26.2 miles...check, mate

I DID IT! I think that I didn't fully comprehend the distance until about mile 20...at which point my body just started to break down. My lungs were great, I was not out of breath at all...it was just that my legs and feet and hips seemed to no longer want to work. One foot in front of the other was suddenly harder than I'd ever imagined it could be.

Pre-race: Emmy had her parents & brother in town so Josh, Mom, Dad & I went to Manayunk and feasted on home-made meatballs and spaghetti for a carb-loading dinner. It was wonderful, and fun, and we all got psyched up for the race. Emmy & I even decorated our t-shirts with "YOU are a MARATHON RUNNER...KICK IT!" on the backs. Our names, of course, are on the front for all those new friends you make on the sidelines.

Miles 1-8 - Feeling Great!!
Emmy & I are running together and amazed at the people and the city and this whole race. There's a common saying among marathoners that this run is a 20 mile warm-up to a 6 mile race. So, my first mind game of the run was that when I passed mile 6...the hard part was over, and I just had 20 miles to go. It worked for a little bit...

Miles 9-13.1 - Emmy paces ahead of me (Kick it!!) and I'm still feeling great as I pass the half-way point. At this point I keep repeating Barney's lessons on how to train for a marathon: "Step 1 - You start running. Step 2 - there is no step 2, you just keep running." Then I start singing to myself "Just keep running, just keep running" a la Dory from Finding Nemo...

13.1-18.5 - Starting to feel "not so great" but happy that I know I'm still ahead of the 5:00 pace group. That is...until I stop to stretch at a water station and look up in time to see the pace group running past me. I jumped up (Okay, I didn't jump) and ran to catch up with them. Ended up staying with them for a few miles and have nothing but wonderful things to say about the pace leader. What a woman: completely able to keep up conversation and positive reinforcement for everyone. Thank you! Then, about mile 18.5 as we headed up the hill to Manayunk I had to listen to my body and slow back. That was the moment I realized that this was no longer about time for me. It was about finishing. No one said it had to be fast, and no one said it had to be pretty...
Though I did see Thing 1 & Thing 2 at mile 14 which made me laugh because Emmy & I had seen Thing 1 in the beginning and had made a goal of finding Thing 2. I won! (I think)
Miles 18.5-20 - Manayunk. The first people I saw as I turned the corner into Manayunk were Tony (Emmy's brother) and his girlfriend Christine! What a happy surprise. They held me up for a second while I stretched and until I could make it a little further down the road to Megan & Alison at the Bryn Mawr tent. Meg went on a mission to find me water for when I came back around and then I saw Emily & Patrick! Before I knew it, "this is why I'm hot" was blaring on the speakers at the turn around and I was FINALLY on my way to the finish line. I did not take a beer from the Beer Stop table, but I did have some potato chips and a brownie :)

Miles 20-22 - Utter pain and despair. I start to wonder if my legs might actually detach from my hips and fall off. I start to worry about being able to make it to the finish line. Suddenly, my arm is buzzing, I look down and...

Mile 22 - Lizzy is calling me! (I should have been finished) but her call totally took me through mile 22. Thank you for convincing me that 4 miles was completely do-able!

Mile 23 - I'm thinking in my head about this story I read once about the participants in the Special Olympics: how sometimes, in the middle of an event, they'll just sit down on the ground because they can't go any further. But they all have angels that are assigned to them and they come out onto the course and help them up and keep them going towards the finish. I'm thinking about this story, and wondering where my angel on the sideline is. Because I really need it. I'm talking to anyone who is walking with me, but no one sticks (though I met some amazing people). Then I look over and see a woman wearing a Phillies sweatshirt, "Yay Phils!" I muster; trying to keep up the positive thoughts in my head, and keep OUT the negative ones that were creeping in. She smiles at me, and that is when I meet Phyllis, and she ends up being my angel in this race. She totally paced me in miles 23-26 ("we're going to run 2 light-posts and walk 1"), and I truly believe that this woman's purpose in my life was to be there and pace me in. She is amazing. I doubt I will ever see her again. This was her 17th marathon, and she's 44 and I love her.Mile 25 - I'm telling Phyllis all about my little packet of 26.2 miles of inspiration and how I had been reading all these really inspiring things from my friends and family for the last 24 miles. As we got to mile 25 I told her I'd read it out loud..."You're the a-hole that signed up for this! Hope you're not too sore from soaring. Love, Christa" We both busted up laughing. What a great quote for mile 25.

