of Greg's friends arrived with signs to spell out "G-R-E-G". Madelyn showed up at the last second—she'd been stuck in traffic, but made it just in time!

We crossed the start line about 5 minutes after the clock officially started. The first mile brought us to the inner harbor. We were trying to keep a slow pace, but it was difficult in the face of all the adreneline and the "dolphins" in our bloodstream (don't ask—that's a joke from a long, Corey Haim story). Jeanie and Joanie were doing a better job of pacing themselves and we soon pulled ahead. Around Mile 2, our friend, John, called to find out where we were. He'd postponed his last training run to come cheer us on (at Mile 9.9)! We'll return the favor when he runs the Marine Corps marathon next weekend. Just after Mile 3, the course took a sharp left turn and went straight uphill! We were all still flying high and having a great time (we didn't yet realize how much those hills would take out of us).

We had our first family cheering section between Mile 5 and 6. Susan was there with Emily's family (her husband Dan, her mom, and several friends from college). It was such a boost to see them and we were all so excited. Soon after that, we found Giovanna. She had started the race near the front of the pack with her much-faster-than-us daughter. It took us all this time to catch up to her!

Just before Mile 7, we came over a hill as my cell phone started ringing. It was my dad calling to let us know where he and my mom were waiting. I started waving because I could see him on the payphone (and Mom's bright pink jacket) at the bottom of the hill! Hugs and kisses all around! Mile 7 was "sponsored" by the Voortman cookie company—they're the ones who make those irresitable sugar wafer cookies and they were handing them out to the runners! As much as it killed me to resist, I took Chad's sage advice ("No new foods on marathon day!") and did not eat one. I should have saved one in my pocket, because I'm still craving it! Mom and Dad popped up again just a short mile later! I'm not sure how many traffic laws my dad must have broken to get there so quickly!

Around Mile 8, I started to feel really woozy. By this point, I was very glad that I'd opted against the sugar wafer because I felt like I would be sick at any moment. After a few miles (and several nauseated close-calls), I began to feel better. Maybe it was just the excitement or nerves. By the time we reached John and Andy just before Mile 10, I was happy again. More hugs and encouragement, followed by a little guilt that I couldn't stop and spend time with them! Just after Mile 11, we found Susan & Dan again! This time, Susie had a Winnie the Pooh balloon (he was dressed up as a bat for Halloween). It was so fun to see them and she ran along-side us for a block or so. It's amazing how those quick visits cheered us up!

By this point, I was starting to tighten up and my legs were getting sore—the hills just never seemed to end! I took an Advil in the hopes of warding off major pain. Around Mile 12, the hills started to take their toll on Madelyn and she dropped back a bit. I found myself working very hard to keep up with Emily and Greg, but the Advil soon took effect and I felt better. Soon after, we saw the happiest sight of the day . . . the Mile 13 marker! At the official halfway mark (13.1), we posed for photos and ran across the special mat that registered the time on our timing chip.

Around Mile 14, Emily mentioned needing a bathroom break. Greg and I both heaved sighs of relief. It turns out, none of us had wanted to get left behind, so we'd been holding it as long as humanly possible. At the next set of porta-potties, we all ran to the sidewalk, shedding jackets and water bottles as fast as we could! With an empty bladder and Advil working it's magic, I was feeling pretty great! We called Pam's cell phone to check how she was doing. We hadn't seen her since the first few miles when she'd surged ahead of us. We were worried that she'd started too quickly and we didn't want her to burn out. We must have passed her on a potty break, though, because she was now about a mile behind us. We cheered her on and told her we'd see her in a few miles. Miles 15 & 16 brought us through some lovely (and pricey) neighborhoods. We also had two family cheering squads at this section. We saw Susan and Dan first and took a few extra walk breaks with them. They were so encouraging and kept telling us we looked strong (though I'm sure it was a lie at that point). We saw Mom and Dad around Mile 17. They'd missed us at the 10 and 14 mile markers, so they were very happy to see us (so was I!).

The next stretch of the course was the hardest, emotionally. We took another left turn and headed back toward the stadium. However, most of the spectators had left already and we had only ourselves for encouragement. Greg's leg began to bother him (we found out later it was major tendonitis) and my knee began to have BIG twinges. Emily's back had gone out on Tuesday, so she wasn't at 100% either. We soon saw a lone figure walking toward us and Greg called out to him—it was Greg's friend, Chris! Chris said the traffic was so bad that he'd simply parked and started walking against the stream of runners. He walked and ran with us back toward his car, but it was at least 2 miles away. I'm glad he came when he did, because we needed the change of pace to lift our spirits!

