Race day morning I woke up a very calm Jennifer at 4am, knowing I had a full 3 hours before the gun went off. Immediately I had my single cup of coffee, cinnamon & raisin bagel and cookies and cream power bar (nasty, I know… I always imagine eggs and French toast myself). Eating that early in the morning is hard enough, but mixing a bagel and power bar = really gross flavor combo. Anyway, I ate, had coffee, and started drinking my water. (I think because I was nervous I drank TOO much water and kept having to use the restroom, maybe it was just nerves though) I took a nice warm shower and really made sure to warm up my super stiff neck. By the end of the shower I could slightly turn my head. Then I started stretching and pacing my room. I decided I needed to go for a walk by myself around the halls to just think about what I was about to do, focus on my accomplishments, why I was doing this today, and really solidify my mental game plan for the race. I was meeting Chipper Sue downstairs at 6am. We needed to huddle at Geary + Stockton at 6:15 for Coach Al's words (which ended up being: “you’re ready ladies, now go do the damn thing!”). I was definitely feeling a little queasy simply because of nerves, but my legs felt great and I knew I was ready, knew what I was going to do, and had a plan to execute it. I wasn't worried about making it to 20, I was worried about the last 6.2 - well really the last 6. I figured it I made it to 26, the .2 would be my rocky at the top of the steps moment.
The gun shot off and it took us twenty whole minutes to get to the start line inching our way step by step in the middle of 20,000+ runners packed around Union Square. It was so crowded and I didn't get to start with my pace group. We just couldn't make it through the massive crowd. I ended up in the 11-12 minute group...and unfortunately a bunch of walkers.
When I passed the start line in front of Niketown I started running, but was stuck behind the mob of people and was kind of forced to go the crowd's pace until it thinned out (ah hem, at mile 11!! Note to self: run a slightly less packed marathon next time). Literally a mile into the run I saw people doing ridiculous things like tripping on a curb and checking out of the race. What? We weaved through downtown buildings until we hit embarcadero and ran along the piers. It's amazing how much that place stinks like sewage, both marine and human…eww. I think because I had so much to drink that morning mixed with how long we stood around, I had to pee already! Frustrated and trying to put off the pit stop, I passed the first bathroom stop at mile 2. Just to keep things interesting they rerouted the course the morning of the event and surprised all of us who had reviewed the course before hand by adding a pretty steep but short hill exiting embarcadero. As we were entering the Marina/Presidio area I was taking note of Marin County to the right and the golden gate bridge with rolling fog blanketing the peaks. There was a bathroom stop at mile 5 and I knew the big bad hill was 6-8, so I decided this would be my one stop. Of course I had to wait in a line for 10 people to go first and this probably took a good 10 minutes. (I ran in place the whole time) From that point I decided no more nervous fluid consumption. Stick to timed sips and alternate electrolytes with water stations. Back to running...at the bottom of the entrance to the famous presidio hill (which actually appears to be a mob of runners scaling a sea cliff wall and disappearing into the woods) Coach Al was waiting in his predictable tri-gear on his bike, ringing his little bike bell nonstop. Chipper Sue and I wave and he says "hey twins, you're ready for this one." fyi - Coach Al, as sweet as he is, wouldn't know me unless I was dressed in running clothes and standing right next to Chipper Sue. Then he wouldn't even know our names, he just calls us the twins. I don't know...he's has seen me three times a week for five months now. The most frustrating part about the hill was the walkers. They would line up like ten people across the hill and swing their arms and chit chat and laugh, literally cruising along in a wall formation. Also, there were so many runners that just flat out stopped running mid hill and walked. I have to add that in this moment of the race I thanked the universe that Coach Al made me run the Redwood Park hills and the killer track drills. Without warning, runners just stopped two feet in front of me and slowed to immediate walk pace. I felt like I was bobbing and weaving through the crowd telling myself to run "through" the hill, not up it, pretending all the walkers were little obstacle cones. We totally made it up the hill, it curved to the left and Chipper Sue wanted to stop at an aid station to tape the top of her foot. So, I jogged in place as she took her shoe off, taped her foot and put her shoe back on. The stop took probably about 5 minutes, but I was still “running” the whole time. Then we jumped back in to another hill through the residential marina area, where Robin Williams happens to live. At this point we were at about 7.5 miles. At 8.5 I saw Natalie waiting at the top of the hill sipping her starbucks and holding the camera ready to take a picture.
