HFM Maritime Marathon
June 22, 2014
Thankfully this small race allows for morning packet pick-up. We even get there early enough to make it into the Maniac photo~a rarity for us!! It is nice to see so many happy runners ready to take on the challenge!! It truly is a challenge for me today. I feel the pain from the beginning. I start out with a twelve minute pace and I think that is being generous. It is probably closer to fourteen minute miles. Running is the last thing I want to do. My joints are screaming at me...it isn't soreness or fatigue...it is ligament and tendon type pain. It will be a "suck it up buttercup" kind of day!! The thing that really gets me through this particular race is the other runners.
My first few miles are about enduring. I try to convince my body that it is not so bad, but it is passionately disagreeing with my mind. It isn't until I strike up a conversation with a young girl who reminds me of my daughter that the running gets more tolerable. She is running her very first marathon. Her mother runs marathons all the time, but she wants to do her first one on her own. We talk for about five miles and it helps the time pass. I get the chance to see her mother on the sidelines cheering for her. I can't even image myself wanting to run a marathon at seventeen let alone train for it and actually do it! She tells me about losing her brother and how hard it is for her family. She is very brave and strong. Running has a way of helping us run through our pain, no matter what kind of pain we are experiencing. There is something very healing in running.
I decide, or rather my body decides, that today's run is going to be just to finish, hopefully in under five hours. I do whatever I can to distract myself and take lots of pictures of things along the course. I need to keep moving until I see that finish line.
When I finally make it to the turnaround, another runner starts talking to me. He is from the area and a prolific runner who distracts me for another five miles. My final runner friend, who I spend the most miles with, is a father of five and soon to be six. He and his wife are about to have another baby. He does not train much due to his busy life, so we struggle along together. The closer I get to the finish, the faster my pace gets in order to be done. The people of Wisconsin are beyond nice. They have a cute distinctive dialect that is sweet sounding with a welcoming quality.
The finish is a downhill, and I run as fast as I can to cross the finish line in 4:42:42!! I am happy to see my husband come charging down the final stretch as well. We spend some time in the picnic type finish area eating burgers and hot dogs. They have plenty of food for runners to refuel. It is a challenging journey to run all three marathons in nine days. We are thankful we are able to accomplish what we set out to do. We will definitely continue running doubles, but in the future, we will fly home in between weekends. As a slow learner I seem to need to learn things the hard way through trial and error.
Maybe by the time we get to number fifty, we will have it figured out, but I seriously doubt it!! The best part of the trip is coming home. It means a quick visit with our daughter who still thinks we are slightly crazy or maybe even the full crazy. It is all the same isn't it??
It is always good to be back in California with our feet in the sand. Maybe, we will start losing a few pounds and eating better or maybe not! My husband wants to stop at Mac's for fish and chips before we head for home. Dieting is not as much fun!! It leads to so much false hope...
Kitty greets us with the same expression as our daughter!! She knows we are the full crazy too!!
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