We soon rounded Druid Park Lake (we'd begun to think it would never arrive) between Mile 20 & 21 then we came upon the new happiest sight of the day . . . Gatorade! The marathon was very well organized except for the Gatorade shortage. We hadn't had any since Mile 4 and were were starting to get "fat hands"—a condition brought on by a lack of "mysterious good stuff" in those sports drinks. We took a few extra walk breaks to drink and then ran into my parents again! My mom handed each of us a wet paper towel and it felt like heaven!

Sometime after Mile 22, we heard familiar voices behind us. Jeanie and Joanie had caught up to us and ran past looking as refreshed as they had at the start! How do they do it!? By Mile 23, Emily was feeling woozy and my knee was screaming. She asked for an extra walk break and I agreed. Then, Greg said, "Well, my leg finally feels OK, so I'm going to run." As we watched him pull away, his determination strengthened my own resolve and I wanted to catch him! Emily mentioned that she would be fine if we were in the shade and that reminded me that I was carrying a baseball cap! I gave her the hat and asked if she would be OK on her own. She said she would be fine after a little more walking, so I ran after Greg. He must have been flying because it took me about a mile to catch him! Luckily, my knee pain was only when running, so I took to speed-walking whenever I couldn't run. He was finally close enough that I felt I could reach out and touch him, but I wasn't gaining ground anymore. We were approaching a water stop and so I called his cell phone. I asked him to walk when getting water, so I could catch him. After turning to check just how far behind I was, he saw I was only about 20 feet back and agreed.

Greg said the reason he'd surged ahead is that he suddenly wanted to break the 7 hour mark. I checked my watch and knew it would be close, but we gave it our best shot. We took off and it felt SO GREAT to pass people! We pushed ourselves and, when we passed the AIDS marathon cheering section at Mile 24, we were flying (relatively speaking, of course)! Amazingly, my knee held up pretty well and there were only a few major twinges that caused me to speed-walk while Greg ran. As we passed Mile 25, we knew that we probably would not break 7 hours, but it felt so great to pass people, so we kept pushing. We came over a hill and saw the stadium for the first time since this morning. We thought we were all done, but then the course turned right and we had to run away from the stadium for the last quarter-mile or so. Not nice, Marathon Planners!

We finally returned to the finish area and entered the chute toward the finish line. Greg said, "Grab my hand" and we sprinted in! If you see the official finish line photo, I'm looking down because I'm convinced my wobbly legs won't hold me up! Our official time was 7 hours and 5 minutes. What followed was an hour+ party with all of the friends and family that came to cheer us on. I was really light-headed and thought I'd pass out at times, but I had an ear-to-ear grin! Jeanie and Joanie finished a few minutes after us, followed by Emily, Madelyn, Giovanna, then a few other friends from our training program: Pat, Lily, and Angela.

After the end of the official timing, we waited for news about Pam. We did not want to call her cell phone, because we knew she needed every bit of energy right now and it's no fun fumbling around for your phone when you can hardly walk. Greg and I left a note on her car asking for news and she called when I was dropping Greg off at his apartment. She had finished the entire marathon in a time of 9 hours and 20+ minutes! She didn't get an official time, but the AIDS marathon volunteers had saved her a medal. Her tendonitis had not yet healed, she had terrible blisters, and the longest training run she had finished before her injuries was the 16-miler. But, she managed to tough it out through all the pain and finished—without benefit of water stations, traffic cops, or spectators for support over the last few miles. She is truely the bravest of us all!

My shower that night was the most heavenly thing I'd ever felt and I was falling asleep through most of my chinese food dinner with Scott. Later, he rubbed my feet while we watched a movie and the perfect day came to a close.

Several times this week, I have caught myself smiling when I think about this training program and the joy I felt on Saturday. I am amazed at the support I received from my friends and family and even people I hardly know! Special thanks to those who stood outside all day to cheer me on: Mom, Dad, Susan, Scott, Tammy, Sadron, John, and Andy. You guys made all the difference for me! Thanks to Scott for pampering me Saturday night. Thanks to my parents and Susan for spoiling me all day Sunday and Monday. And, thanks to Sharon & Laura for decorating my office with streamers and congratulations balloons. Everyone has been amazing and I've never felt so loved!

I can't say it enough . . . Thank you all for the past few wonderful months!

Next weekend, Emily, Pam, Greg, and I are meeting in DC to cheer on the Marine Corps marathoners! I plan to wear my Baltimore marathon shirt proudly! I am so happy that I'll get to re-live this glorious experience vicariously through my friends.

Now that my first marathon is over, I'm looking forward to the next one. We're planning to run the Myrtle Beach marathon this coming February, so don't be surprised if you hear from Marathon Julie again in the next few months!

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