Miracle Match Marathon Madness

3 days before race day...

I'm not going to lie....I'm excited about this race because of who I will be with - Tracy, Kim, DK, Lynnette, Elaine, Elizabeth, and probably more friends that I don't even know are running yet.

I'm going in to this knowing it probably is not going to feel good at all. My IT bands are super tight and everything from my butt down to my  knees is sore and tight.  My left knee that has been giving me problems since this summer has decided to flare up this week....Awesome...Dr. Chad told me to foam roll at least twice a day until race day. So I am following his orders hoping it's not too late!

Man, after reading what I just wrote I sound super negative about this race! Ugh - I am not in a negative mindset - I am just trying to make realistic goals and go in to it with a mindset that will help me not get crazy in my head when I realize I am not running my fastest marathon. I am actually expecting this to be my slowest but who knows. If I can just keep up with Tracy and Kim, I will be in good shape.

Marathon chicks. Love these girls!
Now just gotta keep up with them for 26 miles.
If I can do that, I'm sure to get an ab workout from
laughing the whole time!

2 days before race day...

Well, I couldn't sleep last night - the culprit...sinus congestion...Ugh..Seriously...Luckily my 14 year old who has been sick all week with strep and bronchitis finally woke up feeling fine!  Went to CVS Minute Clinic this afternoon running a slight fever and got the confirmation of sinus infection.  Hopefully amoxicillin will kick in quick - I've got a marathon to run!

1 day before race day...

Wound up not going to Stuart's double header football games this morning, because he wasn't feeling well. Thank goodness. It gave me more time to sleep. Went back to bed after my alarm and woke up at 9:30.  I finished packing and went to Kroger and grabbed some snacks. I have to take these antibiotics with food so I don't want to be without something to eat.(That's my excuse at least.)

Tracy and Kim picked me up at 1:00 and we headed down to packet pick up and the hotel in Waco.

I got shot gun.  I started calling that seat on Wednesday!

Had to visit the horse statues near the finish line.

Dinner with Dk, Elaine, and Lynnette the night before!

Once we got all checked in, we walked over and checked out the start/finish and the bridge where we would run across at the end.  We got our packets and came back and rested a bit before heading to dinner with Elaine, DK, and Lynnette.  We hit up Buzzard Billy's or Swampy's as DK called it...same/same...It was great. I had a great burger because...duh, Team Beef...I was starving.

Afterwards, we all headed home wishing each other good luck. Elaine was running the ultra - yes, 31 miles of that nonsense, Dk was running the half (she's the smartest of the group), and the rest of us were doing the full for some unknown reason...oh yeh, because Tracy wanted to do a marathon...that's right...hee hee...I'm totally blaming this one on Tracy...and Lynnette for that matter...Lynnette and Elaine were doing the early 5:30 start so we knew we wouldn't see them until the finish line the next day.

We got back to the hotel and went to bed...after laying everything out for in the morning. 

Flat Tracy, Flat Alicia, Flat Kim ready to race...

I didn't get much sleep because I couldn't breathe with my sinus infection and if I was able to breathe I apparently had had plenty to hydrate with because I was in the bathroom about 150 times...stupid...

Race Day!!!

The weather forecast was 50's and super high winds...like 25 mph winds and 50 mph gusts was what we saw on the news app.  The wind was insane...This was one day I wish I had long enough hair to pull back in to a ponytail instead of fighting with it the whole trip.

So up we got - ready and packed up to leave in the car (since we couldn't get a late check out). We walked over to the race start and found DK.

Race start!

So off we go! Dk ran with us for the first 5.5 miles until the marathon course turned off from the half.  We ran through the Baylor campus and all around the football stadium. Man, what a nice venue Baylor has! No wonder it's expensive, but I digress... 

On one of the ramps coming back from the stadium.

Hey hottie...pic courtesy of DK

This was about mile 6 right after we left DK. This was my view until about mile 15....

