Race Report -- Chapter Two (the long, drawn out, no-detail-too-small edition)

Alarm buzzed at 4:37 a.m. I wanted to get out of bed to eat my breakfast of Vector cereal and continue with the hydration, but the bed won for another 20 minutes. Groggily pushed the cereal into my mouth. Stretched a little bit. Decided to wear a long sleeve technical shirt over a technical singlet. I could toss the long sleeve if I needed to, I wasn't that attached to it. Capris. And gloves. And my yellow hat. I got my fuel belt to sit well on my hips and decided this would be okay to run with provided I skipped the water bottle.

I got my gear, kissed CMan goodbye and told him I'd look for him on the Randolph St. Bridge at the start. I didn't know when I'd see him after that since we didn't plan which mile markers he'd station himself. Oh well, lessons learned here.

Started the pilgrimage to the Start Line. The walk along Michigan Ave was one of the most amazing sights I'd ever seen. Just the mass of runners and supporters, some bundled up really well, others doing their warm-up jogs, and lots of people taking pictures. There was definitely an electric feeling in the air.

I stopped at the Trophy Tent -- a privilege for which I paid $25 back in the summer so that I could get accelerated gear check, pre/post race food, dedicated portapotties, and massage therapy after the race. I saw Frankie who was making his final stretches before leaving for his preferred start corral. No Yumke, but I was glad I was able to give him a good luck hug the night before after the carboload. I took my time. I wasn't going to jockey for a better position in the open corral. And the tent was beautifully warm, even if it had that muddy grass smell. I was in no hurry to go back out into the almost too-crisp air.

I emptied my bladder one last time. Saw Esther, a girl from the Running Room group I quit earlier in the summer. It was nice to see a familiar face, and while she was trying to find another RR member, we agreed to at least start together and look for the lost friend. I was pretty sure I wouldn't see Esther five seconds after we crossed the start.

The Start Line was buzzing. I chose a spot in between the 5:00 and 5:15 pace groups. I had signed up for the 5:00 group at the Expo though I really had no intention of running with them. I just wanted a pace band, though not the bib -- I was gonna have enough things stuck and flapping on my shirt as it was.

Springsteen's Born to Run blared on the speakers, and I imagined Frankie was going nuts. He'd later say that he hadn't heard it on the starting line. Maybe that's because it took him less than two minutes to get through the starting line. It took me nearly 20 minutes, that's how far back I was in the pack.

First 5K
All I could think was "I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe I'm here." I waved to CMan at the bridge as planned and kept going. He would later tell me he ran to the other side of the tunnel to take a picture of the back of my yellow-hatted head. I marvelled at all the spectators. I'd never seen so many out at a race. Then again, I've never run with 40,000 people either. And then I started getting misty-eyed. Already? Yeah, that's right.

Then I saw CMan again at the 3-mi mark. He didn't see me. I jumped him. Gave him a big kiss. Kept running.

10K
Still running a very comfortable clip at under 12 min/mi. I felt strong. I wondered if I could maintain the pace. Cough had decided to disappear. At least for now. Loved the park part of this leg of the course -- and it was a funny sight to see so many people run off course and find a tree.

Recognized Lisa because I saw her awesome running skirt. Said, "Hi, I'm Jellypepper." I think I may have said "You're looking strong. Keep it up" or something to that effect. Sorry Lisa I didn't run more than 30 seconds with you. Took my first walking break at the 6-mile mark. Figured I should take a gel now. Did I really just run all that without stopping? What was I thinking? Is this going to haunt me later on? Didn't I have a race plan?

Well, the short answer to that is no. I didn't have a real strategy. I didn't even really study the map. I know there are some who have each mile planned out, down to the second, knew when turns were coming up, and knew exactly when the gels were going to be consumed. I hadn't ever really got that whole walk/run thing down to a T. I mostly just keep going until I feel like I need a break.

CMan says he thinks he just missed me at the turn at Addison when the course turned south. He wouldn't catch up with me for a while.

I also made a critical decision here. I was hearing spectators cheering on Mikes, Jennys, Julies, and Loris all around me. I was jealous. I had taped my name to my back thinking this would be less intrusive, since my bib was on my stomach. But in what turned out to be the best thing I did, I unstuck it from my back and moved it to my chest. Now I wouldn't get 16 steps without hearing my name for practically the rest of the course. Is this what it feels like to be a rock star? Close enough.

15K-Halfway point/13.1 miles
The crowds along this stretch were awesome. So was the entertainment. I think this is where I saw two of the best signs on course: "Run like you stole something" and "Run Faster Stupid". Every mile so far, except for No. 6 and 11, were under 12 minutes. By the halfway mark, I glanced at my watch, and I hadn't PB'ed here, but I hadn't expected to either. I was supposed to run the first half slow, after all, though I don't think I really was following my own advice. I did feel I was going too fast, but not so fast beyond my capability. Then again, I guess I was right about on pace because the 5:00 pace bunny was never far out of my sight til this point. Had another gel around Mile 11.

