A few illustrations...
Exhibit A: In May of 2011 when I traveled to Kansas City with my friend Jillian to participate in my first-ever triathlon , the area was hit by a large tornado that destroyed property and caused lots of damage in the area. This took place the night before our event, necessitating that we spend a good portion of the night in a basement. Sleep was hard to come by in the midst of the weather drama.
While we waited in line for our respective heats to take off from the beach the morning of the event, we were horrified to observe a man in the heat prior to Jillian's get dragged from the water, non-responsive. Obviously this was horrid...and it did NOTHING to improve my anxiety about my first tri. We were given the option to skip the swim portion of the event by the race director...but both of us quickly made the decision to carry on as planned. Aside from a mild "panic attack" in the water requiring that I spend some time on my back to get myself under control...I made it through the event relatively unscathed.
Exhibit B: Then there was my March 2012 Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon debacle. Long story short, I ended up passing out twice on my flight to VA (I was solo)...I had to spend the rest of the flight seated next to a nurse and was taken off the flight first in a wheelchair when we reached our connection location in ATL. There I was checked out by some medical personnel and had to sign a waiver stating I did not want to go immediately to an ER. After I made it safely to VA I spent the evening resting and went to a prompt care the next morning. I was told by some non-comforting and nasty staff that they wouldn't treat me as they were concerned that I could have a brain tumor or a bleed (!!!). They instructed me to go to an ER and that they wouldn't see me...at all...even though all I was presenting with at the time were signs and symptoms of a sinus infection.
I found the nearest ER and was seen after a short wait. I underwent a number of blood tests, a urinalysis and a cardiac evaluation. They determined I was dehydrated and hooked me up to an IV with fluids. After a few hours it was determined that neither an MRI nor a CT were warranted and I simply needed antibiotics for...wait for it...sinusitis.
Much to the chagrin of many of my friends and my mother I got the go-ahead to participate in the marathon from the ER doc. Seeing as I was indeed pretty sick, it was a miserable experience. With a bit of grit and tenacity...I finished that darn marathon, though...after some walking and a visit to a porta potty at mile 14. My finish time was under 5 hours...but barely (4:52:01). A far cry from my PR in Sept of '11 of 3:49:46!
So anyway...there you have it...a brief history of my somewhat tumultuous past associated with traveling for races.
So in early March I discovered that the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon was scheduled to occur on my 30th birthday. As the past year has been, for lack of a better way to describe it, a crapfest...I was definitely dreading the big dirty thirty. I decided that scheduling myself something big and exciting in honor of my big 3-0 was the way to go. On the day registration for the MCM opened...I hopped on my trusty iPad and registered. Good thing I was on top of it...because the race filled up in record time: 2 hours and 40 minutes!
Fast forward to present day...(and Exhibit C)
My friend Jillian and I flew out to DC together Friday. We planned to stay with Jillian's great friends Adelle and Jason while out here. Jillian had registered to participate in the 10K at the MCM event.
Friday night we went out for sushi and other Asian cuisine with some of Jillian's friends (she used to live out here). Saturday we spent a lot of time at the race expo exploring the goods available. I purchased an amazing race belt with pockets for gels/etc, a running dress (!!!), some socks and a MCM jacket. It was a zoo in there! I also sampled some favors of nuun (electrolyte drink) that were new to me and got a body composition test done (even though Jillian made fun of me and said tests like the one I did are inaccurate...whatever ;-)).
At the expo, people were buzzing about the forecasted hurricane approaching. We started to get nervous about the impending storm and how it could affect the race (and, of course, our safety and ability to get home).
Saturday night we had dinner at a seafood restaurant called The Oceanaire. I had an amazing sea bass entree with sweet potato spears and black "forbidden rice". It was truly one of the best meals I'd eaten in my entire life...mmmm!
I went to bed earlyish (10 or so) and slept like crap...for some reason, the night before an event I can never sleep well. My alarm went off earrrrly...at 4:45am. Jillian and I headed down for me to catch a shuttle to the event at 5:30am. It was great...they had shuttle service scheduled to run very early from right outside the apartment building we stayed in. I hopped on the shuttle and Jillian caught the metra to her starting line (the starts were not close to one another). The shuttle ride was quick and easy...about 15 minutes. When we arrived near the runners village (outside of the pentagon), we had to walk about a half mile to an area where we got a quick pat-down by some hot marines (good start to the day ;-)) to ensure we weren't packing anything suspicious before entering the actual "village" area. After being checked out...I sat down on the cold pavement in the dark for a while and ate my almonds and banana. It began sprinkling as I sat there...and I began to get nervous that it could rain throughout the marathon. The cold...wetness...chafing...etc...ugh!!! I wasn't looking forward to it much at all...
