So, about the marathon. Let's start at the beginning. Saturday I checked into the hotel that TNT provides, we were on the 22nd floor, that alone was exciting, right in the middle of L.A. Plenty of pictures of that. That night we had a pasta party and one of my favorite people, Sara, came & I didn't know she was going to be there so that was like a major highlight & boost!
Sunday, we wake up at 4:00 a.m., get ready, go downstairs, take a bus to Universal Studio's and let the chaos begin. We go to the starting line...I can't even explain what this looks like. Just imagine blocks and blocks of streets filled with people. I hope someone has pictures of it. Music is playing, although I could barely hear it. I did hear for the first time "I Love L.A" which I put as my profile song so you can hear it and because I have a little L.A. pride right now because of the marathon.
We finally start moving, there were soldiers giving us all high-fives, which anything soldier-related makes me tear up for some reason. Anyway, it was steady uphillish for 1.5 miles, then downhill or flat for about 20 miles! (YAY) My teammate Rebekah and I were together for about 11 miles until she wanted to go faster, so I let her go because I thought I needed to save what I could for the second half you know? Well I don't know what would have been better--running fast in the beginning so you get done faster or going slow & kinda steady. Because by mile 15 it started getting rough. Oh-- around mile 11 the fat guy from Borat--his sidekick, was handing out the water, that's a highlight I guess! I would say 15, 16, 17 were really hard and I was alone. Well obviously there were thousands of people around me, but no teammates. Then out of nowhere, at 17ish, my teammate Billy came up behind me and we stuck together until mile 25. Lifesaver right there! Once you are out there for awhile you just go through all the emotions, you want to quit, you want to cry, it's crazy. At mile 18 & 19 there were more teammates who weren't running that day, just there to cheer us on. They stuck with us to the end!! You get to a point where you don't even want to talk to them, but you're so happy they are there. Around mile 20 I wasn't sure how my feet were still moving but they were, very slowly though! At mile 25 my wonderful teammate and another favorite person, Mari, showed up to cheer me on. I cried. It's so emotional and you're almost to the end and I was so happy to see her. Not to mention, I walked a lot faster once I got to her! So Mari got me from 25 to 26, then my coach came in at about 25.5 and kept me company until that .2 and then I finished!!! 8 1/2 hours later!!!! I finished 19,622 out of over 25,000 people. Which is kinda weird to think that I took 8.5 hours to finish and there were still like 6,000 people behind me!
Oh-- so the course started at Universal Studio's, went by the Hollywood Bowl, down Hollywood Blvd, through Hancock Park (rich folk sitting on their comfy lawn furniture watching you go by..jealous!), by the Colliseum, then some...not so nice neighborhoods...south centralish & East L.A., back across the bridge (where I literally felt like I was walking to my death...it was a low moment!), back to the tall buildings and that's where we stopped! There were bands along the way, tons of people cheering you on from their porches, handing out cookies, water & gatorade. Lots of ambulances flying by, firemen letting the hydrants spray into the streets, I think I may have seen someone have a heart attack...yeah so all exciting stuff!
Long ass day my friends! I have blisters, I have chafing in places I didn't know could chafe...I still can't figure it out, my face is so burnt I thought maybe I had some kind of sun posioning! My lips are chapped and I can no longer walk...I shuffle around. Although I do have to say that I have come a very long way. I remember the day of our 3 mile training in October...I literally laid on the couch for like 2 days and ached all over...and I can honestly say that I feel better after 26.2 than I did after 3 five months ago!
I talked to my veteran teammates about how it was for them and they all had a rough day. People were injured and had to walk most of it, and these are the ultra-prepared people. It was about 83 degrees which I think played a big part in everyone having a hard time- it was the 2nd hottest L.A. marathon in its' history. One teammate said if it had been her first marathon, she didn't know if she would've done another one...so I guess that's kinda good in a way, to know that future marathons could be easier, that it was hard for even the veterans.
So, thanks for the support! Pictures to come soon!
