kansas city marathon

so I ran the kansas city marathon on october 18, 2008. this is awesome, because for the past 5ish years each new years I claim that I am going to run a marathon--and now I have done it and can't wait for my next marathon. here is the story:

first of all--thanks to my supporters: nick, nathan, carrie, caroline and rex -- as well as the distant support of both parents and families and soba. nathan and carrie came up from arkansas to show their support and make a weekend of fun in kansas city.

the story:

I woke up later than I was suppose to--lathered up, took a pill to help with my stomach and bathroom situation and realized that we had forgotten the pain killer. oops. Nick and I went to the starting line and I decided that I might as well run with the 3:50 pace group (hoping that I will feel so good and take off from that group and qualify for boston). That was the game plan. The course was great. It would all around kansas city's attractions and had many live bands playing.

Beginning: met some of my co-pacer friends and started the run. Screamed out to nick when I passed him--I was having a blast. (thanks nick for waking up so stinkin early and doing this with me)

Mile 8: This is where the course splits the marathoners from the halfs. I was unfortunately running by some halfers who were so happy that they only had 5 miles and were rubbing it in that the marathoners were just beginning--great. Not what you want to hear, but I was feeling great, so whatev.

Mile 9: I start to feel my right IT band acting up. which was weird, because I have had problems in the past, but during all of my 4 1/2 months of training it never acted up--until marathon day. I kept running through the pain--trying to stretch and keep up the same pace.

Mile 12: Both IT bands are in huge pain and I ran by nick, who is holding our video camera, and I am mad (watching the video footage is hilarious) and exclaim that my IT bands are killing me and that it isn't fair. Nick has me stop and he tries to do some intense IT band rubbings (ps. your IT band is the tendon from your hip to your knee--kind of feels like someone took a baseball bat and smacked the side of your knee with brute force).

By mile 18 I had to stop every 1/2 mile-ish and stretch. Each time I stop I had the reward of watching the next pace group pace by--slowly killing my dream of qualifying--pretty heart breaking and discouraging. I was in so much pain I was fighting off tears and realized: "I am not going to get close to the timing I trained for"--so my new goal was to just finish this.

Mile 21: I got to the water station and was in so much pain. I saw an old guy sitting on the curb stretching--and suddenly I thought to myself, "I might as well have fun," so I sat took a packet of jelly bellies and I sat down and relaxed and ate them.

After this it was basically a fight to keep running and it was nice that my name was on my shirt--because I had a lot of encouragement from all sorts of strangers.

I saw nick, nathan, carrie and co. close to the end of the finish line--they were so great for being there and so enthusiastic--but I couldn't even look at them I was hurting so bad. Nick started to run with me and asked how I was doing--I started bawling (bawling is a weird word p.s.) because of the pain and telling him how much I hurt and that I am so mad and I am not even tired, but just in pain. Lots of people saw this going on and started to cheer for me because of it and I felt really stupid. As I crossed the finish line I had feelings of serious pain and I was angry--I didn't lift my arms in triumph because I wasn't even tired--I knew I had so much more energy that I could have put into my running, but it was my stupid legs that were in so much pain (I was doing the old mans shuffle). I tried to throw a smile on for the picture, but I couldn't even fool the photographer--my pictures have a hilarious look of pain.

I filled up on treats afterwords. Went through that line a million times to get treats for me and the gang. I was really disappointed to find out that the Kansas City marathon didn't provide massages at the end--boo--that is there one downfall--and their medical stations aren't that great. I kept asking for icy hot, but they didn't have any.

My official finish time was: 4:20:27.

That night I couldn't get to sleep--I kept thinking about what was going to be my next marathon and what to do different so that I could run the race with full speed. I am thinking I would love to do the new york or chicago next october/november.

As for the rest of the week:

We ate out a lot and checked out the light district. Aunna and Phil came down for a day and the boys went to a football game, while the girls went to the art museum and a cute local cafe--where we ate quiche and an amazing raspberry pie.

Good times. Thanks everyone.