A Sea of Purple... The story of my Race!

I am going to wing this... brain waves are functioning better but not 100%, if this is confusing... bare with me :)

Wow, I told you it would be long and it is! BEWARE!!!!!

First thank you all for your support, prayers, and donations.... please know that if you couldn't donate I felt your support during the race. That is worth more than anything I could have asked for. It is because of the support, prayers, and the TNT crowd that I was able to finish my first marathon under 5hrs!

3:00 am... I just got out of the shower and got ready to go down stairs to the lobby! I had not one minute of sleep so I thought the shower would help relax me... my second one since I checked in to the room...

3:45 meeting in the lobby, sign in with Judy, and then off to the buses. I had no breakfast so Coach Paul was going to bring me a bagel, how thoughtful and sweet of him and his wife!

4:00am ALL you saw was a "sea of purple" jersey's.... mine was very popular! I had so many compliments and I was so happy it was a hit! I was told by others that they would have paid me to do their shirts, hmmm a good way to fundraise next time?!?

In the mix I was able to find a VERY important person... Krista Johnson! She is McKenna's Mom and McKenna is a HUGE part of why I joined TNT! When her daughter past away... I was so sad... although I never met her or her family, I felt like I had known them through her website that I had followed. I found her site from a Evan's site that I discovered once Evan had past away and I found it on my local YAHOO News.... her story drew me in to the caringbridge world! Back to the event... I found her... she had her legs written on with a marker... her left leg read "Angel" and her left said "McKenna" she was with about six or more others from Minnesota (her home town) and running her first half marathon in San Diego through TNT... They raised a total of over $30,000!!!! She loved my shirt and I showed her my back with her daughters name. If you are reading this Krista... it was an honor to meet you!

Bathrooms (aka port-a-potties) well the wait was around 30-45 minutes and with nerves... you get in line... do your business... and guess what? GET BACK IN LINE! So before the race my feet felt like I waited in the longest line at Disneyland and were sore on the balls of my feet.

6:15am we get in our corrals... I am in lucky number 13!

6:36am I crossed the starting line...

Let the rest be told below!

Race day was tough... as you read in yesterday's entry! We all struggled at one point or another... my struggle began when I crossed the starting line and began running on NO sleep! I have not had any side cramps in the first part of running in over 5 months but Sunday was different... I had side cramps from the start on my right side. I began slow and after about 3 miles into running the cramp would subside and then I would run my normal speed or better, I needed to make up some time from the rough beginning. At about mile 4 I was around a 10min/mile pace. At my half marathon point... 13.1 miles I had a pace of 10:34/mile, my best time yet!

I began my run with Kim and her friend Lindsey in corral number 13... they ran past me in the beginning but throughout the course we would see each other. I also saw Coach Paul on the course during a butt crack experience that I tried so hard to avoid... this guy was wearing elastic waist band shorts and his gu, shotbloks, or whatever it was inside his back pocket weighed a part of his shorts down so... my view ahead of me was his crack!

Lots of Elvis' on the course... I think they said 170+ both girls and guys dressed up, I saw a barefoot man while running on the 163 freeway... that was unfun due to the incline and running on unevenness (if that is a word, LOL), I also saw a clown and his nose squeaked... I cheered him on...

The weather was not in our favor... the sun came out around 9am and cooked us all! I am still sunburned and it is Tuesday! The weather channel said it was at a high of 67 and it felt at least 10 degrees hotter than that on parts of the course!

At one point on the course, I broke away from my pain by cheering on others I saw as I ran past them or by them... while most were just quick encounters, one stuck and I am thankful for it. His name is Glen and he is from the Ohio TNT chapter and he really helped push me to the finish. I was in pain and just exhausted at mile 20! We talked and he told me he was on his 9th marathon and was loving the people that ran in San Diego... much better than any other run he has done, including the LA Marathon and Phoenix Rock'n'Roll! So we left a mark on him, Great Job to us! He is a cancer survivor too and that really impressed me, considering his running accomplishments through his struggles... he thanked me/us for our fundraising efforts and well at the end I gave him a huge hug! At mile 19 we got otter pops at the TNT tent my head coach Darin and his wife Dione were at! I saw many of my fellow participants, but finished before them, so I haven't seen/heard from them since!

The last 6 miles were the toughest... I was done physically and mentally... but not really, because I had how many more miles to do, Yikes! I ran out of my Gatorade-water mixture and then relied on Accelerade and water that was on the course. This was my second slow-down on the race! My biggest slowdown occurred on mile 14 when I had to use the restroom... the wait time and use time changed my pace from finishing around 4:30 to 4:45 at that point. I tried to make up the time but it was no use. Once I knew that was untouchable... I stuck to my original plan of under 5 hours.... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!!!

