My First Marathon!

I've been training for 3 months (and four years) for this moment; the moment that I crossed the finish line after running 26.2 (26.44) miles. It happened October 6, 2013 at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon.  I am finally a marathoner!  It was worth every sacrificed weekend and sore muscle.  And now that I've had a good night's rest, I would definitely do it again.  I mean, not tomorrow or anything, but in a couple of years when I've forgotten how much pain I'm in right now.

The start was at 7:30 at Grafton High School.  My husband and father in law drove me up there to watch me take off.  They dropped me off at the start and went to find a parking spot.  While I waited, I immediately got in line for the port a potty.  I was jealous of all the guys walking into the woods to relieve themselves, but glad they were leaving the line, thus shortening it for us ladies.

The start line.

I found Kevin and his dad on the way to the start.  They had run into his cousin who was running it too!  He was already lined up at the start by the time I got there so didn't see him.

Before the start with Kevin.

I was pretty nervous about doing this.  I kept trying to push the negative self talk out of my head, but the distance was still so unreal to me.  Could I really do it?  Is it possible?  Would this be the first race I didn't complete?

When I lined up at the start, I found the 5:30 pace group led by Gary.  He was pretty awesome and told us about his first marathon in 1980 (the year I was born!), his races in South Africa, and Mt. Kilamanjaro, and the time he had to be carried off Comrades after running 10 minute miles for 56 miles!

My view from the start line.

We started pretty fast for the pace group.  By mile 7, I was only at 1:25 instead of my anticipated 1:31.  I had fallen back from Gary, but I was concentrating on keeping him in my sight so I had something to keep me going.

There were some pretty funny race signs I wish I had taken pictures of, but I didn't want to stop.  One sign had an arrow to the right saying,"finish line 18 miles" and another to the left saying. "Green Bay 96 miles".  And right after that there was a sign that said, "Run faster. Kick off is at noon"  Only in Wisconsin!

The race course was beautiful and pretty flat, like promised in the course description.  There were hills, but they were gradual rolling hills and nothing like I have to run on around here.  I passed a lot of people when I was running up them, which helped the self-esteem.

The actual race itself passed pretty quickly, except the last 2.2 miles.  The first half of the race I stayed pretty steady.  I was at a 2:45 at 13.1, which would have been perfect to finish in 5 and a half hours if I held that pace.

I had gotten teary-eyed a couple of times, once at the start as I crossed the starting line and a couple of times on the way while people were cheering. Right at the half way point I looked up to a group cheering and I saw Becky!!  I almost started crying again!  She ran with me a bit and encouraged me and asked if I was okay.  She came back mile 16 and 18 to help me through.  It distracted me from my pain for a little bit at least.

Mile 16 - courtesy of Becky

Mile 18 - snack break with Becky

At the mile 21 water stop they had a cardboard, broken brick wall for us to run through.  Again, I teared up.  I only had 5 more to go.  There were people cheering the whole way and a couple of them even had snacks for us!  One family was handing out breakfast bars, another had bunt cakes, and another had licorice!  I just took some licorice.

At the top of the hill on Lakeshore Drive, just a couple of miles from the finish, I knew where I was!  I charged down the giant hill and was running at about an 11:30 pace towards the finish at Veteran's Park and gradually slowed down and then walked.  It seemed so far away!  I decided to take one more gel since it had been about 6 miles since my last one.  Hopefully, the caffeine in it would propel me to the finish.

I started my shuffle to the end.  I had to start swinging my arms first before my legs would follow.  I would run for a few minutes then walk a minute.  I finally made it to 25 and a half and started running.  There were people all along the walk way who had finished and were cheering me on.  Our names were on our bibs and everyone was yelling, "Go, Jordan!" and "You're almost there!".  I was tearing up again.  It meant so much to hear the encouragement of the other runners who had already finished.  They knew how much I was hurting and they knew what I had been through to get to this point.

