Marathoning

If you are not on Facebook or Instagram, you may not know Rhett and I are now marathoners and half-marathoners. For Rhett, this is his first full marathon and a first half marathon for me. Rhett ran his first half marathon back in December 2010 and said he probably would never do one again. I think this time around was much better for him. He worked really hard and got great results from training. I promised I would write my experience, so if you don't want to read it, skip to the pictures. I apologize ahead of time for not being the best writer. I am just spewing what comes to my head (remember, I didn't go to college). I didn't ever think I would run a marathon (or half marathon). This is coming from the girl who would cheat in her miles and cross country in middle school and high school. I hated P.E. and hated any sort of exercise. But a lovely lady in my ward changed all this for me. Francys. Francys glows and I wanted to know her and know who she was. She has this wonderful energy and smile about her and I needed to hang out with her more. But Francys was a runner and marathoner. Passionately (maybe a little obsessed) about running. I decided to give it a try. I thought that maybe I could lose some extra weight too. Not only was Francys the best coach around, she became one of my closest, most trusted friends. She also has become my second photographer! Anyhow, I convinced Rhett to run with me, but he wanted to try and run the full marathon this time around. So we signed up. I signed us up for the Rock n' Roll in Seattle because I thought I would enjoy the live bands playing along the way, but to be honest, I didn't even notice them. It might as well been any regular marathon. There was so much energy and excitement around, I thought " THIS is why Francys runs all of these!" I was nervous and excited and scared all at the same time. My stomach turns now just thinking about. (Francys and Rob) Francys' husband, Rob, ran with me. He had injured his foot and didn't think he could run the full marathon, so he asked if he could run with me. I was blessed to have him run with me. He kept me laughing by doing silly dances and leaps and talked to me when I was starting to lose my energy. (That's Rhett- and my thumb- in front in the orange and grey shirt) The first 3-5 miles were great. I was pacing myself well and happy and feeling amazing. I wasn't aching or out of breath or anything. I was just taking everything in. The hundreds of bobbling heads in front of me, the music in my iPod, the sites of downtown Seattle. Around 5 or 6 miles I started to feel it though. We had just walked up a steep hill and I had to take a potty break. For me, once I stop running, I have a hard time starting back up. I took some of my runners Gu. I think that's what really started making me feel bad. I had been without sugar for a week and then loading up on it while running didn't do me any favors. My stomach wasn't very happy with me. My knees started hurting and bottom of my feet started to get sore. Around mile 6 or 7, we ran through a long tunnel, and being a little claustrophobic, I started to get a little nervous. Plus there wasn't any fresh air and it was starting to make me panic inside. So I remembered what Rob told me before the race, "think of the reason why you are running." I had decided at the beginning of this race I would run for my Aunt Amy, who passed away from cancer suddenly last May. So much has changed in the last year since her passing, and I thought about what kind of battle she went through. I tried thinking about her pain, her worries she must have had, her tears and sorrow, but most of all, how she was so strong trough it all. She never once felt bad for herself, or threw a pity party. She was my hero. Thinking of her through the race really helped me get through some of the toughest times when I really wanted to stop and walk. I remember talking to her a couple times when I needed her. I miss her laugh and her strength and all the good times we had. Rob later told me that every time I reached a tunnel, I just booked it. But I know it was my Aunty Amy pushing me along the way. Right before the finish line I thought I was just going to die. Mile 9-13 was the absolute worst. I wanted to throw up (but I didn't). I was dizzy. I was out of breath. My lungs hurt. My feet hurt. My legs and ankles hurt. Everything hurt. But I was so proud of myself for actually doing this. I was excited and relieved that it was finally over. No more training, no more anticipating. It was over. I think one of the best parts was getting chocolate milk after finishing. I finished the race in 2 hours and 35 minutes. I was hoping for 2 hours and 20 minutes, but with 3 bathroom stops and even the few miles walking I did, I am totally happy with my time. I don't plan on beating it, because I don't plan on running another half marathon anytime soon. I also want to add that it had been down poring all day Friday. It said it was going to rain Saturday and I HATE running in the rain. I prayed that Heavenly Father would just let it be nice during the race so we could enjoy it. When we woke up Saturday morning, it was cool but wasn't raining. Once we started to