Running legend, Steve Prefontaine, once said, “A lot of people\u00a0run to see who is fastest.\u00a0 I run to see who has the most guts.”<\/p>\n
Today I ran a marathon. \u00a0All by myself.\u00a0 On a Monday.\u00a0 With a high temp of 25 degrees.\u00a0 Which means that it actually felt like it was in the teens.<\/p>\n
This was my 10th marathon, but what made it different than my first 9 was that there was no fanfare.\u00a0 There was no Expo. No packet pick up.\u00a0 No Race t-shirt.\u00a0 No chip time.\u00a0 No start corrals.\u00a0 No official course map.\u00a0 No one standing along the course cheering and clapping.\u00a0 No funny signs of encouragement to read along the way.\u00a0 No aid stations.\u00a0 There were no other runners running the course with me.\u00a0 It was just me, making up the route as I went along.<\/p>\n
If you read my last post, you know that I was supposed to run a trail marathon on Saturday.\u00a0 But the Tecumseh trail marathon, along with several other larger, better known races around the country, was cancelled due to inclement weather.\u00a0 If you read that post, you would also know that my friend Derrick told me to go run it on my own.\u00a0 So that’s exactly what I did.<\/p>\n
I told almost no one that I was going to do this because I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen.<\/p>\n
Last night I carb loaded with Katrina.\u00a0 We ate pizza and left over chocolate ice cream cake from Lindsey Farrell’s birthday dinner, while we watched the movie The Holiday.\u00a0 Then I drove home, climbed into my bed and didn’t move until about 7:30 this morning.<\/p>\n
When I got up, the plan was already formed in my head.\u00a0 Since there was no official start time, I slowly got dressed in my warmest winter running gear while I brushed my teeth.\u00a0 I made my way to the kitchen for a bagel and peanut butter with my coffee.\u00a0 I took my time eating breakfast as I contemplated what I was about to do.\u00a0 Eventually, I hopped in the car and drove over to Castlewood.\u00a0 There was only one other car in the third parking lot on the right when I pulled in to our crew\u2019s usual meeting spot.\u00a0 But I knew everyone else was either working or tending to kids or doing their typical Monday morning routine that didn\u2019t involve a Castlewood run since they had all been there the day before.\u00a0 I stayed in the heat as long as possible while I gathered my necessary items.\u00a0 Gu, ipod, Garmin. I filled my water bottle.\u00a0 I was beginning to really question my sanity since what I was about to do seemed somewhat crazy.\u00a0 Run 26 miles by myself in the freezing cold?\u00a0 I don\u2019t actually have to do this.\u00a0 I grabbed my trail shoes from the back seat and began to lace up when another car pulled into the lot.\u00a0 I recognized Rosie\u2019s car immediately and we both waved.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t have been happier to see anyone else!\u00a0 Rosie\u2019s arrival was perfect because, you see, this is a girl who would run Castlewood marathons as training runs for the Mark Twain 100.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, she ran 100 miles at one time.\u00a0 That is fantastically, awesomely insane!\u00a0 And I love it.\u00a0 Even better than Rosie\u2019s encouragement that I could accomplish what I was about to set out for, was the fact that we were both in our matching purple and neon Fleet Feet wind blockers that we got at the staff Christmas party last year.\u00a0 Rosie set off up Lone Wolf hill and I continued my preparations.<\/p>\n
Finally, I was ready to go.\u00a0 I turned on my ipod, locked the car and hit start on the Garmin.\u00a0 Well, here goes nothin\u2026<\/p>\n
I started out by running along the road in the snow toward the River Scene trail, under the train tracks and made a left to the start of the trail.\u00a0 I followed River Scene over to Cedar Bluff, went through the tunnel and did the 2ish mile loop through the woods.\u00a0 Once I came back through the tunnel, I jumped on the Al Foster trail and followed it all the way past the mini train depot to the turn around point.\u00a0 That was somewhere around Mile 10 and I must have been slightly delirious from the cold, or I was trying to keep my face from freezing, since I was singing Rihanna\u2019s Rude Boy as I passed a sweet old couple. \u00a0They said Good Morning, hopefully they weren\u2019t offended by the lyrics.\u00a0 I started back down Al Foster, but when I got to the parking lot where I would usually turn left, I stayed right to continue along next to the river.\u00a0 That eventually hooked me into familiar territory which I stuck with all the way back along the river and to the car for a refueling session. \u00a0Rosie\u2019s car was no longer in the parking lot.\u00a0 18 miles down, 8 more to go\u2026<\/p>\n
