Mary crushed the marathon! Toughest course I have ever seen! 5 laps around the lake. Each having a 78 meter, or around 255 foot climb in a distance less than 3km or 1.8 miles. In other words steep as hell! A total climb of 390 meters or 1092 feet. And she finished in 4:52. She would have probably broken 4:30, but as a pacer I failed miserably. I have been suffering from Bronchitis for about a month now but it would come and go so I thought I could get away with it. But the night before the race I literally only slept two hours because I was up coughing all night. But I really wanted to be there wiith Mary so I tried. The first lap around the lake was ok but I was coughing quite a lot and I just couldnt breath right. The second lap around, the hill was so hard, I had to walk up most of it because I couldnt breath and the lack of oxygen was making my heartrate through the roof. After we topped the hill I could run again but couldnt really recover before the second, not quite as big a hill. By the end of the second lap I was realizing that I may not be able to finish and I told Mary she should probably should go on without me so I wouldnt ruin her tiime. But she refused! She said we were doing it together.So she walked with me when I need to walk. What a woman! Anyway on the third lap I had to walk all the way up the big hill and knew I was done!. I gave Mary the Garmin. But she was very upset so I continued on. But at about the half marathon point I really knew I was not going to make it. I was having coughing fits every couple minutes. So finally at at about 25km I just told Mary to go, because I knew she could still salvage her time. We ran together for a time, but when she wasnt paying attention I slowed up and she got far ahead of me. I saw her look back and she knew she had to go so she did. I walked the last 5k or so back to the finish line and waited for her to come around. When she came around for the fourth time she wasnt looking happy and I knew she was hurting but I never doubted that she would finish. And about 40 minutes later I saw her run around the last corner and down the final straight to the finish! Watching her cross the finish line may have been better than the feeling I had when I finished my first marathon! I certainly dont regret going with her, and I dont feel bad about not being able to finish. Seeing her do it made it all worth while. Congratulations baby you are now and forever a MARATHONER! Im so proud of you and I love you so much.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 03:40:14 +0000
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