I was really hoping that I would have the pictures from the marathon by now so I could post some of them when I did my entry but they have not loaded them onto the site yet so I will have to do the entry without them and then post them as soon as I get them!
I finished the marathon!! Yea! It took me six hours and passing out at mile 20 but I finished! The marathon course was awesome. It was along the water the whole way. 13.1 miles out and 13.1 miles back. The view was gorgeous and the houses along there were spectacular! The weather was the best that we could of asked for!
The week before the marathon I had been having some issues with getting dizzy. I don't mean just a little dizzy, I was getting dizzy to the point where I had to crawl to the bathroom because I couldn't walk and I was nausous from the dizziness so I wanted to get to the bathroom but couldn't walk. I finally went to the dr. on the Monday before the marthon and found out I had a virus in my inner ear. She gave me antivert to control the dizziness but there was nothing she could do for the virus, it just had to run it's course. I was worried about it since the marathon was in five days! By Thursday I was feeling much better, the dizziness had pretty much resolved and I was feeling like I was ready for the marathon. I drove up on Friday afternoon. The pasta party was great, I was impressed with how good the food was. There were over 100 of us from the Michigan Chapter of the Leukemia Society running in the marathon so there were alot of people at the dinner. After dinner we went to the bar in the hotel and I had one beer and then I was off to bed. I laid all my clothes out and pinned my number onto my shirt. I acutally slept quite well that night to my surprise!
When I woke up the next morning I got dressed and went down to the lobby to meet everyone so we could head over to the start of the marathon. Sue and I hung together since we were running the marathon together. I told her I wouldn't leave her behind no matter what and she told me she would stay with me too! Team work at it's finest! We lined up and the gun went off and we were off. Sue is a race walker, she is not a runner and I am a runner not a race walker. So I had to do a slow run while she race walked. She knew she was going to have to do some running in this marathon because we had to finish the race in six hours or the finish line closed up and we wouldn't get a medal. So when she was running I was running a bit faster than normal. We were moving along really well for over half the marathon. At mile 7 a man was sitting in his driveway drinking a cup of coffee and he hollered for us. Sue asked him for a drink of his coffee (jokingly) and I said forget the coffee get me a beer! He said he would give us a beer on our way back. On the way back my sock was all bunched up and I needed to fix it, Sue said we were close to where the man's house that would give us a beer so we made it to his house and he was there. I sat down on the chair and fixed my sock. He acutally went and got us beer. Two of them. Well we opened one and took a sip and Sue took the other beer and put it in her pack that she was wearing around her waist. And we were off again.
Around mile 18 I started feeling dizzy. I did not have my antivert with me and I had not taken it that morning so I was a little worried. At this point the running coach from Team in Training was with us and he was running along beside us. I told him how I felt and he said to let him know if I felt like I was going down. Around mile 20 I knew I was going down. I told them. Sue and him grabbed me and caught me before I fell. I think they wanted to pull me out of the race but there was no way I was going to do that when I had come that far. I explained that I didn't think I was dehydrated, that I had had this ear thing. They decided to let me sit and cool off for a few and take goo (ewww) and drink gatorade. After about 15 minutes I felt fine and we were still on track time wise to finish to get a medal. We did awesome for the rest of the marathon and when we got to the track (the marthon finished on a high school track) Sue pulled that beer out of her pocket! I laughed cuz I had forgot about it. She popped it open and we crossed the finish line together holding the beer. When we crossed she poured it over my head!! LOL! That beer was foamy and warm!
Lots of pictures were taken but I have to wait for them to be sent to me. I can't wait to see them! I will post them as soon as I get them.
We had a victory dinner that evening. Very fun with line dancing and food and drinks. The dj was great! I didn't sleep so well that night, as the pain was beginning to start! I woke up early and took another ice bath and then drove the 3 hour drive home. I didn't do much that day when I got home but hang out at the camper and stretched. I did go for a few short walks with my husband to keep from getting stuck in one position. I felt much better on Monday. Tuesday was back to work and I feel really good now. The only problem that I am having is swelling in my legs. I am not sure how long that will last for but I am hoping it goes away soon cuz it is kinda irritating! Now all's I have left to do is send out all my thank you cards for everyone who helped and then it will be on to the next marathon!!!!!
