To say I was nervous on Saturday would be an understatement. My friends were very understanding of all my nerves, God bless them. We went to the Expo on Saturday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by the loot they provided you with, a backpack, poster and a tech shirt! Then we checked into the hotel, met some Sigma Kappa girls for lunch at Rock Bottom, rested at the hotel and then off to a pasta dinner to carbo load. We returned back to the hotel to sleep, but I had a very hard time doing so. Overall I probably got 3 hours of sleep the night before. I was so nervous/excited, sleep was very hard! The anticipation leading up to the race was horrible, I just wanted to run it. The last two days prior were the worst!
By the time we made it to the start line though I was just ready to get the race over. When the gun went off I was more than ready to get it going! It was raining at the start, but in all honesty it didn't matter at that point. The race was great in the beginning. By the time we Victory Parkway I was feeling wonderful and ready to conquer the big hill in Eden Park. I had coordinated with my family to make sure someone was on the hill to cheer us on...thinking that it was the toughest part of the course (boy was I wrong!). Not only were two of my cousins were on the hill, but next to them was Natalie's family! I was so excited to see so many people I knew, the hill didn't see that bad (I was SO excited I awkwardly jumped on Natalie's dad Bud to give him a hug!). Well the hill didn't seem that bad because what I thought was the top was not. I lived in Cincinnati long enough to know how high that thing was, but I forgot about the part around the Conservatory that just keeps going up and up. That is where I lost my cousin Courtney in between all the people. Next up was Obrienville and Hyde Park. When I turned on to Paxton Ave. to head toward Kroger's I saw two girls with signs, one with the word Chelsea on them. I really thought "how awesome someone else named Chelsea is running and her friends made her signs" until I looked at the girls faces, they were MY friends, I was that Chelsea!!! So good to see my old friends from Cincinnati Jess and Jennie out on the course cheering me on. My parents and other family members were at Kroger just a short 1/2 mile away. I was feeling better than ever at that point! I was almost half way done and right on schedule.
Next up was Madisonville and then on to Mariemont. My family was in Mariemont as well and I ran by and high fived all of them, it was so nice to see all of them along the course. It started to rain again in Mariemont, harder than it had been previously. My ipod also locked up then and I could not get it to work; I think it was water logged. I had just put it on shuffle and was now forced to listen to whatever song came up next, which was awful! Once through Mariemont the runners hit what felt like the 345th hill of the course and I think it was at this point that it had become a mental game. When I hit Eastern Ave. in Linwood my legs were beginning to burn. I remember coming to a hill and yelling out "I didn't train for this, we do not have hills like this in Chicago". And running down hill is just as hard on your legs, so it didn't matter if it was up or down hill; they both hurt. I saw my cousins Bo and Josh again at mile 19 and I was really struggling. One of the most frustrating parts of the marathon was during the 3rd interchange of the relay, at mile 19.7. At that point my legs were completely shot, my calves were in pain they had never experienced before and here came these people shooting past you with a fresh set of legs! The competitiveness side in me wanted to try to stay up with all of them...but it was physically impossible. Honestly I didn't like the relayers as part of the race... I pushed on but at mile 20 I had to stop and walk up the hill (yes another hill, seriously you don't notice them in your car but they are ALL over that course when you are on foot!). I was really struggling then.
I pushed on, and at mile 21 I saw my friends Jennie, Jess, and Jill again with a "Team Werner and Kirkpatrick" and "Don't Stop Believin" signs. Exactly what I needed at that moment. I knew a marathon would be tough, but I never thought it would have been as tough as it was come mile 22. My legs were not prepared for the hills. I thought my calves were on fire. I kept up with a run/walk for the next 3 miles. I had realized well into the course that I was not going to hit my goal of 4:15 and had willingly accepted that, but my original goal from the beginning was to beat Oprah's marathon time of 4:29 and that was slowly becoming harder and harder to meet. I hit mile 25 and pushed on, and then what did we have.....oh yeah ANOTHER hill. Seriously it was the worse sight on earth. Then came the straight away to the finish line. In Nashville at my first half marathon, I remember thinking about taking it all in.....not here. I remember seeing my family and acknowledging them, but kept jogging on in misery. They were at the 26 mile marker....only .2 miles left! It was a long .2 miles!
I wish I could say that I had the most amazing experience crossing the finish line, but honestly instead of being excited about finishing the marathon....I was just happy to not be running anymore. I was exhausted, and until I saw my mom I was pretty much numb. It was when I hugged her, I realized I had done it and I started to cry. What an amazing moment. Then I got the rush of texts from my friends congratulating me on finishing (way to go timing people for having the text updates going out right on time). My brother then delivered me a beer after a I chugged a bottle of water, but I could not drink it. I thought I would want one right after finishing, but unfortunately my stomach could not handle it.
Running a marathon overall was an unreal experience. And although there were times I was in agony, crossing the finish line was totally worth it. I must have told myself 100 times along the way...this was suppose to be fun, make sure to take it all in. And up until mile 17 it was just that, an absolute blast. Past that it was much tougher, but that is what makes it such a big deal right? If it was easy, it would not have been such a big deal. The support that I have received along the way has been amazing. Every time I questioned myself on the course I thought of all the people that had told me I was an inspiration....if they believed in me, I thought I had to believe in myself as well. My official time was 4:27:48. I beat Oprah's time! I may keep my college diploma buried in some drawer under some old paperwork, but this:
But I definitely did not do this on my own, so here are some necessary thank you's:
- Thank you to anyone who came out to cheer on the runners of the Flying Pig Marathon. Your help along the course was much needed. Special thanks to my aunt Sheila who stayed up late the night before planning out the route so my parents could see me three times during the race!
- Thank you to my friends Jess, Jennie and Jill and my cousins Bo and Josh for their special signs along the way. There is nothing like seeing "Courtney and Chelsea Move Your Ass" on a sign to get you up the Eden Park hill.
- Thank you to anyone and everyone that volunteered to help with the race. Even one of the officers from "Police Woman of Cincinnati" was out to help steer us along the course.
- Thank you to anyone who sent me a text during the race. Reading them at mile 22 really carried me to the end.
- Thank you to all the people who have posted well wishes on my facebook wall or sent me messages/emails, I can not tell you how much this means to me.
- Thank you to my Chicago girls for all your support; being there for me on the days I questioned if I could actually do this and for just putting up with my general craziness the last few months.
- Thank you to Christina Mannarino for ever suggesting I start running in the first place, you honestly changed my life.
Now that the race is over....I'm not sure if I will continue blogging. I guess we will have see what my running future holds!
No comments:
Post a Comment