A Green Bay story.

Soooo, I ate my way through the rest of taper week, and by the end I was wondering if my running shorts were going to fit. Thankfully they did! While I was anxious to run the race itself, what I was really looking forward to is spending a little "girl" time with my friends for the weekend. Dana, Alicia, Erica and I headed to Green Bay on Friday. The girls were running the half-marathon, and for Al and Erica this was their first race ever! Dana and I have run the Virginia Beach half-marathon together twice. We happily shared our war stories and experiences of flying into a hurricane, flooded hotel rooms, racing in the heat, and drunken sailors. Our intention was to entertain them and calm their anxieties. I think we just scared them even more!
We spent the night and the next day just relaxing...and of course...you can probably guess by now....EATING!! (Told you I can get redundant!!) We went to the race expo on Saturday to pick up our packets, and engage in Dana's favorite activity....SHOPPPING!! She is the best power shopper I know. She has a great sense of style. Her influence has enabled me to break away from my jeans/t-shirt/sweatshirt look to one that's a little more sophisticated. She was in her happy place! I manged to restrain myself and purchased two shirts. WHEW! ;-)
I woke up race morning a bundle of nerves. We were all nervous and feeding off each other. Except for Erica. She has a quiet soul and was very calm, outwardly at least. She was pretty quiet, but I could tell she was excited.
We had been worried about the weather. It was predicted to be very cold, and the wind on Saturday was brutal! Luckily the wind had died down. It was about 30 degrees at the start but with full sun the temperature rose nicely. All in all, it was great running weather! I started out feeling pretty good. By mile 8 I was considering dropping to the half....I felt that bad. My legs were wobbly and I was feeling weak. I realized that I hardly had anything to drink and had not kept up with my nutrition plan. I usually start nibbling on pretzels and drinking Gatorade, but because of the cold and my nerves, I just didn't. So I started drinking more and took some goo. Goo is basically a packet of thick, sugary syrup. It comes in all kinds of flavors. Some athletes can't tolerate goo, others are very picky about their preferred flavor. I fall into the latter category. I need to have chocolate with some caffeine. At mile 10 I took goo, and by mile 11 my legs woke back up. It's amazing when that happens!
Miles 11-18 felt great!! Then the wheels started coming off again. GRRRRRR.... :-( At mile 20 I got a mental boost. Rachel and Robyn write me notes that I run with to read at mile 20. They truly help get me through the rest of the race. I always look forward to reading them. They are usually pretty humorous and always sprinkled with loving sentiment and inspiration. This time the letter got me to mile 22. I then looked at my watch. At my current pace, I was not going to come in under 3:50:59, the time I needed to qualify for Boston. Now, I did not NEED to qualify again, I already ran my qualifying time last October 11, at the Whistle Stop Marathon with a time of 3:49:25. I can already run Boston next year....YEAH!! :-) So if I were smart, I would back off and start walking and save myself from potential injury and a longer recovery.
I pushed the last four miles. I cannot explain what happens in my brain. There is a competitiveness that I never knew I had. I constantly compete with myself, challenge myself to go faster and further. It's very difficult for me to let that go. I finished in 3:50:29. The last mile was very painful, but I forgot the pain as I ran through Lambeau Field. It's so cool running through that stadium!! :-)
The girls finished their races as well! I was so happy and excited for them. When Alicia and Erica ran through mile 4, they had a surprise waiting for them. Their families had come to watch the race! They had come up the night before and stayed at a different hotel. It was at mile 4 that they made their presence known. I thought it was so sweet, and so did they!! :-)
It was a great weekend with many new memories created. We will be telling the stories for a very long time.