Yes, I finished!
I am soooo proud of you!!!!
And I was not last!
I never had a doubt in the world about this.... No way you were going to finish last. You are a GODDESS and they never finish last!!!!!!
Ok--on to the report. Got a late start, not my fault. J went for his run this morning (as he always does on Sunday morning...first thing...ya, hate him a bit for it). He knew when I wanted to leave by. 7:20. By 7:15 I am pacing. At 7:20 I am checking my watch every 30 seconds. By 7:25 I am just barely keeping my cool. And at 7:35 when he walked through the door, I was about ready to take his head off. His reason for being late? "I knew that you were really going to push yourself today, so I thought I should, too." So he ran 11 miles (his most ever...but of course, he runs something disgusting like 7 1/2-minute miles). Now I understand that this was his way of being supportive...really...but come on! Plus, it kinda took the wind out of my sails that he can run 11 miles on a whim. That was the furthest I ever went during any of my long runs.
So I get in the car. Not too nervous about the late start because I still gave myself plenty of time. On the way there, Joaane (groovygirls) calls me. Where are you? Um, still on the road. We agree to meet up when I get there.
I find a parking spot and start heading toward the bathrooms. I had been hydrating all morning, so you know... Now this is an all women's race. You would think that they would have a ton of porta-a-potties. No so much. The bathroom line was miles long. Someone clued me in that there was a much shorter line at another bathroom that she found. I followed her. The bathroom line was actually lots of fun. Everyone joking about how slow they were. I was like, ME TOO! Happy to find some fellow back-of-the-packers.
After the bathroom, I find Joanne. She is very cool. A total marathon veteran, so that was great. She was good at calming me down. She wasn't wearing her WISH shirt, but thankfully, my neon green was easy to spot. She is running the Goofy race in January. (Called the Goofy because it is INSANE. You run the half marathon on Saturday and the full on Sunday. No thank you.)
We walked around a bit, enjoying the race atmosphere. I am fairly calm, but still wishing it was already over. We hit the bathrooms again. Joanne knows a super secret bathroom that no one else has discovered. She is a goddess already. Now it is time to head to the start.
The starting line was fun. LOTS of comments on my WISH shirt (it has the motto on the back: Dead Last Finish beats Did Not Finish, which greatly beats Did Not Start). Found lots of back-of-the-packers around me. Yes.
So during this time I am scoping the crowd. And there are some big girls there. They could give Pooh or Ursula a run for their money. I, of course, am just thrilled by this. I do not feel out of place. My family of fatties is with me. I spot a whole team of about 6 women in purple shirts. They look like me...smallish and in shape-ish but not total emaciated runner types. I like them. I see this other large group of women all wearing matching shirts and orange hats. They look fierce. They look serious as sh*t. I hate them.
Ok, the race has started! The whole first mile is just sort of running with the pack...jockeying for position, trying to loosen up the crowd so you can get your pace, etc. I am alone at this point, but pretty soon Joanne makes her way over to me.
Oh now...what is this I see after a couple of miles? There is a turn off point for those running the 5k! I forgot that there was the 5k option! Of course, this is where all of my fattie friends go. Crap.
Joanne and I run together for the first 4 miles. We are also running right ahead of the purple team. Told you I liked them. Joanne has a Garmin on, and we are just under our 11 minute per mile pace. This is good. There are lots of people behind me, I know this. We kept this pace till about mile 6 or so. And also at mile 6, I started to catch up with the walkers. This is awesome for me. Passing lots of people now.
Here we are at the official half-way point. Really? I have to do all of this again? But what is this I see? 6 more women in purple shirts on the side of the road stretching, etc. OMG, they are going to be a relay team! (This was not allowed, by the way). So now the purple team that I liked so much is going to have a whole new set of runners with fresh legs. I mentally move them into the I Hate You column.
This is where things went downhill. The next like 3.5 miles were rolling hills. Now there were certainly some hills in the first 6, but it was just like one hill here, one hill there. This was miles and miles of hills. On the one hand, it was ok, because for every up there was a down. So you could catch your breath and recover on the down. Of course, I slowed my pace here a bit, but so did everyone else. LOTS of runner were walking the uphills.
I see mile marker 9 and half of me thinks, oh good only 4 miles to go. I can do a 4-miler in my sleep. But I also know that I am tired. Another thing happens at mile 9. I see half of the Orange Hat team. They are walking. Ha. The rest of the team left them there to rot. Sorry that your team sucks. I pass them.
The problem came at about mile 9.5. We were flat again...and this should have been good. BUT...all of those hills created havoc for my muscles. You use your hamstrings on the way up, and calves on the way down. So now I am running flat and my hams and calves are BOTH killing me. I start to panic a bit, b/c I didn't know really what to do. Nothing like this had happened to me in any of my training runs. So I decided I would walk it out a bit...just let my muscles relax for 60 seconds and then start up again.
This proved to be a fatal mistake. OMG did that hurt. I mean really hurt. I am not sure what damage has been done, but something. I spent the last 3 miles literally limping along--at a decent pace, but still...
Around mile 10 I see the rest of the Orange Hat team. They are walking, too. Serves you right for being so serious at the start. I pass them.
I get to mile 11.5 and hit the wall. It was bad. This is already farther than I have ever gone and I feel it. My body totally knows it and is super pissed at me. But I have no choice. I have come this far and I will finish--at least at this point I know it. And here comes a hill. Not just a little rolling hill, but a steep mother f'er of a hill. At 11.5 miles in. Are you kidding me? I walk up the hill at a 13.5 minute per mile pace. Passing walkers with my walking pace, so this makes me feel ok about the walking.
Mile 12! Time to call Liz and tell her that I now know I will finish. People were looking at me like I had 2 heads, I tell ya. Also, the fasties who had already finished were walking by already wearing their medals. I simultaneously hated and loved them.
Ok, here comes the finish! I actually had some juice left, so I pick up the pace. I am going to finish and I don't feel elated...just freaking happy to be done running. I have had it. They announce my name as I coming in the home stretch. People are cheering. I get ready to put my hands in the air for the victory photo at the finish line. But instead I pull my iPod off. Crap. I grab it one hand and still put one hand up and cross.
My mom and girls are there. Joanne is there--she finished ahead of me since I slowed down after I was hurt.
After I got my water and they took my chip off, another woman comes over to me and said, "I saw your shirt and had to come over." I assumed she meant the bib on the back. Turns out it was TracyZ from the boards and another WISHer. She just found WISH about a month ago and is now on the racing team. Gave her a huge hug. My mom took a picture of me, Tracy and Joanne.
Yes, I will post all pics as soon as I get them from my mom.
A HUGE thank you to all of you. I would never have even attempted this without you!
I feel so lucky to have fallen into this amazing group of women.
Now, I drink. And eat pizza.
Saturday, I had leftovers from Fri for breakfast and a cheddarwurst hotdog for a snack. Had some corn chips and dip at my SIL's party as well as two pieces of pizza, two Cokes and some birthday cake.
Congratulations, are you sitting there now just going "holy god, i just ran that?" INSANE!!
maybe hair of the dog? So that would mean another run???? He// just lay down and relax!!!!!
Honestly, I felt the day through your writing. 
