Well. I did it! I ran my first marathon. My official time is 5:23:23... this is a bit off from my 5:05-5:10 goal but I am
OK with it.
so here's how the weekend went:
BEFORE THE RACE:Friday was a very stressful day at work. Instead of leaving at 2 pm I
didn't get home until almost 8 pm. I was
extremely upset and
discombogulated because I hadn't really packed and wanted to go to dinner with
matt and co. I ended up staying in to do my
Ipod and get organized and really, to decompress. Sat I woke up with a cold sore on my lip. How depressing. I get them from extreme stress and from sunburns so it was a huge let down to get one... if not only because they exhaust me and the
meds for them, also dehydrate me. Sat the TNT bus was late and we finally got down to Long Branch around 130 pm. Nicole and I pulled a fast one and were the first to check in, top floor room, very pretty views of the finish/start line. My mom met us in the hotel lobby and we headed to the expo to pick up our race numbers. The Expo was absolutely nothing to write home about especially after the wonder that is the NYC expo. This Expo actually seemed to cater to the half marathoners, which makes sense since only 1726 people completed the marathon itself. (There were another 8000 or so
relayers and
halfers). My mom and I went to have a quiet lunch and then to drive the race course again. It was nice the day of to know where we were
going and what to expect. Like, really nice.
At about 4:45/5 pm on Saturday Nicole and I went up to the room to decorate our singlets. I had JEN and
ROCKSTAR on the front/back and she had NICOLE and BRING IT!. We went down to the pasta dinner (the food was excellent, I must say, and I was nervous!!!) and it was amazing to see all the coaches etc cheering us on as we walked
into the ballroom. I almost burst into tears. It's amazing to think that the 350 persons in team in training running the NJ
Shore Marathon raised over $678k!!! It was emotional all around to think of all I had given up in terms of weekends, running, squeezing in runs before dinners, money spent on gels, sneakers, massages etc.... The inspiration speaker was this
Triatholon guy who currently was in remission and was running the full marathon that
weekend... his story was very emotional as he described how he ran home from each chemo appointment. As in, after sitting there for hours with chemicals dripping through his bloodstream, he found the energy to zip up his jacket and lace his sneakers and run the few miles home. Like, talk about inspiration!!!
After dinner we headed up to the room to get really organized and figure out what we were wearing. The forecast was all doom and gloom. 50 and rainy basically the whole time. I didn't fall asleep until
about 11 but slept amazingly through 5:45 am and at 6 am heard the race announcement start! HOW EXCITING!!!
SUNDAY: RACE DAY
At 6:15 I was still running the hallways (literally) trying to decide which shoes to wear. I had brought 3 pairs with me but had narrowed the field to 2 pairs by this am... I finally decided on the shoes which sometimes give me some knee pain over the ones which made my right shin really tight... I said a mini prayer that it was the right choice and moved on.
My mom was in the hotel lobby at 6 am! She's a bit crazy and wanted to make sure she had parking and knew what was going on. The energy in the hotel lobby was amazing. We
didn't come down until about 6:45 but it was packed and fun. She brought us extra tissues, ponchos and other things to keep us dry as the start was delayed about 30 min all in all!!!
MILES 1-8We finally crossed the start line at about 8:03... so all of my pacing charts for my family were way off... There was a very very slight drizzle as we headed off... Nicole and I were both a bit nervous but seeing Ramon at mile 1 on his bike with a microphone yelling obscenities put us at ease... we ran through a residential neighborhood relatively soon after the start (mile 1.5-2
ish perhaps) and people had music blasting and were out even in the early hours making some noise. We hit the first water stop and took a cup per Ramon's instructions. The lines at the port a potties were already 10 people deep so we were very thankful we made the last minute decision at 7:50 to pee again. VERY SMART!!! At about mile 4 we saw Jill and
Aly (with their hats and coffees!how cute!!) which was a huge pick me up.... turning down Long Branch Ave right by the hotel there was a huge crowd... loads of cheering and my aunt and uncle which was nice!!
