My 1st Marathon

I had no idea how far ahead the pace groups were.  I decided I’d just run, not too fast but I’d try to catch up a little bit and if I saw some pace groups then great but to be honest I didn’t expect to.  For all I knew, the pace groups were way ahead of me.  I saw my brother and his family shortly after crossing the starting line.  It was great to see them there cheering me on!  My brother expected to see me in group G so I think I startled them a bit by running by before they expected me to.  I tried to very briefly tell them that I didn’t have a pace group to run with but I’m sure it sounded more like muffled chaos.  Oddly enough even though it was still steadily raining, it felt better to run in the rain than stand in the rain. I almost felt more sorry for the spectators than the runners just because the runners weren’t expecting to save face.  We knew we’d all look like drowned rats by the end of the race even if it weren’t raining.  So here I was trucking along with my thoughts when I saw the 5 hour pacer!  Yay!!!  It made me so happy to know I had found a pace group.  I don’t even know why really.  I guess because I had trained with a group and I knew I’d be more comfortable knowing where I was at pace wise during the run if I knew a person holding a pace sign was in front or behind me.  I can’t say where for sure but eventually I passed the 4:45 pacer.  I never made it up to the 4:30 pace group, they were just too far ahead and running too fast for me to catch up.  But I was happy.  I felt completely comfortable running between the 4:30 and the 4:45 pacers.  I also knew I’d see my brother 5 more times throughout the race which felt great.  I kept in mind each mile I’d see him.  It was nice to have short goals.  I saw him 3 times very early at the starting line, mile 2 and mile 5 then I saw him again at mile 12, mile 21 and the finish line.  Each time I passed them it gave me more motivation.  I braved a smile and continued on my way.  Throughout the race, I’d remind myself that I was running a marathon!!!  Seriously I was running a freaking marathon, something I never thought I’d do.  I felt really good I’d say for the first half of the marathon.  Around mile 8 I passed by a Christian band and just thought can I please take you with me.  Haha I tell you, God is very close to your mind when you’re running a marathon.  I don’t know how many times I thought God please help me.  As my friend Janka says to God be all the glory.  So very true.  I try to remind myself often that I am truly blessed.  Somewhere around mile 11, I passed by a man who looked kind of like a grizzly bear, a nice bear.  He looked at me dead in the eyes and said I’m proud of you.  I thought proud of me??  Wow here is this person who doesn’t even know me and he just grabbed on to my heart for a second.  He reminded me of my Dad.  Wow what a nice thing to say.  I thought about how much we take hearing those simple words for granted but I was proud of me too.  By mile 14 or 15 I noticed feeling a little more beat up.  I could tell my joints were starting to feel a little more sore but nothing that I couldn’t run through.  Plus I had just passed a band singing Take it Easy by the Eagles.  It was fun because the people running next to me continued singing the song even after we passed the band.  “Take it easy.. Take it easy.. Don’t let the sound of your own wheels Drive you crazy.. Lighten up while you still can Don’t even try to understand Just find a place to make your stand And take it easy….. Mile 15,16 and 17 were here.  This is a part of the race that I felt a little uneasy about.  It was a big hill leading up to the St. John’s Bridge.  When people talk about the Portland Marathon, the regulars know that this is one of the hardest parts of the race.  My brother and I had driven the course but I must say it was much harder on foot.  I rocked the first part of the hill, I felt great.  But I realized everyone is walking this hill.  I thought crap should I be conserving my energy?  Right when I stopped to walk, there was no starting back up.  The hill was just too tall so I walked with a nice pace until I reached the top.  I knew once the ground flattened out that I had to run again.  But now I was on the St. John’s Bridge and man was it cold with that rain blowing at me!  One step in front of the other I continued.  I reminded myself that I had to be around mile 17 and I got to see my brother again at mile 20 or so he told me…  Mile 20 came and went.  No Jimmy.  Darn I thought, I really needed to see him at this mile.  It was tough and my body hurt.  I needed to see their smiling faces to know that the end was within reach.  I continued and reminded myself that before the race began, I knew mile 16-22 would be the hardest for me.  I knew if I made it past 22, that there was only 4 miles left and I could do 4 miles in my sleep.  I was getting closer but part of me started to want to cry.  I think I did let one tear roll down my cheek before I made myself suck it up and keep going.  Around mile 21-22 I saw them.  There was my family.  I didn’t expect it at all at this point because I knew how hard it would be for them to get back to the finish line in time to watch me cross the finish line.  Somehow they managed it and it really made me smile.  Although this is the one point in the run where I found it really hard to crack a smile.  Shortly after this I saw a band and one of them was holding a sign that said “Your feet hurt so bad because you’re kicking so much ass!”  This is just what I needed.  A good laugh!  I thought ain’t that the truth!  