run, the Sun came out. Rhett and I even got a little sun burned! God loves us and knows our hearts. He wants us to be happy. He hears out prayers. I am so blessed and so grateful for my testimony on my loving Heavenly Father and how He does answer our prayers. The funny thing about it was that maybe 30 minutes after I had crossed the finish line, it started to rain, and then down pore again. We walked to our car, which was 10 blocks or so, in the poring rain. And I mean PORING! Rhett typed up his experience: From Couch to 26.2 miles… I just finished my first ever marathon and wanted to write about it while it is still fresh on my mind. I will start by apologizing in advanced for bad grammar, punctuation, etc… I’m going to type this up fast. It might not be sequential as I am going to write things as they come! You still with me? Good! Flash back to February of 2012. Somehow, somebody convinced me that running a HALF marathon in June (The Seattle Rock N’ Roll Marathon) would be a good idea. I honestly can’t remember who put me up to it. I DO remember, however, that my neighbor in the office (we’ll call him Paul) convinced me that since I had already done a half marathon, why not do a FULL? Easy decision to make while you’re sitting in an office chair! So it became “I’m going to run the FULL marathon in June!” Oh yea, I hadn’t been running in a long time… After some research, I found a training plan that looked good and off I went. Paul was supposed to train too and run with me, but due to an injury, ended up not being able to. He told me he wanted to become like the “helium people” first. You know, those people that get on your nerves because it appears that running requires absolutely NO effort for them. They float along like a helium balloon. Most likely due to their ridiculously skinny skin and bone frames. I am the complete opposite of a “helium” person! I went out, bought some new shoes and started the program. I will say that I am very proud of the fact that I trained almost every day since February by myself. I had plenty of support from friends and family, but I had no running or training partner throughout this entire 5 months of training. Short story long…my last training run happened on Thursday, June 22 and I had run 469.5 miles. I burned through my first pair of shoes all the way till there was no sole at 300 miles. The marathon! The night before the marathon was raining like crazy (we’re talking rain so hard that while driving you have to put your wipers on that setting that you NEVER use….and you wonder how they are still hanging on….that kind of rain!) and according to the genius weather people, it was going to rain all day of the race. Woke up at 5:30 am to the sound of pouring rain. Great! 5…4…3…2…1 we take off from the starting line. My beautiful wife trained her butt off and ran the half marathon and we also started with our good friends the Tobler’s. I hit start on my Motoactv (GREATEST thing I have EVER bought for myself!!! If you run, Google it!) and we head out. By the way….through all the training runs, I had determined that I would finish 26.2 miles at around 5.5 hours. (Did I mention I’m slow?) There are some pace runners that carry signs that have a time on them. In theory, if you run with these pace runners, you will finish the race at the time of the sign they are holding. I see a 4:45 pace runner in front of me… I don’t think twice about it. Around mile 3, I notice 2 things… 1: my GPS on my Motoactv seems to be off ( I know I just bragged about how great it is, not sure what happened. I blame the clouds and tunnels we ran through.) And 2: I’m right behind the 4:45 girl. We were at a very comfortable pace too. The first hill came at around mile 4 or 5. Pretty steep, but not too long. I hate hills. If you hate hills…don’t run a marathon in Seattle! At around mile 7, the 4:45 girl seems to be slowing me down and I decide to pass her. I felt GREAT… we had broken away from the half marathon path and were on a nice long loop. The Rock N’ Roll marathon has bands playing at every mile throughout the race. I didn’t pay much attention to most of them, but at around mile 9 or 10, there was a Navy band. 4 members all in their Navy dress uniforms playing an Adele song. I muted my headphones and was amazed at how good they sounded! I glanced back to see where 4:45 girl was and to my amazement, I couldn’t even see her. Could I really be that far ahead of her now? Cool! At this point, 4:45 actually became a thought that implanted itself in my mind. I still felt great! I had forgotten to wear a watch and actually, I was glad. I was unaware of my time, pace, and really anything about the race. There were official time clocks every so often, but we started WAY after the first group did and the clock started with them. There was a time where it became two-way traffic. I remember being at around mile 6 or 7 behind 4:45 and the dang “helium” people were already at mile 12. You still reading this? Impressive! Like I said, I was unaware of my time and pace. I did know as I approached the halfway point 13.1 sign on the side of the road that 4:45 was still behind me! Against my better judgment, I slapped my Motoactv as I crossed the halfway point and heard my stats in my headphones. 