Marathon weekend, what a weekend!

So the weekend started Saturday with my sister picking me up at my house with a surprise visitor, my Aunt Susie! She flew up from Florida to surprise me and help my sister pace me through the marathon.  We headed to Grand Ledge for a few shake out miles through the ledges on our favorite trails and a quick stop at a super fabulous little bakery for some of the most delicious carbs ever.  Then we headed on to Grand Rapids to hit up the race expo next to pick up my bib and shirt and make it really real, there's no going back now!  We went to a pre-race favorite Flanagan's Irish pub for our potato-loving pre-race carb load feast, so  yummy.   Then it was back to the hotel for some running related movies (I'm partial to the movie about the Barkley if I'm stressed/panicky about a race because that is real tough running right there.) and the usual pre-race prep; flat layouts and face masks.

So marathon morning was here. I definitely could have used a couple more hours of sleep. I was probably pretty quiet for the morning, I don't remember doing much but getting dressed and packing everything back up to leave the hotel. When we got down to the start I bumped in to one of my favorite people,  Coach Amy. She talked me down a bit (when she asked how I was I teared up and couldn't answer) and lined up to start with me in the back. She's an incredibly wonderful woman who has been through so much. She was going to walk the half marathon so she ended up walking the first 8-9 miles of the race with me until the turn off. Having her for that first big chunk was really a blessing, she helped distract me from my mind wandering about the long day still ahead. We also got to see our cheer squad Sarah & Aunt Susie at mile 4 and again at mile 7 for some extra smiles & a boost. This 8-9 mile area is also where I started to feel the blister forming on the bottom of my foot.

Now I know I had made sure to lube both feet so I'm not sure exactly what happened, but that blister was coming in with force.  I messaged my sister because I knew I'd see her again soon and asked her to bring the Vaseline so I could re-lube the feet.   So mile 11ish there they were cheering and bell ringing away. I took my outer layer off, threw it on the ground, and sat on it to take my shoes off and re-lube, what else you gonna do?!  So I lube up and carry on along the path around the lake as the prettiest views were coming just up ahead. As I approached the aid station just before mile 14 I felt the blister pop.   It stopped me in my tracks for a moment.  Funny side story...I texted my sister because for a minute I went into panic mode. My text to her, "It popped." Followed up a few moments later by "what do I do?!"  what she apparently read at first glance, " I pooped"  >.<  I will remember that and belly laugh forever.  As I was really close to the aid station I went to the medical people to see what I could wrap it up with somehow. They only thing they really had to offer they said were band-aids, well that won't stick to the bottom of my foot. So what I saw they did have was medical lubricating jelly tubes. I grabbed a few of those and super lubed my foot up and hiked on. My sister was due to meet me again at the turn around at mile 18 and honestly I wanted to at least try to make it to her and go from there. She asked if I wanted her to come towards me and meet me sooner and I said no, I wanted to get myself through it, I knew it was still a mental battle more than anything. 

As I approach mile 18 I see my sister and my aunt again cheering and bell ringing away this time with my aunt holding a towel she'd made that said "pain is french for bread", everyone knows I love a good pun! As I got to them there was a guy going back down the out and back who loved the towel and their cheering, we'll catch up with him later and find out his name is Travis. So Sarah joins me now for a bit and it was MUCH needed. She sang, she joked, she encouraged. Somewhere around mile 19 Coach Amy appeared back out on her bicycle, such a treasure.  Mile 20 the timing mat was picked up and any app tracking then stopped. I later found out some wonderful online running friends were tracking me trying to catch my finish to cheer for me. I stopped one more time to lube up my foot because I could tell the lube had kind of worn away and the pain was getting bad. 

At mile 23 Sarah & Aunt Susie switched out and also right then a young lady from the next first-aid station ran out to check on me and walk me back till we got to the aid station, the table there where November Project Grand Rapids had been still had oreos and Gatorade and water at the table(you guys this is GREAT for back of the packers!)  so I filled up my handheld once more and we carried on. I honestly have no idea how much Aunt Susie and I spoke through the next two miles, we did see two tiny brown snakes through the park, jumping definitely hurt the blisters. They started picking up flags and things by now but they still left aid out, which was so helpful. Around mile 25 I saw us catching back up with Travis, he had slowed quite a bit as well. Just then I also saw my sister crossing the street coming towards us with none other than my husband Steve, who was coming to pick me up and drive me home. You guys, I cried. I ugly cried. I stopped to hug him and just sobbed into his shoulder until he kind of pushed me along to start walking again. We were on the sidewalks now and stopping for street lights is MISERABLE. 

We all walked the last mile together. Steve with me and Aunt Susie, Sarah behind talking with Travis. As we got to our last quarter mile Travis took off to run to the finish, I don't know how he did it but it did give me the urge to at least try to run across the finish line. And I did, we got to the chute, I told Steve I was going to run it in and I took off in my painful slow trot. I swallowed the ugly cry mustering back up my throat and managed a smile and I crossed. I saw Travis was still on the side there and had been cheering for me, and my sister ran ahead (bless her heart her back had been really bothering her) to get pics of me crossing.  I got my medal and headed over to sit and get my chocolate milk and orange slices. It was done. It  had taken me way longer than I wanted, an entire work day worth of time, but I finished it. I didn't quit, I didn't give up, I kept going. And honestly, that's been my takeaway from my entire marathon experience, training and all.  No matter what, keep going.