finish line euphoria

wow! 26.2 miles! (5:30:37 Time)

What a great and satisfying weekend. I so enjoyed seeing San Diego, visiting with my and Bob's family and yes, running a marathon! Here's a timeline of the Race Day I spent with nearly 18,000 other runners:

3:23am -- Alarm clock goes off and we begin to stir. Race day clothes on, sunscreen applied, and powerbars and bananas in hand for breakfast.

3:50am -- Arrive in hotel lobby where other sleepy teammates are assembling. We munch on breakfast goodies and ponder the sanity of the decisions that brought us here. But we're a smiley bunch.

4:33am -- Bus drops us off at the Start Line area. We find a tree that serves for our team's staging area. The weather is not cold -- I would have liked it to be cold at 4:30 in the morning. The night before, at the Pasta Dinner, they warned us that race day is likely to be significantly hotter than the other marathons in San Diego and they will be taking extra precautions to keep us cool. For a warm weather wimp like me, this is all cause for concern.

5:30am -- Stand in a ridiculously slow line for a "Honey Bucket". Stand in a line at 6:10 that is even more ridiculous and nearly makes me late for starting the race.

6:31am -- Run up to my group, get in Corral #16 with Team and Bob and begin moving towards the Start Line. The crowd is excited!

6:40 -- Cross the Start line and begin to run.

Miles 1-3 -- What fun! My group jostles in the crowd to stay together. We heed the advice to start out slow and easy and follow our run/walk (8min/2min) routine from the beginning. Bob takes off to run his race when we start our first walk. Bye Bob!

Miles 4-8 -- Things are feeling good but MAN, it was muggy! There is also some sunbreak as we run through the downtown area and I am already "glowing" with alarming intensity. I admit to being worried about the heat but otherwise I feel really good. It's a blast to see my family, Christie/Henry, and Bob's family at mile 5 by their hotel. I was supposed to see them at mile 7 too but somehow we miss each other.

Miles 8-12 -- Although I failed to notice the only hill of consequence on this run, I realized it was over when we started running downhill because we had been repeatably warned about this stretch. It feels good because it's downhill but it's almost always at a slant so you have to be careful not to hurt yourself. I feel it in my ankles with my effort to stabilize my balance. I think I missed the hill though cause I was already worried about needing a "Honey Bucket" again. I convince the group to stop where the line isn't too long and I feel so much better after that! It's also during this stretch though where I'm having a hard time keeping the pace of my team "group". The heat is really zapping my energy.

Miles 12-13.1 -- See my family again which is way exciting. I won't see them again till the finish so it's a nice mid-race "boost". I'm feeling better cause there's been a breeze but I'm still struggling to stay with my group. The half-way mark is pretty encouraging.

Miles 13.2-14 -- At one of the water stops (which are CRAZY) I finally lose my "group". It's so easy to get separated and I just can't catch up. Jim (a mentor from my team) and I run together for awhile. I can see the group ahead and for awhile I worry about getting separated. I've prepared myself that it might happen but I didn't figure it would be so early in the run.

BUT -- soon I'm feeling so much better. On my own, I can run my pace and no longer be stressed about speed and keeping together. I still don't hurt anywhere and things are good.

Miles 14-19 -- The cloud-cover has lasted much longer than they thought it might which is a huge blessing to me. The course is really beautiful in this stretch.

** Course Support, TNT and Bands -- In my opinion, the course was really well staffed and supported with volunteers handing out water, Powerade, salt and any number of things. The Team in Training (TNT) coaches, staff and volunteer well-wishers are AMAZING! My name was written on the front of my jersey and I literally had probably hundreds of people yell out "way to go Lynn!" - "you're looking good Lynn!" and so on throughout the entire run. They had a particularly dense concentration of TNT people at mile 19 and I got a little choked up -- it was really touching and a great time to have that lift in spirits. Sure, 19 miles is long way to have run but 7.2 miles is still a long way to go. The bands throughout the course are also really fun. There have a good variety of music and the runners were really into it. My favorite band was "Safety Orange" or "Orange Safety" but I enjoyed them all. It's a good thing it's Rock though cause "Classical Music Marathon" would really suck (I don't care how into classical music you are -- it would still suck).

