run until the sky meets the ocean.: 08.20.11

today, I ran a marathon. and I'm pretty happy about it.
actually, really happy about it.
I didn't have the greatest time, or even a great time, but as mama julie would say, "I still won!!!" (ps. time as in finishing time, or else this blurb would be a little contradicting.)

haha this is the story about my experience. it's mostly for me, so don't feel like you have to read all of it.

this morning, I woke up at 5:30 am pumped and excited. I had a lot of nervous energy inside me because I kept flashing back and forth all week between exciteness and being concerned about passing out and nobody finding me. ever. again.

anyways, we finally get to the race grounds, and it's freezing cold and they want us to get together behind the starting arch. which is fine. until everyone decides to tell me about how brutual (apparently) the park city marathon is. right before the race???

it's fine. I start, and it's fine. going slowly, nice pace, everyone's passing me of course. I hit some random tunnels, some terrible hills, some really rough terrain. it's fine. I'm grabbing water and drinking gaterade and eating the super gross gu. having a ball :)

between mile 7-8, this guy, "Steve" caught up to me and started rambling about how one of the richest bankers in the world is from Taiwan and is also female, and how he's been to 20-something states in China, and how this was his 104th marathon, and his wife is Filipino and she loves traveling too, and that as a nurse I'll never not have a job. Finally, I couldn't keep his pace and talk to him so I had to slow down. He looks back at me, and says "oh I'll let you relax, but you'll probably catch up to me later, and we can talk some more." But I never caught up to him. mister 104th marathoner smoked me.

there was a part between mile 14-17, it was a wrap around course where you were seeing people ahead of you running back. It was great because everyone was cheering everyone on, and giving us high five's, and just a really good experience.

I was also told that there was no more uphill after mile 15. LIARS! There was this terrible hill, worse than flat iron, just after 17. and many other hills after that. Thank you coach Liana (yes, myself) for making me run at flat iron so much so I could smoke those hills.

Not going to lie, miles 20-25 were rough. probably my hardest of the run. but not too terrible. I made some friends. A lady in a weird-strapped red tank top gave me an unopened iced water bottle. I also loved that people cheered you on as you were passing them. I also loved that this old guy (I say "old guy" because he was hunching a little, and his hair was also grey, and in this case, it's a compliment) and I kept passing each other. It went back and forth, but he finally beat me in the end.

I loved that at the last station, the girl giving me my water was screaming "only 1.5 miles left!" and everyone was so nice to me. I love that I basically sprinted my last mile. I loved that Julie was at the turn before the finish screaming her head off that I was coming, and cheer her guts out for me. I loved that Jeremy was taking pictures (that he's so proud of) of me, and I loved seeing my parents and my sister collette there for me. and I loved that I wasn't that disappointed about my time. I loved that they handed me a freezing towel at the finish line, and my medal, and a flower (it was a carnation, but still!) :)

after the marathon, there was this cute lady and came up to me and said "you just had the biggest smile finishing, it was so adorable!" My friend Jessie Berk (Drage now) from high school always smiled when she ran- I guess it helped/helps her breathe better? It helps me. Maybe you should try it. :) Steve also found me afterwards, and told me "thanks for being such an inspiration" which was the sweetest thing, because I'm not the one who has ran a freaking hundred and four marathons.

I'm proud of myself because:
1. I finished my marathon, and I didn't pass out and die.
2. I didn't stop to walk once.
3. I didn't finish last.
4. I had a great finish.

I will tell you my time, even though I'm a little embarrassed about it, because I will be blogging when I do get my goal time of 4 hours and 22 minutes and it will be a great day. However, today I ran it in 05:38:33.0. Still proud of myself no matter what. :)

Thank you fan club for cheering me on. :)

if you didn't know, my husband has been my numba 1 supporter for my running (and everything else) since the beginning of time. He's always reassuring me that I'm strong enough to do whatever I want to do.