Mother's Day/Marathon Weekend

So the big day came and went and I am still alive to talk about it so I guess that is a good sign. My friends and I completed our marathon adventure Saturday morning. It all began at about 4am when we rose to put on our oh so cute running attire and matching jackets then at about 5:30am we were packed in the car and on our way. For some odd reason, we parked about a mile or so away from the finish line to avoid traffic after the race, however we did not take into account that the city of Tacoma is a bit San Francisco like and the trek would be an uphill battle after running for so long....but what is a few more hills after running for 3 hrs - piece of cake. I have to say this was a very interesting experience and one that I will probably try again next year. The weather was cool and overcast with some rain (it is Washington after all) which I preferred since we would be running for so long. The first 10 miles were not bad - we ran thru the city and the parks and in spite of some short hills, it was a relatively smooth race. Then came the trip up over a bridge and along the water front. The hill was really big but it was a nice way down to a really, really, really long flat stretch of the course by the water which you would think was nice, but oh so boring. I was dealing fine until I realized that racers were coming back the other way and that led me to believe that all those hills I had just forced myself thru were going to revisit me in the opposite direction. And the worst part was that there was no way of getting around it. By the way, the training schedule has the farthest run prior to the marathon set at 10 miles - the actual half marathon is 13.1 miles. It doesn't sound like alot but those 3.1 miles were the hardest miles I have ever ran in my life.

So the last 3 miles were almost completely uphill and not just a nice incline, but UPHILL. Now the website for the race said to train for hills, but there would be a nice, leisurely downhill stroll to the finish line, so I kept waiting to find the downhills. After every mile marker I passed from 10 miles on it seemed like nothing but another hill. We finally made it back to the city and I thought great almost done, but with every corner I turned was another hill and no finish line. The last hill was literally the steepest and the volunteers for the marathon showing the way I'm sure were cussed out a time or 2 when they directed runners up this hill at the very end of the race. At the top was another flat run down a street and then around the corner was the finish line which was downhill for about 100 feet (not exactly the leisurely stroll I had pictured). But we all crossed the finish line alive and still breathing. After the race there were booths set up to hand out water, fruit and other goodies but in order to get there we had to go down about 30 steps. We finished at 2 hrs and 45 minutes which equates to 12 minutes a mile - a far cry from the 8 minute miles I ran in high school. But considering the last 2 weeks have been filled with sickness, stress and an injured foot, I guess it is not so bad for the first race and for not feeling 100%. I will post the pics when I get them from my friends.

After the race I went home and took a hot bath and packed up the kids and the dog and went to stay at my friend's house who also ran the race with me since both of our husbands are gone. But my lovely husband did send me flowers which came while I was home and are beautiful. He is very sweet like that. We had plenty of intent to party once we got there, but our party turned out to be short-lived. We had maybe 2 drinks and watched a movie and were asleep by 9pm - PARTY ANIMALS!! We were pretty sore and stiff the next day so we went and got a spa pedicure which was fantastic and then vegged out for most of the day. After we got home it was back to bed to catch up on some much needed z's.

I feel much better today outside of the fact that allergy season hit last weekend so breathing has been a bit of a problem and OTC medicines don't seem to help. So back to the doctor tomorrow for some relief although I thought I had the allergy thing licked since moving to Washington, but because my neighborhood looks like an advertisement for a floral shop due to all the flowering trees, bushes and weeds, I'd say the odds are stacked against me.

Overall it was a really good weekend. The kids made me some home made gifts from school which were really nice and I even got a massage from Dr. Tyler and his nurse Savannah. I have to say I am glad the marathon is over because it was alot of hard training, but I definately will race again to try to improve my time but maybe I will choose an exotic location next time or even the Disney marathon which includes running thru Cinderella's castle...who knows.