Mile 26 - I took off and ran with as much as was left in me for the last .2 miles. As soon as I could see the finish line banner I was completely overcome with emotion and just tears were streaming down my face. I could not believe that I was here and doing it. I saw Emmy jump out from the side as I rounded the corner and that made me smile and then I crossed the finish line and just collapsed into my family.What a feat. I cannot thank my friends and family enough for all their love and support. I will never forget this.

Lessons on running from How I Met Your Mother

Click on the title to see. I actually cried I laughed so hard.

Lesson #1 - Just keep running
Lesson #2 - DON'T SIT DOWN

3 days...

I checked the website again today to sign up for the Clif bar pace team...and saw the clock countdown in the corner. Unreal that this day is finally just around the corner. I think I've officially reached "freak out status" because every time I think about the marathon I get short of breath.

As Heather told me today, though: no matter what happens you will still be alive after it’s over, the planet will still be turning, and Obama will still be the president in January. The end.

It's a good mantra :)

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

T-minus 6 days...I can hardly believe it.

I spent the majority of last week coughing and hacking and wheezing, but took off Friday from work and finally kicked the cold in the ARSE. So there. Take THAT sickness. On Saturday I rose early and headed to the gym for my last long run before the race. Since it was cold/rainy out again this weekend I opted for treadmill action instead of risking another cold. I felt great, but stopped after 6 miles purely from boredom of running on a treadmill.

Also, fun fact, I like to watch TBS movies on Saturday morning if I'm running at the gym. Usually I'll just watch whatever movie they're airing but this Saturday it was...Richie Rich. I've never been more self-conscious of my TV screen. At every commercial I'd be like "man, I wonder what ELSE is on" and half-heartedly search through other channels before inevitably arriving back at TBS. See, the truth is, I kind of liked the movie. It's entertaining, and really I just need a story line to keep me going for a couple hours. I'm cool. I know it...

The run was good, and nothing physically hurt afterwards. Achilles? Check. Knees? Check. I am thrilled.
It was a great self-confidence booster, as was the shopping trip that Brie & I took that afternoon. My wallet is hurting...but my closet is busting!

Tonight I have an easy 4 miles and then Yoga for some good stretchy-ness.

I got SUPER pysched this morning when I looked up the course map again. The last 13.5 miles are through the Kelly Drive loop that I know so well...I think I had my first "mental" feeling that I'm really going to do this. And it's going to be AWESOME.
omg...it's almost time. I can't believe that by this time Next Week, I'll be a marathoner.

Taper Madness

Last night Emmy sends me this email

"by the way, not sure if this describes you at all bec - but it's describing me....

taper madness!

http://www.runrichmond.com/id33.html"

And it totally is...especially this part: "Every sneeze, sniffle, cough or pimple becomes a life-threatening virus or infection."

After our run on Saturday morning where it started raining, I developed a chest cold. ARGH. I mean AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH. But it'll be OK. I am taking Nyquil to get decent night's sleeps and am looking forward to a 5 mile run on the treadmill tomorrow. I refuse to lose any more fitness...even though I know I'm supposed to be tapering. It's a maddening mindset to be forced into less running when I feel like I should still be pushing myself.

Four-teen

With big plans of a homemade Chicken Parm dinner before the 14, Josh came over to find me still sitting in front of the computer with 3 different recipes in front of me, and the oven not even pre-heating. He laughed at me, and then suggested we indulge in a meal out. Thank goodness. We went to Primavera Pizza Kitchen, which is just up the street from my house, and has yet to disappoint me.

