it's official

I've gotten the confirmation that I will be a TNT Team Captain (aka Mentor) for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Training starts in June.

Given how stinking hot it has been here over the last week, I'm wondering how I am going to manage training here in June.. or July/August/September for that matter.

I'm a wilting flower these days. Oh well, perhaps we'll be doing our training runs at 6am to avoid the heat.... or perhaps just I will be!

teaming up...

so, last weekend i had the privilege of meeting up with a long time online friend for the first time ever... i mention this now as he was part of my inspiration to join Team In Training. he's a walk coach on the west coast, and has had nothing but good things to say about his TNT experiences.

we spent a lovely rainy afternoon wandering about museums, and then met up with a couple friends of his to watch some fireworks (Cherry Blossom Festival). one of those friends is also involved in TNT... but her connection is with Virtual TNT... because she lives in Denmark. so she is training on her own, with the support of online coaches.

kinda cool... but tough going, i'm thinking, when the miles get long.

anyway, it is a sun-shiny day here, and though my friend is no longer in town, she's here for a while longer.. so we're meeting up this afternoon for a training session. and i'm excited about that :-)

THANK YOU!!!

Hello my friends and family,

Just wanted to send a quick note to say thank you all for your support (moral and financial) in my first ever Team In Training experience. Thanks to you I continued to feel motivated with the training and fundraising, even when the going got tough... Thanks to you, I reached my fundraising goals. Thanks to you, I made it to Virginia Beach for the race... Thanks to your phone calls, text messages, e-mails, waving and cheering, I finished my first marathon with a smile on my face. And most importantly, thanks to your generosity, we're that much closer to finding cure for cancer.

I have not heard any jubilant celebration from any of the people that purchased Mercedes-Benz raffle tickets from me. I'm very sorry you did not win. If it is any consolation, neither did my husband and I...

In spite of not winning a new car, I think (hope) we all benefited from this experience. We all got to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, something literally life-saving... and I'm glad you were with me on this journey.

If you feel like joining me on this path again, I will be training for and running the Marine Corps Marathon with Team In Training in October.

Thanks again,
Megan

i spent about 6 hours of my birthday manning the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society booth at a recent "Women's Expo"... trying to entice other women to join us in supporting the work of the LLS, either by getting involved with Team In Training, or some other LLS activities.

it was a slightly surreal adventure.

beside our booth there was a man and his son selling bamboo towels, across from us a man demonstrating his Korean-style indoor grills, and another trying to attract customers for his home security company. kitty-corner to us was a little gardening store and across from them the Posturpedic bed display...

the really girlie section of the expo had laser teeth whitening, bright green lipsticks that changed to shocking shades of pink upon application, scarves, skirts, pedicure, wigs, lotions, potions, tarot readings, hypnosis, a cat-walk (which had a doggie fashion show going on when i went by to the use the washrooms)...

lots of women touched and oohed and aahed over the bamboo towels. lots of women taste-tested and debated over the Korean grills. lots of women looked over and then looked away as they walked by us.

personally, i found the larger than life cardboard cut-outs of handsome men in wetsuits visually engaging... but it seemed if we weren't selling something or giving away hand-outs, not too many of the expo-attendees were that interested in what we had to say.

a couple women made the day worthwhile though... women who had lost family members, women who had family member who were struggling through, women who had family members that had survived and gone on to have families of their own. not matter how close or far those experiences were to the present day... the grief, the fear, the relief, the joy were all very present at the Expo.

i hope some of the women who took TNT info brochures do sign up. i hope to run with them some day...

***

this afternoon i am scheduled to go spend some time in the local children's cancer ward.

i'm expecting a few tears.

mine, of course.

surprise, surprise

turns out i'm hooked...

for about a week after the Shamrock Marathon, i was feeling blue. missing having the weekly run with friends to look forward to, missing having the goal of the marathon to work toward, missing that feeling of being involved...

so last night i went to an info meeting on becoming a "mentor" (aka Team Captain) for another race with Team in Training. i signed up to be a mentor for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. they have loads of people volunteering to be mentors, for a variety of races... so i am not guaranteed the position, but i have it on good authority (wink wink) that my chances are good.

registration for the Marine Corps Marathon opened yesterday, and it always sells out quickly.

my husband and i had been discussing my post run blues, and ideas for birthday gifts... and he decided he would pay for my next race as my birthday gift :-) i think this is a wonderful idea, because goodness knows i don't want or need any knickknacks to sit on the piano collecting dust.

so last night, he registered me for the Marine Corps Marathon.

joke's on him now though, because i registered him to run it with me this morning....


i doubt that he'll join TNT, as the fundraising is a time commitment that he just does not have the time for at present... but we'll be able to train together, commiserate over aches and pains and bruised toenails together... our grocery bill will go through the roof... and come race day morning we'll at least start together. his legs are considerably longer than mine, so no guarantees that we'll finish anywhere near each other. but we'll hobble home together, brandishing our medals and feeling enormously proud.

i'm excited.

no more blues.

on the road again...

just can't wait to get on the road again...

today was my first run after the obligatory (coaches orders) week off after the marathon. it was grey and rainy when we left NJ, but the sun was out and it was muggy and warm when we got home. so i threw on my gear and went out for an easy three miler.