After sitting around for a bit and enjoying some serious people-watching opportunities in front of my face ( definitely one of my favorite pastimes at races!! Runners are just so weird!!!!! Yes, I include myself in that stereotype ;-)), I took my gear bag (with some food and dry clothes for after the event) to the gear check area. It was quite efficient. Each person had been assigned a specific truck where he/she was to leave his/her belongings and then retrieve them at the end.
Around 7:25 (30 minutes from the start), race officials began to funnel the thousands of participants toward the start. I hurried to visit the porta potties for the third time (ha!) and struggled through the crowd to get up to the 4:00 start coral (runners who estimates a finish time of 4 hours). As we walked to the start corrals, they did some fly-overs with a variety of military planes which was pretty impressive.
When the howitzer blast signaled the start of the race at 7:55...I was definitely ready to get my body moving. I was a bundle of tightly-bound nerves that craved a release. It took about five minutes to actually cross the start line from where I was. As I walked/jogged to the start I made sure my Garmin and iPod were all set to go...and then I was off!
The first three miles were crowded. It wasn't horrid...but there definitely wasn't much room to obtain your own "space". Thankfully I didn't care about my time and was content to relax and take it easy...and so I just went with the flow of the crowd. After that, people began to space out a bit. I had worn a running rain jacket (after MUCH thought and deliberation over attire) as it seemed likely that the rain would become intense throughout the morning. After about 4 miles, though, I got a bit too roasty toasty and took it off and tied it around my waist.
The first 12 miles or so were hilly...more so than I expected. I kept an 8:30-9:15 pace for much of that. I had gone into this race truly not caring about my finish time. I wanted to simply run the race and enjoy it. I wanted to take in the sights and enjoy running a huge, thrilling event on my thirtieth birthday. So, I just ran whatever "felt good" and didn't get worked up one way or another about my pace. It was pretty liberating, really, not to stress about time/pace.
After about 14 miles...the wind started. Ugh...it got kinda intense at times and was a bit irritating. However, I was sooo thankful the rain held off! I would
MUCH rather deal with wind as opposed to rain.
At mile 18 I saw a girl I went to high school with! Carissa Severson graduated in my high school class with me in 2001 and joined the marines shortly after that. She was one of the marines at mile 18 handing out jelly belly sport beans! It was fun to see a familiar face....and at that point, those jelly beans tasted mighty delicious!
Around mile 18.5 I slowed a bit (but kept jogging ;-)) to slide my iPhone out of my new race belt (which was AMAZING by the way! This belt was very tight/fitted and had a pocket all the way around. I kept my gels, phone, honey stingers and a ziplock bag with my ID, a credit card, metra pass and $20 all in it...and NOTHING moved around or even felt bulky AT ALL! Seriously! Best race belt ever...$25 at the expo very, very well-spent!)...anyway, and I snapped a picture of the capital. The route really was beautiful...running a marathon through the mall is definitely the best way to see and enjoy the monuments!
Around mile 19 I pulled something (?) in my thigh/hip...and my right leg from the hip flexor area down to the outside of my knee had shooting pains. It definitely wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't worth stopping over! I considered a number of times stopping to stretch things out...but stopped myself from trying (right, wrong or otherwise!) because I thought it would feel worse to get started again if I stopped to stretch. I walked through some water stops to try to bring some relief to the darn thing, but nothing really seemed to help.
I finished the race in 4:33...not my best and not my worst showing. If I were to be completely honest, I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not getting under 4 hours. I know, I know...that's not exactly rational as I did go into the race with no goal other than to finish having had a great time. And 4:33 is by no means "horrible!"
Also...I should cut myself some slack as I really didn't train for this race intensely...at all. I completed my first 70.3 just a month prior to this event and my focus for a majority of the summer was not running but instead was biking and swimming. And...my longest run this summer (which was about 2 months ago!) was 18 miles. I did a fair number of 12-14 mile runs throughout the summer, but nowhere near the number of 18-22+ mi runs I SHOULD'VE been doing if I really wanted a great marathon time. With the biking, swimming, races and crazy work schedules, though, it was just a big challenge to find time for those long runs. Clearly I will need to LOSE the excuses next summer, though, as I train for my full ironman!! I'm not making excuses...just illustrating explanations.
After the finish, the finishers were funneled through an area where they were given a medal by a marine who then saluted each runner after placing a medal around his/her neck (which begged the question..."Why is someone who defends our country on a daily basis saluting ME? All I did was run a marathon!!"). After that, finishers were funneled through to photographers who took each person's picture in front of the marine corps memorial. Ive never purchased a race photo before...but that may be a photo worth paying for. Finally, we were guided through the crowds to a line to wait in in order to receive a box with some trail mix, pretzels and hummus, a bagel and a few other food items. Luckily they also had large boxes of bananas lying around...as the box of food was basically chock-full of wheat (meaning I couldn't eat most of the items!). Glutenous items are pretty popular post-races for most!
