Banjo, Chris and I left for Duluth around noon on Friday in the hopes of beating some of the traffic. I had spent Thursday evening in a bad mood, feeling sorry for myself because I was still sick, because I'd missed a number of training runs, because I was second-guessing that I'd be able to complete a marathon. Friday morning I spent extremely nervous, almost to the point of shaking because I was so tense. I was second-guessing every clothing decision, every food item I thought of bringing along. What finally helped was when I stopped what I was doing, sat down, closed my eyes, and told myself I put in a lot of hours training and that I was ready. I told myself I had tested out everything I was going to wear, everything I was likely going to eat. Most importantly, I reminded myself that my only goal was to finish. It really didn't matter how long it took me; what mattered was that I show up and run the best race I could with any expectations of how I would do. After that, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It was a very freeing experience.
On the trip up, I was excited and wanted to start running. By the time we got to the DECC where I'd pick up my race packet, I was wondering why we hadn't left the house sooner. There was quite the line of cars, and wherever there are that many cars, there are bound to be a ton of people. I was frustrated trying to get my packet because there were so many people at the DECC, and of course, packet pick-up was in a far-off corner that you couldn't get to without being crammed through a lot of vendor booths. I made it in and out of there successfully though, and we continued on to the house we were staying at.
A friend of a friend was extremely generous and let us stay at her house while she and her family was gone (native Duluthians tend to leave town for Grandma's weekend). She has a fantastic house and plenty of places for family members to stay. Banjo checked out the entire house and the grounds, and spent most of that first night by the door, wondering when we were going home.
Kim and Sue came up that evening and I forced everyone to watch Run Fatboy Run with Simon Pegg. I watched it before my half marathon and found it put me in a good mood. Then it was off to bed to try to get some sleep before an early wake up call.
Alarm went off at 4:45. Breakfast and tea were eaten partially at the house and partially on the way to a bus pick-up area at UMD. Chris and Banjo drove me over and the immense line-up of buses took all of us waiting runners to Two Harbors for the start of the race. I was at the start line around 6am; start time was 7:45. I had time to kill. I spent part of it talking with my high school English teacher, who aptly described all of us runners as "idiots."
Besides that, the start area was effectively a ton of porta potties. Runners gotta take care of business before taking care of business! There was a large area in between where runners were standing and sitting, all waiting to line up. The entire beginning felt like we were cattle. We all came in on buses; the buses lined up; we were all released; we followed one another to another area where we waited; finally, we lined up in a shoot and we all started moving.
Then the race started. It took some time for me to cross the start line because we had so many people ahead of us. There were 5,930 people that started the race (spoiler alert: 5,787 people crossed the finish line). The weather was predicted to be raining/thunderstorms, but it was sunny, in the 60s, and a little humid.
I felt pretty good at the start. I was finally running. The scenery along Highway 61 was beautiful and every once in a while, we'd catch a glimpse of Lake Superior. Chris, Kim, Sue and Banjo were waiting for me around mile 5, and I was excited to see them. I had no idea how uplifting it would be to see people that were there to support me. It was really fun to see how many strangers were supporting all of us runners too, but there's something special about those just for you. I especially loved how Banjo howled after me the first time I passed. I heard a chorus of people mocking him behind me :)
I next saw the gang around mile 12, and I still felt pretty good. The sky then clouded over and there was a slight breeze and less humidity. The perfect conditions! I kept on running. I made it a point to stop at every water stop to make sure I was drinking enough and to give myself a small break (I walked through each water stop to try to avoid spilling the entire contents of the cups on myself.) It felt like the water stops, although 2 miles apart, were coming up quickly, which meant it felt like the miles were quickly ticking down.
At the half-way mark, I stopped to relieve my very full bladder (a sign that I was hydrating!) I saw a number of people sneak off into the bushes along the course, but I wanted to hit up a porta potty that preferably didn't have a line. I got my chance because the half marathon started at our halfway point, which meant there was another major line-up of porta potties. I kept on running.
There were people scattered here and there for the first 20 miles, and the large concentrations of people started around mile 20. Up until that point, I had lots of time to space out and enjoy the scenery. After around mile 20, I found myself scanning the crowd, thanking people for supporting us, and getting a little anxious/tired. Those last six miles felt about 3x longer than any of the earlier miles. I gave a lot of people high-fives along the route, which energized me for short bits of time. I found the most enthusiastic spectators were the drunk college kids - in this context, their antics were very much appreciated! I heard one girl exclaimed to us runners: "Way to fight obesity!"
