Race Day: Marine Corps Marathon 2013

4:40am - My alarm clock goes off. My eyes slowly open... It's dark outside and quiet in the hotel but I'm awake and excited! Today is the day.
5:20am - Missy and I leave the hotel room to walk towards the shuttle. Its freezing outside! 41 degrees to be exact. We are bundled up with sweat pants and shirts over our race attire, we join about a hundred people in line for the free shuttle. I was going to take pictures during the waiting but I looked down and saw my phone had already dropped from 100% to 85% battery in the 10 minutes since we left the hotel. NOT a good sign since I was planning on taking my phone with me on the 5 hour marathon journey. So I put it away and held off on the picture taking.
6:00am - the shuttle drops us off at Runner's Village. We are greeted by cheerful marines checking bags and wishing everyone a good morning. We pee (the first of many port-a-potty stops that morning), figure out where everything is and then find a tent where people were huddled because a.) it was still dark and too early to go the starting line and b.) it was freezing, so we runners banded together and huddled in the event tents to share body heat and pre-race jitters.
7:00am - while we were in the tent sipping on water and getting our race gear all set, the Marine Corps chaplain came on the mic and announced they were going to have a small worship service. I wasn't expecting this at all, so I was super happy about it. My friend Missy is not a christian and really wasn't interested in this worship service but she agreed to stay in there. I was so excited to hear the Word that morning and have a time of prayer. (My temporary tattoo I had on my wrist.)

7:15am - we head down to the starting line. We are stripped down to our race gear except for the cheap gloves and jackets that we planned to toss once we got warmed up. (The MCM team donates all discarded clothes to the local shelters.)
7:40am - The opening ceremony began. This included the National Anthem while Marines jumped out of planes and then drifted to the ground with gigantic American flags. I got a smidge bit choked up being surrounded by current and past military members standing there in the early dawn chill while our countries anthem was sung over the loud speaker.

7:55am - The canon goes off and the first wave of runners leave the corral.

8:10am - Our wave finally crosses the starting line and I stop paying attention to the time. :)

Miles 1 -4 - There was a long hill right in the beginning but we conquered it with grace. I think it was because we were running on adrenaline from the opening ceremony, but at the same time we held a steady pace so we wouldn't over do it in the beginning. Unfortunately at mile 4 I had to PEE badly thanks to sipping on water right before we started but after I had peed for the "last time" back at the starting line...  grrr... I never have to pee this early in to a run and this port-a-potty stop cost us 3 minutes.

Mile 5-10 - nothing much to report. There were a few more hills. We were holding a steady pace. The miles were passing pretty quickly but I remembered this from my first marathon. The first half flew by but the last dragged on so I tried not to get too excited that things were moving so easily. We only stopped to walk through a water stop and eat our GU's but then got back to running quickly.

Miles 11-13 - These were pretty boring miles. We ran a long a river but there wasn't much else to see... Except for this beautiful sign which meant we were half way done! Our half marathon split time was around 2 hours and 24 minutes. Definitely slower than I had anticipated but I tried not to worry, because we were feeling good and I figured we could make up a minute or 2 at the end.

Miles 14-16 - I could definitely feel the mileage starting to kick in. My knees were starting to ache a bit and the fatigue factor made weaving around people just that much harder. I tried to remember how 16 miles was an easy training run a couple months ago to fuel me on. Also, we kept up our counting of the running skirts that we saw to help distract us. : ) And we ran through a lane of flags...

Miles 17-19 - These miles we started to pass some monuments and museums a long the course. In the beginning we had said that if we wanted to stop and take pictures in front of them we would because we wanted to enjoy this race as well as finish strong. Turns out we weren't exactly feeling up to taking pictures at mile 19. Haha. We decided if we stopped to take pictures we might not start again, so we just kept on going. Since we were using my phone as a mini boom box, I tried to snap some pictures since it was already in my hand. But it turns out running and picture taking aren't a good combo...

My attempt to take a picture of Missy and also trying to take a picture of the Washington Monument....

See.. It doesn't work so well...

Thankfully they're photographers were ready and waiting for us! (But I haven't bought those pictures yet so you'll just have to take my word for it that they are pretty good, as in, we don't look like we're dying!)