The forecast was calling for rain on Saturday am, but when I woke up at 6:30 the skies were still just threatening. I met Emmy at the movie theater in Manayunk and we kept pace together for the first 2 miles or so. Our route today: From the movie theater to City Hall and back (via Kelly Drive). It was wonderful. After Emmy picked up her pace, I focused on keeping mine and enjoyed people-watching. There was a Crew race happening on the river that day and on my way down Kelly Drive, I got to watch them setting up. It was a rush to finally have City Hall come into view and get closer and closer...and then to turn around and have the same experience with the Art Museum. Two of the most iconic buildings in Philadelphia, and I have them both in the same run. I felt spoiled. On the way back, I started up my audio book (Sex, Drugs & a Double Latte -- Heather, you're right: very funny and keeps my attention!) and got to see the Crew race in full swing. Around mile 10 I started having trouble, began running for a quarter mile at a time and then walking 30seconds to a minute. Before starting up again, I would start to chant to myself little mantras: "come on, Becca you can do this" and "all right, another quarter mile down! You're almost there. The Falls Bridge is around the corner", and then there's Emmy's personal favorite: "YOU'RE A MARATHON RUNNER".


Pretty soon the Falls Bridge was a memory and I looked up and saw Emmy coming back to run the last mile with me. Hooray! Em pushed me that last mile (thank you, emmy) and while it started to rain on our last quarter mile, it POURED just as we got back to my car. Perfect timing. 14 miles in about 2.5 hours. I'm looking at a 5 hour marathon, probably. It will be painful, but I will finish it. This training season has been racked with sickness, weddings (see also: drinking to excess, eating to excess and not getting proper runs in) and injury. I'm really proud of all that I've accomplished so far, and absolutely cannot wait to cross that finish line on November 23rd.

The Twenty

On my run...20 mi (Nov 2)
Originally uploaded by Becca Elizabeth

and no, not the "twenty" that you get to see in the movie theater when you get there early. This was one of the more grueling runs I've ever completed...and actually, the longest one to date. I didn't make the full 20 miles. I almost threw in the towel at mile 14 and called it quits, already fighting back tears, when Steve came running back towards me on the trail. Emmy & Steve had run ahead, and Josh had been following me on his bike. My first thought when I saw Steve was "oh no, something's happened to Emmy." Thankfully (for Emmy) Steve had only come back because he'd lost Emmy and wasn't sure of the rest of the route.
Now that it wasn't just Josh with me (who was being completely sweet about my breakdown) and was with Steve (who was someone I'd met only 2x before) I put on my brave face and picked up my feet. We ran/walked/ran/bitched about how we should have been training better/ran some more, etc...for the remaining 4 miles. As great as it was having Josh with me for the first 14 miles (and THANK YOU JOSH , YOU ARE THE BEST if you're reading this) I have to say that it was having Steve there that pulled me through the final miles.

The good:
The run was amazing. The route was beautiful, and one that I've always wanted to do from start to finish. We started out in Valley Forge and followed the Schuylkill River Trail all the way down to Philadelphia. Not to mention all the insanely beautiful leaves that were out. There was even a section of trail that twisted its way through a wooded tow path in Manayunk:

unfortunately, this was only shortly before my mental and physical breakdown. I'm actually still amazed that I realized my surroundings were pretty. I was in a sorry state.

I think the most frustrating part of it all was that cardiovascular-wise, I was tip-top. Doing great. Heart rate - easily in the 180's. It was everything below the waist that was killing me. My knees, my feet, my hips, my joints, my TOES. I mean every step, even walking, was a personal hell. The thing is, I'd been so good about keeping my heart in good shape while I got over the Achilles Thing, I'd been completely un-aware of the fact that all that elliptical work was going to do NOTHING to prepare my body for the physical pounding I was currently giving it.

We made it back to Emmy's house, where I proceeded to collapse on the floor of her living room while she gave me a banana and a jar of peanut butter.

I had to ice my knee for the next 48 hours. The best part of the WHOLE thing though, the silver lining, was 2 things. My Achilles didn't hurt at all...and the best part...I just ran 18 miles. Holy sh*t.