11:39am I finished my first marathon... I hugged Glen from TNT OHIO and cried at the finish line... I must admit that I also cried when I saw mile marker 21-22-23-24-25-26 too... I was an emotional basket case!

I finished the race with no real injuries, but I needed medical attention and that was apparent. I haven't received the e-mail with my finishers picture on it yet... you will be the first to see it... please continue to check back... it may be soon or weeks... you/I just never know!

I have been known to be hypoglycemic (sp?) and some of those symptoms were apparent in how I felt. The Accelerade drink gave me an upset stomach (common when I have protein bars) I found out that they put protein powder in the drink... yep that was a problem for me! Sugar level was down.... I had some Jolly Ranchers and that helped a little. The lightheadeness and dizziness was partly due to most of my blood being in my feet... the medical tent staff laid me down and put my feet up in the air for 5 minutes and then slowly laid them back down... they usually do this once to people, then they get up and go.... NOT ME! I had that done twice... Jeremy was tired of waiting for me to meet him... he started walking around... I found him and then he was their with me under the tent... I had called him around 30min. before he made his way to the tent, he thought I was talking to my TNT friends, he was wrong and really was worried about me! The medical volunteers were so helpful. I ate ice chips and had ice cold rags on my head... unfortunately I also had shivers and shakes... so they moved me to the sunny area to warm me up... the shade made me shake too much.

While I was laying at the medical station coach Paul called and was wondering where I was. I called him back and ended up leaving him a message, which let him know that I was under medical watch... he ended up calling Judy (head of our OC Coast chapter) and under her is Head Coach Darin who was notified... they looked for me and were worried for me too... I never did see any of them or even make another call out to them as my brain was not 100%!

Once I was more stable I left the tent with a bottle of water and more Accelerade... we headed to the TNT tent to sign out... I had to make a pit stop (if you know what I mean) and then I sat down for a walking break.... finally checked out and started to head to the hotel.

The bus line was HUGE... I knew I couldn't wait in that line since I was feeling SO bad! I decided to walk 3/4 mile to the trolley to get to our hotel! Bad Idea!!! We past a REALLY long line for the bus and I had to take a break... I was actually next to the rail where the buses were parked and ready for loading... 2 assistant coaches saw me and talked to Jeremy on finding out how I was doing... they showed concern... One of their names was Melissa, just like mine! I can't remember the other girls name but they both were part of the OCIE chapter and said they had to help me. Melissa gave me her pretzels which helped me ALOT and the other girl gave me advise to put my bag of ice under my left arm, next to my heart... which also helped me ALOT... I don't know why but it did! Melissa then asked a person working the buses, if I could be put on priority since I was feeling really bad... and they did! THANK YOU so much for that Melissa!

We got to the hotel around 4pm and immediately went in our room, took a shower, and packed! I called Coach Paul and was just about to head out when the hotel phone rang... it was Dione (Head Coach Darin's wife) she then gave the phone to Judy and I let her know I was alright... but not GREAT!

We headed home and stopped at McDonald's for lunch... I had a very basic hamburger and soda... and my tummy tolerated it well, which was a good sign! We got home and unpacked... then we headed to my in-laws house and had a nice visit! I was up until about 7pm and the fell asleep on their couch.!

Around 8pm Jeremy woke me up and we headed home... but first I was hungry and needed dinner, so Taco Bell here we come! Two taco's and more sprite.... then I was off to bed....

I slept 10 hours....

Yesterday I went to work with my medal and then had my tap class and showed off my medal their too! Tap class wasn't easy but it helped limber me up a very little bit! I was wore out and exhausted afterwards.

My friend Paul (swing dancer/ 2-time marathoner) came over and I showed him the clip of me finishing the race... he was proud of me and understood all the emotions and physical inabilities that I was going through! Jeremy had made dinner for the three of us and we had some good conversations... until about 11pm.... I went to bed and then work this morning....

I am going swimming tonight at my friend Erin's house and I hope it makes my muscles feel better!

I am hoping for pictures soon from those with camera's on event day!

I am hopeful that by Thursday my thighs will feel better (the main thing that hurts)... I will go to my tap class on Thursday and then Gwynne, Amantha, Jeremy, and I will do a short 3-4miler around 9-10pm that evening... I hope I can do an easy run then! Otherwise I will just stay home at wait for their return... wishing I was out their running with them!

Stay tuned...