Hi guys! I'm back. Did ya miss me?? Here is my very belated report.
After being too excited to sleep on Thursday night, I was up at 2:30
am to catch my flight out of DesMoines early Friday morning. My
layover in Memphis & the flight on down from there was filled with
TnT runners, Arthritis Foundation runners, Stroke Foundation runners
& just plain running for the fun of it runners. It was excellent.
The Mears bus ride was the most unorganized mess I have ever seen.
Clearly they weren't prepared for the huge lines that formed just to
check in. By the time I got to the hotel, met Anne & checked in
(another HUGE line) I was exhausted & starved. Terri, I'm really,
really sorry if I was cranky when you phoned. My phone reception was
poor, I was hungry & very, very tired & all I wanted to do was order
my food. We ate & expo'd for a while. I think. I dunno, it was all
a long time ago. Figured out that the cell phones were crap down
there. We went to the airport where Anne & I decided that all the
roads are really just big Mickey loops if seen from the sky. Picked
up Kecia & Larry & headed home to bed, where luckily I slept pretty
well.
Saturday we hunted for Larry, Kecia & Patti at the expo, but missed
them. I did run into Carrie & Stephanie before heading to the pool.
I'm really, really sorry to have missed so many people. Mark, we
really hunted for you at the pool. Susie from Boston, I really
wanted to chat with you. Dang. Those of us who found our way there
had a great time, though. Anyway we hung at the pool until I had to
leave for the Diabetes Association dinner. It was uneventful & I was
tired enough still that I fell into bed at 8:00 & slept like a log.
2:30 came too early for the second time in 2 days. Found Keca &
Patti & Larry & several others at the Pee tent. Oh, I mean "P"
tent. ;-) Being the anal kind, I was off to the chutes as soon as
they led us out. Way too early, as there were no porta potties out
there! I ended up finding the "ladies bush" at mile 1/2. Please
don't give me crap about this. I've never done this in my life & I
KNOW that Disney's a swamp & there could have been anything from
alligators & poisonous snakes to the leavings of all the
previous "ladies" who used those bushes. But a girl's gotta do what
a girl's gotta do.
I haven't run with a watch in quite some time, so of course I paid
absolutely no attention to time when I passed the starting line. I
hit mile 1 in 24 minutes. ACK! OK, probably 10 minutes of pre-
startline time and the potty break. I quit looking after that.
This is really hard to write because I had such a good time with
everyone in Disney, but my race really sucked. From the get-go.
There were too many people, but no friends. If I don't have friends
with me, I'd rather zone out alone. The crowd sucked my energy & made
it impossible for me to get into a rhythm. I was working so hard &
not getting anywhere very fast. I saw Anne screaming at the 4 mile
mark. I had her apply lube to the underside of my right boob because
it was chafing already. The guy standing beside her about fell over,
but hey, I didn't want that crap all over MY fingers. LOL I told her
it sucked already & she knew then that I was in for a LONG day.
Miles 4-10(?) plugged right along. Sucky, but doable. I saw Anne
again at mile 10ish in the Magic Kingdom & told her that my legs felt
fine, my breathing was OK, but for some reason it just was one of
those windshield kinda days. She convinced me to get an attitude
adjustment & I headed out with a better state of mind only to have my
quads cramp. Both of them. HUGE, unable to run a step kinda
cramps. What was up with that??!! I've NEVER had cramps before. So
I started walking. I ran into an old guy with the Team Diabetes & he
was having a bad day, too. Ran into Kathy Flippo & wondered if
EVERYONE was having a bad day. When Kathy told me that she was
bagging it at the half, the wheels started turning. There's no shame
in bagging a bad race. I still believe that & I think Kathy was
probably smarter than I. I was SERIOUSLY trying to figure out what I
was going to tell my Mom and all the people who donated money to the
Diabetes Association to get me to my first marathon if I quit at the
half. Just then Harriet & Shoshana came up beside me. Harriet says
that they're going to run 3 minutes every mile & if I can do that,
they'll drag me in. Harriet kept the pace, Shoshana & her camera &
the characters kept me going. Now that I had friends, I was having
fun (well, OK, not fun, but it didn't suck quite as bad) but the legs
still cramped everytime we ran. I believe the cramps eventually
dissappeared, somewhere along with my mind about mile 19. It took
forever to walk those last miles. I was the slowest...I'm just not a
fast walker & I had really hoped to have run more of this than I
did. But they never let me give up. I eventually got to the point
that I let Harriet lead the way, Shoshana stop for pictures & I just
hit whatever rythm that was left & kept plugging along. I would have
never made the cutoffs without Harriet's wonder-watch. I never would
have cared without Shoshana's humor. It was both the best & the
worst. We knew that Harriet wanted to try & hit that 7 hour
cuttoff, so we sent her on her way somewhere in there. Shosh & I were
in good hands together. I thought those last miles would never end.
My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my mind hurt. I do not remember walking
with Julia in Epcot. I almost remember it, but I think I thought she
was someone else. I turned the final corner & saw Anne. My savior.
Then I saw Ken & Ellen. I told Anne, at least Ellen had the good
grace to look a little tired & cranky. But the truth is that Ken's
smile almost brought me to tears. How good to see a friend. I
didn't make the 7 hour official time limit. But I did get that medal
& lots of pictures & a new friend. Can't beat that.
I hurt all over & Anne got me home, poured into bed & fed me
cheeseburgers in bed. Is that a friend or what?? After a long nap,
we made it over to Ken & Ellen's for pizza, only because Anne was
driving & I didn't have to walk the extra 20 feet to the bus stop! I
was glad to see that Ellen was almost as stiff as I was. Sorry,
guess misery does love company! LOL.
I guess I've forgiven Harriet by now. My horrible memories are gone
& all that's left are the good parts. I have tendonitis in the
tendon that pops out in front of your ankle when you flex your foot,
but it's getting better. As soon as that's healed, I'll probably be
ready to run again. I'm not placing any bets on when I'll ever run
another marathon. Kelly Ambrose....probably not this fall. Sorry.
But who knows. Let me get past the caca that's about to hit the fan
at home & see how quickly I can get through the process & come out
whole on the other side. Then I'll think about training again &
hopefully my head will be in a better place to actually try running a
marathon.
Thanks a million thanks for all the Penguins that were there to cheer
for me & worry about me. That feeling of being cared for & cared
about will stay with me long after the ached & pains & even that
medal are long gone.
Marce