Mile 20-22 - Beat the Bridge! You had to make this milestone by a certain time or you would be cut off from the race. We were way under the time so that wasn't a concern. But what we didn't know was that this bridge lasted foreverrrrr....It was over a mile long and the sun miraculously turned hot at the exact time we were crossing this bridge. It was here that I started to realize I might not come in under 5 hours. We saw our time and we saw the 5 hour pacer pull up next to us with her big old sign reading "5:00". We decided to stay with this group for as long as we could, which happened to be the next water stop. They not only run faster than we do but drink water way faster too! They were gone before we had walked through the water stop and my heart dropped as they turned out of sight. So much for getting in under 5 hours. We were both feeling a little discouraged and started to fall apart a little bit. We had been doing SO well up to that point, but we were tired. We walked a bit, ran a bit and walked again.

Mile 23 - I was feeling ready to run again, Missy not quite as much so I went ahead. I kept trying to convince myself that I run 3 miles all the time. 3 miles is no big deal. I can totally pull out 3 more miles. I texted Mark to let him know I was almost there. (I'm pretty good at texting and running haha) He texted back to let me know where he was waiting for me.

Mile 24 - Just as I had predicted those first 6 miles flew by but these last 3 were painstakingly slow. I did however, continue to jog.... if you can call it that. : ) All around me people were stopping to walk. You think that having made it this far you could pull out just 2 more measly miles. But it becomes so frustrating to know that you have indeed made it this far and now your body just wants to quit on you. It's no longer a question of physical strength but mental strength determining whether you will pick up your feet and jog it out. My time was 4:41:23 - I remember this specifically because for a brief moment I thought I could run 2 miles in 19 minutes and still make it under 5 hours. Yea, that wasn't going to be happening the last 2 miles of a race. I can do it on fresh legs easy, but on 4+ hours of running? Nope. Not happening.

Mile 25 - GLORY! One more mile. The crowd got thicker and noisier as I got closer to the finish line. I knew I wasn't making it under 5 hours as my watch read 4 hours and 55 minutes, I came close to having a melt down, and possibly would've have cried if my body had had any extra fluid to spare. Thankfully I knew Mark was waiting for me at the finish line and this truly spurred me on. I couldn't wait to see him.

Mile 26 - Relief! I made it. I made a left turn to climb the final hill towards the Iwo Jima memorial. I stopped for a couple of seconds to look around because I didn't see Mark and I didn't want to miss him as I ran by. Thankfully he saw me before I found him in the crowd! A quick kiss and a "good job babe" and he sent me off to the finish line.

26.2 - I crossed the finish line at 5 hours 8 minutes and 36 seconds. 

Below are a few pictures of us after finishing the race...

 I love crossing the finish line!

I suddenly lose all memory of the pain of the last few miles and can be convinced to do it all over again. It's a strange phenomenon. 

My Man. He gave up watching the Cowboys v. Lions game to be there for me.

I need him at the finish line and he always agrees to be there. 

Marine Corps Marathon finishers!

The medal is awesome.

The Night Before: Marine Corps Marathon 2013

Its here, its here, its here, its finally here!!!!!

The Marine Corps Marathon is tomorrow.

Currently I'm laying on the hotel bed getting ready to go sleep. I've showered, stretched, prayed, and laid out my clothes and gear for the morning.

We (my friend/coworker/partner in crazy racing adventures Missy) drove up to DC yesterday morning because we registered for a Runner's Symposium course associated with the Marathon that we can use for continuing education courses for work. We went to that yesterday afternoon and this morning, and when we weren't in the course or getting lost trying to drive ourselves around DC we were hanging out at the expo. I don't know about you, but I love race Expo's! You're surrounded my hundreds of people all hoping to accomplish the same thing, all motivated to do their best and even some competing to be THE best. I always spend way too much money at Expo's because the race gear is always super expensive, but I allow myself 1-2 things as a souvenir from each race that I do. This race was a T shirt and hoodie. I love them!

I'm so excited that Mark drove up this evening just to be there for me at the finish line tomorrow. Isn't he the sweetest? The poor guy has sat for countless hours at finish lines over the 5 years we've been together. I keep trying to tell me he'd have more fun if he'd run the race with me, but he says he's good with just watching and waiting. : )

Anyways, its 9:45 and I am ready to sleep because we will be trying to catch the shuttle to the starting line at 5:30 tomorrow morning!

Packet Pick Up! Literally hundreds of people waiting in line to get their packet. I've never been at a race with this many people participating.

We had to stop and take pictures at all the signs :)

Feeling super pumped at the expo!

Motivated? Oh yea, 3 hard months of training and this girl is ready to run!

My pre-race dinner = 2 Slices of Papa Johns cheese pizza and 2 breadsticks. Yum!

I don't know why but this pre-run dinner has produced good results during the training. Lets hope it does my body good tomorrow as well!

