It's now a few days since Aug 23rd, the day that Kerry and myself COMPLETED our first Marathon. Has it sunk in yet?? Are we still floating on that cloud?? I must say the view from this cloud is pretty darn good - "I am a Marathoner" - I think those words are beginning to sink in.
So where do I start and how to do I share with you this amazing day. I know you will think us crazy BUT it was the most wonderful, enjoyable run of our lives - it was like your wedding day when you just can't stop smiling!
Its was such a buzz to enjoy the notoriety that comes on the day - "Oh, they are running the Marathon." Our goal was to Finish the Marathon, our plan was to enjoy, stay relaxed, to remember, its just one foot in front of the other with the next step being the most important AND why ? because we could!
We knew before the day that it was going to be exceptionally hot so we took action to prepare before hand- this paid off big time! Gadget Girl came to the rescue - we borrowed her gel neck ties- pure heaven! Thanks, Marian! Each water station was manned by a different school group. Each station had their own theme - Vikings, Greece Goddesses, Cats - the Musical. These high school kids were so supportive - it added so much to the experience.
The plan of action that unfolded on the day was as follows -
Get the first ten out of way (because 30k's is doable) so we ran through the 10k mark in one hour. Then we tried to slow our pace, to be conservative since we still had a long way to go.
The next part of the journey, I never looked for the k markers, it didn't matter! "The finish always happens."
Instead we talked, we laughed, we smiled, we thanked marshals, we drank water, we consumed a gel, we posed during the run, for all the official photographers.
It was just so nice to be running somewhere different. Suddenly we had finished the first loop - the 1/2 marathon mark in about 2:14 approx.
Then Kerry and I decided perhaps we should do that 21.1 k loop again - perhaps we missed some of the sights! (I mean this is how silly we were talking!) So on we went, at about 23k we were finally just running with other Marathoners, the half Marathoners had departed to the finish line. So then we began to smile at every fellow Marathoner and absorbed every little wonderful comment a fellow Marathoner gave us.
After completing 1/2 the course, the next plan of attack was to get to 30k.
This milestone came sooner than we expected - perhaps you heard our celebratory cheers from here! At that very moment, I knew we were home and hosed ( perhaps a naïve thought for a first timer but I just knew) That joy and excitement, just carried Kerry and I the rest of the way. After 30k, the next smaller goal was let's get to 38k -this was under the story bridge and on our first time around we saw this "k" marker and said how good will it feel when we see this sign, next time.
We began to have short walk intervals during the second lap which I think helped us to overall maintain our pace. From about 35k, my darling husband ran with us for quite a few k's. It worked well because when we got to 38k's we gave him our water belts, something less to expend our energy on.
At 40k we had to touch the "k" marker sign - I hit it with a little too much enthusiasm and nearly knocked it over - I wish we could have taken a photo here!
Len left us and we had a slight up hill run pass the Goodwill Bridge - a few more short walks, more I think because my voice was gone and I think I'd reached my limit of ignoring my sore throat (yes I got sick the week before the Marathon). Then the Marshalls were directing us to go through the arches and head towards the finish - a friendly Marshall called out "see told you girls you'd do it, its only 600mt's to go."
Suddenly we were stepping out onto Little Stanley Street and there up the road was the finish arch - Oh my goodness, Kerry we're here!
I wanted to walk there and then, only to take in every last moment of our very first marathon (I'm crying typing this). That last 200m was a blur!
Ethan, my youngest son was suddenly running beside us, then we saw the GGG's along the side with their hands out waiting to high five us, Kerry said "I'm going to cry", I looked up at the clock and saw 4:43 ( the number 43 has a very personal significance to myself) so then I start crying. Here we were soaking wet from dousing ourselves with water for the last four hours and the finish line was here.
I had to turn around to find Kerry and then we were over.
I saw Donna standing on the other side of the arch taking photos, I don't even know who I hugged first, Kerry and I were crying and absolutely amazed beyond belief at how enjoyable that whole 42.2k was! Suddenly we were surrounded by our beautiful friends and family - laughing, crying, hugging and posing for more photos!
THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!
WE ARE MARATHONERS!
