| Map |
|---|
Click here for Part 1 of this weekend...
We got to the hotel and Glen and I went out to Check in. As the person at check in was awesome at Nebraska, this person was the polar opposite. Clearly, she didn't want to be there.
Still, checked in and went to the room to relax. Glen and Karen went to Olive Garden for dinner. Nice. I cannot do that.
I immediatly started the wash and relaxed at the same time.
Next morning, once again a 6am start. Went with Karen and Glen again. They really are awesome. Now, Glen mentioned to me that he's done this race 3 times already and that they always have ice cream at the end so I was looking forward to that. Come back to that later. Meanwhile, indoor plumbing again!!! Yay...
It was weird. When we landed on Friday in Nebraska, the temperature was 107. Saturday was in the 70s. Here the temperature was 59. I wore a long sleeve and my marathon Maniac singlet on top. I knew that I would NOT need to take the long sleeve off.
This race had so much more people than Nebraska did. Funny how things work like that.
Started. By myself but I make friends. I'm with some people. One of them was doing her first Marathon. I don't remember her name. All is good so far. Two guys get all pissed since there were 2 port-a-potties at an aid-station and they were both full. They got all pissed and started cursing. Not sure what they were expecting here. Did they really expect 300 port-a-potties? A little later, there was indoor-plumbing available.
We ran to a park and it was beautiful but I didn't appreciate the ups and downs and turns we took. I was talking to someone later and they told me that the reason we did that was so that we can see the falls. The falls as in Sioux Falls... I guess it was low tide or low water season as there were a lot of rocks and little water to go with it from my vantage point. Truly, I didn't even realize that that was where we were.
The halfers must have started since we started getting passed by the fast halfers. Nice...
On/Off I was with people. My foot is injured. I have a Plantar Plate Injury and I ran a marathon yesterday. Yesterday was flat. Today was another marathon and some hills. I let new friends go. That's ok. Hopefully, I'll make others.
I team up with a veterinarian. Nice guy. We ran together a little before I let him go too. Hopefully, I'm not going to be alone the whole time but I don't care. It's another state... Keep your eye on the prize and all that.
Rachel Lofland catches up to me and we work together. She's awesome. She's a Marathon Maniac. She's doing Ironman Maryland (not her first). In October, she's doing her first Back 2 Back (NH/ME) which I've done...
Not sure how long she will stay with me but I will take it. We run throught a nice park. We run through a nice neighborhood and they have some sort of alchol. It's a hard seltzer or something. I don't know but I know she's happy. We continue.
Around mile 17, they put us on a boring section near some body of water. There's no shade and it's boring. That's ok. We are together. On this section, I roll up my sleeves and leave them up for good. Boring... Still, we be moving and talking.
Somewhere around 19, we come up on Brandi Landis. She doesn't look good. She's either crying or about to cry. Apparently she's nausious. Real bad. I tell her to just vomit it out. She's surprised. Rachel gives her a peppermint and tell her to shove her finger in her mouth if she needs to. We ask her if she needs anything else and she says no and thanks us. We leave her. Still don't like this section. Where the hell is the turn around anyway?
She catches up to us. She threw up and is feeling better now. We encourage her to stay with us. We cross the water and at mile 21 and now it's time to head back.
She's not sure she can finish. I remind her that she's got less than 5 miles and about 2.5 hours to go. She stays with us. We joke around and talk and she's shocked. Every step forward, is one less step to take. She's got 5 kids and we see them here and there on the course. It's her first marathon and she can't look weak etc... Mommy has to finish and finish strong.
We continue. Miles are counting down. Seems like forever.
I sometimes need to be the bad guy to get them moving but it's ok.
Finally back to the stadium. Unneccessary stretches here and there. Finally on to the track. We go on the track. Guy comes up behind us. He's going nice and easy. All of us are gonna finish and then he takes off. I chase but he got me. If I knew that he would pull that... I almost had him but he got me.
Hugs and pictures and chill. I wait for Karen and Glen. They mentioned another ride back to the hotel since it's so close anyway. I got no where to go so I wait. Glen finishes. He's upset that there's no ice cream... I'm a little upset too I guess.
By the way, while Karen is on the third round of the 50 states, Glen is on his 7th. He already told me that his plan is to complete 10 rounds before his 60th birthday (3 years) but he has now changed the plan slightly. He will not run races if they do not help him accomplish that. Like me, he has some states that have too many races. I think I have about 60 just in NY... Karen is shocked to hear this but we shall see.
At the hotel, I order food and shower. Once the food gets there, I eat while doing the wash.
The next day, I wake up early and am shocked to hear that there are NO (ZERO!) uber drivers available at night. Luckily, old school me, I call the front desk and get the number for a local taxi. I get picked up an hour later than I wanted but the airport is close by so that's good. I'm starving and have 2 flights to catch and so I get food. Oh. My God!!! Vegetable omlet and toast and hashbrown and so delicious.
No plane issues and back in NYC. Nice!
Click here for Part 1 of this weekend...