Laying out all of my gear for tomorrow. (minus the laptop) It is supposed to be 41 degrees tomorrow at the start of the race. I'm going to be freezing! I'm starting off with a cheap light jacket and gloves that I plan on just tossing after I warm up. The race gathers all of the discarded clothing afterwards and donated it to a local homeless shelter. 

And of course I had to bring my "Stick" with me. Every night before I long run I give a good 2 minute roll to each muscle group in my legs before doing some light stretching. I always feel much looser and relaxed after rolling my muscles out. :)

One last picture of Missy and I enjoying the expo experience!

Starting time for the race tomorrow: 7:55am

T- 10 hours and 9 minutes. 

Happy Harvest

Just a little nod to fall from the house on Stockleybridge.

P.S. 

The wreath is under construction.

Tapering

The Marathon Taper is in full swing here. After the surgery of course I pretty much rested from ALL intense physical activity (read as: anything more than walking or jogging only to catch up with a puppy, family member, what have you...)

 I had my follow up with the doctor last week and she gave me the go ahead to start running again! It's been a weird tapering experience for a couple of reasons:

1.) I've never really tapered leading up to a race before. I've always heard that I should but I just never felt confident in myself to stop training. It's never really been a problem for me before - but its possible I could've done better in previous races if I had let my body rest.

2.) I was sort of forced to taper thanks to my surgery. And usually taper doesn't mean take 2 weeks off and do absolutely nothing. So I took 2 weeks off and then had this week to get in 1 last semi long run, and some good quality shorter runs before more of a rest next week, with only very short easy runs, leading up to the Marathon. So my training has kind of looked like - TRAIN really HARD -> rest completely -> Taper? -> Run Marathon! Normally the taper should come before the "rest completely".

 I did run 12 miles yesterday (the semi-long run) and it felt good. I was nervous I would be deconditioned after the 2 week rest and barely be able to get through but, it wasn't bad. It took me a while to get into a good breathing rhythm and muscles were tight during and sore afterwards but I'm okay with that. I finished easy, feeling very encouraged that I can complete this 26.2 mile race in 10 days! Not only am I excited about reaching all of my training goals, I have met and actually exceeded my fundraising goal for 24:50 Inc. Little Sikelele will have education, after school care and health care for another year! I am so grateful to the friends and family members that made this possible. It will definitely be the motivator for me during the race when my body is rebelling against those last few miles.

10/10

Hello Friends!

I 'm barely getting this in but I've been seeing things around the good ol' blogosphere today about posting 10 things you're thankful for since today is 10/10. I'm always needing to think more about the things I am thankful for so it sounded like a good idea to me, so here are the top 10 things I am thankful for right this minute!

1.) My husband - he finds a way to keep himself busy and bless our house while he's been on furlough for 2 weeks. 

2.) My ability to work while my husband is on furlough. 

3.) A quick and non complicated recovery from my surgery - I ran for the first time today since the procedure and it felt great!

4.) Being able to participate in the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of this month!

5.) Family road trips (I'm on one right now)

6.) That my parents are letting Mark and I tag along in their big homeschooled van for the trip... See below!

7.) Doyle cousin weddings (the reason for the road trip)

8.) Pandora (family is great but at 11:55pm a little of the JJ Heller station is a beautiful thing. 

9.) My Piper Puppy (I'll miss her while we're away but my bro in law is going to take good care of her for us!)

10.) Rainy weather... a little drizzle just makes the road trip cozy I think :) 

The Kessler Kids (+Mark) back in the van we always travelled in growing up! I am excited! <3 Just like old times.

Recovering

This is probably going to be one of the most honest blog posts I've ever written, well maybe not honest, but I guess the most "real life" post. It's also one of the longer ones. You may or may not be interested, but I feel like documenting this past weeks experiences anyways. So here it goes.

This whole surgery thing took a lot more out of me than I thought.

I took Monday off of work for the day of the surgery and Tuesday off as a "get better" day and thought I'd be back on my feet by Wednesday for sure. As I got closer to the surgery, I was reading a few horror stories online from women who had the same procedure I was having done and so reluctantly I took Wednesday off as a precaution. A "just in case" day with the thought that if I was feeling good on Tuesday I could always go in to work on Wednesday anyways. I seriously doubted I was going to need 3 whole days to recover from this outpatient procedure.

I'm just going to admit it here - I was wrong.

