WE ARE MARSHALL
Sunday's Marshall University Marathon was a good one but did get brutal. Temps started at 42 degrees and ended at 72 degrees when I finished. We picked Marshall to memorialize the 75 football players/coaches that died in a plane crash in 1970. You probably remember this from the movie We Are Marshall. During the race you get to place a rose on the Memorial Fountain (if you so wish to give up precious time) or you can hand your rose off to a volunteer to place it for you. The last 100 yards you actually run on the Thundering Herd's Football Field and carry a football to the finish line.
I went with 3 Fasttrackers: Tom Chaves (created my website), Keith Straw (the fairy), and Elden Monday who wanted to beat 3:15 and qualify for Boston. My friend and chiropractor, Andy Harris, went with us too. Andy ran for ALS.
With the temperatures low during the first half of the race everyone was on pace for a PR. Keith , a 3:12 marathoner paced Elden and they had a 90 minute half marathon. Amazing. Keith finished with a PR of 3:10 and 3rd place for 50-54. Elden got his BQ with a 3:13. Yeah! Please see picture of Elden #112 temporarily beating the fairy:
Tom has to get a 3:30 to qualify, he usually runs a 3:40. He ran an on target 1:40 half and managed to finish under 4 hours -- the heat got to him. The heat got to me and Andy as well. I ran a 1:53 first half, felt easy. I thought I kept the same effort the second half but finished with a 4:01:37. Andy ran a 1:59 half and finished with a 4:44. Andy, built for football more than running usually runs 4:15. He came in half naked, put his ALS shirt on before carrying the football the last 100 yards on Marshall's football field.
I witnessed 3 collapses on the course due to cramps. First a girl at 20 miles, I gave her all my Tums for calcium. At mile 21 a 50 year old man's legs gave out and he landed straight back on the towpath, volunteers helped him up. While waiting for Andy to finish, I saw a man in his fifties at the 30 yard line raise the football over his head and his legs gave out and he landed straight back on the turf. Other runners carrying their footballs ran over and around him, not kidding. Then 2 big guy volunteers helped the man up and he eventually hobbled over the finish line killing 2 minutes of his time.
Keith was in his hay-day. When he got to the starting line in his fairy costume people took pictures of him, told him it was a "pleasure" to meet him, recognized him in Oct and Dec. Runner's World . Elden said guys were bitching during the race ,"We can't let the fairy beat us!" Keith beat them. After the race we all ate at The Marshall Cafe and tons of people came over to meet Keith (in regular clothes now) and took pictures. We were all gagging of course
I wanted to share my story of the MCM 08 with you all. I know it was 4 weeks ago, but I haven¡¦t had a chance to write it until now.
This marathon, unlike my previous 4, was one that I anticipated with great fear. I had a baby on December 2007, and my goal was to run a marathon before she was a year old. My training hadn't gone great, and my two 20-milers were very scary. I barely managed to drag myself to the end, and I wondered how I would ever finish the 26.2 that I knew was ahead of me. My goal was to finish, and so that's what I hoped to do. The weekend started off with Donna Radl arriving at
our house around 9am. We headed to DC in the rain, with Donna in the back seat becoming "girlfriends" with my daughter in her carseat. Poor Donna, feeding my slobbering child granola bars to keep her from whaling in the back seat. Donna, you are a rock star!
We arrived at our hotel in VA, and from there Donna & I left my hubby & the baby and headed to Donna¡¦s hotel in DC. The weather was horrible, and we got pretty wet! After we got Donna all checked in, we headed to the expo. It was pretty crowded, so we got our bibs/chips, did a bit of shopping, Donna met up with her friend Lori and then I headed back to VA on the metro to have dinner with hubby & my daughter. We hit the Olive Garden, which of course was mobbed. We waited about 45 minutes to sit down, and had a good pasta dinner. Back at the hotel by 7:30, and I was asleep by 9pm. Unfortunately, my daughter had other ideas. She was pretty much up the entire night. I got approximately 2.5 hours of sleep between the hours of 9pm and 11:30pm, and that is all. As you might imagine, when the alarm clock went off at 4am, I was extremely nervous. I had not gotten any sleep, my training did not go well, I wasn't in the best shape of my life, how was I going to finish this marathon? I was very, very concerned.
I got out of bed, got in the shower to wake up. Had a cup of coffee but no food, as the hotel advertised a continental breakfast that started at 7am, which obviously didn't help me any. I ended up never getting any breakfast. Woe is me. I got on the metro, over to the start, had a nice long walk to the staging area. I hung out there & tried to stay warm until the start. I was very nervous, even shaking, waiting for the marathon to start. I never heard the gun, but off we went! The first 10 miles were OK. I was fine, just enjoying the scenery, looking at the interesting guy in the Kermit the frog costume (man was he getting a lot of attention), chatted with the oldest woman running the marathon, she was 75. I felt pretty crappy after she passed me. Around mile 12 I started to worry. I was sore. My legs were tired and I was feeling pretty lethargic. I was sure I was going to finish. I continued on, and got to the "bridge" I really despise this part of the MCM. There is no water, it's hot even when it's not really hot, there are no spectators, etc. etc. etc. Most people were walking at this point. As a matter of fact, I was the only person actually still running on the bridge. Mind you, I was back with the really slow people! After I got off the bridge into Crystal City, I felt a little bit better, until I was the sign that said "Mile 24"on the other side of the road, and realized that wasn't for us. We were only at mile 22. I suddenly got annoyed that we were running away from the finish line, while the folks on the other side of the barricade were running towards it! I was so glad when we finally go to turn around. By the time I got to mile 24, I was feeling pretty certain that I would at least finish. I knew my time was going to be very slow, but that was just fine by me. My goal was to run a marathon before my daughter turned one. I had no time goals, just to finish. I
never did end up seeing anyone I knew along the course. Luckily I had worn my handy shirt with my name ironed on it, so lots of people cheered for me. I never saw my husband or daughter at
all. They wee at the family meeting area waiting for me. I managed to pull myself through the last 2.2 miles, and finished with a nice sprint. I was very proud of my accomplishment. I finished and that was the goal! It was my 2nd slowest marathon, but that is OK!
Getting home was a nightmare & I will spare you the details. I am so glad to have been able to share this experience with Donna. I remember the days when I used to be able to keep up with you, girl!
I said I wasn't going to do another marathon, but I am not sure that is going to last. I'm a nutty marathon runner!
