October 18, 2008 - The Indianapolis Marathon

The Marathon.



The Marathon!




The MARATHON!!!




There so much still swirling around in my head about the run. To sum up: it was awesome!!!



Beth and I took Friday off from work so we could travel down to Indianapolis and pick up our packet. I do so love waking up on a Friday and not have to go into work. As William put it when he woke up that morning, "I'm happy!" I finished my packing Friday morning and checked roughly 245,375,748,728,867 times that I had my running stuff. Naturally, my "Aunt Flo" decided to visit that morning, so after dropping Isabelle off at school, William and I swung by Walgreens to pick up supplies. Fortunately for me, Beth called saying she was also running late. After Walgreens, I headed into the in-laws to drop off William and vacuum the equivalent of a box of cheerios out of my car. Ah, kids. Then it was off to pick up Beth!


The ride to Indianapolis was relatively uneventful. Beth amused me with stories from her job..."Where'd you get that?...From my butt!"...and we laughed at various billboards in Indiana..."Thinking of becoming Catholic? We're waiting for you."..."Jesus (serene clouds)...Hell (torturous flames!)". I'm pretty sure it was the longest ride ever. Especially when waiting in Indianapolis area traffic ("How can there be this much traffic in Indiana?"). When we finally made it to the expo, I was excited. Until I walked in. First of all, I felt like a mouse searching for cheese in that maze-thing with all the twists and turns they had to get to the registration table. Beth pointed out that the race numbers only went up to 6,000. I commented that I heard it was around that number but she reminded me that it was 6,000 total for the full marathon, the half marathon and the 5K. At that point, we figured we might be the only ones running the full marathon. We were happy with the tech shirts. We had to pay an extra $10 bucks to get them but I'm glad I did. Then the rest of the expo was a disappointment. I did pick up some Shot Bloks and Sport Beans for the marathon. So after a long ride and 15 minutes at the expo it was back to the car to drive another hour (back the way we came) to my sister's house.


I love staying with my sister. She's such a good hostess and an amazing cook too! She made us a pasta dinner with homemade pesto (so good!) and we visited awhile before heading off to bed. Just before my alarm went off the next morning, I had a dream about the marathon. I dreamt that it was run in the grass with about 30 grade school kids. Right away a kid fell and Beth stayed back to help them, telling me to keep going. I did and realized what an odd course it was. Part of the course was run in my parents' basement and my mom was there watching TV. We stopped to eat a pot roast too. I was stressed about stopping to eat but Beth said, "we have to eat!". Finally we started again, completing the laps in my folks' basement. Beth must have gone to help another runner because she showed up again, only this time in just a bra and underwear. "What?" I asked, obviously confused. "Well, this guy forgot pants so I gave him mine." I was baffled but we left my parents' house and continued with the run. Then I realized that I didn't have my running shoes on. "I can't run a whole marathon in bare feet!" I exclaimed. Beth told me to go back to my folks' house and get my shoes since we weren't that far away yet. I did so, stressing even more about the wasted time. I decided that I would take my car back to get my shoes to save on time. Only instead of driving in my car, I used a remote control to drive the car while I continued running in front of it! Needless to say, it was difficult for me to accomplish this task and since I was so focused with driving the car by remote control while in front of it, I missed the road back and ended up on the entrance ramp to the highway. In a panic about missing more of the race, I decided to U-turn on the ramp and ended up crashing my car in the side wall. It turns out that there was a man in my car and the police showed up right away, so I left them there and started to run back. At this point in the dream, my alarm went off and I woke up with the thought, It's time for the actual marathon.


In preparation for running, I wanted to have freshly painted toenails in SuperJulia Blue. So first thing, I painted then continued getting ready. Since we had an hour drive we left around 6:40 a.m. Once again we hadn't counted on the traffic to get there and get parked. While we were waiting in a long line of cars, Beth rolled down her window. Odd, I thought, since it was a cool morning. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"I think I might throw up," Beth responded.
"Do you need me to pull over?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said initially followed quickly by a "yes".
Before I had a chance to though, she was throwing up outside of Roxy. After which, Beth turned to me and said, "I really need to work on my projectile vomiting!" Or, just a thought, not vomiting at all! Some oh-so-handy baby wipes and a stick of gum later, we were back in line for parking.

