Marathon Weekend Part II

My morning began when my alarm went off at 3:15am. I had all my stuff already out and even my coffee ready to brew so I was able to tiptoe around and not wake up my family who were on the couch and futon in the living room. I left at 4am and met Karrie and her husband Jacob at their house at 4:30am. Jacob drove us to Paul Brown stadium and we were easily able to get a parking spot close to the finish line to keep the walking to a minimum at the end. It was probably about 50 degrees and breezy as we headed inside the stadium. We stretched, visited the restroom before the lines got too long, drank gatorade, chatted with other Spot runners, got a group picture taken and mentally prepared ourselves. This picture is of us BEFORE any actual running had taken place.

At about 6:15 we headed out to the starting line and found the 4:30 Clif Bar pace team who we were planning to stay with if at all possible. At 6:30 am the gun went off and we shuffled our way to the front.

The first four miles went by pretty fast--over the bridges into and out of Kentucky. We stopped to use the porta-potties at mile 2 and then Karrie's husband was waiting back on the Cincinnati side at mile 4 to take some pictures. I at a Clif Shot and we checked our pace and we were right on with the 10 minute miles. I was getting nervous about the 4 mile uphill battle we were about to endure, however.

Eden park was surprisingly easy. We were still running with the half-marathoners so there was a big crowd, including a relay stop. I had absolutely no problems up the hills, probably because I knew at the top of all of them at mile 8 my family was waiting. We were still on pace at the end of all the uphill.

My sister Kate jumped in with us at mile 8 not after we had some Jelly Belly sports beans and posed for some pictures. We had a great 4 miles after that. We ran down Madison past the Spot and Bob Roncker dressed in his red spot. We ran through Hyde Park where there were bands and lots of people cheering and in costumes. Did I mention it was pretty much flat?

We were supposed to meet up with my Dad so he could jump in at around mile 12 or so. All of a sudden he popped out of nowhere, still in his warmup gear, and said that they couldn't make it to the meetup spot, but he wasn't ready to jump in now...I was worried for awhile that he wouldn't be able to run with us. We saw Ryan and my Mom about another mile up the road. The race had closed too many of the roads Ryan was planning to run down. Kate joined them and they went to find my Dad.

We had an uneventful next 7 miles or so. We ran through Mariemont which had about as many spectators as Hyde Park but we were quite a bit more fatigued so didn't enjoy it as much. We used the porta-potties for the second and last time (I thought I would have to go so much more!). By this time I was getting tired of the Gatorade and my Clif Shots (I had taken 3 total) so I was just drinking water to try to get the sugary taste out of my mouth. I guess we forgot what our running coaches had told us about taking 1 cup each of Gatorade and water and mixing the two together.

At around mile 19 we heard a great band covering the Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower." This put a spring in my step as I sang along and turned the corner to head up onto Columbia Parkway and get ready for the Columbia-Eastern last 7 miles of the race. All of a sudden my Dad and Kate were there, ready to run! They joined us for about a mile as we trudged across Columbia. It was possibly the most boring stretch of race but I was so excited my Dad was able to join us. We were also a little less chipper than we had been previously. This is when I really was starting to doubt that I could finish the last stretch.

Then we saw my Mom with her sign (one of many!) and Ryan cheering us on. My sister and Dad said goodbye and the four of them headed off to make sure they could park and meet us at the finish line. Karrie and I headed down the exit ramp onto the dreaded Eastern Ave.

This was the hardest part of the whole race. I was hungry for one. And thirsty for something other than Gatorade and water. Here is some proof: we passed by kids holding out doughnuts for the runners and I almost took one! We passed by a convenience store and I contemplated using my "emergency money" in my shorts pocket to purchase a diet coke. We passed by a woman holding a bowl of Teddy Grahams and I took a handful and it was the best thing I had eaten all day. I only wish I had more. We also got frozen orange slices on this stretch. Those were delicious and again, wish I had taken more than one. I couldn't stop thinking about what I was going to eat at the finish line and soon thereafter (Red Robin burgers were front and center in my head).

A fun part of the race was when the spectators read our names on our bibs and shouted, "Go Carrie and...Karrie...Go C/Karries!" It was really cute and brought a smile to our faces dozens of times. People seemed to really get a kick out of it.

Back to Eastern...the road just dragged on. It was flat and boring, with very little spectators. I was done. We alternated running about a half a mile and walking about a quarter of a mile. We had given up on our 4:30 time at this point (although our splits show that until Eastern we were on pace to run in 4:30!) but were shooting for less than 5:00. We ran into Frankie who gave us words of encouragement and kept us moving. We got to the "1 mile until the finish" sign and we decided to "let it all hang out" as Joe would say and run until the finish. Until we turned the corner and saw the biggest hill ever. We walked up. After that we ran all out (well, as all out as we could) until the finish. A coach ran in with us, keeping us motivated the whole way. I turned the corner and saw my family and Christy cheering and waving. I did not cry--which I was prepared to do. (I had almost cried at about 3 other parts of the race but I was so happy here there was no crying involved!).

We crossed the finish line in 4:59:40 so we beat 5 hours! We got our medals, I had some yogurt and we headed through the finishers area to find our families. Then it was picture time. I surprisingly felt ok at this point in time. I just wasn't in the mood to hang around at the finish line celebration.

We said goodbye to Karrie and her family and headed to the car (which was uphill a bit!) and off to Red Robin. The next post will be all about the recovery period the rest of the day and the rest of the weekend.