Nike Women's Marathon 08: Sunday

OMG! I can only report on the pieces I remember and those that were shared with me. I don't remember getting up, showering, eating oatmeal, dressing, donning a garbage bag and getting to the Start Line. I do remember throwing up the oatmeal before leaving the hotel room. Great. I remember staring at the Patron billboard during the National Anthem, unable to find the American Flag. I remember it was cold. Very cold. Something around 57 degrees and wind.

The gun went off at 7am. I started running. I ran slowly to the pier. I ran for a little over 4.5 miles. Then I hit the wall. And threw up on it. I could not run another step. It took every bit of energy I had to put one foot in front of the other. I ran. I walked. I jogged. I barfed. I dragged. I tried to drink water. I stopped three times for water. I drank my Gatorade. I choked down a package of Sharkies.

It was growing colder. The sky was grey. I had to keep moving. When I saw our assistant coach, Sarah, somewhere around mile six. I was trying to keep it together. I had another 7+ miles to go. I could not hear the support crews cheering me on, calling my name. All I could hear was ny stomach pleading with me to quit. My legs were cramping. No fuel. I grabbed a wedge of orange. Mistake. I kept moving forward. Just move forward. It was so cold. I never took off my jacket. I was passed by a chic in flip flops. I was passed by a chic in crocs. Ugh. I was dragging myself every step of the way. I was so relieved to come to mile 10, where it overlooked the finish zone. I knew I had 3+ miles to go. Somewhere on the course I realized: This course is longer than 13.1 miles. My GPS was telling me I had an additional .4 of a mile to get to the finish. (Another runner of the half verified it in passing, as did Paul from info online!)

All I knew was: I must keep moving to the finish. One thing at a time. I saw my coach, Roland, right before the chute and started to cry. I was almost there. Run. Run to the end. I started running and crossed the finish line approximately a week after I started. Kidding! It took a few seconds shy of 4 hours. It was brutal. I started on empty. I ended on less than empty.

One thing at a time. Focus on one thing at a time. Get Tiffany's pendant from random fireman. Pick up Finisher's t-shirt. Remove timing chip. Oh, a banana (I might keep that down). Was it colder? Yes. Go to next point. Wrap in Mylar sheet. Check in with TnT. Grab food: sandwich, Cheetos (my fave part, my victory dance), cookies and a COKE (Elaine said it saved her at IronMan08). I could not eat. I sipped the Coke. The thought of food made me want to wretch more. I had nothing left to expel. I was so cold. I had to get warm.

Focus: one thing at a time. Get checked bag. Go to changing tent. Change clothes. More like pile on what ever clothes I had. I couldn't stop shaking. I was trying not to cry. I hurt all over. I wanted so desperately to have Paul there. I needed his support, warmth and help. I had to do with only text messages. Everything was so loud, my ears were ringing. I was turning hypothermic. If I had to do this by myself, I wanted to get back to the hotel as soon as I could.

But, then I thought about Luz. She was out there alone, too. Sure, we had the Team support, but no one close. No one who could hold our hand for an extended period of time, before being called to the next one in need. I made my way to the massage tent. Maybe a quick stretching and massage would give me some juice. The student who worked me over was awesome. He popped every bone in my back. It hurt like mad, but I stayed there and let him help get the toxins out of of muscles. I poured off the table and thanked him.

Something in me made me go back to the TnT tent to look for Luz. It was insanity in there. Everyone was trying to find a inch of space to keep warm. I walked passed a bunch rows and made my way into the crazy. I looked down, there she was, sitting one aisle over. I sat next to her and she went to pieces. My brain turned my body off. I knew I had to take care of her. I didn't have anyone, but she did. She finished the full marathon, but burned all over her sugar, fuel, everything. She wanted to get out of there. It was so cramped and loud.

We went outside and huddled against the wall separating the street from the beach. It was so cold, but it was not crowded and loud. I dug through my stores of every drug I had with me. I took some Vitamin I (Ibuprofen) and Vitamin V (Vicodin). That helped my body forget the pain and burning stomach. After about 30 minutes we noticed we had been sitting behind the First Aid Tent! I went in to see if they had room for 2 more. It was not crowded and it was WARM! I helped her to a cot. I sat in a chair next to her. She started her vomiting. The nurses who watched over us were wonderful. One brought me a Coke, a warm Coke-The BEST! Another got me a PB&J sandwich. I ate slowly, it burned with every bite. We stayed in there until they started to close the event down.

Luz was in really bad shape. She eventually was taken to St. Mary's Hospital for evaluation. She was released a few hours later. She had not fueled enough over the last weeks of training to get her through this event: 26.2 miles of running. She had been burning muscle. She received fluids and returned to the hotel later. I was unable to go with her to the hospital.

I made my way to the TnT buses back to the city. I almost cried when I found my bus. I did not believe and ad to ask a woman with a clipboard. I found a seat and collapsed. I called Paul. I called Mom. I cried. I tried not to get sick. Thankfully the nice people at the massage tent were giving away towels. I wrapped mine over my head and clippied it to my chin to keep warm. I pressed a corner of it over my mouth to keep from sicking up the bus. Our hotel was the second stop. I raced to the room, trying to beat the next wave of my every churning stomach. I made it back to the room. I was "home".

I peeled off all my clothes. Started brewing tea. Finally, opened my Tiffany's package. Took a hot shower (post race ice bath be damned, I was ice cold.) I crawled into my jammies and bed with my tea and fell asleep for an hour. I felt I needed to make it to the Victory Party. Why? Who knows? I walked over by myself, ate mashed potatoes and a cookie. I talked with a few people and returned to the hotel. I was back in the room for 15 minutes when Luz walked back in. She was looking so much better! We had our own Victory Party in the hotel bar with some chicken noodle soup. Team members started to pour into the hotel bar and come by to say, "Hi." Shortly after, we said "Good night".

It was over. We survived it. What a long day. But, we did it. It was 50 degrees when I finished. No wonder I was cold! Oh, there was the fever making dumber than a box of hair.