I did it! I managed to wog my way through another 13.1 miles, even though last night I was really beginning to stress about it. Today's race didn't turn out exactly as planned, though.It started around midnight last night. Steve started complaining about his stomach hurting. He couldn't seem to get comfortable. After about 30 minutes, I prayed that God would heal him and make him feel better. God answered my prayers, and about ten minutes later and after an extensive session in the bathroom, Steve had managed to get rid of whatever bug had infiltrated his system. Needless to say, he was extremely weak, and was no longer viable for being my pacer in the race.
While Steve felt a minuscule bit better, sleep did not come easily for either of us the rest of the night. I probably got about 15 minutes an hour for the next few hours. I was already insecure about the race, and not having adequate sleep made my anxiety worse. Finally, I prayed again that if God thought I shouldn't do it, that He would let me know. Amazingly, I begin to feel a calm about the race and had no more doubts.
Finally, at 5am, I decided to go ahead and get up. Our hotel was about a 5 minute walk to the start of the race. Although the race wasn't scheduled to start until 7am, I figured if I got out of the room, Steve would have a chance to rest better. So, I put on my short-sleeved race shirt, my Capri wog pants, my shoes with timing chip. and my socks. I grabbed my bag of cheerios and headed out the door. I sat in the lobby for awhile and started talking to Deborah from Athens, until we decided to head out for the race.
Saturday's high had been in the 70s. Apparently winter was not through with Atlanta, because the temperature outside at 6am was in the low 40s. It was cold. I managed to stay warm by standing in the middle of the crowd, and eventually pulling my arms inside my shirt. Finally, as we were inching toward the start line (I was at the back of the 14,000 runners), I saw a black plastic bag (used to keep somebody warm) that had been discarded. I grabbed it and wrapped it around my arms, and managed to stay warm for the first few miles. It did warm up to the mid 40s during the race (still COLD) with no sun and a brisk COLD wind, but I eventually got warm - about an hour after we were in the car headed back to Nashville.
Considering my athletic condition for this race, I did pretty good. I finished in 3 hours, 11 minutes, which isn't my best time, but it's within my current average. To give you some perspective, the female winner of the FULL marathon, twice what I did, finished in 2 hours and 41 minutes. Whatever.
Anyhow, aside from Steve's illness and the cold, it was a good weekend. Tomorrow I start trying to really develop some kind of plan for getting healthy. When we were returning last weekend from Oakland, I checked a piece of luggage that weighed 44 pounds, an amount I need to lose (for starters). I thought about how heavy the suitcase was, and realized that is what I am carrying around on my body. So, it's time to get serious.
After all, I have a half marathon to do April 26!!
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