My aunt and uncle somehow drove their van right on the side street so they were hanging out sitting in the back of it, resting until they saw us on a wide and flat street... My aunt had water and
Gatorade for us which was nice-- we were at mile 5.5 at this point, and I took a sip of the water (in retrospect I must have been severely dehydrated... ) Right after we saw them we headed up into the more ghetto working part of Long Branch, and I ate an orange.. so much for nothing new on race day! As we headed down 2
nd ave I started to feel a little loopy, a little dizzy and overall not so great. I
couldn't tell if I was dizzy or if I just
wasn't used to such flat open stretches where you can see really far (and perhaps think you should be seeing further
bc it is so
flat)... we hit South Lake Drive over our 5 hr pace for mile 8 and I really started to feel ill. I took gels at 45 min but I think I was dehydrated vs. not having enough sugars/etc. We passed my mom and brother (Eric was the WORLDS best cheerleader, really loud, yelling-
THAT'S MY SISTER, SHES MY HERO, I almost burst into tears yet again).... Miles 8-11 are basically a double loop and at mile 11 you pass over the same bridge as you did in mile 8 (my mom and brother were hanging out at that
interpass)...
MILES 11-13.1Miles 8-11 did me well and I started to feel a little better. At mile 10 I took another gel and started to feel a bit more normal. At this point we
hadn't taken any sort of walking break (which for us was unusual)... Mile 11 and more cheering from my mom and bro helped a bit... Miles 11-13 were basically a straight stretch up Ocean Blvd and then Ocean Ave into Pier Village and the half marathon mark. My knee started flaming fire ball practice, alternating with the arch in my right foot... fabulous and just in time. We FINALLY saw Felix and Matt at mile 11.5-12 (in their defense they were on the phone with Jill and
Aly and missed us 2x before they finally saw us... they used Larry the Lighthouse as a marker- damn him!!!!) and that was a huge pick me up for me... It started to rain a bit more at this point and I really felt shitty... better than the dizzy mile 8 but worse than I would feel on the second loop. At mile 13 we saw Ramon (Godsend coach) and he walked us through the second loop-- keep hydrating, its still early, distract yourself for the next 5 miles- you can do this... He really helped and I felt a bit better turning my head to watch the Ocean as he recommended and not paying attention to the 7,000 finishing half marathoners!!!
MILES 13.1-17This section of the race was very up and down for me. The second loop was desolate compared to the elbow throwing in the first few miles... While the original bands were gone the residential neighborhood still had music blaring and a few outrageous Marathon parties that helped a bit. At about mile 14.5 there was a water stop with high school cuties yelling 'chafing,
Vaseline, water,
Gatorade) which always makes me chuckle. I am pretty sure I took a gel here, but can't confirm. I did take 1300 mg of Tylenol 8 hour release. I was really struggling with feeling full and still a bit dizzy. At this point we were almost on 3 hours... I don't really know why the 12 min mile pace felt so damned hard! but it did. The rain also really started... we hit a bridge at about mile 15-15.5 and stopped to stretch. I popped my hip
flexor on the left side and it was amazing!!! Coming over the bridge there was absolutely no one in front of us or behind, so I'm pretty sure we got some amazing
Bright room shots... I might also mention that
people were yelling our names by far more than others... I think our iron on letters were a huge hit! Even in the pouring rain my amazing friends Jill and
Aly were there and had found balloons. They were joined by Matt and Felix and all of them were
sooo nice to see at that point. Felix ran along side me and gave me some
Gatorade which seemed to help a bit. More notably I said to them as I ran by "if I ever say I'm doing this again, remind me of this moment' It was my lowest low of the race.
MILES 17-21In this section... it was all rain. Real rain. And wind...