Monday morning came bright and early and Mark took me to the hospital at 6am. I had been nervous about the surgery ever since we decided to go ahead and have it. You see, I had a very large endometrioma on my left ovary. They found it shortly before Mark and I got married but I was hesitant to have it taken out because there was a chance I would lose my ovary along with it. It wasn't really causing me pain, much to the Dr.'s surprise, and they weren't worried about cancer, so I figured there was no harm in leaving it alone because I really didn't want to lose an ovary at my age. Because well, it seemed like a big deal, losing an ovary in prime child bearing age. Unfortunately it did start causing me problems this last year and we found out there were risks involved with getting pregnant having that large of a cyst sitting there. Anyways, after a lot of praying we decided it was best to go ahead and get it taken out. I felt sure about the decision but still nervous about the surgery just because I've always had an intense fear of being put under anesthesia! My whole life I've considered that to be the scariest thing ever! I just didn't (and still don't) like the thought of being that out of touch/out of control. It's one of the only things that literally made me freak out if I thought about it. Needless to say, I had to do alot of praying. And Monday morning as we checked in at the hospital, I was as calm as could be. My blood pressure was normal, which surprised me, because it always jumps up when I'm nervous at the Dr's office. But you know what? I shouldn't have been surprised. I had been praying for peace and assurance and God is ever faithful, isn't He? I don't know why I get surprised when He reveals His presence. We also did a lot of praying that my ovary would be able to be saved, but also that if it couldn't, we would be at peace with what ever had to happen.

After the surgery, while I was still coming out of anesthesia (which wasn't as scary as I thought it would be) Mark told me they did in fact have to take my ovary. Mark said I cried when he told me - I'm not 100% clear on that memory thanks to the drugs I was on, but I do remember being in pain.

And this pain continued. Monday, Tuesday and into Wednesday I was hurting. I was only comfortable laying on my back. Any movement requiring my abdominals to work just about put me to tears. And also, in an unexpected turn of events, the government shut down this week which meant Mark was furloughed. Are we happy about this? Nope. But was I glad he was home to take care of me when we hadn't planned for him to be? Absolutely. I would've been in trouble with out him. I did finally return to work on Thursday an Friday but it was hard. I struggled for sure. I couldn't believe how naive I had been about this procedure. But I made it through.

The pain is lessening during the day now and I was finally able to sleep on my side last night! Woohoo!  But now I am just feeling frustrated. I am ready to feel better and be 100%. Tomorrow I was supposed to run/walk a 1/2 marathon with a good friend, its her first 1/2! So I am super disappointed that I won't be able to do it with her. I went shopping with my mom and sisters tonight and had to take severalrest breaks thanks to pain. Once again, I over estimated my ability to recover from having a small organ removed from my body.

This experience has been humbling; the 3 little scars on my abdomen serving as a reminder that I can in fact be knocked down, despite my mental resolve to stay on my feet. And that maybe I should listen to my Dr.'s and family members when they tell me that planning to run/walk a half marathon only 6 days after a surgery is a bad idea. haha

So what next?

I have a follow up with my Dr this Tuesday to go over pathology results, (just to make sure the cyst was in fact benign like they think it is) talk about recovery and also discuss fertility. I still have one good ovary though, so from what she told me in pre-surgery appointments we shouldn't have an issue trying to start a family. Which is something we are thankful for.

I'm praying next week finds my body healing faster than it did this week, but if not, I pray that I have patience with my body. I am eager to get back into my housework routine, workout routine and just feeling 100% again!

Deep Cleaning

I spent the day Saturday cleaning the house because I knew I would be out of commission for a few days after my surgery (which happened yesterday) and I'm not very good at relaxing if my house feels messy.

I did the usual cleaning, you know the vacuuming, dusting, laundry, sweeping, mopping, bathroom cleaning, etc. but as I was doing all of that I started seeing other things that needed attention that I had been neglecting for the past few months. And of course once I saw it, I couldn't ignore it! For example...

The light fixtures on our ceiling fan were dusty, so I took all the globes down to clean..

I was having a hard time getting the lint off of the dyer vent so I had to wash that off (after the laundry was finished of course.)

And after I finished all the vacuuming, I took apart my Dyson and cleaned out the filters and canister. We've had the Dyson for over a year and I've never cleaned it out. It was disgusting! The bottom brush was all tangled up with hair and strings/fuzz from Piper's toys, and Piper hair was all over the filter...Talk about gross! 

Since I was completely appalled at how dirty I had let things get, I decided to make myself a monthly "Deep Cleaning" Checklist. That way I won't gag the next time I go to clean out my vacuum cleaners!

What do you think? 

Is there anything you would add to this deep cleaning checklist?

Any of these items you clean out more than just once a month?