It was a welcome 5 minute break.\u00a0 Despite the couple of salted caramel Gu\u2019s I had taken at various points on the course, my stomach had started growling a few miles back.\u00a0 I jumped in the car, checked my phone, ate a Peanut Butter and Jelly flavored Bonk Breaker, refilled my water bottle, restocked my Gu and already my body temperature was starting to plummet.\u00a0 I knew I had to get back out there and stay warm or I was a goner.\u00a0 I made sure I had everything I needed, locked the car up again and restarted the Garmin.<\/p>\n
This time I went up Lone Wolf hill, which was a tough climb on tired legs, but it got me warmed back up quickly which I needed.\u00a0 Once I was at the top, I ran along the bluff overlooking the River, then came down the switchbacks that brought me to the creek.\u00a0 With 6 miles still to go, I didn\u2019t really feel like dealing with wet shoes in 20 degrees, so I avoided the creek crossing and went back to Grotpeter so I could get to the other side.\u00a0 I ran over to Cardiac Hill wondering how I was really going to make that climb.\u00a0 But I crossed the road and started up the aptly named hill. I slowed to a walk about a third of the way up to conserve energy.\u00a0 At some point it makes just as much sense to slow down and walk the tough hills in order\u00a0to have enough left to carry on when you get to the summit.\u00a0 Kind of profound, huh?<\/p>\n
The last few miles are kind of a blur. \u00a0At mile 21, I ate my last Gu, mostly just to give myself something else to think about for a minute.\u00a0 At mile 22, I was more than ready for it to be over.\u00a0 I knew I couldn\u2019t just walk the rest though because I\u2019d freeze out there. \u00a0So I kept putting one foot in front of the other, like every other marathon I have ever done.<\/p>\n
Once I came out of the woods, I was near the parking lot.\u00a0 I had to sort of make up where I was going for a stretch, back and forth through the snow to get the last bit in. \u00a0I finally made one last trip under the train tracks out to the river.\u00a0 With only a mile left I had to slow to a walk as a family of deer was blocking the trail. I counted 9 of them.\u00a0 10 feet in front of me.\u00a0 Several of them ran off, but two of them stood where they were and watched me pass.\u00a0 I smiled at my cheering section.<\/p>\n
I picked up the pace again.\u00a0 And finally started back to the car.\u00a0 I was exuberant at the thought of being done.\u00a0 Even though it was weird that I was about to finish a marathon with no official time.\u00a0 No photographers.\u00a0 No real finish line to cross.\u00a0 No crowd of people lining the shoot with shouts of excitement. \u00a0\u00a0No medals. No fanfare.\u00a0 No glory.<\/p>\n
I had less than half a mile when I noticed a car.\u00a0 Mark, one of only 3 people who knew I was out there, had come to cheer me into the finish.\u00a0 I ran past him to go the last .3 miles.\u00a0 And I finally looped back around.\u00a0 I had gone a little farther than I needed but that usually happens in races of considerable distance because unless you cut the tangents perfectly you end up going slightly out of your way.<\/p>\n
I stopped running when I hit the pavement of the parking lot.\u00a0 Mark jumped out of his car to greet me. \u00a0It was surreal.\u00a0 I was tired.<\/p>\n
26.33 miles of trails in 4 hours and 41 minutes. \u00a0My run took me through familiar parts of the park and new areas to explore.\u00a0 I was the fastest one on the course today.\u00a0 I won the race. But I wasn\u2019t setting any land speed records, that\u2019s for sure.\u00a0 This run wasn\u2019t really about that though.\u00a0 Like \u201cPre\u201d said, I wasn\u2019t running to see who was fastest; I was running to see who had the most guts.<\/p>\n
I have absolutely no proof that I ran all 26.33 of those miles today.\u00a0 Who isn\u2019t to think I may have driven around in my car for part of that time to make my Garmin read those numbers?\u00a0 I saw no more than 10 people while I was running and I don\u2019t know a single one of them. I am the only person who truly knows without a doubt that I did it.\u00a0 I proved to myself today that I\u2019ve got guts.\u00a0 And that\u2019s really all the glory I will ever need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Running legend, Steve Prefontaine, once said, “A lot of people\u00a0run to see who is fastest.\u00a0 I run to see who has the most guts.” Today I ran a marathon. \u00a0All by myself.\u00a0 On a Monday.\u00a0 With a high temp of 25 degrees.\u00a0 Which means that it actually felt like it was in the teens. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-99","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}