FELT GREAT!!!!

sunshine, warm breeze, loads of flowers in bloom, kids out on bikes and scooters... legs working nicely and without pain. felt good to be moving.

but my legs were getting pretty tired by the end.

26.2

I've been trying to get myself ready to write about the marathon since last night... but somehow, I feel as though I just don't know where to start. People have been asking me to let them know when I have something posted (blogs, photos, etc) and so I feel compelled to start somewhere. So I shall start with how I'm feeling right now.

I'm feeling kind of sad, to be honest. I can't quite believe it is over... after months of training and fundraising and getting to know the coaches and my team mates and the TNT staff... it's kind of a let down to think that I'm no longer involved in all that. Fortunately part of the team is still training for the Nashville Country Music Marathon... so I can still go join them for their Saturday morning training runs for a few more weeks yet.

When I get past the feeling sad that it's over part... I'm feeling mighty proud of myself. I ran 26.2 miles on Sunday. That is 8.2 miles (over 13 kms) further than I had ever run before. Now, I didn't break any land speed records... but in effect, that means I ran far longer than the speedy-gonzales people in the pack.

I had hoped to finish in under 5 hours... and things were looking good for it by the half-way mark. But at mile 14 I stopped to go to the toilet, and never quite caught up to my team mates (who I had been keeping pace with from the start). I never would have imagined I would find it so hard to keep going on my own.

Not that I was truly on my own, as there were still loads of other runners on the course... but the psychological support of having my team mates beside me was clearly something I had been relying on. I kept running at a good clip until about mile 18... which is as far as I had ever trained. And then I hit a funk.

Miles 18 through 22 were really really hard.

In order to keep the energy levels up, we had to consume vast quantities of sweet crap... gels, gummy things, gatorade... none of which I would ever reach for on a regular day. But for a long run, it's necessary... so I gagged down the vanilla gels and the lemon gummies, and chugged water and gatorade until I could pretty near feel my teeth floating.

Even still, I ran out of steam... my walk breaks became more frequent and lasted longer. My feet hurt. My hip hurt. My legs felt like lead. And the miles felt long and lonely.

We ran down a quiet wooded road... a vastly different experience than 2 hours earlier when we ran en masse through the army base, slapping palms with cheering army service men & women... vastly different experience than 1 hour earlier when people lined the streets with their stereos playing and tables full of beer for the returning runners...

Down the wooded road we straggled. Very little conversation remained, and what little there was focused on getting each other through... keeping each other going.

I chatted briefly with a woman who was from Virginia Beach, who had trained on that stretch of road. She told me we would be passing the oldest remaining light house on the east coast... she told me that we would be passing the landing place of the earliest settlers in Virginia... she told me the story of how the marathon came to be 26.2 miles (rather than 25) long when the queen of England wanted to watch it during the London Olympics so the race was extended to run past Buckingham Palace.. and how runners now say "long live the queen" when they reach mile 25.

I forgot to say it when I reached mile 25... that was a good hour later on, and I had other things on my mind. Like not throwing up, for example. All that sugar and water were sloshing about in my belly, and goodness knows nothing else was left in there to slow the movements down.

But by that time I had also come across Coach Joe on the course, and he had offered to run me in ... he kept me going by telling me how proud he was to have been my coach and my friend, by reminding me of the obstacles I had overcome during training (and in life), by asking me if I had realised yet that I was going to reach the finish line...

I have a much deeper appreciation and respect for the coaches as a result of race day. I had always been appreciative of the training tips and support... but really, the final few miles were the point for me where I came to understand all that they do for us.

Joe embarrassed me with his over the top cheering and pointing as we rounded the corner and came onto the boardwalk where the last loyal spectators remained to cheer us on. But he helped me to finish strong. He helped me to finish running... and I shall love him forever for that.

My mom, dad and brother were there on the boardwalk... still cheering after almost five and a half hours of waiting. They sent me text messages as I ran, telling me they were there with me and that I could do it.

The clock read 5:22:12 as the announcers struggled to pronounce my last name... Actual time for me to complete the race - 5:19:51.

My husband was there at the finish line, taking photos and then holding me up as I searched desperately for something to eat (box after empty box of no more bananas!!!). He reminded me to pick up my medal, which I had totally walked right by... He helped me to find the TNT tent, helped me to walk back to the hotel, ran me an ice cold bath and sat with me until I no longer felt like I was going to be sick from the shock of it... and tucked me into bed with a turkey sandwich.

(He also called around mile 20 to tell me that he was back at the hotel, stretched out on the bed watching tv... so he's not always my hero... just most of the time)

It is possible that I have never been more proud of myself than I was at that moment... stretched out in bed, legs up on pillow, toes poking out because they were too tender to have the blankets weighing down on them, eating my sandwich, too tired to sleep.

***

Funny marathon moments & highlights to follow in the next posting...