Race Day was almost upon us.
Kristy, Jeff, and I left Summerville early Saturday morning to embark on Race weekend. With the Fusion packed, Fat dog in the Kennel, and runners in the car we began our
8 hour road trip to Virginia Beach, VA for the 2010 Shamrock 1/2 Marathon.
For Team JaKaL, (Jeff and Kristy and Leslie..get it!!!) this was our first 13.1 race, both individually and collectively. Our first stop was for breakfast of Champions at McDonald's five minutes into our trip. Then we were seriously we were on our way. Kristy and I slept, as Jeff upheld his manly duties of driving. Good bye South Cackalacky, Hello North Carolina.
Nap time was over when we had crossed the border and due to our small bladders and pure nervousness so we had to find a rest area began photo documenting our trip. We figured the State Line was a great place to start.
It was fun seeing the excitement through Jeff and Kristy, except when they continually "joked" that it was the worst idea that I had ever come up with and they weren't going to actually run the race or they were going to shut the alarm off on race morning so that we would miss it all together and they wouldn't feel bad about it.
Oh, such kidders! I can't describe the nerves, excitement, glee and fear that sets in leading up to race day. The training doesn't prepare you for the deluge of emotions you feel as you pull into the convention center for the race expo.
This is where we got our race swag, numbers, and visited many vendors before race day. You could feel the energy and excitement from the fellow runners. It felt less like competition and more like comaraderie. We were there to do a job. We were there to revel in the hard work that had prepared us for the current challenge in our lives. We were facing the moment that we had talked about and anticipated, and trained for- for months. The participants at the expo share this enthusiasm, weather they are runners or staff, we have all pooled our efforts to make this a memorable experience. Walking into the expo,the first thing we run into are giant leprechauns (Of course.. Photo Op!)
On to pick up our Official Race Number. We were greeted by the most lovely girls who were so willing to help. They provided us with our official race bag and when I told the lady my name # and she pulled it out, she asked, "Hun, do you have your ID" then she paused and said,"nevermind, what is your last name? It's not like there are many people in the world who would try and lie so that they could run 13.1 miles for someone else" I just laughed because I had to agree. She handed it over and wished me luck. The other 2/3 of our race team picked up their digits and you know what that means another PHOTO OP!
We continued on our experience, traveling from vendor
to vendor, picked up some powergels, freebies, and most importantly...the 13.1 Bumper stickers. We wasted sometime before checking in to our hotel...little did we know what would be awaiting us.
We drove down to the beach passing high-rise after high-rise, large hotels lining the coast line, search for our nest. Using the GPS we came upon the Atlantic Sands Hotel in no time at all. We parked next to a dilapitated Chevy S-10 with a flat tire that looked like all it was missing was the cinder blocks holding up the other tires (usually found in ghetto front yards).We headed to the l
obby which was completely under construction with a dirty
counter and a large woman behind it looking like she hadn't taken a shower in days. We checked in, feeling apprehensive, took the filthy elevator up to our room, only to find that we didn't need the key because the room was actually open. We walked through the OPEN door to find the bathroom in a state of disarray;Toilet
unflushed, Towels
unfolded. There was even a used toothpick sitting on one of the tables. We had a balcony, but the door leading out to it was open when we walked in...who knows if it even shut. As I was heading to the phone to call the front desk, I saw the alarm clock was broken... thinking:"well they don't have to joke about turning off the alarm clock come race morning...it won't even turn on!" So soon we got another room, but wierd...no apology about the condition of the first room. 2nd room was a few doors down, and it was locked before we went in and this room actually looked like someone had cleaned it...OK let's not get carried away: vacuumed and flushed. However, soon to find out the Cable didn't work. So I took my McGyver skills and broke into the old room and stole the cable chord because that TV worked, however it didn't fix our problem.