OMG wind. I saw my Aunt Diana and Uncle John again right on Cooper on the opposite side of Ocean Palace... grabbed some water... shortly after we saw some more
TnTers which REALLY helped.
TnT is absolutely amazing. Have I said this enough??? I felt like I finally hit my stride. Once we turned onto Broadway (mile 17.25
ish) it's like something clicked. There was a huge line of half marathoners waiting for a bus to go back to what I assumed was the parking area.... It was me and Nicole and 2 men who were walking up the "hill" and this
huuuuuge long line (I'm talking easily hundreds of people) who had just run the half... all of whom were staring at us... staring at us running in the pouring effing miserable weather!!! I started clapping and when I got little response I yelled "COME ON YOU
JSUT RAN THIS ONCE... WE'RE RUNNING IT TWICE CHEER US ON!" the crowd
erupted and it was like a fire was lit under my soggy dragging ass. I mean, the entire crowd was clapping and yelling our names (again with the iron on letters!!!) It was AWESOME. We grabbed some oranges and water and moved on. We ran into Phil again, which helped Nicole and turned onto the long stretch that is 2
nd ave... Once we passed
Monmouth Medical we ran into my cousins!!! More water for me. And then, a crucial moment, we ran into the
Brooklyn Coach. I don't know his name, I only know that he wears a beret and has a long narrow beard, like really long. He looks really cool, and for lack of better
descriptive, really Brooklyn. He asked us... when did you guys last have a gel... I told him 10 min ago to get him off our back, but by this time it was prob about 3:55 in and we
hadn't had a gel in a good 55 min. Usually I'm all over this, but Sunday I was very much off my game...
Right after we passed him we hit a water station, and i took a gel. BK coach saved my marathon. He is brilliant! (I was happy to send a shout out thank you at mile 25 when we passed him again!) I felt GOOD. Like GOOD. Unfortunately
Nic hit the beginning of a long wall for her... We ran into Peter (another coach) at about 19.5 and talked with him about 1/4 of a mile... he told me I looked strong, which I definitely felt despite the awful conditions... We turned at Surf Taco and all I remember thinking is, I can do this!!! We hit my mom at mile 21. With her was my brother (still yelling his inspiration which I later found out was the talk of many
TnT coaches!!!) Felix, Jill,
Aly, Matt and two other
TnT coaches! I felt amazing, like ready to rock, amazing! Nicole took about 4 minutes to stretch (I think IT band was shitty) and meanwhile I talked to Felicia, my mom, kissed Matt and did a
pirouette. I honestly was ready to race.
Miles 21-24At this point in the race, it was desolate... You turn onto South Lake back down around to
Elberon Ave and then come up and around the
Elberon train station before heading up an empty stretch of Ocean Blvd until you come back up to the bridge. My mom and I had planned for them to leave and head to the finish, but boy did I regret that once we hit mile 24. Miles 21-23 almost killed us. Nicole was not doing so well and I was trying to talk her through it but
didn't know if I was annoying the shit out of her or helping.... We both took gels at 22 which I think helped her (I took a half) but we did have to stop a bit for her to stretch (i actually kept running up and down the block because I was scared to stop!!) I had a feeling that there was only so much energy left in me and was scared I would run out unless we just went for it... I never hit a wall.. Unless you count miles 11-17 a wall... i think it was dehydration from all the allergy/cold sore
meds. Once we rounded mile 23 right by the water, I was ready to run... like 3 miles,
puh lease, 2 reservoir laps, we can do that in our sleep, drunk, or blindfolded, I didn't get any laughs from Nicole. I was worried. At mile 24 I told her to put on her
Ipod. I didn't know what else I could do... I
couldn't keep expending all my energy talking and trying to get her going... I knew there was only a finite bit left in me!! We threw on our
ipods (ironically mine was covered in red gunk which I later attributed to the Tylenol 8 hr I took at mile 14). My first song was Infinity and it's a fast pace trance song, helped a ton.
