We left for Cocoa on Saturday morning around 8:30, in hopes of seeing the rocket launch to Mars from the KSC, which is where my race expo was. Made some good time until Wildwood, where we got pulled over for a burnt out brake light:/ --got a warning, thank GOD!! Got to Mom's and headed out. Had to pull over a few times so i could go to the bathroom...was drinking a good 2-3 liters of water in preparation for my race, along w/ lots of carbs and bananas. We got to the bridge 8 miles out from KSC and pulled over. We could see the launch pad in the distance and what looked like a tall dark thing, sorta rocket-y looking. We all got out and sat on the car in hopes of seeing a launch up close and personal. Meanwhile I'm like, what if it already went up?? and we're just sitting here looking ridiculous??! hhaa, so called my friend and she looked it up online, and sure enough, we'd missed it by 2 hrs. hhaa. R had read it wrong online. he thought the almost 2 hr countdown started at 10, but alas, it launched at 10. Oh well. We got a cool picture or 2:
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| Launch pad is on the far left of the pic. We thought the tall grey thing was the rocket:) not so much:/ |
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| Waiting for the rocket...8 miles from KSC |
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| Race tee:) |
and some freebies from publix (Natalie's OJ--GOOD!), then took some pics outside the expo and of the rocket garden and headed out.
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| Outside the expo at KSC :) |
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| Me and E with my bib...the 1st bib I've ever had w/ my NAME on it!!:) so cool! |
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| Just a little psyched about the race:) |
Everyone was starving. R had taken the boys past the visitor's complex and they'd played in the awesome playground there...lucky bc later on they had it blocked off so ppl couldn't just slip in to KSC w/out paying. He was lucky!
Hit up Subway for lunch and talked for a long time to a couple who live in Blue Ridge, the next town up from our cabin. They loved Mercier too. They were so cool. Crazy how many ppl live up that way that we run into!
Drove to the race start and checked out parking/finish line area then drove the course. Not sure if that helped me or not bc I then realized how FAR I was going to be running the next morning. It was a gorgeous area, right on the intercoastal waterway/Indian river, w/ water on one side and unique houses on the other. Some big, some small, lots of traditional early 1900's homes and some big pimped out ones too. It was a down and back course, ending in a circular pavilion type area w/ paver stones and columns etc. They had a playground there and were setting up bounce houses, so the kids were gonna have a great time during the race:)
Drove back to the hotel, about 15 min from the race start, and got settled in. Got all my gear out and bibs put on so all i'd hafta do was get up, get dressed, put my hair up and eat. Drank some more water, ate my big bowl of spaghetti and headed to bed around 7:30. Mom and I had a seperate room from R and the kids, who were right next door. They ordered pizza. I was sad I couldn't eat it. I tried not to eat any dairy a few days before in hopes of avoiding the stomach cramp issue I'd had before.
Went to bed and could NOT sleep. Tried everything from praying, quoting scripture, counting backwards from 100, playing the boys' lullaby music....NOTHING worked. The ac unit didn't help. It sounded like a jet engine I swear. Finally got up and went next door and got into bed w/ R. He rubbed my back for awhile and I may have gotten like 10 min sleep? but really don't remember ever sleeping at all. I thought I was losing my mind!!!
Got up w/ the 5 alarms/wake up calls, and felt pretty good, considering. Got ready, ate some oatmeal and headed to the race at 4:30 sharp, everyone in tow. The boys did so good for that crazy hr:
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| Lookin' a lil sleepy:) |
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| This kid is always "on"...so silly! |
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| Me w/ my crazy boys |
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| The Fam...Love them! My biggest supporters! R looks so tired here. Wonder why:) |
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| Mom and me. She helped out so much before/during and after the race. I could not have done this race w/out her prayers and support. Love you, Mom!! |
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| Start of the race. Couldn't believe I found Randall on the side!!!:) Notice the pace sign, and Julie on the left with the blue tank/skirt. |
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| Scott in the yellow. All you can see here of me is the white of my hat strap ad my shoe:) |
The 1st 2 miles were easy, unlike any other race and felt pretty great til around mile 5 when I started to doubt that I could really keep up the 10:47 min pace the whole race. By mile 6 me and Scott had fallen back quite a bit from the pace group and I finally admitted I was hurtin'. It wasn't like I was dying, but more the realization hit me that if I were struggling even a little NOW, how in the world could i keep this pace for 7 more miles. So after that, I slowed my pace alot and tried to regroup. At the turnaround we saw Julie and the group go past and we locked eyes, me and Julie, and she looked like, aww man! and I looked like, dude, i know. I was sad, but I was still determined to beat the 2:30, so that was my new goal. I figured, hey, go for the 2:20 and if not just fall back and beat the next one. About mile 5 or so, saw the 1st 1/2 marathoners coming back. One dude in front , was at least 1/4 mile in front of everyone, only blk shorts on, just sailing. WOW was all I could say. About 4 or 5 more guys went by then a GIRL, small and RIPPED abs. WOW. pretty much everyone in the front of the pack looked like straight out of a magazine. It was an amazing show. Pretty much the rest of the race before mile 10 consisted of me pushing on, me and Scott going back and forth, re-filling water/gatorade at every stop and walking here and there for 10-20 seconds then picking back up. My legs were starting to feel heavy, and by mile 10 I felt pretty rough. Lot of negative self-talk came into play, questioning myself and asking myself why I didn't work my legs out more in the gym:) It's not fun to be in pain! Got to mile 10 and was like YES!!! only a 5k left now!!!