I got choked up around mile 22 when I saw my dad's hat poking out over the crowd. My parents weren't sure if they would cheer from along the course because the website made it sound like every place was completely packed shoulder to shoulder. I had to fight back tears of gratitude/excitement/exhaustion when I saw them. I stopped briefly to give them a sweaty hug and kept on running. The sign overhead of where they were said "Only 4.1 miles to the finish." FYI - don't ever start a sentence with "Only" when you're dealing with people who've been running for about four hours already. Another 4.1 miles for me meant about another 50 minutes. It was grueling. I allowed myself to walk for short distances every so often, but I made mini deals with myself: you can walk until that stop sign for example. It worked out quite well and I kept plugging along. What was surprising to me was how many of us were walking and how much we all started to thin out as we got closer to the finish line.
I saw Chris, Kim, Sue, and Banjo around mile 24 and I had to fight back tears again. I stopped to pet Banjo and kept on moving. These last segments felt like it took forever. I wanted to stop so badly and get off my feet, but I kept moving. I would pause every so often to walk for a short distance, but I kept moving forward. Nearing the finish, we ran by the William Irvin ship. That ship is ridiculously long. I walked for a little bit and one of the spectators told me to start running once I got to the stop lights up ahead. I was grateful for her telling me that because it was like me bargaining with myself, only this time I was too tired to do so.
Chris, Kim, Sue and Banjo met me within the last bit of the race, just before the finish line came into full view. I kept moving. We runners were so spread out by now that the announcer called each of us out by name. I heard mine and whooped! I saw the finish line just ahead and was honestly a bit disappointed that more of the spectators there weren't cheering as loud as everyone else was along the course. None of it mattered though because I crossed the finish line Rocky-style. Official chip time (time from when I crossed the start line to when I crossed the finish line): 4:46:26. I was so grateful to be done and I was overwhelmed by the sense of accomplishment and the sense of urgency I had to eat and drink a lot. I got my medal, I got a red carnation, grabbed something to drink, and got my finisher shirt. I worked my way over to the reflective blanket line because although I was warm then, I still had enough mental capacity to recognize I was going to get cold soon.
Next I moved onto the food tables. I got a bagel, yogurt and salty chips. Those chips tasted amazing! I walked over to the family greeting area, where Kim found me. I almost cried again, but was too overcome by how good the chips tasted. Chris and Banjo were just behind her, and Sue was close by them. I was so completely happy and was ecstatic to be done running.
We made our way to the car, then I stopped and the car made its way to me :) Banjo amused himself by doing tricks for parts of my bagel. He was not as impressed with the marathon I had finished - he was enamored by the peanut butter-filled bagel I had acquired. We all piled into the car and Kim drove us back to the house.
Once we got there, I took off my shoes and found very small blisters along the side of my feet, the kind that you leave alone (which was amazing). My knees were a bit annoyed, but nothing I hadn't felt on a training run before. I thought I had effectively emerged from the experience unscathed. That was before I took a shower. I was surprised by a sharp stinging on my lower back. Turns out the back pocket in my shorts was rubbing small parts of my skin raw, hence the stinging. I figured if that's all the pain I have to deal with, I'm doing pretty damn good!
Once again (and I cannot stress this enough): thank you to all of you that supported me during my training and sent me good vibes before, during, and after the race! You helped me accomplish my goal! Special thanks to Kim for suggesting that first 5k, for answering my questions along the way, and for supporting me in Duluth; thanks to Sue for making the special trip up to Duluth and supporting me throughout my training, getting excited for each new distance I was thinking of doing; thanks to my parents for supporting me even when you didn't understand why I would want to run as far I did (I don't know if I fully understand it!) - it meant so incredibly much to see you on the sidelines; thanks to Chris for encouraging me to do whatever my heart desires, for comforting me whenever I hit bumps along the way, and for being helping me stick to my training schedule - you are amazing!; and to Banjo: thank you for snuggling with me during my post-run naps, thank you for getting excited every time I got home, and for making me laugh - you are a good boy.
