My First Marathon -Amy

Wow.  It's done.  26.2 miles.  Finished.  Yes!

I wanted to make sure to write all about my first marathon experience pretty quickly following the actual event.  So, as I finished the marathon yesterday I decided to put my sore feet up and write all about my experience.  All in all, it was really great.

The whole experience really started for me on Saturday, the day before.  I got up relatively early to ensure that I would be nice and tired that night so I could get plenty of sleep.  I got ahold of Kelly and her friend Erin and we met up at the Marathon Expo.  It was really cool.  Lots of fun vendors, running gear, photo ops, you name it.  I got a new pair of running pants and some awesome pictures.  Here is one of my favorites:

You could scan your bib, and the Nike store put up your name with a fun saying.  Their motto this year was "Own Chicago"  so this is the one that came up for me. After our photo ops and shopping, we watched a video of the course map on a big screen.  I started to get VERY nervous, and stayed that way until I crossed the starting line.

After the Expo, I headed home to get ready for visitors to arrive.  Roger's Dad and his wife Cindy came up for the night to hang out and to watch me in the marathon the next day.  It meant so much that they made the drive to be a part of this very important weekend for me.  They arrived, and we headed out to my favorite Italian Restaurant, Angelina's.  Kelly met us, and Roger and Cindy treated us to a very delicious dinner full of carbo-loading.  It was so sweet of them and so delicious.

After dinner, we headed home.  I opted out of hanging out and went pretty much straight to bed.  I was laying down with lights off by 9:20.  I decided to play "The Spirit of the Marathon" on my computer as I fell asleep.  I was told by a friend that it was a must see before your first marathon.  I only could stay awake for about 20 minutes of it, and those 20 minutes included footage of elite runner after elite runner collapsing seconds before the finish line.  For a girl that was already nervous, this was NOT the best part of the movie to watch.  If these people were dropping like flies, how in the world was I ever going to cross the finish line?  So, I went to sleep very nervous, but somewhat excited.  I had TONS of support from family and friends and I was ready to do what it took to finish.

My alarm went off at 5:15 on race morning.  I got up, got dressed, washed my face, stretched, drank some water, and ate a cliff bar and a banana.  At 5:45, the cab picked me up.  We headed to Kelly's neighborhood to get Kelly and Erin, then we were off to the race.  We wondered around, dropped our stuff at the TFA tent, and headed to our corrals.  I stood in my corral for about an hour before actually crossing the starting line.  Then, we were off.

Miles 1-5 are a complete blur.  I was loving every second.  I felt great,  I was energized by the atmosphere, and I felt like I could run forever (and I was resigned to the fact that I was going to have to).  Somewhere between mile 2 and 3, I met a friend.  Her name was Elizabeth, and we ran together until Mile 20.  She was GREAT.  We chatted, laughed, pointed out funny signs, and talked about how we couldn't believe that the miles just kept going and going.  5-10 were also easy for me.  Brady and Kevin were standing cheering for me between 5 and 6, and Roger and his family were somewhere in mile 7.  I LOVED seeing them and hearing them cheer for me.  It totally energized me!  When Brady and Kevin started cheering for me from across the street, an entire group of guys that were also running started chanting my name along with them!  It was totally fun!

Elizabeth and I were trucking along, and I was doing great until Mile 13.  My Mom and Dad were along the course between mile 12 and 13.  I didn't see them, but they saw me pass.  Before I knew it, my Mom was SPRINTING next to me to catch me!  It was awesome!  I got to stop and give them both a hug before continuing on.  At the half way point, I started to realize that I was going to have to do all of that AGAIN.  Woof.

Mile 14 and 15 were ok, but miles 15-21ish were ROUGH.  My hips hurt, but I just kept trying to ignore it and push on.  These miles seemed to last FOREVER.  I lost Elizabeth at Mile 20 because she needed to stop for the bathroom and I really couldn't stop at that point.  She gladly told me to go ahead and we thanked each other for the support.  I'll find her on facebook.  I was hurtin for certain until mile 21, which took me into Chinatown.

Right after Mile 22, I turned this corner to see Roger and his family's smiling faces.  I thought I was just passing them and that I would have to go on, and before I knew it, ROGER was running next to me.  He only ran with me for about 30 seconds, but it was EXACTLY what I needed.  I have never been happier to see him in my life (seriously, it was almost as good as when we were getting married!).  Here's a picture of me holding on for dear life!

After Roger and I parted ways, I started to realize I was actually going to finish.  I had to keep telling myself to calm my body down because I would start to run fast and get really tired and want to walk.  I was close, but I still had about 4 miles left.  I needed to still pace myself.  I pushed through, and made it to mile 25.

At mile 25, my super fan, Brady, jumped in with me for a second!  She ran with me and was yelling, "You're less than a mile away from finishing a marathon!!!"  It was awesome.  She also assured me that my family was waiting 400 meters away from the finish line ready to watch me come in.  I could do this.  25.2 passed, then I saw the 26 mile marker, then I saw meter signs counting down.  800 meters, 400 meters (family cheering here!) and finally, FINALLY, the FINISH LINE!  I crossed it, and didn't know what to do.  I mindlessly started walking, grabbing whatever people were handing me.  A space blanket, a medal, a banana, a bag of snacks, a bottle of water.

My legs HURT.  Walking was AWFUL and I knew if I sat I would never get up.  I saw a sign pointing me toward the "Charity Village" and walked that way.  Little did I know that there were multiple charity villages and I was headed to the one on the complete OPPOSITE side of where my family and friends were waiting.  After a lot of walking on sore legs, a few phone calls from Roger, and a complete unwillingness to keep wandering around trying to figure out where I was, I told Roger, "I'm sitting down right where I am.  Someone needs to come find me."  I was delirious, almost in tears, and so tired of walking.  All I wanted to do was see my family.  Luckily, I must have given Roger enough information to figure out where I was, because about 3 minutes later, he and my mom came up to where I was pathetically sitting and helped me walk back to where everyone was.  Here is how they found me:

Pretty pathetic, huh?



Well folks. That was it.  We came back to my apartment.  I took the BEST bath ever.  Everyone came over and we pigged out on pizza and beer.  It was SO amazing to have my family with me after I accomplished this huge goal.  Kelly killed it, her time beating mine by almost an hour.  I met my goal of finishing, and it was a great day.  What I still can't get over is all of the support from everyone.  I got cards, words of encouragement, balloons, chocolate covered strawberries, flowers, notes, texts, hugs, EVERYTHING.  The "marathon fairy" even gave Brady a bag of goodies to give me.  Here are picture of the wonderful things that people sent to support me.

Also, in the process of running this marathon I raised $1200 for the Walter Payton Foundation.  Below are the names of everyone who donated written on my bib.  You ALL ran the race with me!

It was AMAZING.  I FINISHED.  I am so happy.  I love that I got to do this all with my sister, and I love that my wonderful family was there to see it all go down.  What a GREAT experience.  I learned so much throughout this whole process.  I learned that I can push myself much farther than I thought both physically and mentally, I learned that my family and friends ROCK (which I actually already knew), and I learned that there are so many generous, kind, supportive people in this world, and most importantly in my life.  I am forever grateful to all of you for all of the support you've given.  THANK YOU!