I was already feeling crappy before we even left DK. I just felt like I was working so much harder than I should have been.  We weren't going fast, my body should not be this tired by mile 3.  I'm assuming that was from being sick.  I tried to keep a positive outlook.  Tracy and Kim were so strong and I was really struggling.  I kept trying to fall back enough where they would forget about me and I could disappear and catch a ride back...but they wouldn't...I might have even gotten a little grouchy a few times and told them to go on, that I would be fine. ( I so wanted them to leave me so I could stop. I did NOT want to go 20 more miles feeling like that - the worst part was knowing that I was the reason Tracy was having to slow down on her first marathon when she was so ready for it.)   I promptly got yelled at by Kim. Those of you that know Kim know that she yells at you when she loves you.  She told me to shut up and stop being stupid...This is why I love her...no sugar coating...just stop your whining...stop the BS and let's go...I kind of wanted to punch her at the same time...bwahahahahaha...but she scares me...

So on we go...me behind these two just doing my thing.  I thought of what my friend Corina told me many years ago...one mile at a time...don't think of it as anything bigger...So I just kept telling myself...get to mile 9...mile 10....mile 11...it was working....

By mile 14, the wind was insane and it was about this time Tracy started complaining of her stomach hurting.  After that, I was finally able to keep up.  We hit a stretch of the road around mile 16 that I remember from the last time I ran this race. That was the stretch of road where it got hard...and it was flat, but there was nothing really to look at and it was boring...it was just running through a city street. Tracy started struggling a little more there and we just ran together and talked and took one mile at a time.  

Mile 16 on the stupid road...

It was also about this time that Tracy started complaining of swelling...her hands and her feet were bothering her.  None of the aid stations had any salt or endurolytes.  She was a trooper though and kept on trucking.

Kim and I had just said how it wasn't that hilly and I even mentioned they must have changed the course because the hills were gone...That was mile 20...and I should have been struck by lightening for saying that...because instead of a route change...it was a memory fail...we just hadn't gotten to the steep hills yet...there was no change of route...holy moly...

Yeh miles 18-20...spoke WAY too soon...

A little after mile 20...I knew then I was wrong...

and more hills...

So we power walked a lot...We had to...We were spent.  Around mile 22, before we hit the aid station, Tracy broke out her CG pigeon stretch pose....

Hey sexy...

So after that, they came and checked on us about every 5 minutes to make sure Tracy was okay. Which she totally was, she was just stretching...but it was pretty funny.  We tried to come up with some scenarios where we would switch bibs, so the next time they came back they would be looking for me or Kim and we could complain of a different malady...hee hee...

Diva and her kettle corn...

The mile 22 aid station were so happy to see us that when Kim commented on their kettle corn, they gave her the whole rest of the bag...which she carried at least another mile to the next aid station...and ate the whole thing...It was also about this time we facetimed our friend Sheryl, I figured she could provide us with a few laughs as we were suffering...she was perfect!

We finally got to mile 24...Jacob's ladder...

Eating a jalapeno at the bottom 

100 stairs to the top...

Up we go...

The stairs actually make my legs feel better after we had done them.  At the top, they had beer, sweet tea, and endurolytes. So we made Tracy take a couple of those and then we were off.  2.2 miles left...

We ran more the last two miles than we had in a long time. It was flat and we were ready to be done. We were able to stick with our intervals and everything. Those steps really helped.

Mile 25

I totally missed this sign.  It was comment a few years back on Facebook to the Miracle Match RD when she asked why people signed up for the race...and the "friend" I am referring to is my pal DK.  This is all her fault. I would have never come down here 3 years ago to do this race if it weren't for her...and now I'm back...

Finish Line! Done!

I didn't die!

Love the medal...especially the ladder add on for doing Jacob's ladder!

My new favorite shirt!

So all in all a great weekend spent with wonderful friends.  I wish I could have had more time with Elaine and Lynnette and DK. Hopefully soon!

A few things I have learned (been reminded of) from this race -

1) I can do things way harder than I think I can. I would have quit if Tracy and Kim would have left me, I didn't think I could finish. 

2) Never give up on yourself.

3) Push through - it will be worth it.

4) Laugh a lot.

5) I have the best friends (except when they turn the light off on me when I am in the shower and put their starburst trash in my bed at night) other than that, they are pretty cool