I swear it took forever to park. I was so nervous about missing the start. Plus, I needed to go to the bathroom first. We finally parked and quickly donned our surgical gowns (to stay warm) and were starting towards the start line when I remembered I had forgotten my tissues. And it's a good thing I went back for the tissues because I had also forgotten to put on my knee brace and knee straps! That would have been a very, very bad thing! I grabbed the reminder of my items and we were on our way to the start line...well, to the port-o-potties.


Naturally, there were lines for the port-o-potties. Although I was amused that they were called "Hoosier" Potties, I was mainly nervous about making it to the start. They were singing the national anthem. I was hurriedly putting on my knee brace and straps. Probably having had enough for my fidgeting and worrying, Beth hugged me. "It will be okay. We are chip-timed. Better to start a little late then stop on the course," she assured me. I tried to calm down. We made it to the front of the line. Once inside the Hoosier Potty, I had some logistical problems, including dropping my "supplies" and my sunglasses. The stink was making me gag too. "You've changed poopy diapers," I told myself. "You can handle a port-o-potty!" I was happy they had hand sanitizer available, although I had my travel keychain one attached to my hydration belt. Yes, you read correctly...I had mine with me. Beth said I wouldn't care about hand sanitizing during the run, but I did care so I brought it with me.


The race officially started when we were walking to our place in line. The firetruck blew it's horn when we were right next to it. Still nervous and already out of my surgical gown, I asked Beth, "should we jump in here?!" "Absolutely not," she calmly replied. "These are the 8-minute milers." Later she added that she had not wanted us to become marathon roadkill. We continued walking back to the 12-minute pace. All the way, Beth's Garmin was searching for the satellites and I was searching for a trash can for my surgical gown. None was found so we left them on the side to be picked up by the volunteers. I began to relax when the Garmin found the satellites and we found our place in line in time to start with everyone else. I was not stretched or warmed up at all but I was counting on the adrenaline to help me through any tightness (which it did).


All-in-all, I don't think I could have asked for a better "first marathon". The weather was gorgeous, in the 60's and sunny. Plus, my knees felt great! The first 12 miles of the race was run with the 1/2 marathoners and initially through some residential sections. I felt like we were making the petals of a daisy or something with the mini-loops we made always taking us back near the start. There were some places that had people playing music. The first we encountered was basically two guys with a speaker, a microphone and a karaoke machine. Guy #1 (numbering only, not a ranking designation...) was dressed as Elvis and singing some sad ballad about crying. When we passed them the second time, Guy #2 was singing. I was thinking about how he was dressed and realized he was supposed to be Meatloaf. Seriously?! I asked Beth if it was a bad thing that all I wanted to do was run away from them. Later on there was a much better band playing. I enjoyed them.


Most of the running through residential sections was a non-event. But some people were out to watch the race. One house owner even let a runner use the bathroom and offered it to the other people passing by. The fan support was more for the 1/2 marathoners and my philosophy was that the "good" spectators (i.e. those who cheered for everyone) probably had either run in a race themselves or had family/friends who had run before and informed them how nice it is to cheer everyone on. Some volunteers and kids were waiting for high-fives. And I took every high-five I could get.

Several miles took us through a forest preserve. I was a little worried when we had to run through some wood chips because I thought the whole thing might be wood chips and I was not prepared for it. But it was mainly paved. It was a very scenic portion of the run and like I said, a gorgeous day. The unfortunate part was that between miles 9 and 10 there were some hills. Beth advised me to walk up the hills to save my knee. After running up a smaller hill, I knew she was right and walked the larger one. We took advantage of the downhill though. I was a little worried when we passed a sign saying "Steep grade ahead! Use extreme caution!" Not a sign I want to see! But we survived and ran some negative splits even!

Once we were "out of the woods"...yes, I'm corny and yes, I said this while we were running...it was back towards where we started. At mile 12, the 1/2 marathoners split from the full marathoners to finish their race while we continued onward to our second half. It was an odd feeling to have most of the people we were running with head left while the selected few kept going. A little bit of jealousy on my part that they were almost done. The split felt very symbolic in some ways...the road for me was different. Once on that road there was no turning back. From that point on, I was running a marathon.

The rest of the race was an out and back. Not the most fun way to divide up that last 13 miles. This portion of the race was mainly digging deep. But there were some portions that stood out.

