It started out by popping wide awake at 4 am. I couldn't sleep I was so excited!. Today was the day I would join the club. Only 1% of the worlds population can say they have ever finished a marathon.
I ate my oatmeal my normal pre-race fuel. I was so excited. Really like bouncing around the house like a crazy person but trying to be quiet because everyone was sleeping.
I got dressed in my gear. Double checked to make sure I had everything, and was out the door to pick up my runner peeps. Hide-A-Key and BB. We got in and darn it didn't I forget my Garmin, grrr, swing back to my house to grab it and then Hide-a-key forgot something too. So swing back to her house to grab it. It's really good that we only live half a mile away from each other. We were on the road, we had to drive 20 min to get to the race. We arrived and by this time Hide-a-key and BB were ready to punch me because I was sooooo hyper. I was so excited. No nerves just pure excitement. This was what we had worked for. This is what we got up early for. What we sacrificed for, the blood, blister, lost toenails, going to bed early, tired legs, injuries...all that to for this day....
BB, Hide-a-Key, Me
We went into the building to warm up and pee. It was a whopping 38 degrees outside. Definitely not the 80 degrees it has been during training. Hide-a-key was nervous and BB was calm. Cue the bouncy, hyper Nicole that kept saying...We're running a marathon...We're running a marathon. I got many laughs from fellow runners and even some you're a badass from runners that were running just the half.
Trying to stay warm
After yet another bathroom trip...I get the nervous, excited pees, and I have a bladder of a 2 yr old. Tinkalina is my nickname, we said a prayer...Praying for strong legs, lots of energy, lots of heart. We then met up with the pacer. If you don't know what a pacer is...it is the person that keeps pace. Self explanatory but before running I had no idea what it was. He kept our pace at 11:25 min mile so we would finish the race in 5 hrs. Now if you run a race you know how excited you get and you go full throttle out of the gates like a horse at a race. Yeah no bueno if you're running a long distance. You will burn yourself out for sure. Hide-a-key normally does a 9:50-10 min mile. She is fast but she knew she couldn't do that this race or she would be shot. So we went with the man of reason and stayed with the pacer. He was awesome.
Cue the tears.....Miss Hide-a-key started tearing up and then I did. I told her "No...No Ugly Oprah Cry till after we're done. We need the energy"
Off went the wheelchairs, and then my Team Triumph...A big shout out to them. I'll be doing a race for/with my Team Triumph in October. You can read about it here.
If you have a chapter in your area, I highly recommend checking them out. It is truly and amazing thing to be a part of. Sorry off topic again.....squirrellll.
So we waited till they started...the anticipation was killing me. Comn' let's get this party started.
The gun went off and we were off..........and come back for part 2 tomorrow...sorry but this would be one long post if I wrote out everything. Trust me it's worth the wait....
Tease.....;)
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