(And Jess, if you are reading this, THANK YOU for being my running buddy for those killer long runs. I could not have done it without you, your motivation, and your super-speediness!)
And then March came, and each week before the marathon seemed to just tick by.
Janelle, Nicole, and my aunt Lori flew out a week before the race so that they could get used to the time zone change and so that we could do some sight-seeing. Here they are in Inner Harbor in Baltimore with little Abric.
I love my cousins!
We also visited Gettysburg.
We seriously had so. much. fun. On the first night, Lori made a comment about the afghan my mom had knitted for our wedding present. With particular unintentional enunciation on the 'af', the quote "That's a big aff-ghan" was born. It never died, either. It still gives me a chuckle.
And now, race time. Here we are getting ready to go to the starting line. We've already been to the port o'potties, and with a 7am start time, everything had luckily come out A-OK. (Sorry for the TMI, but fellow distance runners, you know exactly what I am talking about.)
We had to take off some layers before the race started. Janelle was standing in front of a very lucky little boy. Ha ha. We have no idea who he is, but the look on his face is classic!
We crossed the start line about 8 minutes after the race had begun. (Oh how I love chip-timed races.)
We started at RFK Stadium and ran about two miles toward the Capital Building. One of my favorite parts about this race is seeing DC during the sunrise. The city glows. We were keeping a good pace. The road was crowded with runners, but not unbearably so. We were planning on staying at a 9:oo minute pace. Things were going smoothly, but for some reason Janelle started having stomach issues. We took a couple quick walking breaks, but if anyone knows Janelle, she is a hard worker, a fighter, and not a quitter. She played rugby for BYU and took first in Nationals for heaven's sake! My cousin rocks! When the nausea didn't go away, I was starting to get really worried. We were at mile 7 when she finally told me to go on ahead. I felt horrible. We always wanted to run the race together, but we knew that, when it came to it, we each had to run our own race. I gave her a hug and told her that I loved her. She gave me her Garmin to wear for the rest of the race. Did I also mention that she is one of the most generous people that I know?
I was worried about her and I knew that we would see Andy, Lori, and Nicole at the half mark at mile 13. It seemed to take forever to find them, but as I looped around the stadium, I saw them. It is so nice to see loved ones during a grueling race like that. I seems like all of your priorities fall in line and what really matters most is family.
Here I am at the half-way point. Tired, but still feeling strong. Andy ran with me for about a hundred yards and gave me an awesome pep-talk. I thanked him, told him that I loved him, and then I told him to go find Janelle.
We had planned on meeting up again at mile 18, but for some reason, I had caught my second wind and I was smokin'! I ran mile 17 at an 8:45 pace, but I was feeling great. I missed seeing Andy because he hadn't made it to mile 18 yet. I had to make myself slow down because I knew that I still had a long way to go.
Then, at mile 23, it happened. I had seen a couple runners go by the wayside due to calf cramps and I remember feeling sorry for them. I've never had that happen to me before, but it felt like something had jumped up and bit me. I had calf cramps for the last three miles. I figured out that if I just pulled my capri pants down a little bit, it helped. *Note to self, don't wear running capris during a super long run. Your calves can't get blood.*
For some reason the race designer decided to be cruel and make the last two miles be hills. They weren't super steep, they just went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I seriously doubted my sanity for even paying money to run a marathon at this point. I just kept telling myself that the faster I ran, the faster this would be over.
Finally, I crossed the bridge over the Potomac and climbed the last hill to RFK Stadium. My calf was screaming, but I was elated. My family, friends, and the finish line was in sight! (How's that for alliteration?) Besides Andy, Lori, and Nicole, our cousin Melanie also rode the Metro in to see us finish. My good friends Nicole and Ben and their little baby Natalie also came to support me. Thanks, you guys! That truly meant so much!
I was so happy to see everyone. I tried to give a wave and run as normally as I could with my calf issues. The clock said 4:15, but my official chip time was 4:07:37. I was so happy with that time because I knew that I had truly done my best. Plus, I had taken almost 50 minutes off the time from my first marathon where I had to hobble for the last 10 miles due to major IT band issues.
Janelle is a rock star. She came in just 30 minutes behind me and she looked even stronger than when the race began. She was finally able to eat something after we had parted. She said she didn't start to feel better until mile 15, but then she felt GREAT! Way to go, Janelle! Your very first marathon! Check that one off the bucket list.
Before
and
AFTER
with our finisher's medals
and soooo happy to be done!
We ran through history!
My aunt Lori, me, Nicole, Janelle, and my cousin Melanie.
Gibbs cousins are one in a million!
My sweetheart:
I seriously could not have done this without his love and support. He has been running very heavily for the past two years now - that's 9 marathons, people. He took 6 months off so that I could train for this marathon. He has played every part of the supportive husband and cheering section. He's the best! I love you, Andy!
After the race we drove back to our house. It was like a mini-family reunion, East-Coast style. Between my 4 kids and Melanie's 4 kids, we had to eat in shifts. The kids were in 'cousin heaven.' I love that they love each other so much!
Since we were so sore (we both almost fell down the stairs…. not at the same time), we decided to stay home from church the next day. Since Harrison was the oldest cousin, we put him in charge of taking all the cousins and organizing a lesson. He gave them each a part to read, or have help reading. It was so cute because he would put a check mark next to each person's name after their presentation.
They gave a great lesson on prayer and it was just what we needed to hear. Short and sweet and to the point. Nothing compares to the simple faith of little children.
Zane, Harrison, Tyler, Owen, Eva, Abric, Ewan, and Halle.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I said to myself that I will never put my body through that again. But finishing a marathon is almost like giving natural childbirth--- does any woman say they want to have another baby the minute after it is all over?
Maybe someday I will run another one. For now, I'm just happy to be done with the 2-3 hour training runs and to have my life back.