Maryellen joined us at mile 24.... to run us in.
TnT is amazing. Mary Ellen is my mentor and she ran over 15 miles on Sunday to run her
mentees into the
finish line and to see us all. She was really phenom.
Miles 24-26I felt amazing. Like AMAZING. Overall from miles 18-26 you
wouldn't have thought that I had been running 4 hours. I felt better in these last 8 miles than I did the first 18. I guess that in and of itself is a major accomplishment. Right? I am happy I didn't hit a wall the way I did in my 21 and 20 milers in practice. Mile 24 felt long....
Ironically we picked up the pace from our easy (yet hard) 11:20-12:30 pacing depending on what we were feeling to a cool 10:45... If that
wasn't good
enough we actually ran the last mile in a 10:15- really? Who speeds up at the end??? By that much??? Ramon was right, those pacing bands are for the birds!! I saw Jess and Co at mile 25.25-25.5ish and threw them my race belt (my number was on my leg) I felt like everything was heavy and wet and I just wanted everything off me. Ironically even though the belt weighed less than a lb- it helped. I
would've taken off my soaking wet jersey had it not been for the finish line picture. Felicia joined us at mile 25.25-25.5 I can't remember if we were past my family wet, I did take a water from
Steph and that really helped clear my head... my stupid ear problems were on and off the whole time, esp in the middle miles... and my stomach Gremlin popped up a lot in round 1... I actually have a bruise under my rib cage where I kept pressing in!!!
Felicia was awesome... she talked us through it, told us we were
rockstars (
a duh) and told us we had 4/10
ths of a mile to go. They kept asking us how we felt (N
ic was
ipod'd out and I had taken mine off already
bc it was annoying) and I just kept saying FINE. Felicia asked if I was sure and i wanted to yell
UHM YES, I AM EXHAUSTED BUT
I'M FINE FOR a 5 MIN RUN, LEAVE ME ALONE, all I managed was a glare. We made it over Pier Village and saw Ramon. Tears almost came-- it was the fucking end!! F-I-N-A-L-L-Y. My finite energy source was drawing thin, we kept speeding up (i think we crossed the finish at a 9:30 'sprint' which was about 3 min faster than our average pace) and I just wanted to be out of the rain. All I really remember was Nicole and I shouting G-L-A-M, O-R-O-U-S and Ramon asking me if she was singing. When I said yes, he asked if she had been doing it for long... if only Ramon had seen the role reversal at mile 21!!! I said no and he gave me a high five on the fact that we were about to be marathoners... We crossed the finish line singing.... "we flying first class, up in the sky, we flying first class, living the life...." and I could here my friends and family cheering me on.... what an amazing feeling
AfterAfter I crossed the finish line (
ps. was STILL raining) I got a medal (don't remember this) and went
into the tent for juice. They had minestrone soup so I drank that but felt super claustrophobic so left the tent. My aunt gave me a blanket (no
mylars at this event) and Matt was my umbrella holders as everyone posed for pics with me. I was proud yes, but cold and a bit
overwhelmed. Like HOLY SHIT I JUST RAN A MARATHON overwhelmed. I went up and showered after talking to the
fam (I was shaking by the
time I got into the shower) and met them for a yummy lunch at
McCloones. Then we drove home. And I rested. My legs were dead.
Things I learned:- Pace bands are for the birds- you never know what you're going to feel on race day. Case in point. My best miles were 18-25.5??
- Rain still sucks. Wind, even more so
- Family and friends and crowds cheering you on can get you through A LOT
- Porta potty breaks 10 seconds before the start- pay off!!
- Drink water at every station- you might be dehydrated like me
- Running a marathon has higher highs and lowers lows than you can imagine, even if you did 3 over 20 mile runs, its just not the same
- I love running and I'm def addicted
- Your first marathon should be done with TnT. Hands down. They were amazing/life saving/the best ever!! honestly!
