For posterity (and when we are old and gray)...marathon story

Feel free to skip this post if you would like. I feel like all I have done is talk about the marathon and it is starting to feel like boasting. But, I knew I needed to write down the experience, so here it is:

A few facts about marathons:

Distance: 26.2

World record: 2:03:59

For Ogdenites: I figured this out and 26.2 miles is starting at the 12th street exit in Ogden and running south on the freeway all the way to 1/2 mile past the Centerville exit (when I put it in this context it seems like such a long way and I can't believe I did it in 5 hours!)

The race started at 6:30. We both woke up at 5:00 and could not go back to sleep. I guess we did have some nerves. We put on our much-planned clothing, ate our bagels and bananas and headed out. I was pleasantly surprised at how warm it felt and we were both relieved that we would not have to bundle up in pants/gloves/beanies, etc. We were very glad we had made the decision to have Cedric spend the night at our friend's house. It was the first time we had spent a night away from him and that was a little hard at first, but we were glad that we did not have to wake him up and take him somewhere that morning. Okay, back to the story. We drove excitedly through the dark streets toward the start line. The overall feeling we both had was that no matter what we were going to finish. We had goals, but really we just wanted to run/walk/crawl across the finish line. Tyson's goal was to finish in 4:30 and mine was to finish under 5 hours.

We got there about 15 minutes before it started. It was pretty exciting to see all of the different people running in the race. There were about 6000 runners in total (2500 marathon and 3500 half marathon). We just kind of walked around until they shot the gun and then we were off. I was so excited and full of energy that I ran with Tyson the first couple of miles. It was fun to run with each other and wonder what each person had in store for the day. Finally at about mile 2 I decided I needed to slow down. We said our goodbyes and told each other to have a good race. I watched him as he ran away, very proud of the work he had put in for this.

At that point I settled into my pace. My MP3 player kept turning off and that kept my mind occupied for the first 5 miles. I finally got it to stay on and so then I just ran and listened to my music. I had fun just watching people. There were so many people lined up on the streets to cheer everybody on. I found myself giving thumbs up. One person had a sign up that said "show us your best dance move." So, I threw my hands in the air and tried my best to give them something. I am sure I looked like such a dork, but they cheered for it! There was a guy that had a full box of Krispy Kreme donuts, taunting us with them, telling us we could have one. I passed that up. I passed this little girl (about 9 years old) that was running the half marathon with her dad. I could not believe that. I looked them up later and she finished! I thought that was pretty cool. There was a guy that passed me that was carrying a full size American flag. He had it on a pole that was stuck down his back. I am not sure how you run a marathon with a flag pole down your back, but he did. Crazy...Dedicated.

It was pretty uneventful until the half marathon people got to quit. I was a little jealous. Shortly after the half-marathoner's quit, I was able to see the leader of the FULL marathon coming up the road. We all cheered him on. He was done with the FULL marathon in the time it took me to get to mile 13. Not fair. I could not believe how fast he was. Just after that this song came on my MP3 player that reminded me of Cedric and I shed a few tears. I did start thinking about Tyson and Cedric and how much I loved them and appreciated their support through all of this. I was still feeling pretty good. We used these gel packs called "GU" that have a ton of carbohydrates in them and they also have caffeine. I could tell my body was on a caffeine high for sure, I was all fully of energy.

It started raining at about mile 18. It was just a few sprinkles at first, but then it started coming down. It got pretty cold and I was glad I had the my wind breaker with me. By this time the marathon pack was really thinned out. I got more enthusiastic for the people who were cheering us on. I kept putting my fist in the air and saying, "woo hoo!" I am such a dork, but it was fun. I kept thinking in my mind that if I got to mile 20, I could then take walking breaks if I wanted to. I found myself just being able to run. It surprised me that I was not in total pain and had to quit. This totally could have been from the caffeine high. By the time I reached mile 22, I was just so excited that it was almost over. It was pretty uneventful. As I was near the finish line, I saw the clocks at 4:55 and got excited, so I ran a little faster just to make sure I made it under the 5 hour mark. I ran across the finish line at 4:58.

The most inspirational thing I saw was a guy that finished right behind me that was 75...75! He could barely stand up straight and I cannot imagine the pain he was in.

Ok, now for Tyson's story. He started off feeling great was running the right pace. At about mile 8, somebody asked him if he was okay. He was like, why? Then the guy told him about his heel. Tyson did not even feel it! He looked down and saw the blood. At that point, however, he started to feel the blister. It was hurting him pretty bad until about mile 14, then he said it just quit hurting. He had the same mindset as me. He thought he just needed to make it to mile 20 and then he knew he would be okay. He was grateful for the Gu, just like me. It was a lifesaver. He got to mile 20 and this is when it started raining and he got pretty cold. His emotional moment came at mile 25. As he came upon the fluid station (where they give you water/gatorade) he saw his old principal, Beth, from Seaside Elementary and a fellow teacher and friend Duke. There were a bunch of his old students as well. He gave Beth a big hug...told her he loved her...he gave Duke knuckles (as Cedric would say). He loves those people and for a good reason. They are wonderful people that he will always have a bond with. After that he only had 1.2 to go. As he came near the finish line, they announced his name and said he was from Myrtle Beach and everyone around the finish line went crazy. They totally were cheering him on. He said it was pretty cool.

As he was running the race, he saw so many people that he knew. There were current and past students that were cheering from the side. He even saw some people from our ward. When he passed the people that were cheering, he would give them high fives and he had fun with them, just like me (I am so glad we are both dorky).

After we got home and ate our lunch, the pain started to set in. We could especially feel it in our knees and hips. Every time that you got out of a position, it hurt. We could not get from a laying to standing up position without help. We took an ice bath, which was cold, but really seemed to help. My legs felt normal while they were in the ice. We finally called the Taylors at 3:30 and told them we were ready for Cedric. It was so good to see his smiling face. We all snuggled and watched movies the rest of the night.

The pain continued until about Wednesday. We were so glad to just do what we wanted last week. It is so nice to not be training. We were able to wake up on Saturday and do what we wanted!! We have not been able to do that for 4 months. We got to do yoga, go on a bike ride and go surfing. It felt like we were free! We are very grateful for the experience and that we have it crossed off our bucket list.