26.2 recap, part 2

am came early (of course), and we got up and decided to have some breakfast.  I need at least one cup of really strong coffee every morning, but this morning I was disappointed in the hotel coffee. It was weak and stale tasting, and not that satisfying.  For breakfast we decided to have some Green monsters, since Jayme brought her Magic Bullet blender (the greatest blender in the world). Chef Jayme was blending her little arse off at 4am.   I hope our neighbors were also running the marathon. Otherwise we probably ruined their visit.

We also ate some oatmeal with blueberries in it, and it was pretty good. I usually have some peanut butter toast, but we didn't want to mess with the continental breakfast and I didn't bring any for myself (dumb move).

Then it was off to the marathon!  It was pretty cold when we got there (47 degrees or so), but I decided that I didn't want to run in a long-sleeved shirt. I hate running when I am hot.  There were lots of runners wearing long pants and jackets, and I can't imagine how hot they must have been halfway through the race. 

We all lined up at the start line, a beautiful voice sang the national anthem, and we were off!  The half-marathoners started at the same time as we did, and we all ran together for the first 11 miles, which was nice because we got to run with Karen.  It was pretty smooth going, and we were making pretty good time. I was absolutely starving by mile 4, and really was wishing I had eaten some peanut butter toast. I need to eat a lot when I run.

At 11 Karen split off from us, and it was a little disheartening, since we still had so long to go. Karen ended up running a stellar half marathon time of 1:50.  Go Karen! I wish I could have been there cheering her in. 

Jayme and I ran together and were feeling okay until around mile 22, when we hit the wall.  And what a wall it was.  I had been warned about this feeling, and it was no joke. I don't recall ever feeling like I couldn't go on like I was feeling that day.  I just kept thinking, "get to the next water station. Then you can walk," but I did have to stop a couple of times in between stations.  We ended up running in our last mile, though, so it was a strong finish.

The best part of the marathon...my husband and kids surprised me.  I was running into the end, about to die, when I hear this familiar voice yell, "Go Mommy!"  I started crying, partly out of exhaustion, but mostly because it was so amazing to have them there for this huge accomplishment. I didn't really realize what a big deal it would be for me.  What a great hubby I have!  We joke now that it is a good think he didn't surprise me with two miles left in the race. I don't think I could have run two miles crying the whole way!

Here we are, the three big racers! What you don't see is Jayme and I don't have any shoes on, and we can't really walk that well or bend over.  Still, we look beautiful, I think.  Yay us!

Now that a couple of days have passed, I am still pretty stiff, but looking forward to the Nike Marathon in October.  I won't start training for it until the end of July, but I am going to be a little more aggressive with my distance and speed work this time around. Now that I have a marathon under my belt, I know that what we train for is actually the last six miles of the race. The first 20 are cake.  I'm following Hal Higdon's Boston plan, since I plan to not only break that 3:40 mark...I am going for 3:30 now.