5/5/13
I did it! That was
the first thought to cross my mind after crossing the finish line at my 100th
marathon or longer distance race. I
still cannot believe that I have run 100 of these races! So let’s talk about how I got here!
This was a Cinco de Mayo Sunday race which meant that Jash
could go with me since he had school on Friday this week. We ended up driving up to the race on
Saturday in the beautiful sunshine in the NW.
It has been a very unseasonably warm spring and I am personally a huge
fan! People were getting a bit worried
that the race was going to be too hot, but I will take the sunshine over rain
and clouds any day!! We made it to
packet pick up and picked up all the maniac swag. This was a 10 year celebration and I really
loved seeing all the people out there excited and proud to be part of the
group. I also was here in 2010 for the
reunion and wow what a difference 3 years makes in terms of people. We had such a smaller group back then, now it
is huge. So we decided that we did not
want to fight the crowd and wait around for the talk, so after some fun picts
at the hotel you see below we headed off to our place.
Our hotel was great with a kitchen where we were able to
make our own pre-race meal and get everything set for the next day. It was a perfect and delish home cooked
dinner date for two. We ate and headed
out in time to watch the Winter hawks game since they are in the playoffs right
now. We found a place that looked
totally questionable from the outside very close to our hotel and it was
totally empty. But the bar had a
fantastic big screen TV that we had to ourselves with sound to watch the entire
game. It was fantastic and we ended up
learning that this place turned into a bumping night club around 9pm, so we
headed out at the end of the game, 9:30pm.
The music was blasting and the lights were off. We just missed an episode of cops or
something being filed outside as well…
Pretty happy about that miss and glad we got out of there when we
did! Maybe it was just a questionable as
if first appeared!
Jash woke up with me on race day and was so sweet to drive
me to the start- which was totally needed because there was a bit of a potty
issue there! When we got there, about an
hour before the start, there was a line stretching for what seemed like miles
with not a lot of potties. So Jash drove
me back to the first aid station that we had passed and I was able to jump into
a brand new, never used before honey bucket and ensure that I took care of all
the biz I needed to before the race.
This was so totally helpful and made for a wonderful start to the
day. Once he dropped me back off at the
starting line at the air filed I went around and checked it out a bit and saw
some cool airplanes.
We started just about right on time at 7am and were off into
the wind and sunshine. It was a
wonderful morning, but we knew it was going to get hot out there quickly. I just made sure that I had been sipping
water all morning and was carrying my pack to be sure that I had enough fluid
for the entire race. (it is really my
new favorite thing to run it as it is just so convenient to have water
available. We started the race by crossing the Tacoma
Narrows bridge at mile 3 and I was so lucky to get this awesome photo below
that was also on the front page of the Tacoma Newspaper, with my name captioned
as “leading the pack!” I am still giddy
about it!
The race was just wonderful and you can see from the pict
above that it is already looking pretty warm out there. I was thinking back to when I ran this very
race in 2010 and it was cold and rainy and I wore a jacket the whole time. Not in 2013~
But I am a sun baby and was really enjoying the sunshine and clear
views. It was really a lovely spring day
to be running my 100th marathon!
The people out on the course were
also just so friendly and great to chat with.
There were so many happy runners out there that it did not seem like
there was ever a dull moment! And lots
of people along the course taking fun running pictures.
As it started to heat up I was very grateful for the make
shift sprinklers that residents that lived along the course had set up. I was running through the mist of each
thanking those that were so thoughtful to help us out! There were also so many other runners out
there that were in happy positive spirits that the race really just flew
by. We chatted and caught up and had
such a great time running on a beautiful cinco de mayo Sunday! By the time I got to mile 20 I was almost sad
that it was only 10k till I was done with this awesome race and had reached my
goal of 100. Then I was also at that
point really hot and we were running on an entire exposed part of the course in
the sunshine so I tried to keep drinking, staying cool and having fun. I love the last 6 miles. No matter how bad it hurts you know you only
have to go 6 more and that seem so incredibly do-able that you just go. You are running this part of the race with
your heart and it feels so right. On this
day if was incredibly right and I zoomed home!
Crossing the finish line of my 100th marathon/ultra was just
unreal. I was greeted with a 100th marathon sign from Steve Walters and a custom made 100th marathon shirt that Jash made me that lists all the races that I have done to get to 100 on the back! I am so thankful I have been
able to come this far and cannot wait for 100 more to come!! I am just getting started!
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