I layed all of my stuff out and pinned my number to my shirt, and made sure I had everything. Was worried about a lot of things. Didn't want to forget anything. My nerves were getting the better of me, so I tried not to think about it and went to bed. Took me a while to get to sleep. I also had two dreams about the marathon. One before I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to the bathroom and one after. Both very very weird. 
The starting line
Early the next morning I got up and got ready to go. Sandi was driving me and her friend Lisa to the starting point. I was so excited and nervous, my stomach was in knots and I could hardly eat anything. Sandi was trying to get me to eat a power bar, and it wasn't settling very well. I did manage to get down a banana, and some Gatorade. The starting line was packed with people all waiting to start the run.
The first 10 miles went by pretty easy. It was kind of crowded because they had the half marathon runners and the full together for the first 10, then split, the full went over the Washington bridge. This is the picture of that. As you can see there are people going two different directions. We had to run across the bridge then do a u-turn and go back. It was a bit chilly on that bridge and windy. But hey, I'm used to the wind. I finished the next 10 miles and my legs were really getting tired. At every water station I would take a couple of drinks of citromax or gatoraid or whatever they had then follow it with some water. I used three of my Cliff shots, and one pack of Gu. I had my phone with me and was getting encouraging texts from Sandi, and Bret, and also Amber, and Annette, along the way. It really helped to know that so many were cheering for me! At mile 24 my legs started shaking and I thought I'd better walk a bit. Didn't want to fall down or something. I did walk most of that mile, and also most of mile 25. When I hit mile 26 I got a second wind. Or maybe I should say a 3rd or 4th wind. I picked it up and ran down this ramp around the corner and saw the finish line. What a beautiful sight!!!! My legs were killing me and I just wanted to be done! I saw Sandi and Sean and Savannah and Sydney and Spencer all standing there with a big sign cheering me on!!! As I crossed the finish line I hear the announcer say "And here comes Tammie!" That was cool. I went on and got my metal and found the fruit stand, had a slice of orange and a cold bottle of water, and found Sandi and Sean. Sandi said my time was 5:25. I had improved on my last time by 45 minutes. I didn't really have a time goal, I just wanted to do better than my first marathon. Which I did, so I'm very happy. We took a bunch of pictures and listened to the band play. I really just wanted to go home and take a shower. I was very sweaty and smelly. Nothing like a cold shower to take the pain away! I was so happy to have that over. Since January I'd been training and stressing and planning and worrying about this marathon and I'm so glad to have it behind me. Now I can just go running for the fun of it. Which is what I really like to do. On the way home we stopped at Subway, Sandi and her family hadn't eaten lunch yet. All I wanted was some cold chocolate milk! It was the best I'd ever tasted!
About a month before all of this, I told Sandi that for my after the marathon meal I wanted Fish and Chips. I new being in Seattle that they would be excellent. Sean took us to Dukes, which had the best fish and chips I'd ever tasted! Sean never lets me down! Finished the evening by going to Toy Story in 3D. I really shouldn't have sat still for so long. I was very sore and stiff when it was time to get up again! Great movie though!! Went to bed that night feeling very good about myself and happy. I could just relax and sleep. I'll have more pictures of the finish when I get them from Sandi...... stay tuned!
The first 10 miles went by pretty easy. It was kind of crowded because they had the half marathon runners and the full together for the first 10, then split, the full went over the Washington bridge. This is the picture of that. As you can see there are people going two different directions. We had to run across the bridge then do a u-turn and go back. It was a bit chilly on that bridge and windy. But hey, I'm used to the wind. I finished the next 10 miles and my legs were really getting tired. At every water station I would take a couple of drinks of citromax or gatoraid or whatever they had then follow it with some water. I used three of my Cliff shots, and one pack of Gu. I had my phone with me and was getting encouraging texts from Sandi, and Bret, and also Amber, and Annette, along the way. It really helped to know that so many were cheering for me! At mile 24 my legs started shaking and I thought I'd better walk a bit. Didn't want to fall down or something. I did walk most of that mile, and also most of mile 25. When I hit mile 26 I got a second wind. Or maybe I should say a 3rd or 4th wind. I picked it up and ran down this ramp around the corner and saw the finish line. What a beautiful sight!!!! My legs were killing me and I just wanted to be done! I saw Sandi and Sean and Savannah and Sydney and Spencer all standing there with a big sign cheering me on!!! As I crossed the finish line I hear the announcer say "And here comes Tammie!" That was cool. I went on and got my metal and found the fruit stand, had a slice of orange and a cold bottle of water, and found Sandi and Sean. Sandi said my time was 5:25. I had improved on my last time by 45 minutes. I didn't really have a time goal, I just wanted to do better than my first marathon. Which I did, so I'm very happy. We took a bunch of pictures and listened to the band play. I really just wanted to go home and take a shower. I was very sweaty and smelly. Nothing like a cold shower to take the pain away! I was so happy to have that over. Since January I'd been training and stressing and planning and worrying about this marathon and I'm so glad to have it behind me. Now I can just go running for the fun of it. Which is what I really like to do. On the way home we stopped at Subway, Sandi and her family hadn't eaten lunch yet. All I wanted was some cold chocolate milk! It was the best I'd ever tasted!
About a month before all of this, I told Sandi that for my after the marathon meal I wanted Fish and Chips. I new being in Seattle that they would be excellent. Sean took us to Dukes, which had the best fish and chips I'd ever tasted! Sean never lets me down! Finished the evening by going to Toy Story in 3D. I really shouldn't have sat still for so long. I was very sore and stiff when it was time to get up again! Great movie though!! Went to bed that night feeling very good about myself and happy. I could just relax and sleep. I'll have more pictures of the finish when I get them from Sandi...... stay tuned!
You're awesome! Great job.
ReplyDeleteamazing woman! Can't wait to do mine!
ReplyDelete