Just before mile 13, there was a dead squirrel in our path that Beth and I saw at precisely the same time. Causing us to scream (loudly) at precisely the same time. Also, causing us to jump to the sides in a perfectly coordinated and synchronized way. I wonder what the people behind us thought of that? Shortly after was the 1/2 way timing mat. My 13.1 mile split was 2:43:31, a 12:26 pace. Not too shabby. Beth was a second before me (literally).

Beth was running an amazing marathon. Did I fail to mention that this was her second marathon in 6 days? Yeah. Plus, she was queasy. Seriously. She's a great pacer too. I had fresh legs and had no excuse for a bad run. She had every excuse but was running a great race! Seriously, rock star status! After mile 16, she said she was going to walk some but I should keep going if I wanted to. I said I was going to keep going. About two miles later I realized that she probably stopped to puke and shame on me for not realizing it and completely leaving my friend. I learned after the race, that she had indeed puked...three times...but would have been angry if I stayed with her. That just elevated her rock star status...she felt bad but still put my race first. Selfless I tell you.

The rest of the marathon I ran alone. I was always in view of someone and mainly focused on counting down the miles. Just after the 17th mile water station, I decided to use the Hoosier Potty. It was a near miss as the potty was positioned on a slight decline. I seriously just about fell on the pot when I closed the door because of the angle. Fortunately, it didn't come to that and I continued on my way. My hand sanitizer did come in handy too. Even after 17 miles, I did still care...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. =)

One of the inspirational sayings about running says: "I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart." --Mike Fanelli Well, when I got to mile 19, my mantra became, "I'm running this part with my heart." Several times I said this to myself. I said it when I ran past Beth, who instantly was cheering me own and looking fabulous herself. I remember it when I stopped drinking the Gatorade they had because it was too syrupy and upset my stomach (I still drank water and had my Shot Bloks for the electrolytes). At mile 22, my left arch began to really hurt. I did some of what I call "sanity walking", which is about a minute of walking per mile to give my body a "rest". Over and over, I reminded myself, "I'm running this part with my heart." The last 4.2 miles were difficult. I was always in sight of other runners (including one guy "checking out nature" in the woods...oops!), but my body was worn out. "Four miles, you can run four miles," I told myself. Then at 3 miles, "it's only a 5K. You're not going to let a 5K beat you, are you?" Between two to three miles left, I ran by three men. "How are you doing?" the one guy asked.
"Everything hurts!" I exclaimed.
He smiled and replied, "Well, you look good!"
"Thanks," I answered then added "it's my first marathon."
"Way to go!" he encouraged. "Only about 2 1/2 miles left. The last mile is the easiest. All the pain goes away."
"I'm holding you to that," I responded. He laughed again.

In some ways he was right, the last mile was somewhat "easy". Actually it was more like the last 1/2 mile. There wasn't very much of a crowd lining the last mile. But there was one man at about 1/2 mile left. Then I was able to see the finish line. It was almost surreal, finishing my first marathon. For while it was more like finishing a training run. Until I heard my name. There was an announcer calling out the names of the people finishing. He saw me for long enough that he said my name twice. And then it set in. I was finishing a marathon. I crossed the finish line with both fists pumping in the air.

Not only had I met my primary goal of finishing, I also met my secondary goal of finishing in about 5 1/2 hours. My final time was 5:31:13, a 12:38 pace.

Of course, as painless as finishing a marathon may be, it doesn't take long for the pain to catch up. Immediately after finishing, a volunteer cut the chip off of my shoe. Only I had to lift my foot off the ground and put it on a bar about 8 inches off the ground...not easy to do and maintain balance. Then I received my medal and the emotions took over. I couldn't believe I had done it.

Beth came in 9 minutes after me with a 10 minute PR over her time 6 days before. She promptly threw up in a nearby trash (she would vomit only once more on the way back to Chicago...on Roxy again...after paying for a carwash...then buying me another car wash). Afterwards she turned to me and said, "next time I think about doing something this stupid...remind my how AWESOME I am!!" I'm so proud of her for two marathons in 6 days and for PRing in both of them! Now she can become a member of Marathon Maniacs! =)

Back at my sister's house, Beth broke out the foam roller and the stick. Seriously, ouch. Beth foam rollered me and it hurt a ton. But it was a good hurt at the same time. My left arch still hurt and stairs were hard for my quads to manage.

I feel like this marathon is really only the beginning. Where it leads to has yet to be determined. One thing's for sure...this is not the end of my running adventures!