I crossed the finish line right under my goal time of 6 hours at 5:57:56!  I got my medal and tin foil blanket and hobbled to find Kevin.

 Here is my finish that Kevin taped.  I have a video from mile 18 that Becky filmed, but I can't figure out how to save it off of Facebook.

Today, I am SO sore!! I feel like I have a 6 pack of abs, my quads are screaming, and my left ankle is throbbing, but I am a marathoner!  Yesterday, I said I would never do this again; that it wasn't worth it.  I lied.  It's worth it.  It may be a while until my next full, but I loved it and it's everything everybody hypes it up to be.

I can't wait until next weekend to cheer Becky, Heather, and Marin on at the Chicago Marathon!!  It's going to be a blast!

What was the best part of your first marathon?  Did you think you would ever run a second one?

Running 20 Miles

Becky found an event that is a 20 mile supported course for those with fall marathons.  It's called 20 Miler, and they've been doing this for at least the last few years.

It was down in Elk Grove, right by Chicago, and it had an elk preserve inside the park!  It's called the Busse Woods Forest Preserve  The course description let us know what miles that we would get to see them!

Yesterday morning I got up at about 5, had an egg and toast (from homemade bread - YUM), and of course my coffee!  I had packed everything the night before, including laying out my clothes that I was going to run in.  I am always glad I do this on the morning of.  It saves a lot of stress and worry, so I definitely suggest this for everyone doing any kind of race.

Becky picked me up at about 5:45 and it was a pretty uneventful drive down.  Traffic was obviously light so we got there in about an hour and fifteen minutes.

We walked up to get our packets right as the first wave went off - the 7 min milers - so we had some time.  We checked our gear and got in line with the 12 min pace group.  Our friend Marin caught up with us here as well.  She got there minutes before we took off.  I haven't seen her since my cousin's wedding (about 12 years), but we keep current on FB with each other.  She is running the Chicago Marathon, which will be her first!

The three of us ran together for maybe the first 2 miles, but Marin is quite a bit faster and took off.  We saw her a couple of times after when the course looped back.  Below are just some pictures of the trail.

The first 10 miles flew by.  We both knew we were going too fast, but with all of the other runners and energy it was so hard not too!  We kept to our plan of eating something every 3.5 miles and did our best to run 9, walk 1, but we kept missing the walking.

Half Way!

I lapped my watch at the 10 mile mark and we were at 2:04, which is a lot faster than we've been on training runs.  The last half I started to struggle a lot more.  The miles started to drag and the other runners were starting to get a bit sparse.

The course was beautiful and despite having several out and backs, which usually seem to make miles drag on, made it fun to see all the other runners go by and motivate me.  The day was also absolutely perfect.  It was around the mid 60's and sunny with beautiful, fluffy clouds.

Running by the elk was pretty cool.  There were a ton right by the fence of the reserve, but it was too dark and I couldn't get very good pictures.

Overall, the run took me 4:18, 9 minutes under my goal time!  I was really sore and walked right to the food and got my veggie dog (was super excited about that) and went to find Becky.

We stretched and ate and then had to shuffle back to the car where we changed before starting the drive back.

We stopped at the Oasis for some food, where I was cracking up at Becky's outfit.

She had on capri's, compression socks, and flip flops.  I, on the other hand, looked like a homeless person with my sweat pants, sandals, and two shirts.  Nothing I had on matched.  I just grabbed the first things I saw.  Thankfully no one got a picture of me!

I definitely have some mental preparation before I complete 26.2 miles, because after the 20, I don't know how I can go any further, I just know I will!

I was also pretty glad after I talked to one of the pacers that parked next to us.  Her first marathon was the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon, which is the one I'm running.  She said it was a great course and the end is a big downhill to Veteran's Park.  It gave me a little something to look forward to!

Two more weeks until the big twenty six point two!!

What's the fursthest you ever ran?  How was your first 20 mile run?  Any advice for a first time marathoner?