So we called the front desk again. Fat woman's response "Oh, the Cable is out right now and we don't know when it will be back on." Did we dare tell her she was lying? So we politely asked who we should call to get it fixed. Sounding annoyed, she said she would give us a call back. Within minutes we had an old man knock on the door who came and jiggled a chord and then said "looks like your cable doesn't work. You might want to call the front desk and get a new room."
DUH! So we did, and they gave us our 3rd set of keys. Room #3- good view, clean bathroom, workable cable, and functioning Alarm clock... was this so hard?!
On to prerace activities: Carbo-loading, eating, and race
preparation. Chipotle was our CARBfest of choice! Wal-mart was of course the savior of all things forgotten. We spent as much time as we could away from the Temple of Doom. We drove around Virginia Beach, which is a beautiful city, and just vented our fears and anxieties.
The race was in T-minus 12 hours. Time for sleep and relaxation. 5:30 alarm went off- against the former humorous plot. Got up, got dressed and did the official pinning of Race numbers. Nerves and anxiety were high, but ready or not 13.1 ...
Here we come! We had 20 block to run to get the the STARTING line of the race. The long hike brought us there just as the National Anthem began. Personal tears shed as I remember my hero in Iraq right now. (Thanks Lisa) And the gun Fires...we're off...ok so it took us 6 minutes to actually get to the starting line after to gun when off, but now is what we had all been waiting for. Even though there are 10,000 people around, it felt like it was just me and the road. I was racing myself. Success was not in the minutes on the clock but on the individual goals of allowing myself to get through each mile and make it to the Finish Line. Step by step, my journey began. Mile 1 was perfect. Pace was perfect, my body felt great, if I can keep this up, I will be done in 2:09:00. Miles 2-4 passed quickly and easily. Miles 5-6 were a little tougher, but when I hit the clock on mile 5, my pace was still on target. This is where is started falling apart. I would love to say, with all my training I was able to push myself to a glorious Hollywood finish with Chariots of Fire Soundtrack playing in the background, but that isn't how it happen.
At mile 7, my lungs started to burn and my feet felt like there were blisters on the bottoms of them that were going to burst at any moment. I was also feeling tired and defeated. I know I was racing better than ever before, but I just couldn't find my drive.
I stopped. I took off my water belt, ipod and shirt, only to strip my long-sleeve shirt off. This was an excuse to catch my breath and hopefully gain some energy. I helped. I continued on realizing I had over 5 miles to go and just kept reminding myself: the more you run, the fast this is over. I found a group of girls to pace myself with. I passed them several times only to have them continually pass me too. It worked great, until fatigue set
in around mile 10. The last 5K was the hardest moments for me. Intellectually I was preparing myself with the mantra... you do these every day. A 5K is no big deal, you have less than 1/2 hour left. Just RUN! My body just wouldn't listen. That 5K took me 37 minutes!
So I didn't hit my goal time, but, when I crossed that finish line, I couldn't have been more proud of myself. Tears were streaming and that Chariots of Fire song was sure playing somewhere, if only in my mind. Soon I found Jeff. He was waiting right where we had planned...(on the left side banana stand... there are always bananas on the left side) We went to get the winning photo of Kristy and claim our free beers- 4 to be exact.
Did I mention the Shamrock Marathon was sponsored by Yuengling!
However in all the commotion, after Kristy's photo, we lost her for several hours. She was not at the Left Side Banana stand... come to find out she was at the right side stand the entire time! But we got our medals and left with more pride and lactic acid then we knew what to do with.
We waddled back to our rat hotel, took showers and then off for our celebratory dinner @ TGIF.
Needless to say, it wasn't as hard to sleep that night as is was to walk the next day. We couldn't stop revelling in our accomplishment for the entire 8 hour ride back to Summerville and we will never forget what Team JaKaL was able to do!
We all PR'd that day Jeff @ 2:14:13, me @ 2:28:43 and Kristy @2:51:30! Way to go Team JaKaL!!!! I am glad we got to run 13.1 mile together. 1/2 Marathon Finisher with many more miles to go before I sleep!