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| Decent pic of me around mile 10-11? I really tried to put on a good smile and run normally here, as I was struggling just to put one foot in front of the other at this point. Notice the water and sailboats. :)) |
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| Same pic but diff photographer. I like this pic but noticed I'm still heel striking a little...not too bad though:) I look happy here:) |
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| Same pic but caught more of the actual pain I was feeling at this moment. Man, was it ever harder than I thought it would be...wow. |
That psyched me up for a bit but by mile 11 hit the "wall" if that's what you'd call it. I felt completely "done". So had to take some time out to walk. Prob'ly a minute or so. That was the longest I walked. Had to gather my thoughts so I could finish strong. Right about then the 2:30 pacer and her lil group passed me so that bummed me out, but I stuck right behind them the whole way. Also Janet came up on me so she encouraged me thru-out the finish. She let me know when we had .4 left, and then I started to get excited. I could hear the cheering, screaming and shouts of joy up ahead and knew I almost had this. When Janet let me know only .2 left, I said, "Okay, let's go" and we took off!! We got to the 1/2 circle at the finish and were surrounded by ppl cheering and screaming all around us. I ran full-out, as fast as I could go, and heard ppl yelling my name...looked up and a group of 3 women were screaming my name and GO GIRL!! it was so great. I just beamed and said thank you!!! and then ran on. Managed to give 2 high 5's to some kids on the left and they started laughing:)
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| Right before I saw Randall. Pushing it out hard. |
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| Me coming out of the last tunnel. Saw Randall at this moment so fist-pumped the air:))) Janet is right behind me to my left. She was so cool. |
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| This is my favorite picture!! I can't explain how amazingly happy I was at this moment. I never saw Mom at the end, but when I saw this pic, noticed she was right behind me in the pic screaming me home:)!!! How amazing is that. E is right beside her, still looking in the distance for me:) hhaa. Love it! |
Rounded the last bend and finally saw Randall!!!! Threw my hands up for a quick pic and then crossed the finish line w/ both my arms in the air! Emotions hit me then and I started to cry...well as good as I could w/out real tears coming out. Not too much water left for tears:)
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| Almost to the finish. Chip time was 2:31.07:) 85th place in my age bracket out of 165. Very mediocre and average and I am completely fine with that. I am so grateful just to have finished and done my best!! |
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| The finish:)) So many emotions hitting me here....Supreme joy. Indescribable!! |
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| Right after receiving my medal. I don't really remember getting this pic taken. All I could think/say was "water!!! water??!!" Get me to the flipping WATER! |
One of the volunteers pretty much grabbed me, since my eyes were closed and asked if it were my 1st time, to which I said yes...She says, "well then let me do this" and put the medal around my neck like I was in the olympics:) It felt amazing, like I really was a real athlete. I had just achieved my dream....I can't explain how amazing it felt to finally be done and to know I HAD DONE THIS!!! Even though I was a smidge bummed during the race, about my time, at the end it just didn't matter anymore. I had persevered, not quit, and pushed myself to the limit. I had left it all out there.
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| Finally seeing Randall post race. Had an ice cold towel around my neck (awesome) and towel and patch, and MEDAL. The thing weighs like a quarter lb for real. It's beautiful!! |
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| Miles coming up to give me a hug:)!!! |
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| Me with Smilin' Suzy at the finish. She came in just a few minutes behind me. She is so rad. |
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| Me and Scott, my runnin' buddy. He did so well--his 1st marathon ever. He finished in 2:28 and change. So great to have someone to run w/ and check in with during the race. Such an encouragement!! |
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| Up close of medal. We heard this is the last running of this marathon and 1/2, since the shuttle program is now shut down. Made the race that much more special. It was the 40th anniversary of this race. Florida's oldest marathon. |
Did I go out too fast? prob'ly...but I didn't know. I did what I knew w/ the wisdom that I had, and had done my best. I learned so much for next time...in like a year;) Definitely want there to be a next time, but none too soon. It took a lot out of me, and a lot of time, and my bod is tired. I'd love to maybe do a 15k in March, but we shall see.
Post race I started feeling super sick. Bad stomach cramps. After eating a piece and a 1/2 of pizza (dumb dumb!!), took some pics at the photo ops and we all headed out. Had to pull the boys outta the bounce house where they'd been bouncing for almost 2 hrs, and we headed back to the hotel. Long story short, had intense, violent stomach cramping and was sick the rest of the day. Couldn't eat anything the rest of the day, but sip water. We had to stop 2 or 3x on the way to Mom's house. Still no relief. On the way home from Mom's later, R stopped at CVS and talked to the pharmicist and got me some Maalox (well, fake brand) and in like 10 min time, I could finally lay there w/out writhing around crying and moaning in pain. It was one notch below labor pains....not cool at all. I felt like I had the worst flu ever, with fever and chills. Got home and was finally able to try to eat. Ate a PB and J, but didn't hold it down long...man, talk about rough.
Had to take maalox all the next day (Monday) but am finally feeling fairly well today. I iced my legs several times and wore my compression sleeves on them the whole time, unless I was icing. I hobbled around like an 80 yr old yesterday and had some pretty intense tib/fib pain in my left leg w/ some swelling, but today it is like 75% better I'd say. Also, 2 blisters and each 2nd toe on either foot is purple;) never had that happen before. So will be wrapping those next time too. But overall , and wonderful experience. Gotta pay to play:)) *forgot to mention that when I finished the race and wiped my face, it felt like sand on my face...it was all the salt from my sweat. Also had what looked like powder on my eyelids, which was crystallized salt. Just crazy.
I will never forget this experience for as long as I live. I am proud of myself. So thankful!!!
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