Pain is Temporary--Pride is Forever

(I saw the title of this blog on a sign around Mile 18 today at the Philly Marathon and it got me through the rest of the race...I was going to entitle today's entry as "Who knew chicken broth could be so amazingly good?" but thought this was more appropriate)

First of all--TURTLE ROCKS. Go to http://www.blog.shoreturtle.com/ and tell him so now. Knowing where he would be and seeing him cheer and ring the cowbell helped so much. We saw him once at 12th and Arch, once down on Chestnut Street, and again at the art museum. I only wish I would have thought to find out where he would be after the race so I could thank him in person!

We were very nervous about Ted's knee. He had decided he wanted to run it, so we bought him a new knee brace, a better one than what he had been doing. Saturday we went down to the expo at The Liacourus Center at Temple University (my alma mater). Overall, the expo seemed to be a better experience than last year, except for the long line to get to the race bib pick-up.

Bedtime was early Saturday night, and Sunday we got to the city around 6:00. At the last minute, Ted decided to wear his old Drexel hockey practice jersey, which sparked more attention than anything else we could have selected. Our pace time started out pretty good--we were averaging around +/- 10:00 minute miles. Ted's sister, Jillian, and her boyfriend, Kevin, were waiting at Sweetbriar Drive, and ran with us up the hill into Fairmount Park, then promised to see us over around mile 15.

The course was changed up this year--the whole time in Fairmount Park, I was watching for the separation of the marathoners between the half-marathoners. It never happened, and at one point, I actually looked around to be sure there were other marathoners around with us.

There were two parts of the race that had me concerned--the first was when the half-marathoners were to finish and the marathoners would keep going. The second was heading down Kelly Drive towards Manayunk, seeing the other runners so close to the finish. Neither deterred me; if anything, they encouraged me to keep going.

We met up with Jillian and Kevin, and Dave, around mile 15. Because I have a tendency to sweat something fierce, I had packed along a change in shirts at that point. My shirts were already soaked, and I was pretty chilly. I quickly put on the new, clean shirts, and Ted and I headed up towards Strawberry Mansion (another change in course, but since I didn't run this last year, it didn't confuse me too terribly). Jillian and Kevin joined us for this part of the run, too, and ran with us until it looped back down to pick up Lincoln Drive. And Ted and I started towards Manayunk.

I had heard amazing things about Manayunk. Beer. Brownies. Crowds and cheering. Angels, trumpets, and streets of gold. The beer and brownies were true. I thought I heard angels and trumpets, but no one else did, so that is up for debate. I'm assuming once we got out there, the crowds had retreated back to their warm houses, because no one was out. I took the cup of beer...when else am I going to drink beer and miles 19 and 21?

I started really hurting around mile 17. The leg cramping started around mile 20, and I stopped a few times to stretch out, and fortunately it never escalated into anything too serious. Ted's knee never once gave him a problem, and he kept his strength up (which is amazing in itself, since his last long run was 17 miles about 6 weeks ago...from that point on, he's been resting and running small distances in hopes his knee would be fine.

Anyway, Jillian and Kevin met us again at mile 24. "I've never been so happy to see you!" Ted yelled, and it really was the truth. It's amazing to see people cheering for you, and when they come out and run a little, it really does help you carry through. Dave and Ted's other sister were waiting around mile 25, and they jumped in and ran as far as they could (almost to 26) before they jumped back and waved good luck to us, and we kept going.

I'll never forget that last .2 miles. It felt like it was just Ted and I and the crowd. Emotions kicked in, and it was hard to breath with the lump in my throat. And I think I had the perfect picture shot...no one was around us when we crossed, so I'm hoping for a prize photo!

We got the medals (which are nice and were placed around our neck instead of handed to us!), but had to hunt down a heat blanket...I ended up having to ask the police manning the emergency care tent for one. We got our food, met up with everyone one last time, then headed home.

Our finishing clock time was around 5:15. I think it took us about 8 minutes to reach the start, so chip time was maybe about 5:08? 5:10? Either way, it was everything I could have imagined it to be. We were hoping for 5:00, and willing to settle for 5:30.

So now here I sit, with a marathon under my belt, something I never, ever would have guessed my entire life. I'm extremely proud, only a little sore, sporting a beautiful black toenail, and now that I have almost a full mushroom pizza in my stomach (and not one ounce of guilt), I'm going to settle myself on the couch with a book and count the minutes before I fall asleep.