Dizzy Daze

It was like Christmas Eve, laying in bed knowing that the sooner I fall asleep, the sooner it will be morning. I was entirely to excited about the prospect of running FARTHER THAN I HAVE EVER RUN BEFORE. I was mentally practicing the FTIHERB dance that goes along with the accomplishment and I even came up with a song for it too. (sung to the tune of O My Darling Clementine) “I ran the farthest, I ran the farthest, the farthest distance I ever ran, But I will run more and I will dance more and I will sing this song again”

Yea, way to excited about that…
The weather promised to give us hell. The wind had calmed down to 15-20 miles an hour, but the hourly forecast was still 40 degrees with rain showers (every hour, all day).

Post run

NO RAIN…until a few seconds after I finished…wild

First I want to thank the Academy
Props to Jonathan Bernard for putting on a great run. There was an ample amount of everything I could possibly want at the aid station. And it was conveniently located every 3.2 miles (cause we ran in a circle, c’mon guys, don’t make me explain this stuff). There were potato chips (which were life savers after I burned myself out on GU and shot blocks), and Easter candy, and fruit, and sandwiches, and so on. Jonathan gave a great pre race speech, “If you want to do exactly a half marathon, marathon, or 50k here are the turn around places, but really, you should just run more.” And I was sufficiently motivated.

Next up, thanks John. He ran the first 9.5 miles with me, drove to Tacoma, taught trumpet lessons, then drove back in time to run my last lap with me. When I finally made it to that last lap I knew I could make it, but I wasn’t sure if I could keep myself from walking. With John there I was able to keep running, AND I had an audience for my FARTHEST DISTANCE song and dance

My family showed up and ran a bit with me. Just seeing my dad and step mom gave me a boost of energy, sadly it didn’t last long. I was on my eighth lap, I would be finishing my marathon soon, and I was getting a bit tired. I started worrying that they wouldn’t want to stay while I did two more laps. I would still get points for running a marathon, but I really wanted THE FARTHEST DISTANCE. When I passed my dad at the aid station, he assured me they would be happy to hang out for another two laps. He offered me fruit and acai juice, I felt terribly guilty but all I wanted was potato chips. He looked crushed, “I don’t have any potato chips”.
Mimi joined me to run the 9th lap. It was easily the hardest lap and I am so grateful to her for keeping me moving and chatting. I had started wondering if I could really keep running, my legs were so tired. But before I expected it, we were finishing our lap.
And John took over for Mimi and we pushed through the final lap together. When I finally hit THE FARTHEST DISTANCE, I found my legs too tired to do much of a dance, but I gave it my best. I repeated the song and dance a half mile later and again at the finish. Mimi and Cassie stood tall and linked their hands, giving me a tunnel to run under, and I was finally able to stop running. It was easier to do the full dance when I didn’t have to keep moving forward at the same time.

And then we ate and drank and were merry.

Two days later I am still surprised how good my body feels. There is some fatigue and a little muscle soreness, but nothing even close to what I expected.
My time was 7 hours and 3 minutes…less than an hour longer than last weeks marathon. Clearly our bodies thrive with only one week of recovery (HAHAHAHA…right). Wild