After the snack, I found my way to the long line of UPS trucks to retrieve my checked bag from truck #6. I immediately took out my clean and dry MCM jacket out of my bag...I had preemptively decided that I would likely want a clean and dry jacket post-race, even if the rain did hold off. I probably looked like a big freak...I was sooo cold and at that point was sporting many lawyers: tank top, long-sleeved running top, rain jacket, thin white MCM finisher throw-away jacket, and blue MCM jacket. Plus, I had two hoods pulled up over my pink and white 70.3 visor. Ahhh quite a vision ;-). After I did my best to raise my core body temp, I found my way to the incredibly LONG lines for the shuttles I joined the line and noted that the man directly in front of me had an m dot tattoo on his right calf. I decided to ask him about it and he was all too happy to chat about his four full Ironman events and numerous 70.3 distance races. I ended up getting lots of great advice from him about training for my own full ironman event (just 10 months from now...WOW!!!). Turns out, he's a high-ranking marine who is stationed where my brother is in San Diego. Small world! It's so much fun meeting fellow long-distance endurance event athletes. Typically they are so nice and very excited to talk about their experiences. I have so much to learn and it's fun for me to glean tidbits of knowledge from those with more experience than me!
After a 60+ minute wait for a bus, I was transported back to where Jillian and Jason were waiting for me...with a hot mocha in hand. Mmmmm...it was deeeelicious!
I then learned that after Jillian's 10k event, the three of them had gone to a grocery store to stock up on hurricane provisions...bottled water and non-perishable food items. I also learned at that time that flights Sunday pm and all day Monday and Tuesday had been canceled...in addition, there were no available busses or trains out, nor were there rental cars available. It became clear it was time to hunker down and prepare to face my first hurricane.
Sunday night we ordered some amazing pizza from Naked Pizza. Not only did they have gluten free pizza available, but they also delivered! It was a scrumptious birthday dinner...even if it wasn't the fancy Mexican dinner out we had planned on (I was moderately bummed to not get the opportunity to wear my cute new brown and black lacy birthday shirt I purchased during my birthday shopping trip with my sis, friend Jen, mom and aunt Linda ;-)).
Monday after a workout in the apartment fitness center, the four of us escaped the apartment to go stock up on yarn at a local knitting store that had not shut down yet. It was raining, but wasn't terrible...until after lunch. We ate at a yummy Five Guys and as we left...about blew away as we walked to Adelle and Jason's car. We hurried home and didn't leave the apartment again. The weather started to get pretty nasty...loud wind, heavy rain, etc. We entertained ourselves with endless episodes of Revenge, reading weather reports on our iPads and eating lots of food. We watched buildings around us lose power...but somehow we never did.
We ended up making it through the worst of the storm just fine. Many around us, though, were not as lucky. Many lost power and there was property damage/trees ripped out of tr ground, etc in the areas surrounding is. We were definitely disappointed/irritated by the disruption to "normal" life that this storm caused...but we know that we should definitely be very grateful for our safety.
Tuesday Jillian and I visited a local yoga studio to try out a vinyasa class. Today (Wed) we rented Capital Bikeshare bikes to tool around DC. It was amazing!! I'm almost ready to trade in the madone for a clunky commuter bike with chunky tires ;-). Ok...probably not! We rode our bikes to a second yoga studio to explore another class. We loved it even more than the first!
So...it was a long "weekend" of eating and sitting...but it was also a great weekend of working out. A marathon, trip to the gym, bike ride around DV and two intense and wonderful vinyasa classes....ahhhh!!
It is now Wednesday, October 31 and flights have finally resumed. American Airlines has Jillian and myself on a flight out of Reagan at 8:40. After we fly in to O'Hare and drive back to
Bloomington...we will be lucky to get home by 1am. It's definitely going to be a long night...and subsequently a long day at work tomorrow, but I truly cannot WAIT to get home! :-)
Here's hoping marathon #7 goes off without a hitch! Wednesday, December 26 I am running Jack's Marathon in CA while I visit my brother in San Diego. This is a small-ish marathon that a father started for his son who has Autism...clearly a more-than-worthy cause, and one that is right up my SLP alley. AND...my love sister-in-law will be doing this one with me!!! She will be running the half marathon there...her first! The event is a half marathon course that the full marathon entrants simply complete twice. It's great...Laura and I will be able to run the first loop together and after she finishes her half marathon...I will continue on to do a second loop. I plan on staying with her and experiencing her first half marathon adventure with her...I can't wait!!! There's not much I love more than seeing people accomplish new running feats!
Marine Corps Marathon 2012...you were a great choice for my sixth marathon...and you were chock-FULL of adventure! I'm thankful for the memories...and grateful for my safety...but can't wait to get home!
