Posted by Marathon Mama in
The day started very early at 345 am. I got up, got ready and we left right on time. We had to catch a shuttle bus to the start line along with 30,000 other people. Then we got to the start line and had about 2 hours to kill before the race started. It was nerve racking because my anticipation was driving me nuts, I just wanted to start already! After lots of stretching and waiting, I took one last trip to the port o potty, kissed Loren goodbye and got into my corral to start running. It was a wave start. This is where you are placed into corrals based on your projected finish time and each corral (1-30) starts a few minutes apart. Each corral had about 1000 people. I was in corral 8 and Loren (who was running the half) was in 20 something. After the gun went off, I had to wait about 15 minutes for my corral to start. Then I was running a marathon!!!!!!!
I ran at about a 9 to 9.5 minute pace for the first 2 miles then I sped up to about 8.5 until mile 20. I picked some running buddies to keep up with, and waved at all the spectators. I ran the half in 2 hours. The course was pretty cool, running thru downtown and past the Alamo was fun. All the live bands were entertaining to watch along the way. The course is a 2 way at one point and I got to see the famous kenyan runners (who won the race of course) running. I was amazed to watch them, they are so smooth and fast! It was cool to get to see them in action. There were so many interesting people running along with me, all ages, races, shapes and sizes. I loved the camaraderie. Even though it was 94% humidity, I still felt really strong and I was running easily weaving in and out of runners and loving the competition...... until about mile 20.
At mile 20-21 I hit my wall big time! I had no idea how hard it was going to be. The pain was unbelievable. At that point I really was running on pure will. It was so hard to just keep moving. I had some digestive issues and had to make a port a potty stop which kinda slowed me down at about mile 22. Then I kept going, playing mind games with myself to try and distract me from the pain. I have to say, after giving birth 3 times, the pain I was in the last 4 to 5 miles was pretty equivalent to the pain of childbirth. It was like full body throbbing. It wasn't a particular spot that was hurting like an injury but just the pain of extreme fatigue. I was just so exhausted. Up until mile 20 I was on pace to finish in 4 hours, then I just could not keep running that fast the last few miles. I was lucky to just run at all at that point. People were dropping like flies. One man in front of me collapsed and had to be carried off in a stretcher. Then lots of people were stopping and vomiting towards the end. Everyone was struggling and I sure was too. Someone told me that the marathon is only half over at mile 20 and that is the truth. After you deplete your body of all its glycogen stores the "wall" is real! I was humbled by it. I thought I was a good runner until I hit that wall.
So I kept running very slowly to the finish line, up the last hill and I gave it all I had for the last 100 yards. I sprinted to the finish line and cried tears of pride, joy, agony and exhaustion. I was ready to rest and recover. I have never felt such a feeling in all my life. So many emotions all at once. I was overwhelmed by it all. I met up with my family and friends after stumbling through the food area (I was kinda out out of it) and so happy to see them. It felt so good to have completed my goal.
Running a marathon was very hard, maybe crazy but at the same time, awesome. Despite all the pain, I loved it and I will hopefully do it again someday. My life is richer for it and I am so proud to be a member of the 26.2 mile club.
My chip finish time was 4 hours 17 min 19 sec. Pretty close to my goal of 4 hours. Next time I will somehow be better prepared to hit my "wall" and maybe get a faster time.
I was also very proud of Loren to finish the half marathon (13.1 miles) He does not enjoy running the way I do but he finished and I was so happy for him.
Now I am in full recovery mode slowly easing back into running after some time of active rest. Even though its only been a few days without running I am already getting itchy to get back out there.
We plan to run the Austin half marathon in a few months and Zachary my oldest son (14) is gonna train and run it with us. I am very excited about that. I will focus on finishing the half in less than 2 hours.
You can see pics and watch video of me crossing the finish line at these links :)
http://san-antonio.competitor.com/features/finishreplay/
Thanks to all who donated to the Lance armstrong foundation in honor of cancer patients and my marathon. I still have 1 month to get to my goal and I am almost there.
http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/amyfrancis
Thanks to everyone for all your support in this journey....love and hugs to you!
Happy running!
2 comments:
You are awesome! Those are some great pictures!
c&j
WOOHOOO!! I am so proud of you!
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