~ What really brought me to the point to actually go through with running an entire Marathon ?
I am 42 years old, and the mother of 5 children ranging from ages 22 to 4, and I finally for the first time in my life ran 26.2 miles in less than 5 1/2 hours. What did I get out of it? Why would someone do such a crazy thing? Wow, better you than me ! Amazed that you did it, you're not a spring chicken anymore. Those are some comments and questions that I've heard throughout my time since I've started running. As I sit and reflect on some of the questions, and reactions from people I try to come up with the answers to not only suit them, but to also try to explain the Uphoria from completing such a task. I'm not really sure I'll be able to explain it to the extent where the same emotions can be felt as I felt while doing it, but at the very least, will try to explain.
I began "jogging" almost 11 years ago when I made the decision to quit smoking, mentally I thought the best way to clear all the toxins from my lungs was to exchange the air as quickly and deeply as possible. My goal became to run to the stop sign at the top of the street and back. After several months I managed to extend my goals to get me up to a 3 mile mark. One evening in May of 2001 I received a phone call from a co'worker asking me to step in for her for the last 2 legs of the Burlington Key Bank Marathon, Ha ! I thought. that's like 9 miles, there's no way, and it's in less than a week.. but then I thought, what the heck, what have I got to lose ? I'll walk if I have to. I ran the two legs and felt quite proud of my accomplishment - but I was dissapointed when I got through the finish line with no medal. I didn't realize you had to do at least half (13.1) in order to receive a medal, so I shrugged my shoulders knowing I'd never be able to do it,so give up on that idea.
Several years passed I jogged off and on going through phases where I was pretty good for a while and did my 3 mile jogs several times per week with my Golden Retriever in tow. I remember my husband Tom and I going to see the runners in May of 2005, and I felt such emotion watching the runners accomplish their runs, the excitement on their faces and the excitement of the crowds, it brought tears to my eyes, my husband could see on my face how much I wish I could do it, but I didn't feel like I had the athleticsism to do it. I had another baby in August of 2006 at the age of 38 and struggled with getting back into some sort of shape after her birth. In January of 2007 after visiting with some friends, my husband came home and said " Guess what I just did ?" I thought Hmmmm.. what did you buy now ?? - he replied, "Nope, I didn't buy anything, I just signed you up to run 1/2 the marathon with Camille !" - I looked at him and said he was crazy, I just had a baby and there was no way I was running 1/2 marathon in 5 months.. BUT, he had faith that I could do it.. SO, up came the treadmil into the living room, and I ran every night after work to get myself back up to the 3 miles, then gradually up to 5 and try to squeeze a couple of 7 or 8 mile runs, but that was about the extent of it. Well, May 2007 came and it was Marathon day, I picked up my bib and my team'mate and I discussed about how long it would take for her to get to the half way point for me to meet her. My friend Julie offered to pick me up that morning and get me to the place where I would meet Camille to pass off the band for me to continue the run. We didn't think about traffic delays and runners blocking about every pathway to the start for us to get to the half way point, Julie and I panicked knowing the only way I could get there was to walk / run through the crowds.. So, that's what I did, jumped out of the car and began my journey to get there. I got to the 1/2 way point just minutes before Camille arrived to pass off - and off I went, I just had my warm up. I ran the second half with difficulty dragged my way through the finish, got my medal and was greeted by my family and friends, and completed my first half Marathon !! ..... but it wasn't enough.
