I took off work early to go to packet pick-up and the expo. I focused on conserving energy and not getting hurt. Hurt? At a pre-race expo you say? Who does that? Proud to say, at this point, not me. But I did make it part of my race plan to not have to rush around the day before the race so I could be focused and not do anything stupid like tripping over a wire or falling off a curb. Besides (oops) accidentally registering for another triathlon (Nations) while at the expo, I stayed out of trouble.
That evening I broke soy-cheese-covered-bread with some amazing teammates, went home, made some sleepy time tea, put on my jammies, tucked myself in, closed my eyes and proceeded not to sleep. Pretty standard before race day. I tried every trick in my book - reading, listening to podcasts. Nothing. Tried to calm myself and just trust that the energy that was keeping me up was good, it meant I was ready for the race and if I was calmly lying in bed it was about the same rest as sleeping.
I was able to get about four hours of sleep probably and had the most hilarious pre-race stress dream where I showed up at the race with my 20-year old Diadora lace-up hard-soled bike shoes and after many attempts never could end up getting my correct marathon shoes on before the start -- but it didn't matter because when I got the start line, I could fly!
I couldn't actually fly on race morning, but goodness it was a beautiful day! The moon was out just over the Washington Monument and the weather was perfect! After training through ice and snow and having 40 mph winds the Thursday prior, and four inches of snow predicted for the day after, we were blessed with what ended up being a clear, 60 degree day with minimal wind.
One of my amazing teammates, Tamara, advised me to switch to her corral. Because of my slower pace, I had been placed in corral 20. But the course had a very strict 5:30 cut off which I was not likely to make as well as time of day check points along the route, which I also was not likely to make. A typical marathon doesn't have such tight cut offs, but I found out long long after registering that my
timelines were going to be tight. The race organizers were incredibly helpful with this and gladly moved me up to Tamara's corral. This also had the added blessing of having her with me to keep me calm before the race.
I set up a very simple race plan for myself based on six mile sections. The first six, was based on rhythm. My priority for the first part of the race was to keep my cadence quick, keep my pace slow and resist the tendency to go out fast in the beginning of the race. How did I do? I went out too fast. Surprise, surprise. Everyone tells me they have the same problem. But I felt great. And it was wonderful to always have this single part of my running to bring my attention back to when it wandered. The first six miles were full of friendly faces as my teammates who started in corrals behind me passed me and gave me support (Johnny, Darla, KC) and I saw my awesome teammates who weren't running the race but came out anyway to cheer (Val, Coach Ed, Coach Ryan, Kathy, Janice, Tommy). Janice and Kathy even made their first of three appearances on the course with me, running up next to me to remind me of my awesomeness. What a great team. Never would have made it without them. Cannot say that enough.
I still felt great going into the second six mile section - miles seven through 13. The focus of this set was form. I pulled out my headset around mile nine or so. I don't usually listen to music while I run, but since I was running completely alone it was nice to have the company of the songs. I had made a playlist of
songs that always make me feel awesome and the little pick up it provided was just what I needed. Of course, made sure I could still hear sounds around me because nothing is more annoying than a runner with a headset not responding to the runners around her. Whenever my mind wandered, I brought it back to form. Were my hands crossing in front of me (stop that)? Was I engaging my glutes? Was I tucking my pelvis and engaging my abs? Coaches will be happy to know that my abs are actually as sore as my thighs today. So yay!
My buddy Sara was sitting up around mile eight with this awesome custom sign (that thing in the middle she says is the Leafy Green). So great to see her and hear her screaming for me!
And then came mile 12.5 Or around there. That's where the 3/4 of the people who were doing the half marathon carry on happily to their finish line off in the distance while us crazy full folks peal off to the right and suddenly realize not only is it no almost over, it isn't even half way over yet. The good news is that I had made it to the first cut off point without getting swept. The bad news is there was no way I could do this. What the hell was I thinking!?! I felt like crap. I blamed my medication. I started to cry. Yep. Surprise. I know. The water station had run out of cups. I was so slow and such a failure that the first water station on the full course had run out of cups. There is no way in hell I am ever signing up for anything like this again. That's what my mind was thinking.
And then I told her to shut up, I am Karen Fucking Taggart (excuse my language, Mom, sorry...) and I could do this. From training I knew my brain was going to try and bail me out at this point so I purposefully a.) did not bring my phone with me and b.) had my friend Kim from high school waiting for me at mile 16. I just had to get myself to mile 16. I could do that. It's only three miles. And in my race plan miles 13-18 were dedicated to strength. So I focused on all the strength work I had done and tried to recognize how it was allowing me to keep moving forward. I got some water out of the hose (cups are bad for the environment anyway), turned up the
P!nk song and got myself to the nice downhill by the Capitol and got to run through the 9th St Tunnel which was a blast! I love that these races give me the chance to go places in my city I am not usually allowed to go. Also helped that Janice and Kathy once again came up on me and encouraged me. So thankful they were there!