Seeing her made the hill quicker and I gave her a run-by hug and kiss and kept on...thinking I would see her again at mile 11 or 16, but I didn't end up seeing her again until the finish line. We finally rounded out of the residential area and came up to the top of Point Lobos (where the cool bathhouse remains are down the cliffs) at mile 10. Just before going down the big hill where Point Lobos turns into the Great Highway I saw my Mom, Steph and Hailey chilling in her stroller. I stopped for about a minute to say hi and give them a hug, then kept going, finishing out mile 10 on a major downhill. At 11, on the Great Highway before we entered Golden Gate Park, I saw a huge line of spectators cheering us on. All the sudden Colleen jumps out and gave me a hug and told me I looked good and said she'd see me later. She asked my pace and at that point I discovered I hadn't been paying attention to my time, but felt I was running at my usual 10 minute pace. I wanted to say 10-minute miles, but everything seemed to start off so slow! Miles 11-16 routed through Golden Gate Park and happened to also be where the halfers split from the fullers. All the sudden it got really quiet and we could just hear our feet, breath and birds. We ran past the bison area, the big duck pond, the water falls…really nice, but again, the whole freakin' park was a gradual climb to about 250 feet. So we looped GGP (the turn around point was at about mile 13), I saw my Dad and Lisa on their segways at mile 13-14, then exited out at 16 onto the Great Highway again. This is the part everyone hates but I love. At the exit point they were playing Tainted Love and there were tons of people so I felt pretty pumped, even though 16 is usually where I start feeling joint pain. I was actually feeling really strong and although in the end my pace turned out slower, I felt like the miles were flying by. The entire time I was running down the Great Highway stretch, I was watching all the early finishers running their last 3 miles of the race. It was cool to see them all really healthy and happy looking, and not all that tired even though they were finishing at what I felt like was warp speed. (So later I discovered some of these people were halfers, but the rest were super-human machine people who finish at around 3 hours. WHAT???) Anyway, I remember chilling out on the highway and reminding myself to just stay in my groove and maintain my comfortable pace, to just relax my shoulders and breathe deeply. I looked around, enjoyed the choppy ocean, the surfers bobbing on their boards, the music and drum circles set up along the course. Then all the sudden I saw mile 19 pass by.
Woah, during Nike Preview run I was literally falling apart at 18 and now I just happen to realize 19 mile marker – so cool! I commented to Chipper Sue how great I felt and how surprised I was. She said she was in a lull and was working on getting out of it at that point. Then we entered the dreaded Lake Merced. (the 4 mile up hill climb around the lake) I kept mentally applauding myself for making it to the twenties, telling myself to stick to the game plan: Start the countdown at 21, minimize the distance and recognize how far you have come...remember everyone says they have a hard time at the end with disorientation, fatigue, etc. I had already decided to dedicate the last mile to Bryan and run that in honor of his current battle. So that meant I only had to get myself from 21 to 25. At 20 is when my legs and glutes started burning. Also, all I could think about was food. My stomach felt so empty and was growling. I was completely out of energy and took my last GU (quick note: I did NOT train with gu, I do NOT like gu and it’s hair gel consistency and I am SO thankful my stomach agreed with my last minute change that day). Then decided that wasn't enough so I took a couple of pomegranate Luna Moons, or little gummies, from a Luna station. At 22 I couldn't feel my arms at all and it was impossible to move my fingers. At one point I reached for a water cup being held out as I ran by and when I tried to grip the cup my fingers didn’t work and I knocked it out of the poor volunteers hand onto the ground. I really think this is because I was so so so cold (approximately 40 degrees and windy the whole race) and the lake area had a constant freezing drizzle. I just told myself I was close enough to not stop, my #1 goal was to run the entire course, to never stop and walk. So…22 sucked. I was next to moving traffic, which just made me feel slower. No one was there cheering, seemed that everyone was giving up and walking. The only thing that kept me going was the anticipated Ghiradelli Chocolate booth posted at the 22 mile marker. I asked her for 2 chocolate squares and ate both of them right away. It was the best tasting chocolate square I have ever tasted. SO GOOD! (funny thing is they were milk chocolate with caramelized almond squares…I HATE caramelized almonds and would never eat them on an ordinary day) Then someone dropped their unopened chocolate on the ground. I picked it up and decided it would be useful at some point. Around 22.5 Chipper Sue told me to go ahead and finish and she would be right behind me. Her leg was cramping up and she didn't want to slow me down. I went ahead and told myself all that stood between me and the home stretch was a mini mountain at 23-24. This is where the extra chocolate came in handy. I never thought I was a girl to do this, but I flat out bribed myself with chocolate. I promised if I crested the hill I would let myself eat the chocolate square. At the beginning of that last hill I saw Coach Al on his bike again, this time by myself, and smiled at him...he looked right past me and totally didn't know who I was. Oh well, I decided to tell myself this was the last hill I would ever force myself to run and I should do it with power and appreciate the strength it takes to run up a hill. I basically dared to impress myself. My quads started