It’s been a couple of days since I finished the marathon. I needed a couple of days to remember what happened on Sunday. The entire day just blurred together for me.

We got up early. I was up by 3:45. Absent mindedly I put my oat meal into another bag and didn’t discover it until I got home later that day. To compensate I ate some clif bars. I’ve been eating wih oatmeal this season but I have eaten clif bars in the past. This is something I need to work into my training routine, eating a variety of foods, to prepare me for when I’m in a hotel or an unfamiliar place.

We walked to downtown Bellevue park. At 5am, it felt just about right for a run. Cool but not too hot. This was going to be a hot day. Most of the team was at the TNT tent when we got there around 5:05. The team congregated outside the tent for the next 20 minutes, applying sunscreen, pinning things to jerseys and making casual talk. We huddled up around 5:20, Bonni and Jim gave us some advice and instructions and we did a big “Go Team!”

We caught the shuttle at 5:30 and arrived at the start line about an hour before the race start. I was definitely feeling the nerves. I just wanted to get it started. The sun was starting to get hotter. 7am rolled around and a 15 minute delay was announced. I was down in the corrals waiting for the race to get started. 7:15 came and the race was started.

I started off too fast. It felt like a nice easy pace but I had trouble slowing down for the 1st 3 miles. I ran the 1st mile in about 10:30 which is too fast for me. Mari ran up alongside me and told me to slow down. I guess too much ardrenalin was going through me. In the future, I might try taking more aggressive walk breaks, especially at the start. The first part was a good run. Running across 520 was a great experience. I wished I slowed down to enjoy it more.

I felt good until we hit Meydenbauer around mile 7.5. There was a crowd of supporters and I gave Kit a high 5. I started to feel the heat get to me. When I got to the top of the first big hill, Jim was there giving us all support. Thanks Jim! I ran all those hills in training but I walked up them this time. I tried to rest of the down hill stretches. I don’t remember there being that many hills in training (ahh selective memory) but I also don’t rememer it being that hot.

Running up that long stretch of Bellevue Way felt like being roasted in an oven. The sun was starting to become unrelenting at that point. I’m not a quitter but I had to make a decision at mile 11:
a) Go straight and quit. Just finish 13 miles.
b) Take that right turn onto 12th. Go the distance.

I was seriously tempted to go straight. Then I remembered the personal story Kit gave the night before. Remembered how it made me feel when she told her story. I took the left turn. I pulled level with Sam and we chatted until I made a restroom stop.

We hit bridle trails. It was shaded and I walked a lot! I probably walked bridle trails the entire way. I also started to cramp. Jim pulled up to give some words of encouragement.

D: So is this hot?
J: I’ve been in hotter. But this is pretty hot.

I’m going to miss than man!

Jim gave me two salt pills and told me to take them. He handed me two more and told me to take one every 45 minutes. They helped. My cramping definitely eased up after that.

We got done with Bridle trails around mile 15. I caught up with Sam at that point. After that point, we were inseperable. The next 5 miles were not memorable. There was this really nasty hill in there. And lots of downhills.

I was just trying to get it done at this point. It was awesome to run with Sam. Having her to chat with made everything go a lot easier. We basically ran under the sun and walked under the shade to recover our strength. Glen gave me that invaluable advice around mile 11.

At mile 20, we shouted at a photographer to not take our photos. We were taking a walk break and we didn’t want to look bad. :) A moment later, I recognized the photographer as my good friend Riley. I was ecstatic to see him. We had planned this for a while but seeing him out there was a great feeling. Riley ran with us for the next half mile, snapping photos of us with his new camera. Having Riley there gave me a little shot of energy.

Mile 21 - 23 was brutal. It was a pretty stretch of Kirkland running along the water. Being  completely exposed to the sun and having the exhaust from cars driving by made it less than optimal though. We kept moving though. We met Diana, this incredibly cool 60 year old who was going to run 12 marathons this year. She told us about the Chicago marathon that was called off because of the heat. Thankfully it was not as bad at this one.

We hit mile ~24 and we see a familiar figure in this green coaching jersey. Jim! I was so glad to see him I gave him a big hug. I told Jim I could “smell the barn”. Jim and I had talked about that during our training runs and I latched onto the phase now. We fast walked up that hill where we met Kathy, another coach. We ran some more and met Jeffery, another coach. We were close and nothing was going to stop us at this point. We walked up 2 hills around mile 25. With the finish line in sight, we busted down that last downhill. My friends Riley and Bob were waiting on 100th just before the finish line. They ran with me that last quarter mile. It was great to have them there. We took a left turn and I used my last ounce of energy to finish strong.

Finally it was done. Definitely a different experience from the first one. I have many thanks to give.

Thanks to Riley and Bob for being there at the finish.

Thanks to all the people who supported me by contributing to my fund raising campaign all season.

Thanks to the TNT coaches, staff, volunteers, team mates and everyone else who got me to the start line and cheered me throughout the race.

Thanks to Sam for keeping my spirits up those last couple of miles. I’ll miss running with her and all my other great team mates every Saturday.

Thanks to Mari, Glen, Jeffery and Kathy for being out there with us.

Thanks to Jim, our coach and fearless leader, for getting us well prepared to run this marathon and helping me to realize that I might have a touch of crazy.

Thanks to Kit for being my inspiration, helping me to appreciate what I have and being the reason we’re out there.

Thanks to Bonni without whom none of this would never have happened.

Thanks to my sweetheart, Sheila, for waking up every Saturday morning and listening to my endless whining about training, nutrition, hydration and aches.