Big Scary Things Made Small

So many people have encouraged me to keep blogging, so here is my semi-annual post! My main blogging issue is time. But after a big life event I decided it was time to share again.

As all of my facebook friends know (who are probably the only ones reading this),I just completed my first marathon on June 2,2013. Just as a refresher, I am a 56 yr old female and have been running for 32 yrs this fall. I have run consistantly about 25-30 miles a week almost all of those yrs.
Why have I never run a marathon before you ask? Life just got in the way.I guess I never really gave it a lot of thought as my daily running was always a personal escape.
After 1.5 yrs of achilles hell,finally the stars aligned this spring and I just dove in head first and registered for my first full marathon.
I am not sure why people read other people's race reports-but here goes!
My training runs had not been great -I had done 14,15,18,20.5,15,20.5.  In the last 4 of them I had had severe gastro distress before each run.So I reasoned that if that didn't happen race day I would be far ahead of the game.And it didn't!!
I have decided the single biggest factor that got me to the finish was reading and studying all of my ultra friends race reports,especially VanessaRuns. Vanessa taught me many things-too many to name-you just need to follow her blog. However,I learned from her to break down the marathon into increments.Aide station to aide mentality. Altho this may have made me slower, it definitely got me to the finish line! Also, in this  same vein, to ENJOY the race.EVERY MOMENT.Normally I am all focus to finish,not remembering a darn thing. I did not take pictures,but here are some of what I do remember-
The start: an old old lady -older than me,no make that 2 old ladies.They may have been doing the 1/2, but they still motivated me.The so friendly girl in her 30's and co-worker who chatted easily for the start miles.I saw her after her 1/2 running to greet others finishing the full.
The 5 HRPace Group: made up of a motley crew of all ages and body types.There was a chubby girl in 20's who said this was her fourth marathon!The obnoxious 51 yr old loud bragging pacer who bragged for 20 of the miles I could hear him about how much he drank and that this was 300plus marathons for him. The studly 22 yr old male yoga teacher who had done only 4 miles on his long run ( he was a track runner) and this was his first marathon.Me. And as we ran we picked up more.I remember that at one time there were at least 4 of us in this group that this was our first marathon.So that was encouraging!
No-I did not stay with the pace group-but I digress.
I was talking about memories. It was a beautiful course.
first half:The first half ran north through Robbinsdale,Mn.The people were all out and so supportive. They were on the course at 6:30 am cheering us on and saying "welcome to Robbinsdale!" I felt like the queen of England! Beautiful quaint cottage style homes with a small town atmosphere.Weather was gorgeous -overcast and 50's. As we neared the 1/2 mark, we curved south toward Minneapolis (which by the way is a beautiful city to run in), we ended up at the Mississippi River and ran over the river past gorgeous falls by the power company. I remember really noticing how beautiful the river looked. The wind hit our faces as we turned west again but it was refreshing!
Then as we wound back through the city streets on the right there was a sculpture garden.I really had the urge to stop and just take that all in -but oh wait-I am in a race! That sculpture garden was interesting!
I had started the race with a handheld full of Hammer Sustained Energy (which I had never tired before-I know ,I know-a no no),but acually my stomach did fine with it. I wasn't too worried about hydration or electrolytes for the first 1/2 as I also had Nuun tablets on me.So the game plan was to  drink thru the SE and add Nuun and drink water at the water stops. The whole nutrition thing is still fogging my brain.
The race markings always jump up and down and say you are almost at the half!! Well not really-one more hill ,2 more curves and another hill-and FINALLY the 1/2 was in sight. I was feeling great but getting a little warm. I was a little ahead of my pace group mostly because I was sooooooooooo aggravated at listening to the pacer,altho at least he was upbeat and friendly.So I decided to stop after the 1/2 at the water station and take my t-shirt off and get my sunglasses out and eat Iris and Josh's dehydrated bananas. This was a great strategy but as I was doing it the pace group blew right past me. No problem- I thought-I will just catch up. I ran up to the water station grabbed a drink and proceeded to catch them. Now I forgot to mention that altho I am not at all fast , the pace we ran the first half at was tortureously slow.....I knew I had to stay slow but I could hardly run THAT slow! So after the 1/2 when I decided to catch up I thought -ok-I will kick the cobwebs out a little. After all I had sprinted at mile 19-20 during my last long run.
MISTAKE #1 and lesson learned and noted.
I really knew better but my legs were just edgy-actually my whole body.
I ran fasstttttttt-ok it felt fast-compared to where I had been ( I don't wear a garmin or watch at all).
It felt SOOOOOOOOOOO great to stretch my legs.I still kept a short stride but just let go for awhile.
Miles 14-18 felt fantabulous-I was cruisin-caught up to my buddies and chatted awhile. Even Mr Obnoxious put his arm around me and proceeded to tell me more of his life story....blaha blah ablah

