Marathon Experience

Going to the Chicago Marathon was a great experience. I'm proud that I finished, especially in such extreme conditions of 84 degrees! I finished in 4 hours and 33 minutes, which is a time I am happy about. The winners, which are the elite marathon runners of the world, ran it in half the time. I finished about 13,000 out of 45,000 who started. At mile 7 I saw a person holding a sign that said, "Release your inner-Kenyan!" I was feeling really good and picked up my pace...at mile 12 I was bummed because I thought I was at least at mile 15...and my legs and hips started screaming. I also had not gotten to see my family yet, who came to cheer me on, and I was realizing that it probably would not happen. I was not running by myself on Lower Valley Road; I was a tiny little person weaving between runners of all sizes, and I did not know which side of the road they (Jesse, Paige, Dad, Mom, Dan, Elaine, Angela, Travis, Luke, Tammia, Kenna and Jarris) would be on. You would think that I would spot them from a mile away, but everyone had that many fans. By mile 17 I was wishing that I had my phone so that I could call them...and I was wishing that I had never signed up for this! And then I saw a sign that some random guy was holding up that said, "Remember your reasons..." and I was slightly re-inspired. Another half mile and I saw another sign that said, "Just think, No more training!" It gave me something to look forward to. Mile 18 came along and I was running pretty slow, unable to stop and walk for two reasons (1) my legs would stiffen up and I wouldn't be able to restart running, and (2) What if I saw my family and they saw me walking???
Shuffling along I was amazingly still passing people, and I came up behind a man running in a banana costume. I was distracted for awhile by every single person cheering, "Go banana-man!" Dang, I wish I was wearing a costume like that...uh...no, actually not...too hot. Thankfully, there were many people with hoses on the sidelines spraying water for us to run through. Mile 19 came along and I started to realize that the end was getting near, and that I had actually ran 20 miles before, so why was I struggling? I pep-talked myself and took some bigger and faster strides. At mile 19, another aid station (aid stations were every two miles and provided water and gatorade), they were handing out bananas! I was getting hungry, yummy! You should have seen the banana peels on the road. It reminded me of my favorite blonde joke: What did the blonde say when she saw a banana peel? Oh no, I'm going to slip and fall again!... I kept running (I never fell).... After mile 20 I remembered that someone once told me that although a marathon is 26 miles long, you have only reached half-way at mile 20. Ugh. The last six miles became a running daze for me - part heat exhaustion and delirium, tears because I STILL had not seen my family, and agony because my knees and hips hurt really really bad. I wanted to ask other people if their legs were hurting too. Then I remembered all of the people who donated money to St Judes (Childrens Hospital for Children with cancer) on behalf of me running the marathon, and was quickly reminded to not feel sorry for myself. At least I was healthy and could run! I remembered what one of my friends had told me when I was getting tired of training - "Do it for the kids." I kept running. I saw a person holding a sign that said Almost There! and I decided that the faster I could run, the faster it would be over with. I couldn't run much faster, but I eventually finished. I thought I would be one of those people who ran across the finish line with my arms in the air and a big smile of my face. I ran through the finish line and a volunteer practically had to catch me from staggering forward, he gave me two ice bags and a cold wet towel for my sweaty head. Oh and there were more bananas, a table piled high with all the bananas in the world! Amazingly, Jesse saw me through the fence and we met up after meandering through the crowd. I said something like "that was the stupidest thing I have ever done," I started crying and he said, "Brenda, are you ok? Brenda, you need to settle down before I take you to see the rest of your family, or they will be very disturbed!" So we worked on getting me settled down and then we found the rest of the gang. Paige and Tammia started helping me stretch, my dad came over from visiting with strangers and Dan, Angela and Travis were taking naps in the shade. Everyone else stood by. At least they were there when I was done! I may have otherwise joined the marathon after-party...yuck - drinking beer after running? Some of those people still had energy to party after the run? I couldn't imagine.