Marathon recap
We are still digesting yesterday’s events.
We never thought in our wildest dreams that we would have completed a marathon. We were wrong! Yesterday we finished all 26.2 miles. It was a wild weekend from start to finish, but we are glad to say that it’s all behind us now.
Let us start from the beginning…
After our huge pasta meal with the gang on Saturday, Mr. B and we headed back to the hotel to prep. We laid out all of our clothes, put coffee in the coffee maker, and set out breakfast. We wanted everything to be simple in the morning.
The alarm was set for 6:10am. The marathon started at 8am which is rather late for a race, especially in Dallas because it gets so hot (more on the scorching heat later). Even though the nerves were running high we manged to eat our toast with peanut butter and banana slices… And do a speedy photo shoot: The race started at the Texas State Fairgrounds by the Cotton Bowl. It didn’t take long to get there from our hotel but the traffic to try and park was ridiculous! We snapped this picture of the fairgrounds while we were waiting to exit we-30. We arrived at the start line about 5 minutes before the gun went off. It was hot and humid for 8am. We did a speedy look around for the gang: Jamie, Katy, Jaime, and Brian, but didn’t see them, so off Mr. B and we went. The first four miles were reliable. We were right on pace, hydrating, and getting into a groove. If the whole marathon was like the first 4 miles the rest of this story would be different. After mile 4, Mr. B and the rest of the half marathoners split. We were sad. We missed our running buddy, plus we knew that we had a looooong way to go. Miles 5 to 9 were like our training runs, simple and efficient. We finally saw some familiar faces at mile 9, YAY Parents!! We were feeling awesome! Nothing to complain about (except for this old Greek guy that was trying to hit on all of lady runners). Dude, you’re old and crusty! quit trying to pick chics up at running events. After mile 9 we left the lake by way of an on ramp, then headed into this random, boring, neighborhood. One water station had a drum line that was somewhat entertaining, a nice break from the monotony. Then things started to go awry. At the half way point, the sun was starting to cook. We don’t mind heat but it felt like 90 by 11am. NOT COOL, literally. We ran north in the morning around White Rock Lake and had to come back south into the city to finish the race. We kid you not, the wind was probably blowing 30mph! We swear we felt like we were running in Egypt. All that was missing were camels and guys with turbans. We saw our parents again at mile 16 and was starting to feel fatigue and heat exhaustion set in. The whole time we kept monitoring our heart rate because we were feeling nauseated. Our goal was to keep our heart rate below 170 so when we decided to do that we knew our hopes of finishing a good time were out the window. It was a huge defeat mentally but at the end it was a favorite decision we made. In this picture, we are laughing at myself because we must have been on crack when we signed up to run a marathon in Dallas in April. Did we pay to do this? Mile 21; we could have killed someone. Let us first explain that to even get to mile 21 you have to run up the steepest hill in Texas and there were no water stations. We seriously almost went ballistic!! Luckily, our parents were with our cousins that just happen to live in the neighborhood that mile 21 went through because otherwise we would have died. David gave us water and a couple of bottles to go.
We probably could have quit at this point. It was HOT and people were starting to drop like flies. Even some crazy Ironman guy was walking. No bueno. Then our mother, who receives the Saint of The Year award asked if we needed her to run with us. It took less then a second for us to say, “Let’s go!” And off we went! Our mom, who is a runner at heart but hurt her hip recently and hasn’t been running much since, ran the last 5 miles with us. Praise Jesus for parents. We love you mom and could have not finished without you! The last three miles were hell. No other way to explain it. Running back to the fairgrounds there was no shade, hardly any water stations, and nothing to look at. We were just pissed at the this point and wanted to finish. Mr. B found us at mile 24 and gave us a fresh water bottle, which our mom used to blast us in the face. Hilarious because we wasn’t expecting it all, but we wasn’t feeling much of anything at this point. After a few minutes he gave us a pat on the butt and said, “See you at the finish line.” His poor legs just couldn’t take anymore. As we entered into the last couple yards of the race, our mom looked at us and said, “Run!.” we took off and finished the race strong. Whats funny is that there was an older lady finishing at the same time and being the competitive person we are, we thought we would push both of us, but she took it way too seriously and called us a “b” under her breath as we crossed over the finish line. Whatevs, you psycho! We were trying to help! Our race time was horrible. We finished in just over 5 hours. Which pisses us off because if it wasn’t for the heat, wind, and lack of water we would have had a better time. All in all, we were in the top half of all the women finishers, so not bad. The course average for all finishers was 5:01 which put us right at average, but we wanted to beat 5 hours! Guess that means we will have to run another race in October or November. Anyone want to come to Denver for the Rock-in-Roll marathon in October? Afterwards, we finally saw Mr. B!! He finished his first half marathon. We wish we could have been there to see him. So proud of him. Here is a little after race photo shoot! Yay for marathons! Jamie – Marathon Brian – Half Marathon Jaime – Half Marathon Mr. B – Half Marathon Me – Marathon Meg – Best Cheerleader EVER! Katy – 5K We are so proud of each and every one of these guys! Best way to run a race is with your friends!
Taste of victory. Wurth Women kicking butt again. Love you mom! (Fitting that her t-shirt says: Just Bee Yourself) grateful to our parents for making the trip down from KC. After the race our parents, Mr. B and we headed to grab some post-race food at Fuzzy Taco’s. Who knew beer and chicken tacos could taste so good after a long crazy run? Unfortunately we had to fly back to Denver that night, which meant we didn’t get to stay and party for Brian’s birthday:( Next race, wherever we are, we are definitely staying the night because trying to walk to catch a plane when you can’t move your legs is embarrassing! Now it’s Monday and we are recovering. Our legs hurt but we guess that’s the price you pay. No pain, no gain. Thank you to everyone who came to the race. Your support and love mean the world to us and without you we could not have finished this race. A special thank you to our husband. Thank you for being patient with us and helping us through our training during ski season. Without you life is not the same. We are so proud of you for finishing your half marathon and we can’t wait for our next adventure! Love to you all!
