Ahh sorry, I thought I posted this next bit already...
The finish:
There was a medical tent right at the end of the race. Maybe I could see if they had walkie-talkies and knew of someone getting hurt or sick? It seemed unlikely to me that they would have any good information yet. And I didnt even know if something happened to him. Maybe I would be taking up space and time that another runner actually needed urgently.
I tried to keep my thoughts calm as I walked through the exit area. A young man cut the timing chip off of my shoe and said Congrats. I hope I said something nice in response but I dont remember. Someone else wrapped me up in tin foil. I dont know what that was about but I look good as a baked potato so I kept it around me and kept walking. They put the Donald medal around my neck but I didnt even care I just had to get out of that area and find my dad! All of my thoughts and energy was put in to finding the meeting place. If he wasnt there though, I had a feeling I was going to lose it.
They had a spot set up where you could get your post-race photo taken looking sweaty and holding your new medal. The people getting their pics taken looked so happy. While I would have liked to have the memento, I just pictured me showing it off to people years down the road
Yes, this is the marathon photo I had taken while my dad was laying in a ditch, dying on the side of the road. Lovely, isnt it? I skipped the photo op.
I hurried on to the meeting area and right where he was supposed to be, under the big letter T was my father, full of smiles and looking healthy and strong, waiting to greet me. Georgia was there too, looking tired but happy and great. Mom and DH had made it over to them before I could even get out of the post-race area so our whole group was together, and everyone was happy and healthy and fine and no one was dead in a ditch or anything!
So of course, I started to cry
Happy tears
Later, my mother claims it was my fault for getting so worked up and when she screams in a panic about my father, it doesnt mean that I should assume the worst happens. I blame her, of course, because you shouldnt be yelling things at a person finishing 13.1 miles, except for congratulations!! But because everyone was healthy and fine, none of it actually matters
Finally finished, my feet really said they were done and not going to take one step further in the horrible shoes I had crammed them into and I had to take off the shoes and carry them. The pain in my feet was so bad that I wasnt sure I could make it to the car, even though we were parked very close to the race area. I was also a little worried about my stomach acting up again and just wanted to get back to AKV as soon as possible.
DH offered to take Georgia back to All Star Sports in one car while my parents could take me right back to our hotel room, so I could get back faster. In the car, my wonderful mother sat in the back seat with me and offered to help massage my feet. I think she regretted this offer as soon as she was in the car with me, because I was pretty sweaty-stinky, and I dont think my feet were much more pleasant. Ahh the things a mother will do for her child
The foot that I knew had a blister from around mile 8 or so couldnt be touched because the blister was SO BIG. I wasnt sure if they even made band-aids in that size
We made it back to AKV and I hobbled carefully back to my room and straight into a hot shower. When I got out, DH still wasn't back from dropping off Georgia so I meant to sit down for a bit on the floor and rest, but I fell asleep almost immediately. When DH came in, I woke up and we decided to head down to The Mara for lunch. This is when I realized that since my feet had hurt so badly after the race, I hadn't stretched out one single muscle after the run. Add the hot shower to that and now every muscle in my body was already tightening up and starting to feel sore. I tried to do some stretching now but it was really just too late. Between my crazy-sore legs and my humungo blister on the bottom of my foot, I wasn't moving anywhere fast!
For next time:
Post Marathon park touring and final race thoughts.
Thanks for reading
