Marathon Breakdown part 2

At mile 16 we moved over the Main Avenue Bridge into Moorhead. At mile 17 or so I passed the house where we stayed the night before - the tan house just in front of me in the picture. Thanks to Shauna for the guest house - it was really cute and much better than a sterile, boring hotel room!

I still felt really good at this point, and I was hitting 10:00 mile pace, which is unfathomable to me. I figured I'd be doing well to maintain 12:00 miles, and here I was, pushing right along at a 4:20 marathon pace. The best part is that I was just having a ball doing it, too - and I think that was the most important thing for this race.

At mile twenty I still felt pretty good. Tired and beginning to ache in my upper legs from the constant muscle contraction, but everything seemed to be going well. At this point I figured I could walk it in if I needed to, and I still didn't know what this 'wall' everyone kept hitting was all about.

Unfortunately, I was about to find out. I hit the wall HARD at mile 21. My feet just stopped working, basically - I felt like I was running on wooden feet & legs made of hard rubber. I tried to get a Gu down for extra energy, but it was far too little and far too late. All the treadmill workouts took one toll out of me - my feet weren't tough enough for 26.2 miles of pavement & asphalt. But I knew I could walk and still be in before my goal time of 5:00, so I wasn't too terribly worried. And luckily, I found inspiration all around me.

So here we were outside the Fargodome, just .2 miles from the finish, and here's where I MUST tell you about Ryan. We hooked up around mile 22 when we were both just about done in by the wind and the wall, and we kept each other going for the last four miles. For me there was nothing cooler than pairing up with a complete stranger in order to get the job done. Thanks, Ryan, and I hope your trip back to Eau Claire was a good one.

FINISH LINE!!! My actual time was 4:33:06, about 45 minutes to an hour faster than I had hoped to run. Too bad the folks who photographed the event couldn't see to get a shot of this - Annette took this picture from the stands. Kristin, of course, was in the bathroom. Natch.

I gotta admit, this moment felt pretty freakin' good - about as good as anything has felt since the day we got married.







As Annette was taking this picture, I noticed the tingling in my feet was moving into my hands & face. About five minutes later I was having trouble speaking and could barely stand up. So, it's off to the medic tent for this first time marathoner!

Dawn, the volunteer nurse, and Greg the doctor were very kind and explained to me that they thought my electrolytes were seriously messed up and I needed to lie down, take an IV and see if I could keep from losing what little I had left in my stomach. So I followed orders. Within the hour I could feel my hands and feet again and my speech had cleared up. They kindly supplied me with a banana & some Gatorade, and soon I was back on my feet and ready to head for home. By the way, it occurs to me that there were a hell of a lot of marathoners who came to the aid station asking for Tylenol or Advil. What the @!#$? You train for three months to run 26 miles and you can't be bothered to pack an aspirin? Lame - really lame.

You know I couldn't leave without a picture with the two friendliest medical folks you could encounter - they were really great. Patients at MeritCare are in good hands with these folks - they were two of the many great volunteers that made the Fargo Marathon an incredible experience.

So, that's the story of my first marathon - and I couldn't be happier about it. Now if I can just get my toenails back I'll be just fine. :-)