Kim saved me. Literally. She and I were Lacrosse buddies in high school and having her pick me up and run with me was exactly what I needed. About a mile later we ran into my awesome bookclub friend Katie whom I had seen earlier around mile 10 as well. She was riding her bike around the city to see me throughout the race. How awesome is that?? She rode with us while we jogged Buzzard Point. I started to pick up again and was able to get back into my consistent run a mile, walk a minute pattern and pace.
And then... mile 18. I honestly have a difficult time remembering too much from this part of the race forward. Aileen met me at mile eight, and Kim stayed with me while Katie pealed off (thanks Katie!). This was the second place in the race where my slow pace could impact my finish. And it did. The organizers of the race had wisely designed the last bit to include two small out and back sections where they could short us slower runners.. and I missed this one by probably a minute. So I got redirected directly over the bridge instead of getting to run by Nationals' Park. No big deal. I have run by there a million times.
Best part about this section? I handed over the stress of the finish completely to Aileen. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, if I was going to make the next cut off or if I was going to get swept completely... and she calmly turned to me and said, "I don't have anywhere to be today and we are going to finish 26.2 miles today whether it's on this course or somewhere else." My brain wasn't working too well, so it was wonderful to be able to hand over all my decision making to her. I could just run.
So what was my plan for the rest of the race? Pretty simple, "get. her. done." Aileen and Kim talked about their vacation plans, what they did for a living, race stories... the only rules I had was that a.) I didn't have to respond and b.) please don't talk about upset stomach race stories. At one point I remember that one of the bands gave me special motivation to postpone one of my walk breaks because they were doing the worst cover of
Mama Said Knock You Out that I was about to be sick. Not the motivation I think the organizers were going for with the bands, but whatever. I kept going forward.
And I saw my parents. And my brother. They had balloons. And we picked up Tamara. And Aileen stayed with us. And Kim stayed with us. And I got shorted at mile 22, so that meant I would cross the finish at mile 24.7, if I didn't get completely swept, and we would just add the mileage on after on the trail along the river. That was the plan. Don't. Get. Swept.
Realized that all four of us (Tamara, Aileen, Kim) were redheads - which says something. You all need to know, also, that these friends of mine got me through the race. There is no way I could have done it without them and I cannot thank them enough. Tamara had just run a PR in the half that morning, Aileen had a tough swim practice before and is nursing an injured foot and still put in eight miles with me
and Kim hasn't run more than about three miles in recent years and she put in 10! Oh and all throughout the end of the race Aileen kept in touch with my family and my good friend
Meg and let them know my progress. I have never felt more supported in my whole life.
And I didn't get swept. I came across the bridge. I saw the finish line and saw Coach Ryan cheering. I made it into the finishers chute and for some reason threw up the Hang Loose signs (Becky, thought you would find that funny). I don't remember doing it, but official race pictures show me doing it. I started crying, got my medal, got some water and Gatorade and met up with the three other redheads for the last 1.5 miles.
When I came home, there were flowers from Meg waiting for me and literally over 100 texts, fb posts and likes to respond to.
Now, I am a marathoner. I have a medal and I ordered the very special 26.2 for the back of my car:
This morning I woke up and thought hmmm..
maybe I will do this again. I went off to receive a massage from my amazing friend Rebecca who not only got my legs functioning again, but allowed me to use the steam room at her spa. That is definitely going to become part of my regular recovery plan.
I started to reflect a bit on the whole experience and made the mistake (again) of looking at other people's results. This reminded me of how slow I am. Then I looked at the race pictures and was reminded of how
much weight I have gained. I am surrounded all the time now by these amazing athletes on my team and sometimes I make the mistake of comparing myself to them in a negative way -- they are faster, skinnier, stronger, have done more races, can go farther, blah blah blah. A marathon isn't that big of a deal in this crew. Most of them have done one. Most of them have done several.
BUT this is looking at everything all wrong. The best part about surrounding myself with people who do things that I aspire to and have the qualities which I admire means that it motivates me towards more awesomeness. Surround yourself with happy, healthy, motivated and determined people and guess what? You find you are more happy, healthy, motivated and determined yourself.
This afternoon my father asked me, "So, are you going to do this again?" And my answer this time? Yes.
But first I need to get faster at the half and figure out a way to drop all this weight my medication seems to be causing me to gain... but that's the next chapter. Right now I am going to watch some more NCAA basketball, hop on my foal roll again and spend the second night sleeping with my marathon medal. It's not really comfortable, but then again, neither is running for like six hours.
