“The greatest honor”
A marathon is an epic journey. It begins innocently enough and then morphs into an all-consuming, life-altering vortex. This past weekend it was my privilege to witness the last 26.2 miles in my friend KT’s marathon saga. She ran strong the whole time, stopping to walk intermittently only after mile 24, and had a smile on her face as we crossed the finish line. Her time ended up being a little longer than anticipated, but finishing was the goal!
Now on to the nuts and bolts of the race itself:
Packet Pick up:
Everything was well organized and incredibly pain-free at the packet pick up. It was at a local health/fitness center in the gymnasium. There wasn’t a line at all and we just walked up, got our race numbers, the “goodie” bag and were on our way. Couple things: the race t-shirt? Gross. I will never wear it. Yes it’s a tech-fabric, but it’s a burgundy/wine color and they didn’t have women-specific shirts. The logo on the front is noting exciting. And the “goodies”? Nothing helpful at all! There wasn’t even a race map included. We had to return to the table and ask for one.
Start:
I really did enjoy how low-key the start was. I was a little anxious about parking. We had woken up early, eaten breakfast and headed to the starting line and had no trouble at all finding free parking a block from the start. It was awesome. I love the starts of races, when that many people who all share a similar passion are in the same place. I love looking at all the different ways that we approach the same sport. I have to admit: I’m intimidated by the guys who choose to go shirtless.
I started to realize that this race was very small. One of the first signs was that the only “pace” signage was 6 minute pace, 9 minute pace, and 10 minute pace. Even when the announcer was calling us to the start, we all seemed to fit in the space of less than a city block (this might have just been a perception, rather than reality…). They had the countdown and we were off. My Mom-In-Law Ann was such a fabulous supporter! She had three different cameras with her and even caught the start on video!
Our plan was to start slow and run long. KT has had some issues with training in the last few months. Travel for work, combined with a recent knee injury has made getting the mileage in next to impossible. We knew that we would not be setting any world records, I just wanted to cross the finish line with her and hopefully keep her from hating the marathon.
The First Half:
Miles one and two were warm up and KT was not feeling very well. I was having a great time! My uncle Chuck was standing outside his apartment building and we saw him just before mile one. It was so fun! By mile three we had warmed up enough and just started chatting away and running our own race. KT kept getting distracted about how fast other people were running and feeling bad about her race. I tried to keep her focused on how she felt and keeping her game face on.
After that, we talked and the miles seem to slip by without much notice. The first half of the course was really nice. There was a long straight away with a little bit of a climb, but it was subtle, so I didn’t notice it too much. Then we got to loop around a park, cross the river and head back towards the start on a gorgeous bike path. There was one station with Gu and they had Vanilla Bean, one of my favorites!
Halfway:
Just before the half way point, the half marathoners split from the us. Then we found ourselves all alone. At the start I had noticed that there were very few race numbers with a blue tag (indicating the full marathon) so I expected a thinning of the crowd, but it seemed like all other runners disappeared from sight. I knew that we were going slow and conservative, but I didn’t realize how slow until we got to the half way point. The timer said something close to 3 hours, and it was then I realized how long our day was going to be. It was also here that we could see runners who were nearing the end of their marathon journey coming back toward the finish line.
The View:
Have you any of you speedy folks wondered what happens behind you? At the back of the pack? Probably not. I know that I’d never given much thought to the race once I’ve crossed the finish line. Well, around mile 15 after stopping to stretch we were getting ready to start running again when a cop car pulled up next to us to ask how we were doing. I thought this was interesting behavior so I decided to inquire further. I asked the nice public servant if we were in deed the last runners. His first response was “not officially, no.” I didn’t really understand what officially meant at the time. The next time he circled back around he explained that there had been some marathoners back at mile 11 that were walking but they had just decided to switch to the half. That meant that we were IN LAST PLACE! He explained that he was going to follow behind us with his lights on. For some reason this struck me as hilarious. I called Mr. Dawn immediately. I was laughing and chatted with him for a bit. I must admit, it’s very strange to have a cop car following so closely.
One observation from the back of the pack: I never realized how closely the race officials track us runners. I had time during this race to notice and even chat with some of the people sitting on their camping chairs with their clipboards. They were watching out for the different bib numbers, making sure that we were making it from mile to mile. I realized that our race entry fees don’t just go to the medals and t-shirts, they really do try to make the day safe for us runners. I felt both safe and silly with so many people talking about us, numbers 81 and 343…
I started talking to all the volunteers as we passed telling them that they get to go home and enjoy the rest of their weekend now that we were past. I was very entertained with being at the end of the line. I do have to admit, however, that just before mile 20, when we saw a couple guys walking just up ahead, my competitive juices started to flow. Right after we crossed the 20 mile mat we passed them! For all the entertainment value of being last, I was so relieved that we weren’t going to be the very last ones to cross the finish line. Over the next few miles, we gained on a passed a few more people.
The End.
Mile 24 there arose a porta potty shortage that did not help our “not finish last” goal. We had to veer off course and use one that was set up for some construction. After that detour we were back in last place. There was a crowd of walkers gathering and some real bonding going on. We past them when we came to a nice downhill section. Nearing the end of the bike path, we crossed a bridge where there were two paramedics and some cops hanging out. One of them was the one who had followed us for 6 miles! He was so proud to see that we were no longer in last place!
We walked for about a mile somewhere in all that, but at mile 25 we “picked it up” to the end. I actually got really emotional when we rounded the last corner and saw the downhill to the finish line. There was hardly anyone around except my family. They were such amazing supporters! Ann was actually standing in the middle of the finishing shoot. But nobody much cared…We were all hooting and hollering like crazy. It was one of my favorite finish line moments.
Take Aways…
I must admit: I am not interested in running another marathon like that one. It was long, hot, and taxing. Everyone thinks that it’s just the distance that is tough, but yesterday taught me that the time itself is difficult. Yesterday reminded me of the importance of training. I learned that race volunteers are fabulous! I gained a new appreciation for the police. It was a beautiful day for running. I’m even more excited now for San Diego!
Oh yeah…Our final finish time: 6:10. Places # 338 and 339 out of 341.
Don’t we look like sisters? We love telling people that we are! Hee Hee.
