Last year I ran my first half-marathon. Yesterday’s race was my third. I have been pondering how different each Seattle Marathon experience was… Here, let me tell you all about it.
2006: GREAT pain descending and ascending stairs, returning to standing position, almost any movement involving my legs, and a stomach ache - all lasting around 3 days.
2007: a little tightness in my calves and that one part of the upper leg (I never took Anatomy and Physiology in college, I took pottery, voice lessons, piano lessons and more pottery, and got my B.A., not a B.S... the most “science” I took was poli sci, which I still have nightmares about, but I’m rambling again…), and a 10 hour stomach ache.
2006: snow, sleet, rain… wet shoes, wet everything, and we ran with trashs bag over our torsos to keep dry for the first 10 miles.
2007: clear and “sunny”… around 40 degrees and I wore my sunglasses.
2006: my chip time was 2:18:42
2007: my chip time was 2:00:52.5
2006: Katie and I just wanted to finish. F to the INISH. If we had to walk at some point (which we only did for a portion of the Hill of Demons) we’d be OK if it meant we would be able to move ourselves across the finish line. We held tightly to the triple E theory - no Emoting, no Excretion, no Expiration…
2007: “Hey Katie, my dream would be if we could make it in under 2 hours.” “Really, Jenny? Ok, let’s try!” In our training we never spoke of dying or walking… Triple E was never mentioned. We didn’t make it under 2 hours, but I am not complaining… we were 53 seconds off… that’s nuthin’. We ran the event 1 minute faster than our 12 mile run the week before!
Now for the burning question - “Did you ever eat that ice cream?” You bet yer britches! After my stomach stopped yelling and screaming and twisting and kicking (for 10 hours)… I had the most lovely date with Ben and Jerry - Chubby Hubby. To all my wonderful supporters of my yearning for such loveliness… thank you. Thank You. You know there was much rejoicing all the way to the bottom of the peanut-butter-filled-chocolate-covered-pretzel-with-chocolate-and-
peanut-butter-swirls-in-malty-vanilla-ice-cream pint. Yes. All. The. Way. To. The. Bottom. Not only was I doing something for me, but I was enjoying it for you too… I was :) You know, my friend once described something she loved as, “Puffy pink hearts and swooping blue birdies”…. yes, that was the love I felt…
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in awe of you!
F to the inish. Love it. Next year, that 2-hour barrier is toast.