2:21 at the halfway point and running sub 11 minute miles. Sweet! Next I remember the street side lined up with photos and names of fallen soldiers. Puts things into perspective. Another hill followed. The entire hill was lined with spectators holding American flags with black ribbons attached with the names of more fallen soldiers. 44 flags to be exact. I know the number because I desperately did not want to think about the hill we were running up, so I focused on counting the flags! By the way, the spectators in both races I have run really do give you a boost! From the big groups of high school cheerleaders, to the lone old man on a lawn chair ringing a cowbell! The next thing I remember, we had gotten to a turnaround spot, around mile 15 or so. Now I was running toward the people that were behind me…including 4:45. I passed her not to far from the turn around. Uh oh! She was gaining on me. Then came a crazy steep hill. Short, but steep on some kind of path. I walked up it. But so did EVERYONE else, so I don’t count it as walking!  We hang a right, and I see a straight away that is never ending! I’ll liken it to a taco…It started out downhill, then flattened out and then uphill. That uphill section I could see MILES ahead of me seemed to never get any closer. I see a 25k sign coming up and some water being handed out. To this point, I had not walked once (minus the hill I’m not counting). I decide to walk for a minute so I can actually drink the water without spilling it all over myself and only getting a tiny sip of each cup. Try drinking out of a Dixie cup while running/jogging if you don’t believe me! No sooner then I start walking and drinking, 4:45 passes me.  I’m talking FAST too! I thought to myself, “There goes that idea!” I do take pride in that I beat her to the halfway point though! I don’t know what it was…my legs felt fine, my heart rate was fine, but seeing that never ending straight away just mentally broke me. At 25k (you do the math) I began the process of walking and running mixed. Oh, and the “helium” people were still showing off miles ahead of me. I finally reached the other end of the “taco”. Expecting to see the turn around, I saw a tunnel. It smelled bad! This tunnel also seemed to never end! Walk for a few minutes, run, repeat. I couldn’t believe how far it seemed that we ran before finally hitting the turn around. Again, physically I still felt good, my legs were holding up. Mentally, I knew that I had to run ALL the way back through smelly tunnel, down the taco, across the LONG straight away, and up the other side! A lady had a sign at the turn around that gave me a chuckle. “Chafe now, brag later” Exactly what I had planned on doing! Walk, run, and repeat. I saw the 20 mile marker and literally as I crossed it, my left calve balled up in a cramp. Ouch! I didn’t stop, I tried to walk it off and stretch it at the same time. Seemed to work. It didn’t act up again. I am then greeted by another smelly tunnel! “Seek and Destroy” by Metallica kicks in as I start my way through the tunnel. I was wondering when I would hear them! Did I mention that it hadn’t rained yet all day! We were blessed! In fact, right around the 25k mark, the sun came out and the breeze went away and it was actually uncomfortably hot until I hit that turn around…then the breeze kicked in again and it got overcast. After I hit the 20 mile cramp marker, I knew that I would finish. The question now was how fast. I had predicted 5:30 for myself pre-race. I wanted to beat that. 4:45 was long gone and I was oblivious to the time. I could have checked my Motoactv, but refrained. It wouldn’t have helped at this point. RAIN 2 things happened at around mile 23, more hills came (LONG ones too!) and the skies opened up. I was right around the 2 sports stadiums by the water and it started raining HARD! It felt good at first, cooled me off. Then I could taste the salt that it was washing into my mouth from my previously dried up sweat (gross, I know). Then it got COLD! We were right by the water, with a Seattle downpour mixed with a sea breeze. Brrr. 3 more miles. I had already surpassed some personal bests. My Motoactv reminded me when I passed my previous longest run of 22 miles, the most calories burned (over 4,000 for this race), and longest run time-wise. Another tunnel came. This one was welcomed as it acted as an umbrella! Came out of the tunnel to more spectators cheering for the last couple miles. I wanted to finish strong and I kicked it up for the last mile. I passed more people in the last mile then I had the entire race. One more short hill up to the finish line. Pouring rain, I see the finish line. Official time (not my time) is now over 6 hours as I cross. I see my wife cheering me on as I finish. She is amazing! I don’t tell her enough how much I love her! She rocked her half in around 2:30 (Great job baby! I’m super proud!) I stop my work out on the Motoactv and I finally look at the time. 5:16. Way after the “helium” folks, but fine by me! My wife greeted me in the pouring rain with a hug and we make the trek to our car parked another mile away! I can’t believe you are still reading this! Thanks.