The Twenty Six Point Two Miles

OK, I know I've kept you all waiting for this.  The day itself was so overwhelming that it has taken a few days to recover and to revisit.  It all started very early on Saturday morning...

My alarm went off at 3:15am.  Yes, that's right.  I wrote THREE AM.  Very early.  I got dressed and made some oatmeal and a cup of coffee.  We met the team downstairs at 4am.  Everyone had made such an effort with names on their shirts, purple ribbon in their hair and temporary tattoos on their cheeks. My Mum and Dad got up at that time too and came downstairs with their signs to cheer. 

We got on the bus at 4:15am and I wasn't feeling that great.  All the excitement and lack of sleep had me feeling nauseous and in general I'm not a great traveler so I laid my head back and closed my eyes trying to calm down.  As such, I wasn't really aware that the bus driver got lost and we did 2 U-turns before finally arriving at the start line!

When we arrived we saw stands with bananas, bagels and water and a long line of port-a-potties.  We were extremely early and spent the next 2 hours shivering on the sidewalk while everyone else showed up. The weather would be perfect for the race but was a bit chilly while we waited. Eventually the minutes crawled by and we made our way to our corral to line up for the start. We had learned that there were 28,000 entrants in the race, but only 7,000 of those were marathoners.  

The race began at 7am, but it was another 30 minutes before we would cross the start line.  NP, Laura and I noticed that the lines for the port-a-potties were now non-existent and took the chance to hop out of line and visit them one more time only to find our way back into the starting lines blocked.  Yikes! We jumped over the barriers despite the officials yelling at us not to.  Getting to the starting line of this marathon really was proving to be quite difficult.

But, eventually, about 7:35am, we jogged through the start and off we went.  The first 4 miles were through some pretty neighbourhoods before we ran by Lake Washington for another 4.  We joked about dropping in on an open house and enjoyed the cheering families on the side lines.  NP was off to a flying start and Laura and I had to work to keep up with her. 

Before we knew it,  we met up with Sean and Mum and Dad for the first time.  They were impossible to miss, standing on the side lines waving signs and shouting, "Come on Claire!" at the top of their voices.  They put a huge smile on my face.

Next up were a couple of miles over Lake Washington bridge.  That bridge seemed to go on foreeeeever, but the view was great and the extra breeze had a nice cooling effect.

It was shortly after we left the bridge and approached the finish line for the first time (only to run right on by, leaving the half marathoners behind) that I started to feel tired.  We were close to the 14 mile point at this stage and with much shorter lines it was time for a bathroom break.  Right after that we bumped into the greatest supporters ever and Dad even ran with me for a little bit.  They really put the bounce back in my step and off we headed north towards Aurora St bridge.

From here, the route led us up onto a highway and then down into a tunnel.  It was a weird break from all the cheering and noise of the city.  I felt like I had gone under water because everything went quiet and I could hear myself breathing.  I realized the legs were beginning to feel heavy.  The next 3 miles north were nearly all uphill.  I dug deep and kept the legs moving.  At Mile 18 (soon after this photo) we turned around and headed back towards the finish again.  Luckily we got to run down that loooong hill we had just run up, but even with that after Mile 20 everything got slower.

At mile 22 I looked up and once again found a big grin on my face when I heard the cheers (though Sean tells me that this time it looked more like a grimace)! I had lost the girls and alone, I was really finding the going tough. By now, I was also consciously ignoring a shooting pain up the front of my right shin.

Mum, Dad and Sean were shouting from an overlook rather than by the street. I was about 4 hours 15 minutes or so in at this point and I really didn't know how much more I had in me. 

Luckily soon after this, I bumped into the 5 hour pacer.  Pacers hold signs with the time in which they intend to run the race.  If you stick with them you're guaranteed to cross the finish line close to that time.  I asked if she would mind if I joined their little group and kept with them to the end.  

The next 4 miles are a blur.  I kept thinking that I wouldn't be able to go any farther and somehow kept managing to keep going.  It was really everything I had, absolutely every little piece of energy and will power and determination I could wrench from my body that went into those last miles.   I crossed the line in 5 hours and 2 minutes.

Immediately after I crossed the line I was handed a bottle of water and a medal.  It was all I could do to hold it together for an official photo.  I hobbled over to the medic tent and managed to blurt out, "I hurt" just as the tears started to flow.  I was led to a seat and someone strapped a bag of ice to my leg and draped a blanket over my shoulders.  Somewhat in a haze, I made my way out of the tent and over to Mum, Dad and Sean.

And that's it.  I did it.  I ran a marathon.  That's the story of my twenty six point two miles.  Well, my first twenty six point two miles anyway...