tomorrow a new point of view…

i finished.

that is an accomplishment within itself, right?

the night before the marathon my tummy was filled with knots and my head was filled with questions i am sure had no answers. what if i do not finish? does it matter that i only ran 20 miles and never the full marathon distance? will oatmeal be a good enough breakfast? do i really want to carry my handheld water bottle for 26.2 miles? did i pick the right clothes? what if i have to go to the bathroom? what if i have to go NUMBER 2?

neurotic?

yes.

we went to the convention center to pick up our race packets and hung around the expo for a bit. runners are weird people. especially all them in one place. a few people (well, MOST people) were dressed to run. were they going to be sleeping in those clothes to save time? should I be sleeping in my clothes too?! what if i wake up late or can’t find my lucky underwear?!

neurotic?

yes.

our friends monique and wes were running the marathon together, so we decided to all share a yummy carb loading meal, chicken a la denae. delicious.

we were up and early at 4:45 to meet wes and monique. IT WAS COLD. like 29 degrees cold.

here i am ready to go in the pitch black of the morning. did i mention, cold?

wes and monique were much faster than me so i we said our goodbyes and off we went. i wanted to finish between the 4:20-4:30 mark, so i lined up with my pace team. folsom has many hills and does not hold fond memories for me. however, i was feeling good, happy and ready to tackle this race. i held my own.

throughout the race, jasen was able to meet me at several locations. i had no idea how much i needed those sightings. i think it may have been mile 7,11,14 and the finish. the places i did not see him, i was able to recognize friends in the crowd which kept me going through the race. i am sure i could not have keep my momentum or positive thinking without these amazing people who braved the cold to cheer us on.

i ran with gloves for the first seven miles. usually i run with gloves for the first 7 seconds. another great reason to see jasen. pass him all crap i didn’t feel like carrying.

here i am at the first jasen spotting.

the first 13 miles went great. i ran a little faster than i expected and felt good.

then mile 22. i didn’t hit the runner’s wall…but rather some sort of weird knee pain-so-bad-i-could-hardly-run wall. luckily, i had my phone. i called jasen to hear his voice and encourage me the last few miles. he told me to walk. i didn’t want to walk. but my knee didn’t want to run. i took his advice, cried a few tears, and watched the 4:30 pace marker pass me by.

sad day.

i remembered my hard training, a lunch to eat whatever i want, and blared “don’t stop believing” from the glee soundtrack.

then i was done. just like that. 26.2 miles. i am a marathon runner.

and maybe a little bit of a crybaby.

here i am crossing the finish line. its a pretty pathetic picture, my form is bad and the expression on my face is horrible. but i finished.

i was so happy to see all my friends and family there waiting at the end. never in my life was i so happy to see everyone. and take and aspirin. and to stop running.

this is wes, me, and monique. they were rockstars and finished with personal records. i guess i had a personal record too.

i wanted to finish between 4:20-4:30…and with all the “drama” i finished at 4:32. not bad.

jasen let me buy this at fleet feet as a souvenir:

i hope santa brings me a new pair of these for christmas:

as for nike+? it totally went out on me. now i don’t have a record in my account. sigh.

but at least i have this crappy medal to brag about.