PF Chang Marathon Race Report (Better late than never!)
If there is one thing the whole marathon experience has taught me, it is this: No matter what shape you are in physically, you MUST be TOUGH MENTALLY to run 26.2 miles. I now have a whole new respect for not just runners, but especially marathoners.
Training for this race was tough for me. I had a rough time getting in my runs during the week, and missed a few long runs. On race day, the furthest I had run was 18 miles. Two weeks before the race, my plantar fasciitis started to flare up. But in the end, it didn’t matter. After six months of training, I just wanted to get to the starting line and get the race over with.
On race morning, my nerves kept me from eating my bagel with peanut butter. I downed what I could and hoped I wouldn’t pay for it later.
Trying to stay warm before the race
Our corralEveryone told me to start out slow. Don’t go out too fast. Well, I got too excited at the start. My friend Mary and I were running at a pretty good pace for a little while. Then I started to slow down. I told Mary to go on ahead without me and that I’d be right behind her.
By the half mark, the Garmin was telling me that this was my fastest half ever. This was about the time that I really started to feel the effects of not eating enough before the race. I used gummy worms through training, so I just kept eating the gummy worms every 45 minutes. My hubby met me at the half mark, and I said to him “I’m never doing this again!”
At about mile 17, my fingers started to go numb. That had never happened to me before, so as I was going by the medical tent at mile 18, I decided to just ask one of the medical people “What does it mean when my fingers are going numb?” The response I got was “Maybe you should sit down for a few minutes”. I said “No, I don’t want to stop…” . He looked at me and said “Well, you want to finish, don’t you?” He got me there, so I followed him to the tent and sat down. The medical people thought that I was low on electrolytes, so they gave me some salt water, and hard candy. After a few minutes, the numb feeling went away. Another runner at the tent (who sadly did not go on to finish) handed me her GU, and I got back to my feet and started off again.
The last miles were the hardest. I wouldn’t say I hit “the wall” at mile 20, but by mile 24, my legs felt like they each weighed a ton and it got harder and harder to just keep moving forward. I just kept saying to myself “You are going to finish. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION!”
The hubby and Mary met up with me at the 26 mile mark. Mary said “You only have to go around the corner and you are done!” As I turned the corner, I could see the finish line. That’s when I sprinted to the finish. I have no idea where I got the energy to sprint across the finish line, but I did it.
I crossed the finish and made my way through the finisher’s chute. Hubby was waiting for me at the end of the chute, and as I gave him a hug, he said “You did it! You ran a marathon!” As soon as I heard that, I started to cry. I couldn’t believe that after all those months of training, and the hundreds of miles logged, I had achieved my goal. I am officially A MARATHONER.
26.2
Yes, I realize I’m a little bit late in updating the blog, but I am now officially a MARATHONER! Thank you to everyone for your words of encouragement and support. I knew running was a total mind over body sport, but I had no idea until I crossed the finish line.
Full race report to come soon…
6 days and counting
Ok, so we are 6 days away from the marathon, and the race jitters have officially set in.
But now is not the time to worry. Instead, I MUST FOCUS.
I’ll be watching this video at least once this week to give me some more inspiration. This is a preview.
You can watch the full episode here. If you are like me, you may need some Kleenex towards the end.
Catch you all later.
Hello 2010!
Happy new year everyone! Here’s wishing that 2010 is a better year all around for us all.
Have you ironed out your goals for the new year? Two of my goals are the same from last year: knit myself a sweater, and run my first full marathon. The marathon goal is in 16 days – YIKES! I’m still working on my other goals and will come back with that list soon.
No new knitting to talk about. I’m knitting up something big for my mom’s birthday next week, so I will let you know more when that project is complete.
We’re starting a new social studies project at the school I teach at, and it includes receiving postcards from all over the country and the world. As many of you know, I collect postcards, so when I read one teacher’s idea of incorporating postcards into a lesson plan, I of course jumped at the idea.
I teach elementary school kids, and I know they will love receiving postcards from all over. We will be looking up each place on maps, learning about the culture, and things unique to that area. We plan on displaying them in our hallway next to a map that will point out where each postcard is from. As our project progresses, I will of course post a picture.
If you would like to contribute to our project by sending us a postcard, we would so appreciate it! Please leave me a comment if you are interested, and I’ll email you the address.
A little bit of this, and a little bit of that…
The people from POM Wonderful contacted me a while back and offered to send me some of their pomegranate juice. I had read about this juice on other blogs and was excited to try it out. The taste is REALLY SWEET – almost a little bit too sweet for me. But I added some ginger ale and made my own POM Wonderful spritzer of sorts. While I like the health benefits, I don’t like the sugar content per serving (32 grams for an 8 oz serving), so I probably won’t be drinking it too often. Still, it may be worth your while to give it a try.
Did you know that those same people who make Luna bars now make Luna cookies? They had a giveaway for a free sample on their web site and my sample came over the weekend. I haven’t tried it yet but will let you know how it tastes in a later post.
I did another long run with the gals yesterday, and definitely ran faster and stronger than if I had run alone. Now if only I could make my running during the week just as strong…
Hope everyone has a great week!