People don’t realize how just a little sign can make someone’s run so much better.  Around mile 22 the 4:45 pacer started to pass me.  Oh no I thought, I can’t get behind the 4:45 pacer because I really wanted to finish under 5 hours.  So it took everything in me to hang on to this pace until the end of the run.  To top that off, this was the first time I’d actually run close to a pacer the entire race and boy was this girl annoying!  She was overly enthusiastic for my exhaustion because unlike us, the pacers didn’t run the entire race.  They would rotate in and out of positions so they weren’t nearly as tired.  I can understand how this enthusiasm would help some people but it was really wearing on me, to the point that I made myself run enough ahead that I couldn’t hear her annoying voice anymore.  Time was going by slowly… For as little as I had left, it felt like an eternity.  I knew that when I took a right on Salmon that my race was almost over and I would see the crowd of cheering people.  It seemed like forever until I finally saw Salmon St.  I suppose looking back that I shouldn’t have been so intent on seeing this street because it just made it that much harder and longer.  When I finally saw the cheering people I thought wow I’ve made it.  Then off to my right I heard my brother call my name.  I gave him a smile and continued on to the finish line.  Before this point it had crossed my mind that I should do something cool at the finish line, you know for the finish line picture.  Maybe hold an arm up in victory, something fun like that.. haha!  But shoot I was way too tired to care about a dang picture at this point.  I heard my name announced as I crossed the line and was immediately given my medal.  A medic rushed over to me and wrapped one of those silver capes around me to keep me warm.  I think they worry about runners getting hypothermia after they stop because your body heat goes down and your blood pressure plummets.  She wrapped her arm around my waist and said are you okay and I lost it.  I had been on the verge of tears and this did me in.  I started balling.  I think she was concerned for me because she kept asking if I was cold.  I wasn’t so she knew I was okay and went on to help someone else.  I stumbled around and grabbed a drink and some Fritos.  To be honest, I didn’t want anything but I knew I had to take something.  My body hurt.  I didn’t know what I wanted or needed.  I continued to walk around and started looking for my brother.  Keep in mind, I’m a hot mess trying so hard to hold back my tears so that I don’t look like a crazy person.  Finally I hear someone call my name.  It was Amanda, my sister in law.  I walked over to her and collapsed my head on her shoulders and began to cry.  Of course when I cried so did my sweet, little sister in law.  I could tell that they didn’t know what to expect and that maybe they didn’t expect to see these tears rolling down my cheeks.  I went to hug my brother who had been so kind to support his sister in such an amazing way.  They told me how proud they were and how awesome I did.  I listened and walked as best as I could to the car.  It was over.  I couldn’t ask for a better experience.  All of it, even the crazy made it mine and made it special.  I ran a marathon.  This has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life and I will never ever forget it.

Thank you Mom, Dad, Jimmy, Amanda, Evie, Jon, Aunt Linda, Grandma, Heidi, Janka and Coach Barry and of course all of my wonderful friends for all of your support and encouragement.                         

Before my Race

Where do I start?  Now that it’s over, I’ll tell you everything that went wrong before my Marathon.  First I got sick.  Not just a little sick, the sickest I’ve been in quite some time.  My nose would not stop running, my eyes would not stop watering, I had a sore throat...  I was miserable.  Monday October 4th I went in to the Doctor.  I knew that I needed to act fast if I wanted to be well in time for my race.  She gave me Claritin and nasal spray.  If anything I just got worse after that.  Come Thursday morning, I wanted to cry because I felt awful and was showing no signs of improvement so I called my Doctor back and asked what I could do.  She suggested that I add Zyrtec at night but that wasn’t flying with me.  I needed something good and fast because I was leaving the next day for Portland.  I had to ask if she would give me a shot and thank God she said okay.  I’ve never  been so excited for a shot in my life!  Being sick and not able to run would have killed me after all this training.  Thank goodness I finally started to feel some relief Saturday afternoon.  The shot took 24-48 hours to start working.  My flights were easy.  Being in Portland was fantastic!  The weather was great.  I got to meet my niece Evelyn for the first time which is beyond words wonderful.  All babies are cute but she is CUTE!  And I got to see the rest of the DeMoss family; Amanda, Jimmy and Jon.  It was so neat when my brother and I went to pick up my nephew from school that Friday he was so proud to tell everyone this is my Aunt Amanda.  Made my heart melt.  I love that little boy so much.  I also got to see my brother’s new house which was great!  I love that they are right there in the heart of the city.  I can tell how happy they are there and that makes me so happy for them.  Friday night we took it easy.  My brother rented us a movie Run Fat Boy Run.  I was so excited to watch it but I was so exhausted and could not keep my eyes open so we watched half that night and half the next.  I think the toll of the flight, being sick, and running around Portland all day had caught up with me.  