Miles 20-23 -- This is where I could finally believe it was all going to happen. Still no injuries and even though body parts are getting sore, nothing is wrong or troubling. Although hot (I dumped A LOT of water on my head that day) the cloud cover has only recently left to let the sun through. I also see Coach Dan around Mile 23. He's been able to check in with most everyone and I can honestly tell him I'm doing great and happy. He leaves me to run further back.

Miles 24-25 -- It's so close I can practically taste it. I hold to my 8min run/2min walk formula as the ultimate recipe for success -- if I can just keeping doing it, I will get to the finish line. This is when all the mental and physical training pays off -- I know that I'm prepared and able to complete this run.

I catch up with Pete around Mile 24. His knee is acting up again so he's taking it slower. But he's okay and I run on.

The run is going in slow motion now. I know that I'm so near the finish but it still takes time to cover the distance. You can also tell that the TNT coaches working down the course are encouraging you and also assessing you for distress. I feel like any one of the them would have run with me and helped me in any way if I'd needed it.

Miles 25.5-26.2 -- Running onto the Marine base felt pretty freaking awesome and soon everyone was screaming, "just half a mile to go!" You could also now hear the announcer at the finish line cheering people in (I heard him broadcast a successful marriage proposal) by name. Marines are in the crowd too being supportive. Finally I turned a corner and could see the finish line. I didn't sprint but picked up my pace and ran as strong as I could towards the finish. Miraculously, I heard and then saw my family screaming for me at the end. I was able to wave and smile in their direction (my dad has video footage) just before I cross the line.

Post Race -- There was a maze of things to get through before I could find my family. I had my picture taken, got free slippers, fruit and yogurt, and an icy washcloth which I promptly draped on my head, before I was able to find the folks. Hugs all around. I found out that Bob had had some trouble with cramps in his calves in the second half but was otherwise okay. Pete arrived a few minutes later. The rest of my team made it in okay too. Although I skipped the free beer, I talked a stern looking Marine into letting me back into the no re-entry area when I realized I'd missed getting my completion medal. But I don't think the Marines are any match for a first-time marathon runner that has finished and he waved me in. Pete and I checked into the TNT booth so they'd know we made it, got a cute "26.2" pin and found Coach Dan and the others. My body starts to freeze up a little but I consume food, stretch, sit and/or move around. It's nice to have an entourage taking care of you.

The folks split off and Pete, Bob and I hobble over to the shuttle buses. Luckily we don't have to wait long and the air-conditioned bus feels wonderful. Standing up and getting off the bus isn't even as bad as we fear. Back in the hotel, we take ice baths that make you yell for the first few minutes (I indulged in ordering room-service hot chocolate in order to deal with the ice bath) but then feels illogically wonderful. As Dan says, the ice bath kinds of glues you back together and makes recovery easier. We rest (but don't sleep) for an hour or two and later meet up with everyone for a excellent and well-deserved Italian dinner.

My biggest physical complaints have to do with sunburns on my shoulders and chafing caused by running in drenched clothing for over 5 hours. Although bodily achey, in some ways I am much better off than my 20 mile training run where I had a lot of hip/knee pain.

So overall I rate it an excellent experience! I finished smiling and happy. I don't know if I will ever run a full marathon again but I will absolutely do half-marathons to keep it up.

Family and friends got some great pictures of us. I'll post some as soon as I can!

Such a long post but I'll make it a little longer and thank everyone for the support throughout this entire process. It meant so much! Thanks to Team in Training and my teammates for an unforgettable journey. Thanks to Bob and Pete for doing it too! Thanks to my parents for coming out and to Bob's family for folding me into the "Team Deeken" cheering section.

Rock 'n' Roll!!!

let's do it!

I head out tomorrow morning. Today is about packing and running around to get every last thing done. In a couple minutes I'm going out for my last "little run" before the big event.

Not getting nervous yet, just ready to go do it. I'm as ready as I'm going to be -- it's showtime!

Thanks for all the well-wishes. Thanks for all the financial support. I made my fundraising goal of $3800!!! I'll be thinking of everyone over the course of 26.2 miles on Sunday......