20 miles
The section between the halfway mark and uncharted territory is a bit of a haze. I just remember wondering what I was in for once I took my first steps past the 20mile marker. I'd never run this far and while I believed in myself, I had trouble visualizing what 6 more miles meant. I must've gotten confused in this leg too because my fancy watch says I did mile 19 in 7:17. Then it said I did Mile 20 in 4:39. Hello?

My legs was holding up reasonably well, though I started to feel some pain on the sides of my feet -- much like I'd felt during the 20miler a few weeks ago. I'd taken a pretty long walk break at Mile 16 after I started to wheeze real hard. That turned into quite the coughing fit. It calmed down as I sucked on another cough candy.

Mile 21/22 (Chinatown)
I was starting to feel a twinge of sadness that I hadn't seen CMan since the Mile 3. It'd been more than 3 hours since I'd seen him. I started to curse our unpreparedness in establishing cheering points; maybe I just didn't see him in the crowds.

But again, I have to give kudos to the crowd. It was clearly not a warm day, yet they came out in spades. They saved me, shielded me from my own negative thoughts. This is where I patted myself on the back for switching my name to the front. Because I kept hearing "Go Jelly!" Best feeling ever.

Then magically, at the turn into Chinatown, there he was. I spotted the familiar green ballcap on the outside corner. I accelerated towards him and flung my arms around him. And then I started to cry again.

CMan was immediately concerned, thinking I was crying from injury, but really I was just so elated to see him there. It'd been a tough middle course -- my mental game was breaking down just a little -- and the sides of my feet were really starting to want more of my attention. I whispered to him that I was okay, that I was just really happy to be where I was, that he was there, and that I didn't have that much more to go. He kissed away some tears and pushed me to continue.

And because I was blubbering on as I ran away, my silly tears shifted my left contact lens and curled into a corner of my eye. I couldn't blink it back into place and had to move off course to fix it. And I had trouble doing so, partly because it was windy and the window I was trying to use as a mirror was pretty dusty. But I got back on track.

But, during the time it took for me to finally get my eye trouble sorted out, the exhaustion seemed to have caught up in my legs which had completely stopped moving for the first time in more than 4 hours now. I had about one more hour to go at my current pace.

I didn't think I had stopped that long to fix my eyes, but my watch says it took me half an hour to finish one mile. Maybe I had trouble restarting and I took more walking breaks that mile. I stopped to stretch out some of the tightening calves. And hacked some more.

Mile 23-25
Tough, tough, tough. My feet were definitely bothering me now, but I soldiered on. I didn't like seeing runners going in the opposite direction just one street over. And because I didn't study that map, I didn't know how much further I was going that way before coming back this way. And the spectators were few in some of these parts too.

I saw a Canadian hat just ahead of me. I caught up beside it, and realized I knew the woman wearing it. Small world. She hangs out at the same gym as I. We encouraged each other on. I wanted to stay with her, but my energy was depleting quickly. I let her go ahead. I had another cough to get out.

Then I heard a whistle, and there CMan was again! He came onto the course, just before Mile 25, and jogged a little bit beside me, trying to capture a few more photos for posterity. I wanted to slow to a walk with him but he said I had to finish strong, and that he knew I could do it.

The Final Mile and 385 yards
I got myself together and trucked on. As I approached the 800m sign I could hear the crowd going wild, not just for me but for everyone who was less than a kilometer from the finish. I fed off that energy, and accelerated. I remembered how I finished the Scotiabank half marathon a month earlier, picking off people one by one at the end. I saw the "hill" and pretty much told it to go to hell, it was not going to slow me down. I flew up that hill, and turned the corner. This was it. I could see the finish line. I was going to finish this. I sprinted that last stretch like I was stealing something.

Raised my arms in victory, yelling all the way across the FINISH LINE.

Yelled some more, fist pumping, beaming as I accepted my medal, a cup of Gatorade, returned my chip, got a shiny space blanket. It was a super long walk through the chute. I hobbled my way back to the Trophy Tent. I was disappointed they had no more soup left and the thought of beer actually made my stomach turn. I collected my gear, and gobbled half a sandwich, skipped the massage and without Yumke or Frankie in the tent to celebrate, I left to find CMan.

I reunited with him and found that my ability to walk was rapidly waning. My sister and her husband found us near Buckingham Fountain and we made our way towards our hotel...which was so close yet so far. My body now just wanted to shut down.

I fought against it and limped best I could for two more blocks. It was odd walking along the same street where, some SIX hours ago, I was jumping up and down ready to rock this marathon.

Then my feet just stopped cooperating. I couldn't plant my foot without wincing. We hailed a cab to take us 2-1/2 blocks. Worth every penny.



Next: Race Report-Chapter 3 (The Aftermath)