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<span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Richmond Suntrust Marathon Report-Friendliest Marathon</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">The race started at 8am and by that time we had already had our training team pics, our sub-group pics, our warm up run, some jitter screams and we were ready to go.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">There was a guy on our training team in the beginning that had run a few marathons and really pushing hard for a BQ. Halfway through the training, he passed out and had a heart attack while running on the treadmill. They couldn’t do the heart surgery for 6 weeks because they had to wait for the brain swelling from the fall to subside. Anyway right before I started I saw him on the sideline, yelling and cheering his heart out for us as his eyes welled up with tears. Damn him-that got me going too. But before we knew it the gun/whistle whatever it was I didn’t hear must have gone off b/c we started moving forward. As I passed the start line my heart rate was 178! You think I was keyed up a bit? LOL</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">The plan was to keep it steady in the 10:30-10:45 range. I had two pace band tattoos. One my left arm was the 4:30 and on the right arm was the 4:45. There was a group of 3 of us and since I am the garmin holder, I was our unofficial pacer. Each mile we passed, we were a little slow to be 4:30 and a little fast to be 4:45. It was perfect! It was chilly but not terrible for the first stretch. I was hooting and hollering to everyone I saw that I knew. One of the girls I was running with had a lot of friends and family out there so we all fed off that too.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">10:45, 10:40, 10:29, 10:35, 10:35, 10:35, 10:20, 10:25, 10:28, 10:34, 11:01, 10:42, 12:28 (FIRST STRETCHING), 10:28, 11:10, 11:38, 11:55, 10:57, 11:47, 12:29, 12:17, 12:47, 12:11, 12:37, 12:37, 11:18, 8:06(last .6)</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Around mile 8, I think, I saw IeatHills4Meals and Alemma and got to watch as they flirted with the other “marathon maniacs” on the course. Ty’s foot was acting up and we were all trying to find her some Motrin but nobody had any. After a quick downhill around mile 11, I started to realize that my left knee was getting really tight. ITBS kinda tight. I have not had any IT problems since last winter at the Frostbite and Shamrock races. I now have concluded that as much as I think I can handle running in shorts or a skirt in the cold, my IT thinks very differently.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">I knew my family and Ty’s were going to be around mile 12, eating the most amazing cheesesteaks. So even though I really wanted to stop and stretch, I thought I’d wait til I got to them so I could stretch and visit a minute. Once we hit the mile 12 marker and I realized that the restaurant was a little further still I stopped and tried to stretch it out. I tried to do the ART stuff that my doc does but it’s really hard to do on yourself. Still it’s not unbearable so off we go. About 12.9, I saw my boys and husband and it was so wonderful! I gave my 3 yr old a big hug but then as I ran off, he started bawling. I realized that he had only ever seen mommy at the end of a race so he didn’t know that I still had at least 2 hours to go.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">We ran on and on and the pain just kept getting worse. I could actually visualize the inflammation occurring and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Mile 16 features a 1-2 mile bridge with some serious wind. By this point I had lost my friends when I stopped to refill my water bottles. So I try drafting behind this one guy bebopping along with his “illegal” ipod (lol). Not sure if he thought I was trying to get by or if I was annoying him but he turned back and moved out of my way. So on to a group of 3 lean runner looking guys. Well they had just started telling each other dirty jokes when I jumped in their group but I told them to continue my virgin ears could handle it. Sadly they were too fast for me and I ended up crossing most of the bridge alone getting blown to kingdom.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Here started my least favorite stretch of all the training runs and it as long as long as I remember. I am now stopping more frequently to stretch and having to walk more to let the pain subside. On and on, I start to walk at one point and then look up and see my family again so I have to start running. My boys were so proud of me, couldn’t let them see me suffering. Then we passed the stadium at mile 19 which had been our home base throughout training so I expected that to be hard but luckily I had the pain to distract me <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Wink">. Went under the stone arch at mile 21 and I knew that there was an end in sight. Although it was during this stretch that the unbearable pain actually made me think that a DNF was a possibility. I think I tried to convince myself that it was beyond simple ITBS so that if I quit for “medical” reasons, I wouldn’t be a big wuss. Good thing I was ready for the mind games and didn’t let the wimpy side of me win.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">I got caught up in the 5:00 hour pace group and decided that come hell or high water, I was going in in front of them. I ended up hooking up with a man with “Wildman” on his shirt. I had “Batmomm” on mine and people had a great time with us. Turns out he had fallen to the ITBS monster as well so we straight legged charged ahead cursing M*fcker aloud with every step. We cursed the people passing us on their way home wearing medals and sliver blankets b/c their pain was done, we cursed the spectators telling us how strong we looked. The only thing keeping us moving was our rage at this point.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Got to the top of the hill that leads 10 blocks to the finish. One of our team coaches, jumped in with me and said “how’re you doing?” I said “my IT band sucks” She gave me the tough love I needed with “I don’t give a shit about your IT right now! My job is to bring you home and that’s exactly what I’m going to do! Now move it!” LOL love her!!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Me: don’t mean to be bitchy b/c I really do appreciate everything your doing but right now I feel bitchy</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Her: you should be bitchy. If you weren’t right now something would be wrong with you.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Me: what are you a f*ing gazelle?</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Her: <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> nah I’m just trying to keep up with you. Now GO! When I see those finish line pictures later, you better be running your ass off, smiling and holding those arms up or I’m gonna come and kick your ass, got it?</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Me: yes ma’am</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">And she disappeared behind me to go push someone else. I ran those last blocks at a 7 minute pace with pain shearing up my body. I finished strong and I smiled and held up my arms. 4:57:18 For the first time in a race I heard them call my name. Priceless.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">I’m glad I didn’t write my RR yesterday b/c I was in a bad place. I hurt and was so blindsided by the unsuspecting injury, that I didn’t have the M I wanted, that I expected, that I deserved. As I hobbled for another 90 min up and down the cobblestones hearing the adventures of my friends and strangers, I slowly started to realize that it isn’t all about me but being part of this greater thing called a marathon and I think we collectively are amazing!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;">I saw my friend that had been diagnosed with a stress fracture 2 weeks before the marathon come in at 6:03 with the biggest smile on her face, I heard about the marathon winner beating out the #2 by 1/10th of a second, Donate Life was a sponsor and there were many survivors able to run b/c of receiving a transplant from someone’s loved one, there were families out there cheering in the brutal wind, there were kids out there high fiving us like we were rock stars. That’s what this race stuff is about, not Batmomm coming in at 4:45.</span></span><br><br>
