An Experience to Remember!

I am a 1% - er now!

During the marathon yesterday we were told that only 1% of people ever complete a marathon, so if we made it to the end we would be in that 1%. What an amazing experience this was for us.

We determined very early on that we were in this as a "fun run" not a race. We weren't able to train like we really needed to - in fact the farthest we ran before the race was 13 miles! Only 1/2 the distance we would be "running" or should I say covering for the marathon. We knew we weren't going to be setting any major records! We did relax a little in the week before to give our bodies time to rejuvinate a little. We had completed the P90X program along with a few days of Insanity. This helped with core strength, but it is murder on your upper legs - so we gave ourselves a week back at the gym plus a couple of "off" days. It was nice - but I sure felt lost on those days off!

The marathon kinda started on Saturday for us. We got up early and attended our WW meeting first - had a lot of well wishes there joining the ones from other friends and family. We then drove over to pick up Cotton so we could all go to the EXPO together and pick up our bibs and T-shirts...you know - part of the reason you run these things, *laughing*!

The expo was really nice - very well organized with a TON of sponsors there! We got our bibs and our goodie bag - but you had to go to the other side of the room to pick up your T-shirt, so we wound our way through the maze of sponsor booths. Along the way we picked up 3 bags of free dog food, LOTS of business cards - our favorites were some chrome auto emblems we may get (for the 26.2 instead of a sticker!), Heavy Medalz which make hooks and jewelry for many sports, lifespeed sports which make these really nice wood stands to display your medals on, and the vitalsox booth...Cotton and Rick both got a pair of really nice compression socks there. We also went through Lukes Locker - Cotton found the shoes he had been looking for all over Dallas...in his size! As he was trying them on he talked Rick into trying on a pair of Luna Gliders as well...Rick loved them. On our way to the Expo Cotton had talked about how much Angel loved her new Gliders, so I thought, what the heck, I'll try a pair too! Well, let me tell ya - they are amazing! Angel's words, "Like walking on marshmallows!" We asked the salesman how long the break-in period was and we were told it is extremely short...he had people wear them the next day in races - so that is what we did! We finally made it over to pick up our shirts. It was kinda cool, because when we gave them our bibs the person behind the counter yelled, "First timers" and everyone there cheered for us! Really starts to get you pumped up!

We left the Expo, went by Sweet Tomatoes for our "carb-load" lunch, and then took Cotton back home. From there we came back by the house to change clothes and ran over to the mall to get in some steps and a little window shopping. We then drove on over to the kid's church to watch the Christmas program. Sydney did a really great job in her roll. We all went out to dinner, although Rick and I didn't eat much - didn't want to have a repeat of the tummy troubles from the DRC half!!!

We came home a little later than anticipated, packed up, got the running gear laid out and went to bed to try to get as much rest as we could - it was going to be an early morning!

Race morning we were up early and ready to head to the train station nice and early. I ate the small sample Cliff Mojo bar and a banana before we left as I have learned I don't want to run on a completely empty tummy, but I can't have too much in it either! We met Cotton at the train station and rode the train to the American Airline Center and Victory Park which is where the marathon was to start. We got to go inside where it was warm to wait - I for one was glad of that! About 7:30 we went ahead and pulled off the outer gear and packed it in our bags to take to the bag check and headed to the start line. Cotton was in wave "A" with the speedy guys, Rick was supposed to be in wave "D", and I was in wave "E". You are placed in the waves by your estimated finish times, so of course I was in the final wave of the afternoon! You can't move up a wave or you can possibly be disqualified, but you can move back, so Rick moved back with me so we could run this one together - I'm so glad he did!

We stood in line for the 4 available "potties" and were ready to go just about the time the gun went off. This was MUCH better than the Turkey Trot. Even though we were in the last wave it only took us about 15 minutes to get to the start, and everyone there was ready to run - no dodging walkers right away! As we got to the start line there was this machine shooting confetti into the air that you ran through and a GIANT t.v. screen showing the start - which was being televised - and a live band. It was sooooooo cool!

I really don't remember many specifics about the actual run. Just flashes. I know my first three miles were a little slow, but by the 10K mark I was right on my normal pace...stayed that way through the 10K, and even finished the 1/2 marathon a little faster than normal! Whoo - hoo...I was very excited about that! We kept right on running, it kept running through my mind that at this point I was in new territory - I had never run this far before - but I was really feeling good. The new shoes were awesome! My feet felt better than they ever had on any run - so breaking the rule of never wearing new shoes in a race was actually working for me instead of against me this time! No hip or toe problems after 13 miles!!!

We ran and ran and ran....each mile a new experience! At the 17 mile water stop I had to go to the medical tent and get a bandaid for one of my toes - a new blister - from my sock, not the shoe....the toes I had bandaged before the race were doing great! I also was pretty tender on my heel, but it wasn't too bad - just a little redder than normal.... I made it all the way to mile 18 before I started really tiring out. We walked just a little, and then ran a little more. At mile 19 we saw our good friend Mary from the DRC (this was their water stop and was by far the best of the race IMHO! - of course the fact that they had Hooter's Girls handing out water may influence some of the guy runners to vote for this stop as well!) It started to get pretty hilly here again and my legs let me know I was done for a while. We decided to take it easy for a bit and walk.

