Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 6

At the end of the loop is a hill. Isn't that mean?

I couldn't do it. I walked it, promising myself I would run after it. Some TNT coach from Pennsylvania looked concerned and asked me if I was okay. I was like "Yeah. I just think it's mean that they put this hill here." And the guy next to me was like "Are you kidding? She's been kicking ass these last miles. I think she only stopped to walk it to make me feel better." I was like "Heh heh. Not quite." The coach looked placated and told us to stick together.

I started running again and saw...Coach Sandy! She asked how I felt and I told her crappy. But I said it with a smile on my face and told her I expected to feel crappy because it was a crappy course. See, I knew at this point that it was flat, which made me happy and gave me a little more energy. Also, my Garmin had died which made me SO HAPPY because I just kept seeing that "average pace" number go up and up which was discouraging. Now I was just running to finish it. Sandy was funny and was telling me that if I PRed here (which I thought I may be able to do) it would be amazing and not like if I PRed somewhere easy like Chicago :)

Sandy dropped me off at Coach Felicia, who ran with me for the next half mile. She kept telling me I was doing great for this course and that I was one of the first people on the team to come through. She dropped me off at Coach Mike.

Coach Mike was mostly concerned about me being injured, which I assured him I wasn't. He told me that Ramon was in the last mile and would run in with me.

I was SO HAPPY to see Ramon. He started running in with me and Bill joined me on the other side. He thought that was funny and said Bill was going to throw up if he kept running with me. Ramon asked me how far off I was from my PR and I said "A lot." And he asked how much 'a lot' was. I said "I don't know...2 or 3 minutes?" He was incredulous. "2 or 3 minutes?! 2 or 3 minutes?! Are you a crazy person? On this course? 2 or 3 minutes?! That is like, amazing!" He ran in with me the ENTIRE MILE, coaching me the whole time.

He kept picking up the pace on me (which I know he did on purpose) and I was so glad. It hurt a lot to speed up, but I was doing it and I knew I would be grateful at the end when I saw my time. He also kept pointing to little dips and cracks in the pavement as he was talking to me, which, for some reason, I found hilarious.

At some point, he was like "Look straight ahead. That is the finish line." I was like "Oh, thank GOD!" THAT was the point that I knew I would finish. I was never so happy to see a finish line. He offered some words of encouragement and told me to push it towards the finish line, which I did.

The clock overhead read 4:23, which meant that I came in under 4:22, which meant that I PRed. Whoo-hoo! (My official time was 4:20, a 2 minute PR!)

I was soooooooo happy to see those tuxedoed firemen handing out Tiffany's necklaces. For once in my life I took my time to go through the finisher's chute because I felt like I'd earned it.

A well-deserved finisher's medal from Tiffany's

Me, in the finisher's tent with my Tiffany's necklace

The coveted finisher's necklace

That night, we went out for the "Misbehaving Party". I had a lot of fun, of course. But the funniest thing was when Ramon asked me how far I was off of my PR. I was like "Actually, I PRed...by two minutes."
His response? "You asshole!" Then he went on to explain to my friends, "I see her at the end and she tells me she is way off her PR, then I find out she is 2 or 3 minutes off her PR, then she PRs. What an asshole." (It is much funnier if you read it in Ramon's Spanish accent and with his dramatic emphasis.)

Very cool marathon. Toughest marathon ever. But I have never felt so satisfied after finishing a marathon.

Rebecca, Lauren and Me at the Misbehaving Party