Manchester City Marathon

I have had a good 36 hours to sit on my post of my first ever Marathon and am now feeling totally psyched about the experience. I will tell you that I spent the first hours after finishing extremely emotional. I was overwhelmed about the race, I couldn't believe that I had finished and that everything that I had worked for during the past 18 weeks was over. I was tired, I felt sick and I just wanted to go home.

So...from the beginning. We arrived in Manchester at about 7:20 am. We hung out in the Radisson Hotel Lobby, went to the bathroom, chilled out and stayed warm until about 8:30. We figured that would give us 20 minutes to acclimate to the cold temps. It was at this point that I realized that I was not dressed warm enough. I was in my skirt, a winter top, a tshirt and then my swift socks and shoes. I should have had tights on (it was about 32 degrees out and a little windy), I should have had a hat and I should have had mittens. My feet were cold too. At about 7:45 they said to get into the start. There were about 1400 runners running the half and 600 running the full marathon. We all started together and the full marathon went the same route for the first half and then turned off for the second half. The start went off exactly at 8:50 and we were off. It took three miles for my feet to feel like they weren't running on ice blocks. My feet were so cold it felt like they were frozen.

The first half was great. I did feel like we were running to fast. Our pace was about 8:50 for the first 13.1 miles which is not where I wanted to be. I was hoping to stay around 9:15-9:30 so that I could keep the pace the entire race. People were everywhere cheering everyone on, screaming that they loved our skirts. ( we all wore the same skirt from runningskirts.com) At mile 6 we hit Livingston Park. In Livingston Park they had us run about 3/4 on a trail which had me a bit stressed. I am not a trail person. I am clumsy by nature, hate looking down the whole time and of course I twisted my ankle and twisted it bad. It hurt. We kept going. We finished the first half in about 1:57. We had already taken our Hammer Gel twice. Our plan was to take it every 5 miles in the race. At mile 13 we turned right and the half marathon turned left. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that part of me wanted to go left, but we kept on going.

The second 13.1 was a much different story. I was starting to get tired and still running with my running partners Michele and Gail. We went over the bridge to the other side of Manchester. It was a much different scene. Not as many people, quiet and very lonely. At mile 14 I started to feel sick to my stomach and my quads were killing. I told Michele and Gail that I thought that I was going to throw up and they encouraged me to keep going. It was almost time to take another Gel and Gail said that she thought I should eat my granola bar. It was like the gel was just sitting in my stomach. uhhhh....We then had a water stop at mile 15. I walked through and then kept going. At about mile 16 I told the girls to go on, I needed to walk and I did not want to hold anyone back. They both were adamant about not leaving me, but I told them I needed them to go on. I was starting to get anxious and needed to run my own race at this point. They left me and I started to walk a bit. I then started walking and running. My legs were so cold and so tired. It was like I was having a little meltdown, but I kept going. I knew I needed to make it to mile 20 because Travis, the kids and Julie and Leslie would be waiting for me. I finally made it to them and that cheered me up a bit. And then I kept going. Run, walk, run, walk. I saw my friends Diane and Jim at mile 21 and then again at mile 23. Jim had run a couple of marathons and knew that they needed to keep track of me. At mile 24 Julie and Leslie were waiting for me again. Taking pictures, jumping up and down and saying funny things like, "my butt looked sexy in my skirt!" Finally, at mile 25 I hit the footbridge over the water and knew I was close. I started to run with an older gentleman who runs a marathon almost every weekend. He had a bright yellow "Marathon Fanatics" jacket on. We didn't talk a lot, but it was nice to have someone next to me. Then we were there. I could hear the cowbells, and people saying names on the loud speaker. I saw the kids and my friend and her kids and they were all running beside me. I have never been so happy to be at the end of my race in my life. Everyone was waiting for me. Gail and Michele finished about 20 minutes before me and were both crying. My friend Sherry was crying, Travis was crying and I just felt like I was going to throw up. I was sick, dizzy and cold. I looked at Michele and she said that she thought I needed the medical tent. I went in, they gave me a Gatorade and warm blankets. Then put me in the back of an ambulance to warm up. After about 15 minutes, the police told Travis that he could bring the car by the ambulance to take me home. Once I got myself in the car, I started crying. I think all of the emotion of the day finally hit home.

Once home I took a hot shower, put on my pj's and compression socks and went to bed. I have never been so happy to be in my bed.

Now, 36 hours later I could tell you what I learned, do different etc...but I will save that for another post. This one was probably long enough.