A couple more years passed as I continued my Jog / run ritual that would phase for 3-4 months of the year, then back to becoming sedentary. January of 2010 an email came out at work asking for runners to join the team of my place of employment it was to raise money for Childrens services. I'd recently become friends with another wonderful lady who was pretty new to running, so I sent her an email and asked her what she thought of running the Marathon with me and we'd each do half - I figured if she said no, I won't do it either, but to my surprise, she was exctatic !! I felt like when I asked Nancy, she was going to explode of excitement, so game on !! the only thing Nancy asked for, was for her to be able to run the second half, I've gone through the finish twice, sure I'll take the first half. We trained a few times together and kept eachother motivated through email and stories, but toward the end of our training I began having some problems with my hip and leg, I kept going as much as I could bare, the most I'd run within my training was 9-10 miles. Marathon day came on May 30, 2010, Nancy and her husband picked me up in the morning and stayed at the start with me until if was time go go, we hugged, took pictures and eagerly waited, it felt very exciting and emotional, but nothing prepared me for the feeling of that "starting gun" going off , getting into my jog to round the corner and see just hundreds of spectators cheering, yelling and chanting. WOW, with tears in my eyes I was running by them absorbing the excitement of this event, the entire run felt like such hard work, and at times I really wanted to stop running, but I finished my first half in 2 hrs and 11 minutes greeted by my partner Nancy just bursting with excitement and ready to carry on the Baton to the finish line after her 13.1 miles. I sat down in the cool grass to rest my legs, my 3 year old in my lap and my husband full of excitement for me having completed my second Half Marathon, I got my second medal and we went off to wait for Nancy at the finish line. Nancy beamed of excitement upon finishing her half in 2 hours and 12 minutes! We both completed our mission...... but it wasn't enough.
January 11,2011 in the middle of my work day, I suddenly received an email from my dear friend Julie, She talks about how she's feeling like she wants to get into something to focus on some health and fitness for a while, and suggested since she wasn't able to run the Marathon back in 07 that she had been training for, due to a hip injury, how would I feel about running the Marathon this year with her ? Half ? I asked her, No ! she said, the whole thing ! HaHa, I told her no way, maybe next year, I haven't ran in 9 months due to my own overuse injuries and I wouldn't be able to. Julie challenged me and stated it would be our one and only, after this we'll never run again ! .. so within 30 minutes since she first emailed me, weagreed to go for it, we aren't getting any younger, so this was our year.. She had my registration verification email back to me within 5 minutes. SO, there I was registered for my first full Marathon - back to my 3 mile runs on the Treadmil every other evening.
I decided that I was going to dedicate this run to a local young girl who has been fighting for her life and waiting for a kidney and liver transplant at Pittsburgh Childrens Hospital http://www.cotaformikaelas.com/ . I was Ski instructing at a local mountain every Saturday, so the time constraint of working full time a house full of kids, a photography business and working on the weekends, I had no idea how honestly I would complete a training ritual, but I was willing to give it my best shot. I immediatly set up an appointment with a local PT to work on getting my hip in shape and saw him weekly. Becoming increasingly more frustrated for not being able to get longer runs in due to lack of time and pain that would come back every time I got to 2 1/2 miles, and at one point being was told I was attempting the impossible, my bubble burst for a while and I started doubting that I could do this, but I think it also made me more eager to prove them wrong. Julie and I had our ups and downs through training we had to keep eachother motivated and in focus through encouraging emails. I got the name of a local guy who does Acupuncture and thought I'd give it a shot for my hip.. to my incredible surprise, it worked wonders !!! I was finally able to get up on my mileage. Ski season ended and the snow slowly melted away, got to run outdoors and my whole family pitched in on making sure I was getting time in for my runs. Thank God for them..!! I did weekly Acupuncture treatments and was more surprised every week to be able to make my run a tad longer and on Mother's day I finally completed a 16 miler ~ Here it comes my spirit was back !!
Friday before the Marathon (May 27th) I went to the Health and Fitness Expo to pick up my Bib - Number 2231 - that's a great number I thought as I walked aroung the Expo, I love how they have it set up and just love to look at all the products and gear, I got my 26.2 sticker for my car, a hat and hippie belt to carry my Ipod in. I came home and laid out my outfit and Bib, I'd had a special shirt made with the words "Miles for Mikaela" on the back, I became increasingly more excited, but also nervous. Being a Photographer, I accepted covering a Wedding the day before the Marathon, I figured what else am I going to do, it will be a rest day. The lovely couple understood the need for me to be home early enough to get a good nights sleep, so they arranged their wedding day based on my needing to be done early. THANK YOU !! It was a beautiful Wedding and got my mind off the run for a while - I got home, read the weather reports and warnings, which stated the Marathon may even need to be cancelled due to extreeme heat and possible thunder storms, double checked my outfit, shoes Ipod and then went to bed and drifted off to sleep with no worries.