quivering half way up the hill, but I was almost there so I kept at it with absolutely perfect form I might add. The correct lean, foot placement, arm swing...it was glorious and exhausting. I ended up not wanting the chocolate bribery after the hill but it worked like a charm for all intents and purposes. I saw the finish line less than 3 miles ahead of me like a target at the end of my good friend, the great highway once again. So for the next mile and a half from 23.5-25 I told myself the reasons I was doing this. "I run for the downhills, I run for the goal, I run for myself, I run simply because I am thankful to be able, I run for the empowerment, I run for self love, I run for my GI Jane moment, I run for the connection, I run for relation, I run for the finish, I run for the release, I run for the freedom…etc" I did this until I couldn't think of any more reasons for a while, so then I started singing the children's song "peanut, peanut butter...and jelly" (I guess because food sounded pretty satisfying.) When I passed the mile 25 mile mark I put my hands up and talked about Bryan and his strength and courage to battle his cancer, his positive approach to enduring his treatment, his recent reflections on mortality and just basically put all my energy and thoughts and feelings onto Bryan. I kept saying "this one's for you Bryan, mile 26 is yours." Mile 26 was the easiest. It wasn't about me and I removed myself from the equation. My legs got me to the 26 mile marker and then it was all me. I saw the pink finish line - although I never knew .2 miles is quite that long - and all the spectators were packed and lining the sides. Everyone was saying my name because it was on my singlet, so it really felt like I knew everyone there, very effective. People were screaming "you did it Jennifer, you are a marathoner" and I thought I might have been floating or levitating. It was quite surreal. Over the recent days I had thought about what I would do when crossing the finish line, Chipper Sue had said she would most likely raise her arms which seems most common. Previously I had thought this was a good idea, but when it came to it, I think I remember dropping my arms and looking up. I guess I will have to wait for the photographs to tell because I don't really remember.
There was a stretch limousine with fire fighters in tuxes holding silver trays stacked with little blue tiffany's boxes all tied up in ribbons, I grabbed my box of course! Then someone cut off my shoe tag. There was a banana shoved in my hand. A blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Then I saw Natalie holding little Hailey waiting for me at the end with hugs. Then Colleen jumped out again and gave me a hug. Then my mom, sister, Dad, Lisa, Chipper Sue's husband Warren, they all flooded me with attention. 15 minutes later Chipper Sue finished and she was crying.
I made my way to the changing area and, while changing into my dry clothes, discovered that my left foot was bleeding from blisters so I made a quick trip to the medic tent for some bandages. I wanted to get a massage but decided the winding lines of women waiting wasn’t worth standing still that long. The food options available at the finisher’s village was more luna (um, no thanks!) or some non-vegetarian selections. All I wanted was a shower… warm water to stop the chills from the salty sweat and drizzle and wind and my glorious victory meal with absolutely zero pasta involved. Because I am not a super human athlete machine, I wasn’t able to finish before we had to check out of our hotel, so I was able to borrow my dad’s hotel room shower and avoid the train ride back to our apartment. After my wonderful shower and quick taping of my foot, we headed to what is the best meal I have ever eaten at the Daily Grill around the corner in union square. I savored every bite of my sourdough grilled swiss and avocado sandwich, coleslaw, fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Upon suggestion from many marathoners I’ve talked to I enjoyed a tall stout bitter dark local beer and of course, kept drinking my water as instructed. (Keep in mind I waited 2 long hours to eat after I finished, other than my immediate banana and chocolate chip cookie, so my stomach welcomed all the yumminess just fine) One of the tips I am most grateful for is to walk at least 2 miles after you finish, stretch your muscles and release the lactic acid with massage. I walked and walked and walked around Union Square that evening, attending the Team in Training victory party and all, and stretched in the shower with the warm water. Also, it is a little handy that I have some massage experience. I began applying my own sports massage to all my major leg muscles and, although tricky, even my hips and glutes as well. The next morning I followed up with the coldest ice bath I have ever endured. I am feeling healthy and ready to run again – maybe not for a week though.
I couldn’t be happier with my experience. It has been amazing. I will definitely do this again, only maybe a slightly flatter course. I finished about 30 minutes slower that I had hoped for (the race took me 5 hours, 15 minutes to complete and I was really hoping for under 5) The important part was that I finished running – the whole time, I feel strong and healthy and Nat even said I finished looking like I could have run a couple more. (I am pleased that I looked that way; however feeling it is a different story.) The support from Natalie through all 5 months, including race weekend, was absolutely crucial. Advice and love from all my family and friends was so very helpful. I will cherish this experience forever, and in the future who knows…I definitely left room for getting a better time on the next one. Far away that is…in the distant, distant future. And currently, I cannot wait to get back into working with athletes, especially endurance, and assisting with their training. It is really where I belong and I know that even more now.
