As we all know, the big weekend is here, and I wanted to get a quick post in before the event. Why? Well, to be honest, incase things don't go as great as I hope, or it's not fun for some reason, or I fail at the marathon, I wanted to post some of the great or positive, or just funny/silly things about the training that I know I want to savor forever.
- The Patrick Henry Half, when I ran as "Brian", at the beginning of the race T & I saw a photographer and I turned to her and said, "Do you want to borrow my cell phone so you can call someone and tell them how much fun we're having?" Trust me, it was a great moment.
- Another worthy moment, meeting T and Jackie P. in a dark park in Richmond so we could run 18 miles in the city on the actual course, and as we're crossing the Nickel Bridge Jackie P is waving his arms to catch the spider webs. I appreciate him taking one for the team, which is why I've given him a "skirt worthy" Run Like A Mother blog name. Hopefully he doesn't hate me for it.
- http://www.runningskirts.com/ - no seriously, I couldn't have trained for this without my skirts. I wore a skirt on every long training run and never got chafing due to skirt. I completely wore my Cheetah out. RIP Cheetah Skirt... RIP.
- While we're talking about chafing, I'd like to mention how I can't ever seem to think about body glide without thinking about duct tape.
- The 10 mile run before we picked up the training group for 2 was the best 10 miles of my life. I don't know if it was the weather, the air, the running mate, the perfect pace, the easy conversation, the relief that it wasn't going horribly - but whatever it was, it was my favorite run of the year that wasn't a race.
- On the last 20, when we crossed Broad and came down Pump Road - the big red double BOB and Rachel P waiting on the sidewalk made me smile. I'm smiling now thinking about how great it is to have friends who understand that fresh legs and a smile go a long way to giving energy to tired runners, even if it's only for a few miles. (thanks R, I'll make a bigger deal out of you on my blog dedication, but needed to include a quick thanks).
- The trip to the ER. Or, as the fine print said, "the facility is not an emergancy room"... But really, what marathon training would be complete without a trip to the ER??? It wasn't funny, but it was laughable... or was it laughable but not funny?
- The 18 miler, when FC, who will now be called Spitter at her request.. Spittah? Spitta'... gonna have to work on the spelling so we dont get hit by all the porn freaks, so Spitter slowed way down while I tied my (stupid) shoe and then ran with me, and I appreciated that a lot... A LOT in the moment. I always enjoy running FC, she's quiet until she says something funny... I'm sorry, I cannot call you SPITTER- I can't, I will come up with a NEW BLOGGY NAME for you - I will.
This whole experience has been so positive, and strengthening, and truly an awesome AWESOME adventure to add to my life list. I do not regret it at all, and there were days when I thought I might wish to have the time back. Right now I realize that this training has been very revealing about myself and my fear of failure. To quote the Princess Bride, in essence, I can't fail, because I have already succeeded. The training was the hard part, now I can sit back and enjoy my 20 mile warm up with the 10K race.
Finally, no really great race is complete without a finishers photo opportunity. Thanks Jackie P. for stepping in as our photographer. (I wore the socks to honor T, our broken & booted running mate.)
A little crazy looking, right? They sell more toned-down versions (solids and "milder" prints), but I wanted to get a pair that would match all of my 800 running skirts. Which left me with two choices, this and a butterfly pattern. I couldn't find the butterfly pattern for sale anywhere, so thus tye-dye became the choice.