Marathon day! Sunday May 29, 2011 rain, and wet outside and pretty warm. I got up before everyone else, took my shower and had a good breakfast and cup of coffee. My nerves were getting to me a little, it was raining pretty hard, wow, this will be a long, long 26.2 miles I thought, but it is what it is !! My husband and 4 year old daughter dropped me off at the start and because they weren't able to find parking, they just took a couple of pictures then left and said they would catch me enroute somewhere.. I stood under a porch for a while dodging the rain. Some more experienced runners wore thin plastic bags and had other various way to keep dry, I was thinking to myself that I must look like such the beginner, completly unprepared. I walked toward the 5 hour pace runner, waiting for the start gun to go off, listening to the speaker, the singing of the National Anthem and just looking around at the other runners jogging in place, smiling, hugging eachother and wishing well wishes, I was feeling this is all pretty Surreal. Time to go.. the runners started inching their way forward, can you imagine how slow it goes to move 2400 people? After about 3 minutes I was able to get into a slow jog and moved my way into the running crowd. There I go, around the first bend, opening up to a wide open road with nothing but runners in front of me and behind me and surrounded by the most incredible cheers and chants.. These are all strangers yet they act as though they know every single runner, my eyes again filled with tears as I was getting into my running groove. I was rounding up to mile 4 and I was filled with such a sense of excitement, thinking here I am in the middle of a huge number of marathon runners, and I am one of them! my heart filled with emotion and I said to myself I am so glad I did this. I made my way to the highway part of the run which seemed to be the longest part, it's a long stretch, there aren't any spectators and it had stopped raining and was becoming a bit stickier in the air, I also began having the urge to use the rest room, but the portas in the middle of the highway had longer lines than I cared to wait for, so I just kept running. I saw Julie who was about 10 minutes ahead of me at this point and already on her way back from the highway, gave her a quick yell and wave, and shortly after I rounded my way back off this highway, back through a huge cheering crowd which seems to completely energize. As I got toward Mile 11 I began questioning if I could really do this or not, I'm not sure if it was the slow music playing on the Ipod, or the multitude of people that were currently on the side of the road throwing up that had me questioning, but I forced myself to keep going anyway.. I really was thinking of stopping at the half way point and collecting my 3rd half Marathon medal ,and settling with that. I made my way through the half way point, kept my focus and continued running along and suddenly had a new sense of energy.. I was in the second half now ! I "think" I can. I arrived at the most difficult part of the entire run, Battery hill ! when driving up this hill by car, it just doesn't seem too bad, but it's a very long gradual climb which gets steeper as you continue up.. Super awesome crowd support and amazing drummers are all along the hill as you climb, I slowed to a job, but eventually decided I was walking up the second half of this thing, heck there's still 11 miles to go. I got to the top and again a huge cheering crowd, so got back into my jog up the avenue,, suddenly there was a presence next to me on a blue bike - it was my husband with his hand stretched out with a cold water bottle in his hand a big smile on his face and encouraging words telling me I was doing great and I look awesome ! Well Thank you !! That's what I needed to keep me going, I did stop for a second at this point, sat on a curb to take my shoe off and try to adjust an annoying burn I was getting at the bottom of my foot, continued running along, seeing people laying on the side of the road, hearing ambulances the heat and humidity was climbing. After mile 16 I was in my own neighborhood, I knew here people I would see were people that I see almost daily, I was very excited to get to this area! Mile 17 my left hamstring started cramping up, I stopped to walk for a few minutes to give it a rest - I came upon another water station and a familiar face greeted me with a big smile - Amy - she had ran the Boston Marathon in the past and was volunteering her time here passing out drinks and oranges, she congratulated me as I was going along and when I told her about my hamstring she told me to have a few slices of oranges.. which very eager youngsters were passing out, at the same time one of the other pace leaders heard me and offered me a salt tablet - she said it would help with the cramping, amazing, it really did help. I saw so many familiar faces, riding their bikes, standing in front of their homes with big welcoming cheers, I was waving at them, giving high fives and hugs to my friends that came out to see me go by the