Well 1/2 way into mile 18 I slowed down and then slowed down some more...I did enjoy the scenery.Now we were running the west bank of the Mississippi and I was noting landmarks I had seen on the map; including some giant Swedish celebration at some large building .Swedish Days (we are in Minnesota-yah,you betcha)
So I ran past them and slowed some more. I was well behind the pace group now and I realized I didn't really care a lot. I walked a little (yes I did say walked).Then I realized we were almost at the turn around (19.55was the turn around).At the turn around I found it amusing that there were only 6miles left! So I forced myself to run thru the turn around.I felt a few quirky sensations in my calves but ignored them.
As we neared mile 20 "IT " happened.....GRRRRRRRR      
The EVIL twin Mr Achilles reared his ugly head.NOOOOOOOOOOO-I was not ABOUT to let him participate.It was just a very slight twinge-nothing big,nothing major.Just letting me know he was still there.
However I did the only rational mature thing I could do given our past history together.I opted for  walking for awhile.I decided at this point I would not make under 5hrs anyway and that maybe Jeff Gallup and I were meant to mind melt at the same marathon time. Well this was actually probably the only thing I should have done. I was feeling good otherwise.My energy level wasn't too bad. Of course once I started walking that helped me regroup a lot. I was walking for maybe a mile and I heard a voice- " oh no -start running-I am talking to you !" It was a young girl from my pace group who was 22 and it was her first marathon too. So she picked me up and carried me for another mile.
We had been tossing around catching the pace group but both decided-hey-this is our own race anyway!At some point in here I also ran with a young stocky redhead girl that was running really strong.Her enthusiasm was contagious and I embraced the wave.The redhead said "anybody can run another 6miles!So I ran on-
After about a mile I told her I needed to walk a bit. Actually this is where the calf cramping began. Now I had read everything known to man on hydration, hypotantremia,electrolytes so I was well aware of all the things that could go wrong.I even had bought some electrolyte capsules as a back up. Did I take too little Nuun-too much ,not enough plain water???? Oh what the heck -it is what it is- Sally-suck it up.So I walked and walked and walked......and you get the picture. As I walked I realized there were several people wo had passed me running at a very slow limp and they were running but not moving much faster than me! So I thought -ok- save the achilles for another day-don't break yourself. So I walked more.
I was determined however to RUN over the finish line no matter what else happened.
AND I had one more trick up my sleeve, altho I had never practiced it on my long runs before.
As I walked I noticed how absolutely gorgeous it was.A splendid day.Perfect weather,now sunny and 60's. We were on a street path in the woods along the river.Tons of other people out biking and running.It was the perfect day I gazed up into the woods and into the river and breathed deeply ,just taking it all in.A stroll in the park....ok pick it up ... a fast stroll in the park.I actually was enjoying my surroundings so much I was shocked to see it was mile 24!!! I looked at the pavement.It was jet black drinkinig in the sunshine just as I was. Should I? I walked a little more ,wondering if I would get burned.All of the sudden we were at mile 25-hey Sally what are you waiting for!!

I whipped off my shoes and started running. My feet were in absolute HEAVEN!! They were screaming WHY didn't you do this sooner,ya dope??? I had done at least 6miles barefoot(longest bf) so far this spring ,but with all of our wet cold weather,my soles hadn't really gotten the barefoot acclimation they needed-so I really was fearful of burning my soles on the hot pavement.

HEAVEN.......Barefoot ,barefoot barefoot......EVERYpart of my body thanked me. My feet and legs realigned and my calves relaxed.Sooner next time sooner. Just as I was really getting into it I saw waving hands and heard "Sally" . My son in law Corey was hollering at me!! There they all were.
I almost cried- 2out of 3 of my children,spouses and grandchildren. I had really hoped they would come.I have never had ANYone at the finish line for me before and had run all my races alone. (I will admit to sufficiently guilt tripping them-but a mother can never be sure)
I was SO excited to see them!! I ran over-gave Corey a hug,shoved my shoes and handheld into Kati's arms and had .2 m left!!! I ran like the wind the last .2. I felt like I could have run another 10!! If only I had barefooted it sooner!!
I zoomed (well it felt like zooming) to the finish line and hopped on it barefoot!!! And I heard them say my name!!! That had NEVER happened before!! A purely blissful way to end my first marathon.
5 hours and 12 minutes.
I know I know....turtlesqe. But hey as Jeff Gallup says -it's all the same miles!!And my workout was longer than the elite's!!

I was SOOOOOOO excited!! I walked up and found the kids,took pics.The car turned out to be about a 1/2mile away uphill which actually felt wonderful barefoot.We went to eat ,visited,and they drove me back to the start.I was on cloud 9.
My 2 hour ride home was just a jaunt until I went to get out of the car at home where Tom was waiting to greet me.Yea-you can guess what my legs felt like after 2hrs in the car.
I didn't take any ibuprofin except for a headache I started getting later and none the next day.
I had read all about the importance of recovery so I was going to take that seriously,especially as various bodies parts started complaining.
 Monday morning I woke up and did yoga-wich I thought would be a wise choice.I did Rodney Yee's full body yoga and it helped TONS.Then I hand mowed the yard for an hour, which I mostly did for the walking to walk out my calves completely.I think this was the key to fast recovery. Tuesday I did more yoga,still some stiffnes. And today Wednesday I did a little harder yoga and then 3 miles barefoot.Oh that just felt blissful this morning.I mostly want to do a full body assessment with my run this am . Everything seems to be in good working order.Oh yes,I do still have quirks,but overall -I am good. I am planning to do almost entirely barefoot runs until I can work back up to my long runs again to aid my recovery. So funny tho -my eating has not been much affected.I expected to be hungrier and I was actually less.
I am so excited to another marathon!!!

So my advise-do not wait 32 yrs to do your big scary thing-do it NOW.
My spirit animal has always been the eagle. At one of my last races an eagle flew over me at the start and I seized the day.
Altho I didn't see the eagle before this race, I knew he was there.
I have risen from the ashes many times in 56 yrs.
I am a Phoenix.

Big scary things are only little tiny things you knock out one at a time.
Carpe Diem