Tuesday December 11, 2007
Reflections on a Marathon
I guess the first thing I have to say is I FINISHED!! It was more challenging than most of the things I've done in my life. I was completely trained and glad of it. At 5:00:19, I crossed the finish line of the Wellstone's Dallas White Rock Marathon (
I've tried to put my thoughts in some semblance of order. While I walk like it hurts (because it does) and I have a nagging cough - I'll tell you about that in a minute - I'm not oxygen deprived so I can, in fact, think clearly.
Well, ladies and gents, this is Dallas. Nothing happens when you think it will. Cold front came early. I started out the run huddled with 8000 other runners in a plastic garbage bag. It was about 49 degrees. When I finished, despite my excellent Nike gloves, my hands were little blocks of ice and the temperature gage read 39. The cold wind did blow - especially around the lake. We got some sprinkles but, thank goodness, no rain.
That cute pink shirt with "Keri" stenciled on it never saw the light of day. I never peeled off the "throwaway" long sleeved t-shirt I had gotten out of the rag bag to wear until I "warmed up". I'm glad the bib had my name on it. It was still a big boost for total strangers to say "Go Keri!!" throughout the course.
When Steve broke away around mile 4, I started making friends with the folks around me. Most memorably were Tracy with the red garbage bag, Naomi - running her 18th marathon, Cody and his buds, and Brian Loncar - the "tough, smart, lawyer" and somewhat of a celebrity in Dallas. At a water station around mile 10, I saw my friend Jennifer. Jen smoked me most of the summer on our training runs until she tore her gluteas minimus. We stuck together until mile 22. Thank you Jen!!!
Around mile 22,
I didn't want to see another cup of water or Gatorade. My husband was on his bike and met me at strategic points starting around mile 14. At some point I couldn't put another Cliff Block in my mouth. Some stations had oranges and bananas. The baggie of pretzels I had packed came in handy. I needed food - not supplements. Jen left me at the mile 22 port-o-john and my husband rode with me almost to the finish line.
Somewhere around mile 23 I saw Sandra up ahead but lost her at the next water station. Then she caught me and we ran the last 3.2 together. Just picking them up and putting them down. At that point there was only heart and sheer will. Is that last 3.2 miles the longest part of a marathon?
26.2 miles. I did it.
Some people say, the body can do it, it's the mind that is constantly trying to talk the body out of it. Some people say, the mind makes the body keep going even when there's nothing left. I say it's a combination of a lot of things - skill and will, need and interest, wind, sun, clothing, fuel and a drive for beating your previous time.
In the next few days, I'll continue to take stock of my marathon achievement. I'll plan for the next one (yes, of course there will be a next one) and I'll figure out what I've learned from this one. Maybe one day, I'll be like Nell, who ran her 25th White Rock yesterday. Maybe one day I'll qualify for Boston.
For now, as my friend Angie said, I just did something extraordinary, by any standards, and now I will bask in my victory.
Reflections on a Marathon - posted at Tue, 11 Dec, 13:17 Central
| «e»
The Weather
We started out the week initially thinking it would be mild. In the 50s, warming to maybe 70. That would've been fine. Then the weather patterns shifted and they started calling for 60s to high 70s with an 80% chance of rain - including the possibility of thunderstorms. All this was to be followed by a cold front that would swing in on Monday.
Making friends
Of course you know I've been running with a group all summer. I lost most of them at a pre-race port-a-john break but stuck like glue to my friend Steve, home from Iraq. He's the whole reason I started this crazy scheme so I had told him he had to run at least the first few miles with me. The rest of Yellow #2 was somewhere in the throngs of people.
The Run
I started feeling challenged around the halfway mark. The lake can be cold and windy, and there aren't a lot of places for people to come out and cheer. For most of those miles we zoned out, just willing ourselves to finish with the lake and get back into the shelter of the neighborhoods. White Rock is good for bands and water stations. There are actually 27 support stations which means, in some cases, they aren't even a mile apart. The hard part of that is, I started to not want to drink.
After
They shuttled us through the finish line. Gave us Mylar blankets (thank you National Research Corporation for inventing them and David Deigan for making them almost universal at marathons). We got our medals. Quite pretty. They took our pictures - I cant wait to see those - I'm sure I look "lovely". I literally choked back tears. Because we'd been running in near freezing temps for the last 2 hours, my lungs were spent. Every time I tried to sob, I wheezed. I'm still suffering from a little athlete's asthma today.
Final Thoughts (for now)
A world class Olympian once said (and I paraphrase) that the only difference between the marathoners who finish in 2+ hours and the ones who finish in 4, 5, 6 hours is that the slower runners have to have the mental toughness to stay on the course for twice as long as the elite runners. Of course, there are a few more differences. But I tend to agree. It takes an immense amount of mental toughness to convince the body to keep going.