This turned out to be a pretty wise decision. We walked the rest of the way in - about 7 miles of the course...but we ran close to 19 miles with only one small walk! I was so proud of us!!! Even with the walking our slowest miles according to Garmin was 15:08 at mile 21 and 15:05 at mile 23. Those were the only 2 miles we were over 15 minute miles! We were walking at close to the pace I was running when I had to stop!

As we continued on the course it was uplifting to have people call out to us - "Way to go first timers! " (They knew we were first timers by the color of our bibs) - and, "Go Rick", "Go CJ"! (Our names were on our bibs too!) There were many families out handing out small treats like peanuts or skittles to keep the runners going, a lot out in their yards cheering the runners on...it was really something!

I got more and more excited as we got closer and closer to the finish....first it was just a 5K away, then just 2 more miles, then 1 more mile - people would cheer us on with kind words expressing their confidence that we could do this - but by far one of the best moments of the race was at the very end. We came up the street and we could see the finish line so we talked it over and decided where we were going to start running again...we were going to cross the line running, not walking. We started running and crossed together. As we were walking over to get our solar blankets I heard someone call out to us and looked over to the sideline and there was Clint! He had come out to see us finish! I nearly started crying!!! Our son's friend was there just to see us finish - you see, I knew he was there for us because Cotton had finished nearly two hours before we did - so he was there for us! I feel so blessed! We got our medals and walked over to get our pictures taken, then walked over to meet him and give him a hug! At this point we were exhausted and starving, but mostly ecstatic!

We had been saying all along that our major goal was to finish before they tore down the finish line,(or sent out a search party looking for us!)....They gave you 6.5 hours to finish the race. My goal always was to complete it in under 6 hours. Then at the Expo one of the vendors was giving out pacing bracelets...I picked one up for 5:45 laughingly thinking that would help me make my 6 hour goal. I also picked one up for Rick with a 5:30 goal time. For most of the race we were within sight of the 5:00 pace group - until I stopped at the medical tent. Even when we lost sight of them I was feeling pretty upbeat because we were still ahead of the 5:30 pace group. It saddened me when they passed us by and I knew in my heart I couldn't realistically keep up with them, but when we took off running and crossed that finish line and the clock said 5:58:08 - well, that is JOY! I completed the race in under 6 hours CLOCK TIME! We called Candy to let her know we finished and she told us our chip time was 5:44:04 (well, Rick's was 5:44:03 - darn his longer stride...hahaha!) so we even beat our 5:45 pace by 0:0:96 seconds! How cool is THAT?

I'm VERY glad we did this. Our real goal when we started this was just to lose weight, then to get fit...along the way we discovered running and the races...it keeps us focused - this was our hardest challenge to date - we met it. I don't think I'll every run another, although I won't say never! Just not in the forseeable future, but I'm awfully glad to have done it once....here's to 1%!

For my "statistical" friends - here is the total Garmin info:

Mile 1 11:00

Mile 2 10:32

Mile 3 10:48 5K time about 32:21

Mile 4 11:11

Mile 5 11:23

Mile 6 11:33 10K time about 1:06:30

Mile 7 11:52

Mile 8 11:23

Mile 9 10:55

Mile 10 11:23

Mile 11 11:08

Mile 12 11:20

Mile 13 11:36 1/2 marathon time about 2:26:11 with NO WALKING!!!!

Mile 14 11:52

Mile 15 13:04

Mile 16 12:18

Mile 17 12:52

Mile 18 13:43

Mile 19 13:32

Mile 20 14:16 (see what I mean about it not being that much slower walking, lol)

Mile 21 15:08

Mile 22 14:14

Mile 23 14:43

Mile 24 14:39

Mile 25 15:05

Mile 26 13:36

Mile 27 9:35 for a total Garmin time of 5:34:54 (it pauses and lost connection a few times)

Better late than never - doubled!

Well, it has been a little over a week since we ran the "Trot", but life around here has been as busy and hectic as ever so I'm just now getting around to posting my "run report"!

We got up VERY early on Thanksgiving morning to meet everyone at the train station so we could use the train to get to the race - parking downtown is scarce and we knew it would be ugly around there with the expected 37,000 runners! Cotton and Angel came on over to the house and rode to the station with us. We were getting ready to make the turn into the parking lot when the car behind us started honking....at first we were all surprised (read that annoyed), but it was all good when it turned out that it was Clint, Jennifer, and Bella! Meeting there first was looking better and better!

We walked over the the station and everyone bought their day passes for the DART train, finishing up just in time to board the train for downtown Dallas. The ride itself was pretty uneventful, other than watching Bella's face as we emerged from a tunnel and she realized she could see "outside" going by really fast!

After a quick walk, we looked at some of the big jump houses - Bella actually jumped on one and slid down the small slide - but then she was ready to go back to mommy and daddy. It was about time to head to the start area. Rick brought a backpack to put our wind suits and sweats in since they didn't have a bag check at this race, so we all slipped those off and stashed them in the bag, passed out GU packs, and got ready to run.