streets, and my 16 year old daughter met me on her bike and followed along for a while.. the feeling was just amazing. People had sprinklers going into the streets, kids were standing in front of their home with little dixie cups half filled with water, and so excited when a runner would take them up on it. As I was getting close to mile 21 another awesome surprise, my sister inlaw stood waiting with my 4 year old daughter and my niece, hugs all around a piece of banana, another sip of water from a nice cold water bottle and off I go.. all smiles. I had less than 6 miles to go, I was really believing that I could do this. I saw another runner down, looked like heat exhaustion it looked like some nice homeowners were helping him and making phone calls, I was wondering to myself what they did, or didn't do to prepare themselves, I felt really good, by stopping to get plenty of water and taking advantage of the sprinklers, I was keeping myself in check pretty well. Final stretch, I had made it back to the bike path, straight shot of about 5 miles left to go - the end was near. The little bit of cooler air was coming off the lake on the right of me energy was coming back, and going again.Suddenly as I was nearing mile 22 my legs were getting really really heavy, I almost couldn't make them move, the cramping on the hamstring was coming back, and the burning on the bottom of my foot was getting more and more annoying. Ah, there was a water station coming up again, I walked through the water station and decided I'd take it a little easier for a few minutes to regenerate a little. As I was in a fast paced walk and looking ahead it was almost as if runners were just out on leisure walks, couples were holding hands, and runners were walking along engaged in conversation and more or less taking it pretty easy on this last stretch. I said hello to a girl walking along next to me, we chatted back and forth for a bit and I learned this was her second Marathon, we congratulated eachother and I began a slow jog again. I came accross a bunch of guys on the left hand side of the path with red cups.. too funny, they had a sign that said " the faster you run, the more we drink" - they were passing out sips of beer, I figured, why not? I'm in the home stretch, so I enjoyed a little sip and kept on going.. I could hear the roar of the crowds, and the commentators and the music getting louder in the distance. As I was running along at this point, I was noticing little things like peoples clothes, tags with dedication names on them hanging off shirts, tatoos on calves and / or ankles, signs spectators were holding, marker writing on shirts, X's on states of runners hitting a marathon in every state, I was thinking of the writing on the back of my own shirt " Miles for Mikaela" and I was smiling to myself thinking that everyone is doing this for a different reasons, we are all over 5 hour mark, we aren't doing it for money, or recognition, we are doing it for sheer enjoyment, we are running to honor grandparents, parents, brothers/sisters, friends and loved ones, we are doing it to prove to someone that we can, we are doing it to prove to ourselves that we can, we are doing it because we are aging and think maybe next year we can't, we are doing it because we were sick, and this is our way to get better, so many thoughts came into my head as I was nearing my last mile on why this is important to people. I crossed over from the bike path to the pavement, the music and cheering was louder, I'd been running for over 5 hours and there were still a slew of people waiting for runners to come through. I looked up and saw tents, kids with their hands out waiting for high fives, people yelling and cheering, clapping their hands, the sun in the sky, a sign ahead of my that said " you are almost there", I took my headphones off, tucked them into my shirt and wanted to hear and absorb everything, every sound and every expression. I really felt like I was the only runner coming through, the crowds just amazed me. As I was coming up to and seeing the finish line, I heard my name called, it was Nancy - she finished running half hour before me, but stayed to see me come through waving and yelling to me, I waved with a big smile, and heard my name again, it was my daughter, my sons and my husband standing there taking pictures smiling - I raised my hands as I passed through the finish line with a time of 5:24 I smiled as big as I could, cheering for myself !! I did it. My daughter was yelling from the fence, I walked over gave her a big old hug and cried saying " I did it, I finished it, I ran the whole thing !!!! ". I greeted Julie who had come through about 25 minutes before me, we gave eachother big hugs and thanked eachother for getting us through this. I am now a Marathon runner, no more saying " one day I'll run a marathon" or " geez I wish I had " - I have my Marathon Finisher medal !!! .... but, is it enough ?
~ Why run an entire Marathon ? I really don't know, but if you have reason to, you will.
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