Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Frederick Marathon

Well, I can cross off Marathon #6.

Today was the Frederick Marathon. I'll try to give a good recap.

This was the goal race for the running group I've been coaching since January. There were about 35 people in the group, a nice mix of men and women. About half the group was training for the full marathon and the other half was training for the half marathon. It was a good group and we all had a lot of fun training together.

Friday night, we had about 25 people from the group over for a pre-race potluck. It was a great evening of getting out some of the anxiety before the race and hanging out in regular clothes instead of sweaty running clothes.

Saturday, we went to the zoo with the Gies family for a Dancing with the Animals class and a walk through the zoo. It was a lot of fun. Keller and Noah made a tambourine, they learned about the animals in the zoo, and sang some songs. Then we walked through the zoo and saw the cheetahs, zebra, emu, pandas, sloth bears, orangutan, elephants, and the hippo! Keller absolutely loves the zoo, so it was a lot of fun seeing him get excited over the animals.

After we got back from the zoo, I went up to get my packet. The expo was kind of lame. But it's a small race, so there really isn't much you can do about that. After I got back, we hung out and rested. Then we went over to the Gies' house for dinner. That was nice.

When we got home, our neighbors were having a party. The music was insane. I swear, if they don't stop with the music rattling the walls, I think I'm going to lose my mind. Anyway, I was able to get to sleep relatively early. I woke up at 1:00 AM to the sound of 800 kids outside. Thankfully I was able to fall back to sleep.

I got up at 4:00 so I'd have time to get things together so we can leave at 5:00. Kanayo, my assistant coach, came over at 5:00 and we were off. We got to the race at 5:30 and then just got ready for the race. We found most of our runners and were able to wish everyone luck.

Then the race started. I felt good from the start, though I was running a little faster than I wanted. I think I was averaging about 9 min/miles. And then...my stomach went berserk. I don't know what happened, really. I just started having cramps and needed to make a couple of stops. I think it all started around mile 6 or 7. I don't remember. I saw John and Keller at mile 14 and I seriously wanted to get into the car and go home. But John encouraged me to keep going (Keller just wanted my Gatorade) and I was running again. But by 16, I accepted the fact that I wasn't having the race I had originally hoped. So, I stopped at 16 and waited to see my runners. I was there a while before one of my runners came by, Karolina. She was also having a hard time. So we ran together for the rest of the race. I felt better after a little while, but I didn't want to leave Karolina. I know all too well how hard it is to get through a race when you're sick.

The second half of the course sucked. Really, it was so hilly. I couldn't believe someone thought this was a good idea. I think it was much hillier than other courses I've run. But, the other factors, such as the weather, were better than originally expected. Thunderstorms were in the forecast but it never rained. It was humid and windy (though not as windy as last year). But it could have been a lot worse.

I was really happy with how my group did. As far as I know, everyone but Karolina had a good race. And Karolina did great for not feeling well. I'm so proud of all of them!

And now it's some time off, then training for Chicago. I have to say I'm a little discouraged about my whole stomach issue as I try to qualify for Boston. I'm making an appointment with the doctor this week to see if we can get this figured out before Chicago.

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