4/26/09 5:30 a.m. I am standing in front of my friend Kelly's hotel, thinking to myself, it is so crazy that I am warm enough in just a tank top and skirt! This should have been a premonition, with some kind of theatrical music playing in the background. But, no I was just thankful that everyone would get to see my cute outfit.
Back up to the week and weekend leading up to the marathon!I had been to the doctor early in the week to treat a horrible sinus infection. So I had spent the week feeling tired and weak. But, on the plus side they gave me a cortisone shot, which I was convinced would give me an edge.
Stuart and I had a pretty hectic weekend planned. It involved going to Denton, TX on Friday night to attend weekend festivities for a friend's wedding. So on Saturday evening around 8:30 p.m. I found myself headed north on I-35 towards OKC. I arrived in OKC around 11:15 p.m. I was so wired, that I found it hard to sleep! So my alarm went off at 4:40 a.m. after a night of about 4 hours of sleep, and a whirlwind weekend of wedding festivities! Cue the music anyone?
4/26/09 5:30 a.m.-6:30 a.m. Cloudy, 70s, humid, and windy!Kelly and I arrive down by the race, and head over to the free pancakes at the Frist Methodist Church. We are admiring each other's outfits! I am outfitted in a red skirt with white polka dots paired with a black tank top, and Kelly is wearing a pink skirt with a white tank top. We look cute! We quickly get some pancakes, head outside for a quick photo op with Runners' World Tulsa and head over to the starting line. We headed over the starting line, and it was packed. We are lucky we are both little people, becasue we ended up squeezing between some bars to get into the starting corral. So we are in line, and I am noticing that I am already sweating. Not a good sign!
So the gun goes off, and we get started while trying to keep the 4:30 pace leader in view. There are a lot of people, and it is very crowded. So for the first few miles all I can do is focus on not bumping into other people. I comment to Kelly that I am sweating profusely. I mean my ponytail was soaked by mile 5. Kelly and I avoided some of the first water stops because they were so crowded. But, we had to start going through them around mile 5. I tried to take pretzels, and powerade to keep my electrolytes and energy up. I was feeling pretty good for the first 10 miles. Kelly and I stopped to take a quick break about mile 10. By this time the half-marathoners had turned to go back, so the course wasn't quite as packed. Then when we hit Lake Hefner (mile 14 & 15), I just couldn't keep up the pace. I told Kelly to go on ahead of me. We were holding pretty steady, and were set for a finish of about 4:30 at this point. But, I just started feeling bad. So I cranked up the ipod, and set out against the 30 mile per hour winds. So just to recap, I had been sweating heavily with the wind at my back, then all of the sudden I had the 30 mile per hour wind in my face. So of course, I started to shiver and get the shakes after a few miles. Around mile 17, I met up with a man named Larry. He was running my same pace, so we joined up for a few miles. I am sure that we made quite a sight! He was an over six foot, 250 pound black man jamming out to loud hip hop music (you could hear it through his headphones.) Larry turned out to be a married 28-year-old insurance salesman from Dallas, TX. He was an absolute sweetheart! We chatted about OSU (he was a big fan) Dallas, running, etc. But, Larry was a little concerned that I was still having the shivers. He encouraged me to stop at a medic. I told him I would stop when we were done, or if he was really concerned he could carry me on his back. Unfortunately, a medic on a bike pulled up, and started talking to us. He thought it might be a good idea if I came to his tent and grabbed a quick banana. So I left Larry, telling him I would catch up later, and went with the medic (aka running cop) to his tent. Well, he was out of bananas, but he had powerade. He gave it to me, and I asked 'I can have the whole thing?' I didn't even wait for him to say yes before I had drank the entire thing. I was crazy thirsty! So he let me go with the understanding that I would take a walk break, and check in down at the next mile marker. So I headed off to take a walk break, and was about in tears. I stopped at some point to adjust my shoes, and when I was leaning down I noticed some man staring at me. I told him in my most pitiful voice, that he had no idea how much pain I was in. He replied, 'you signed up for it.' Just what I needed!
My savior arrived!Just when I was at my lowest point, my savior arrived in the form of a cute bubbly blond named Stacy. I heard 'hey Runners' World girl, you are doing great!' I looked up through my tears and there was Stacy smiling! So I joined up with her for the last few miles, just in time for my powerade to kick in. I was so far off my time, I had leg cramps like nothing I had ever experienced in my life, and I had to take a walk break that I didn't think anything could get me out of my funk. But, lo and behold, Stacy arrived scooped me up in her sunshiney personality. She told every volunteer, and spectator thank you. She cheered on every person we passed on the course. She was unbelieveable. And, between all of this she encouraged me to keep pushing. She danced in the road to the crazy music people were playing, and talked to all the spectators! She made me remember why I was there, not to get some stupid time, but to accomplish what few people ever do, Run a Marathon! I actually started to enjoy myself, and started to laugh. I joked with one of the guys in a wheelchair (who had a good sense of humor) that I would give anything to hop a ride on his lap for a little bit! We even passed Larry again. Once, I got relaxed with Stacy we even had times we were running 9:30 minute miles. At mile 24 1/2 we found my family waiting in someone's yard. My aunt and uncle ran out to see what had happened, apparently they had signed up for text message alerts, and I had been set to finish in 4:30 for the first half of the marathon, and then things got crazy. So my uncle went to call Stuart, and my aunt decided to run the mile in with us. Of course, she was all rested up and running fast! I had to remind her 'hey fast lady, the rest of us have been running for 25 miles, and we are a little tired!' But, I got my second wind arriving at the finish line for a finish of 5:16.
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