Morning!
You ladies are doing awesome!!! Sorry, we got back yesterday afternoon and I just wanted to relax before coming into work today....lots of stuff waiting for me of course but it's nice to be busy.
Here's my marathon race report that I posted in my personal journal on the YaYa's:
Well, this weekend was a blast and painful, all rolled into one. We got up to the Expo at about 3:15 to pick up my race packet and it took us 45 minutes to figure out the order in which to retrieve it. First I had to go into a tent and pick up my bib, then into the Expo to get my goodie bag and T-Shirt. I have to tell you about the T-shirt….it's totally awesome! I wasn't sure whether I should get a medium or a large (I hate T-shirts that hug my hips and show my belly) so I had a Marine hold a medium up for me. I was like….uh, I'm not sure….maybe a large? It was pretty funny when he said "trust me ma'am, a medium will do you good." I was like okay, I'm going to trust you, lol….thankfully he was right and it was fine. Just the way he said it struck me as funny, all serious and stuff. I'm sure he thought I was a nut when I laughed.
After that we headed to the hotel. They had a great pasta buffet on the Mezzanine level so I had a good filling meal the night before. I needed to purchase a metro ticket to get to the start line so we went for a walk after dinner to find the metro. Luckily it was close…maybe two blocks from the hotel. I got the ticket that night and it's a good thing I did because there was a huge crowd of runners and spectators standing there the next morning trying to buy a ticket, yikes.
Anyway, took the metro to the Pentagon stop but still had to walk about 1.5 miles to the start. I got there at 7:50 am just in time to hear the gun go off for the wheel chair racers. As I was standing there I saw the 5:00 hour pacer balloons across the crowd and "tried" to make my way to them. Wow, it's hard to describe what's its like standing in a sea of 30,000 bodies and trying to move! I got as close as I could and hoped for the best.
The gun went off and I tried like heck to keep those dang 5:00 balloons in sight but lost them about 2-3 miles in on the downside of a hill. I was doing great going uphill but downhill was having an effect on my reconstructed ACL. I never realized how much you use it to stabilize in a downward movement. I was reduced to gingerly running down hill because I was terrified of rupturing it again. Once downhill, I could feel the back of my knee tighten up for awhile until it worked itself out. I was okay though, and my half marathon split was decent, 2:37….I think. I thought okay Kathy pull it together and you can make a 5:00 - 5:15 finish because the hills are over. Didn't happen, at mile 18 I started doing the death "slog" and by mile 21 the 5:30 hour balloons caught up to me while we were running on the freeway. Quick detour here, we ran this freeway section twice….the first time into Crystal City and the second time back to the War Memorial. I really disliked that segment, lol…ugh, we could see all the cars zooming past us on the other side and creating this gust! Nothing like running on a concrete highway, I tell ya.
Back to the race, lol…..we did run by some amazing sights like right in front of the White House. I was transfixed on it going by, very cool! At the finish we had to run up one last hill to the finish line. By then everyone was groaning and the Marines were lined up along the sides hollering at us to make one last push to the line. It was pretty funny and I think I laughed because I thought man you may have to kick my rear end up there because I'm running out of gas, lol. But once we made it across the finish line we were handed a bottle of water by a nice handsome Marine (in Fatigues (sp?)) and herded into corral shoots. At the end of the shoot was another nice young strapping Marine to put the finishers medal around our neck and congratulate us. Very wonderful, I have to hand it to the Marines they sure do know how to cheer you on and they were excellent at the water stops with handing out water and lots of encouragement. The crowds were the best I've ever seen at a race, loud and rowdy just like you want them to be!
Overall, probably the most memorable race I've ever run (with funny fellow racers, great views and sights, and awesome crowd) but definitely my worst performance wise. I'm glad I did it and can mark it off my list but it's not one I'll do again. I just don't like that big of a race. We were jammed like sardines through a lot of it and it was tough to really stay motivated and not feel stressed out. The course was tough because it was a lot of cement, bricks, and asphalt. My feet and shins were killing me! Then to top it all off at the end you still have to stand in line for an hour to get the metro back to the hotel. My body was a big bundle of aches by the time I finally hit the shower about 3:00 p.m.
But that's not to say I didn't enjoy it because I did! The finishers medal is the coolest I've ever gotten and like I said the T-shirt ROCKS! So all in all, awesome experience that I'll probably never forget regardless of my 5:43 finish time.
(pic of the finisher medal/Tshirt/coin/patch)