Cotton and Clint were going to really run - so they went off towards the front of the line. They have markers set up with pace times you are supposed to go by...for example you go to the sign for the 7:00 if you run a 7 minute mile. These appear to be suggestions only as both Cotton and Clint advised us later that even that close they were still dodging walkers at the actual start line!

Rick and I opted to stay back a little farther with Jennifer, Bella, and Angel. We knew we weren't going to set any speed records, but we figured we could still beat my time from last year. We were being chip timed so it shouldn't matter how long it takes you to cross the start - YOUR time doesn't start until you cross the start line...they just keep up with how long it takes you to finish. It turns out that it DOES matter how far back you start - more on that in a minute.

We waited patiently as the warm up portion of the program finished and they announced the start of the wheelchair race. Then finally the countdown and the gun - the race started promptly at 9:00. It turns out it takes a LONG time for 37,000 people to cross the start line. We finally got the to line at 9:32! We were so far back that we had to just walk in fits and starts before we finally got to the line. We honestly thought that once we got there that people would start running - at least a little. Boy were we wrong!

They were trying to make some running "lanes" around the outside edges of the street - some even on the sidewalks, but there was no guarantee that by the time you got to the little opening that some walkers wouldn't decide to walk side by side and block that lane so you would have to make a fast stop to avoid running into them - wait for an opening to get around them and then try to take off running again. I never realized how much this "start and stop" action wears on a person...I guess because I'd never had to run like that before, but it really tires you out and makes your legs feel like you are running on tree trunks after a while! To let you know how bad it was - it took us over 12 minutes to run the first mile! This is usually our fastest mile - and we normally do the first mile of a race in under 10 minutes....this was NOT good!

Somewhere between the start and mile 1 Rick and I got separated....I was running in front of him and I guess a group of walkers got between us and he got caught. I stopped at the top of a hill and tried to find him in the crowd, but it was impossible...if you can believe that! I couldn't spot him at all! So I took a deep breath and figured I would find him at the finish line - and off I went. I continued the start stop running pattern until the 5K turnoff. This is where the majority of the walkers make their turn to get to the 5K finish line. Unfortunately it is nearly 3 miles into the race! By this time my Garmin was telling me that I had been "slogging" along for 35:24. My slowest 5K time is about 32+ minutes, so I knew this wasn't going to be a pretty time today! Mile 3 was also one of the fastest miles I ran all day - a 10:37 pace....all I could say was WOW! (and not in a good way.) I saw the sign for the turnoff and noticed the measurably thinner crowd ahead when what to my wondering eyes should apper, but a runner carrying a bright red backpack!!!! I sprinted ahead and caught up with Rick and we were able to stay together from that point on! YEAH!

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful, we ran along but had to walk a couple of times - much less than at the beginning. Finally at mile 6 we had to take a break. The backpack was much heavier than we thought at first, and it was taking a toll on Rick - I was hurting from all the stopping and starting - like I said - it felt like I was running on two sawed off logs. We walked at a pretty decent clip through the residential section of the race - our average pace here was a 13 minute mile, so we weren't just strolling, but we were certainly not going at our normal run pace either. We finally caught our breath and started running a bit again. This is where we got our one big laugh of the race. As we were nearing the turn to leave the neighborhood and go towards the viaduct overpass we passed a couple on the corner waiting for someone else. He saw the backpack and hollered over to Rick, "What's in the pack?". Of course Rick has his iPod headphones on and can't hear, so I hollered back the answer, "All my clothes!". The couple cracked up and the laughter caught Rick's attention. He pulled out his headphones to find out what was so funny, and laughed along with us when I told him of the exchange.

Now we got to look ahead to the viaduct! This is probably the hardest part of the race, and the part that took me down last year! I was determined that wasn't going to happen this year. I ran the entire thing at about an 11:10 pace. For this race, on this day - it was pretty darn good for me! I did NOT WALK ONE STEP OF THE VIADUCT!!!! That alone was a major victory for me. In fact, after our short walk through the neighborhood we didn't walk again at all!

We ran well right up to the last .2 miles...the finish of the race is uphill and it is a killer...it was wonderful though as we started up the hill to hear "Go BOALES'!" To glance over and see Clint and Cotton by the rail cheering us on! Rick ran on over to the rail and gave them the backpack and then joined me to finish the race. As we neared the finish line we again hear a distinctive "Whoo - hooo!" and look over to see Angel, Jennifer, and Bella waving and cheering us on. It was just enough encouragement at just the right time to pull us on up and over the hill to the finish. We finished together holding hands. An awsome finish to a horrible race!

My time last year was 1:25:51 - this year 1:35:09! When we do this again next year we WILL be starting much closer to the start line - it isn't worth the 10 minutes it cost starting that far back! My pace last year was a 10:33 minute mile average - this year, an 11:33 average. Lesson learned ... again, but even though it wasn't what we expected going in, we both finished, we weren't injured, and we will be back!