Well Gang, I did it!!! Hooray for me. I did 26.2!
I went up to Duluth on the 15th picked up our packets Friday evening and went to the expo. Relatively dissapointed in the expo, as it is smaller than in past years While we were at the expo it started to rain It rained as only it does in duluth. Very cold rain.
We ate dinner at Angie’s Mexican food. had a taco salad. the best taco salad i ever had! After that we decided to drive the marathon course. I turned my GPS on to get a better grasp on the size of the hills we would encounter. The race course started off at 740 feet above sea level, then, relatively quickly dropped off to the 660 foot level. It stayed there for most of the race course. Even the infamous lemon drop hill didn’t seem so bad. It was a 40 foot incline in a fairly short period, but, it really wasn’t bad.
We stayed at the house of my niece. She’s a student at UMD. It was a typical college house.Kids there were typical college kids. That’s all I’ll say on that regard. needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep.
We got up about 5. We needed to get to the shuttle pickup spot by 6. We got there, they were picking up folks by the thousands. Our bus picked us up by 5:45. We loaded up and got lost. What should have been a 20 minute drive turned out to be the drive from hell that lasted about an hour. We didn’t get to the starting point until about 7:00
At the starting point, we lined up and about 5 minutes before the race, two F16 jets flew over head. COOL!!!!! At the starting point I had a laugh, because guys were hopping down into the ditch to pee, and this cop on a 4 wheeler kept yelling that them to STOP. It’s not like they were robbing a bank or anything. I’m surprised the cop didn’t pull his gun on these guys :)
The gun went off, I started running. I was recovering from a blister in my left mid-sole. About mile five I could feel the blister start to grow in size. Eventually it got to the size where it wasn’t painful anymore.
Oh, the weather. It was warm, muggy, and no wind. Very hot run for a Grandma’s. I was concerned when I packed that I wasn’t packing any warm clothes. I’m glad I didn’t!
the water stops were every two miles. Very thankful for that! I watered up at most every stop.
Most of the run, I just enjoyed the scenery. It was very beautiful. I enjoyed everything I saw, from the lake, the trees, the very tanned and toned women :)
About mile 20, I started to get a little nauseaous (sp.) I felt I was getting dehydrated. I felt I needed to walk a little bit. I started to walk/run at this point. More running that walking, but walk/run just the same.
About mile 23 I started to get dizzy. I started to walk more than run. My common sense was telling me I should quit, but the athelete in me was saying, “Dude, you’ve come this far, finish what you’ve started”. the thing that was keeping me going was imagining me with the finishers medal around my neck! At mile 26, I managed to kick it in to the finish. My chip time was about 4:58. My goal time was 4;30. I would have made my goal time if it would have been cooler.
So, I’ve got a PR. Next marathon I run, I’ve got something to beat!
I just got out of bed, and my legs are so sore right now, stairs are definitely an issue!
I’m so glad I was able to do the race. I’ve accomplished a goal I’ve had for myself since high school!
