St. Jude Marathon Race Recap

So, maybe I am a runner? Or, should I say, I could be a runner. Yes I finished the marathon on Saturday. 5:49:26. I’m soooooo glad it’s over!

Race morning: 5am wakeup call. Saw my downstairs neighbors coming HOME from the bars as I was taking Junior out. Long story short…one of them is a former student of mine. He was wasted and wanted to study…? He even left a sign on the stairs for me saying “GO ROBYN!!!” That was nice.

I dropped Junior off at the house he was staying at. I could have been optimistic thinking I would finish in time to get back and let him out at a reasonable hour…but I didn’t want to take the chance. I headed downtown and found the parking garage, which I was nervous about. I hate driving downtown! I headed to the Peabody where MIM was meeting up. We were ready!

Finally, we headed down to the start. It was a bit chilly but I had my throw away gloves and paper DFT jacket. I ended up getting rid of them shortly after mile 1! We started in corral #9 and finally, we were off! I’m glad I remembered to start my watch! I was running with Bill, Brian, Lori, Kelly and many others. The guys started to take off faster than Lori, Kelly, and I wanted to go, so we let them go ahead. I saw Dee with an MIM sign about mile 1..that was so great!

The first 10 miles FLEW by. I didn’t even expect a mile marker and there it was! That was a great feeling because I felt so good. After mile 2, we settled into 3/1’s. Nothing too exciting happened until mile 15. I started to hit a wall. For some reason, I just could not stomach gels on Saturday! That’s never happened to me before. After taking 2 or 3, I just did not want to eat another one. I needed something solid, so I ate a few pretzel peanut butter sandwiches. That helped, but I needed instant energy. I forced another gel down and that helped.
At mile 18 I thought we were getting shot at, but it turns out it was someone working on their deck with a nail gun…hey its Memphis, you can’t be too sure! At mile 19, Kelly’s family was there with some food and a nice COCA COLA!!! I drank a half of one and that really settled my stomach. I’m going to have to remember that for Ironman next year…. Definitely helped the stomach. The girls and I had made a pact, that once we go to mile 20 we could b*tch all we wanted. As soon as mile 20 hit…we let it all out!!! That was kind of fun…not to mention the songs Lori kept singing…..

Meanwhile, Rose and Ruth had caught up with us, and we sort of ran together, they’d pass us, then we’d pass them, etc. At mile 22, all the sudden I got a burst of energy! I told Lori and Kelly I had to go and they understood. I took off! I felt phenomenal compared to just 7 miles earlier. I probably only walked 2 or 3 times in the next 2 miles and I was holding a much faster pace. Mark caught up with me on his bike and said “I knew you’d get a 2nd wind! Take it in girl!” Well, that was great advice, except mile 24 came. Mile 24-25 was FOR SURE the worst of them all. I knew once I got to mile 25 I was home free. But getting there? That was a different story. I think it took me 45 minutes to get thru that mile. Finally, I saw Bill up ahead. I decided to run until I got to him. I caught him just before mile 25 and he was struggling. I tried to put on a good face for him and tell him to keep going. I knew he’d be fine so I said “See ya at the finish line!” and I took off. That last mile was long, too, but I kept thinking “Anyone could run a mile if they had to. I can do this.” I thought even my sister could run a mile with her jacked up ankle…so I just had to keep moving. I only walked once during the last mile, just to get my HR under control so I could coast into the finish. Everything hurt so badly. My hamstrings and back especially were killing me….so tight! I thought about the girls and hoped they were doing ok.

Finally, I came up on the Redbirds stadium. Mark rode with me for a bit, and tried to embarrass me by saying “Marathoner coming thru! Watch out! This is my marathoner!” I had to break the news to him that it would take a LOT more than that to embarrass me. I finally turned right into the stadium, and I saw the balloons! I was there! The finish! I ran thru the finish and Lucia and Natalie were there with my medal and cut off my chip. It was so nice to see people I knew at the finish! Brian was there waiting for Lori and Bill came thru shortly after me. It was so nice to be DONE. I wasn’t as excited as I thought I’d be…mostly because I know it’s just a step closer to Ironman next year. I was happy I had done a marathon, but just anticipating next year!

I have to thank Memphis in Motion, and Mark, for training me for this race. Couldn’t have done it without them! I met some awesome people and Mark really prepared me well for this race. I’m not sure I would have ran a marathon if it had not been for Ironman next year, so I’m glad I have another accomplishment to my résumé of races. Also, the best part….another sticker to my car!!!!!!

Here’s a picture from the finish: Only in Memphis will you have not one, but TWO Elvii (haha as Debbie so nicely put it) at the finish! Congrats to my fellow MIMers!!!! And now…on to tri training and IRONMAN!!!! (Other race pictures to follow)