The next day, Saturday, the day before the run we woke up and went to breakfast at Besaws.  One of the many perks of living where they do is you can walk to cute, quaint little breakfast spots like Besaws.  It had already begun raining and I must admit I was starting to get a little scared.  I knew the chances for rain on Saturday and Sunday were high but there was something about actually seeing it rain that made it become more real.  Breakfast was great!  I had pancakes with berries and whipped cream on top.  Yum!  The carb loading had begun.  That afternoon my brother and I went to the NIKE store and I bought a rain jacket.  I finally realized that I couldn’t wear my gear as planned.  It was going to rain, really rain so I needed to be prepared.  After buying my jacket, we saw that Jeff Galloway was speaking at the Hilton so as reluctant as I know my brother was, we went.  I convinced him that Jeff Galloway was an amazing runner, author and speaker that we must see.  It was neat to see someone I’ve read lots of running advice from.  I don’t follow his “methods” but I still think he’s very wise and has a lot of great advice to offer.  After that we got some pumpkin yogurt and headed back home.  Props to my brother for being such a stand up guy and putting up with me.  That evening we went to a cute little pasta place called Il Piatto.  My brother made reservations and we went just us 2.  My brother loves trying new places around Portland and this one was new to us both and quite fantastic!  Isn’t it great when you find somewhere new that you like?  You get to think yes I was a success.  Or in this case, my brother got to take all the credit.  I had the Funghi e Formaggia di Capra.  I know, heck if I know but it was delicious!  My brother and I talked about how it would be the perfect place to drink wine and just relax and have dinner.  Instead I was chugging water like it was going out of style!  But it was perfect, truly perfect.  Afterwards we went home and played with the kiddos and finished the rest of our movie.  (Very cute by the way)  I was trying to keep my nerves at bay but I was really nervous and ready to have my run over with.  I've really tried to enjoy every moment of this experience but come on, it’s so much easier to say I’ve done this rather than I’m going to do this.  This is one of the hardest parts for me. The anticipation... Almost here. Almost over. I will feel fear and excitement when my alarm goes off I thought.  I got into bed, cleared my mind and actually slept pretty decent.  I mean I woke up a couple of times with anticipation but overall it was a good night’s sleep.  When my alarm went off I hopped out of bed and ate my Clif bar, checked the weather (yep still raining) and prepared for my race.  Since it was raining pretty hard, I loaded my feet up with chafing cream.  The last thing I needed was blisters on my feet as I was trying to run.  I was ready.  This was the moment I had worked the past 10 months for and I wasn’t going to let rain dampen my spirits.  My brother and I took the max down to the run, Amanda and the kiddos were following shortly behind us.  They wanted to stay dry for as long as possible and I don’t blame them!  Once we got to my corral, my brother said okay, like okay bye.  I hadn’t really realized before this that now I was all on my own.  I walked in and immediately got in a huge line to go to the bathroom.  I’ve learned feeling like you need to go to the bathroom before your race is a lot mental.  You need to mentally know, you don’t need to go if that makes any sense.  Plus it wasn’t raining in the port a potties.  Haha!  When I came out, I went to the front of my corral.  Since there were so many runners, they let different corrals start at different times.  I was in the last corral.  How I got put in the last corral is anyone’s guess.  I’d guess because I hadn’t ran a marathon before so I didn’t have an expected finish time for them to pair me with.  So I’m standing there in the rain thinking where are all the pacers?  I didn’t get too worked up over it because I thought oh surely they’ll show up soon but they never did.  I was asking people around me but I’m pretty sure, no offense, I was with the reject group.  I mean these people looked at me like I was crazy, like they had no clue what pacers or pace groups even were.  So I fiddled with my iPod.  Nope no sound.  Was this really happening??!  No iPod, no pace group, pouring rain… Stay positive I thought.  You can’t give up now but there was a big part of me that just wanted to cry.  Finally I asked someone who knew something, she said I think the pacers are all in the groups ahead of us.  It finally clicked.  Oh my gosh I thought, I have no pace group.  This was slightly devastating to me because I did want to finish in a specific time and I knew how important it would be to be around people with the same goal.  Not only was it a time thing at this point but just being around people who had also been training.  The people in the groups ahead of me had already started to run.  Group F had just been given the go ahead.  I was in group G.  So I thought to myself do I run ahead?  I really didn't have time to think to be honest, so I just went.  So here I am running, thinking what if I were to be disqualified or something crazy for starting with a different group.  Thankfully I think the groups were more of an organization thing than a strict rule.  Nice organization…  I had never felt so discombobulated!  So I ran over the starting marker and started my Garmin.  I couldn’t see a pace group in sight and thought oh no, I may never reach any pacers.