My first marathon! Gobbler Grind

Start: With Shanna and Christine, start off at a nice pace, say bye to all the rest of Run Kansas City.  See mom a few yards in and Dad right after the mile mark.  After a mile, we hear a weird noise from the fans and Shanna says, “That’s a new noise.”  As we run by the ‘noise’ I notice that it’s Coach Mitch! And Cristina, Catherine, and Matt!  I get teary eyed and explain to Shanna and Christine who it is! They’re just as excited as I am.

Next loop, mile 2-3 on the same path:  We see a guy fall, very gracefully! He hops back up and keeps going.  We see my dad again and the Club Run group.  Feeling pretty good at a nice 8:45 pace.

Mile 5: I leave Shanna and Christine and go on by myself after a nice hill.  See Club Run people again at around mile 6 and see the parents around mile 7.  Still feeling good!

Club Run is there still cheering me on at mile 8, feeling good, keeping up with a guy in a green man suit for a while, leave him at the turn around at mile 10.  Matt from Run Kansas City is working that water stop and gives a few words of encouragement.

Spot Club Run at Mile 12 and toss them my gloves, feeling good still here, get to the half way mark and see my parents cheering me on.  Cross at around 1:54, on pace to break 4 hours.  Started feeling a little tired but find a guy to keep up with until the next turn around.  Walk through the water stop at Mile 15 and see the Club Run people again!  Mitch’s pounding away on his drums and I keep trekking along.

Pass the starting line at around 16 and toss my headband to my mom.  Feeling alright at this point until I hit the water stop at mile 19.  Matt gives me a little boost of encouragement and I can tell he sees I’m struggling.  About mile 19.5 I see Club Run people and tell Cristina that I’m ready to be done.  Starting to feel a little weak by this point.  Mitch tells me I look strong which makes me keep pushing.  I walk a little bit right at mile 20 but then start going again.  The last turn-around is at mile 20.5 and a guy is giving out licorice.  I grab a piece after a drink some water and eat that.  It was a lot harder to eat than I had thought it would be, chewing and swallowing were pretty hard to do. 

Cero meets me at mile 22, where I see my parents and Club Run, what a great pick me up!  Mitch tells me to just keep going and I look strong.  Cero also has a nice treat for me, a mandarin orange gu!  I suck that down so fast and stop at the water stop that Matt is working now almost 23 miles and drink two whole glasses of water before going.  I walk a little bit and Cero pushes me to keep going.  I tell him “Don’t let me walk anymore!”.  I walk only one more time on the huge hill at around 24.  At mile 24, Cero says “Just two more miles, you can do it, you’re going to break 4 hours if you keep this pace.”  We start playing the grocery store memory game, which definitely helps me get through the last miles.  I kept forgetting ice cream!  As we near the finish at mile 26, all of my running group is there, both from Kansas City and from Minneapolis, screaming!  What a great way to end the race.  The last .2 miles seemed like forever and Cero pushed me the whole way.  With .1 mile to go I tell him I would like to finish alone and take off at what I felt like was a sprint at the time.  I cross the finish line and just stop.  Moving seemed so hard.  I then found a picnic bench and immediately took my shoes off and was welcomed by my amazing family and friends!  After getting pictures and getting my medal (2^nd place in my age division – 3:53:16), my family and Club Run friends head over to Spin Pizza for a nice meal and catch up.  My Club Runners then have to head back up to Minneapolis, so we say our goodbyes.  My mom and I then head to the Plaza to get our toenails done.  My massage chair was broken but the lady made up for it with an amazing leg rub.  She did look a little confused on what to do with my missing toenail!  We head to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to wrap up an amazing day!

26.2 miles, who would’ve thought I would ever run that.  The training runs were all worth it to finish that race.  The surprise of seeing my Club Run friends was enough to help me push through those miles.  My family’s amazing support through it all kept me going when I just wanted to walk.  I couldn’t have done it without the amazing support that I had and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.  The soreness is gone, but I still feel amazed that just days ago, my body conquered the cold and the pain and pushed through and FINISHED A MARATHON.

“The miracle isn’t that I finished, the miracle is that I had the courage to start”