After a lot of training Carman and I were ready for the race to be over! I thought I'd be nervous the morning of but it wasn't as bad as I thought. Here we are just before we headed out that morning:
We found our friend Melanie and got ready to run. We hadn't done any training runs with her so we weren't sure how long we'd run together. From the sounds of it, we figured she'd lose us after not too long because she tends to run faster than we trained. We were happy to see her husband Brandon every few miles take pictures!
I have no idea what mile mark this is! Somewhere before 13 though. Melanie was cruising! We stayed with her though. We had just passed a water station. She hardly stopped at them because she had a water belt on and drank whenever she wanted to.
Carman took 2 waters, one to drink, and one to soak himself.
My parents had the kids and we didn't know for sure at what mile we'd see them. I thought it would be around halfway. I was wrong. I was wrong over and over again I kept thinking they'd be at the next station but they never were. Somehow I keep believing they'd be there and it gave me a bit of motivation to run the next leg.
We finally found them at mile 20. It couldn't have been better. We were exhausted. Seeing them totally pumped me up and gave me energy to go on. It nearly brought me to tears.
It was also good to see the kids near the end because in the beginning we didn't want to stop/ruin our time. By the end we were good and tired and walked through every water station anyway! The girls love this picture of me eating an orange.
We saw the kids again, I think at mile 22. My parents had pumped them up to run with us. During our training in the warmer months the girls got to run a couple blocks with us and they were so excited to run with us on race day. It was a memorable experience. We got several "Ooos and Aaahs from spectators."
Here's Benjamin and Clara trying to keep busy while they waited for us!
We slowed down quite a bit around mile 22. I kept a steady jog and Carman preferred to run/walk. He kept running past me, then walking as I passed him, then catching up and running passed me again. We did that for a couple miles, I believe. Somewhere around mile 23 I looked at the running watch and realized that we were going to beat our goal. I was very confident that we'd finish just under 4:30.
That was about the time I realized I hadn't seen Carman in awhile. I kept jogging and then realized he wasn't catching up. I had a big problem. Make my time or wait for my husband? We specifically decided we were going to run our first marathon together and be there for each other. The whole time I had always imagined that I'd be holding him back but he would lovingly stay by my side. I was perplexed when I found myself without him, knowing I'd left him behind. I stopped and waited.
When he caught up to me, he was pail and not looking well. He was barely walking straight. He said he felt like he was going to pass out and he kept telling himself, "if you pass out, fall to the grass." over and over again in his head. We had little energy shots and he had been carrying both ours the whole time. He'd finished his and he was still carrying my last one. I asked him why he hadn't drank it and he said he didn't know if I'd want it. The man was nearly passing out but not willing to drink my energy gu without my permission! Needless to say, I made sure he drank it. Finding each other again was the most uplifting motivator for him. We held hands and he seeped all the energy from me that he could. It was a rich and unifying experience that is very hard to explain. Then he grabbed all the food that was offered at mile 24 and scarfed it down. That last little stretch we saw Melanie several times. She passed us, we passed her, she passed us, etc. I guess I forgot to mention it was around mile 18 that she stopped for a long potty break and we lost her. She ended up finishing a few minutes before us.
Here we are with our very last spurt of enthusiasm as we ran the last 1/4 mile towards the finish line:
Ever wonder what it might feel like to finish a marathon? Well, I think Carman's face just about explains it:
Here we are after the race, feeling like tired, wet and smelly champions!
I just realized that we never got a picture with my parents. We couldn't have enjoyed this as much without their help with our kids. I am so grateful that they came to watch and make sure we got to see our most important supporters:
Too bad we're covering up the first and last letters of the sign. It said FINISHER, which is pretty much the same as "most amazing person with a will power like none other."
We enjoyed the free food afterwards.
After we got our free massages, we stopped at a map of the island and took a photo.
