WordPerv

Every day I read the blog Dooce. Yesterday she (Heather Armstrong, who writes Dooce) posted about her sister’s dog.

While you can read the entire post by clicking the link above, I’ve excerpted some of the best parts. She was, quite possibly, talking about my beautiful little beagle, Daisy when she wrote this:

“[The dog] senses I’m awake and immediately rolls over to show me his belly, like SCRATCH IT, SCRATCH IT, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO, DO IT, DO IT, his tongue lolling happily out the side of his mouth, his tail beating the bed rhythmically as it wags in anticipation of everything the day before him has to offer, like maybe a leisurely afternoon of butt-sniffing… He is a companion animal, a dog who wants to be with you all the time, will look at you as you get up to walk into the other room like, are you going over there? Because I could go with you, no really. I’m going to stand right underneath you and stare at you until you give in and notice once again just how adorable I am.”

Yep, that about sums it up.

A few months back, I wrote about my goal to complete a marathon before I’m 30. Yesterday, I fulfilled that goal by running the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC.

Getting to this goal has been a long, 4-month process. It’s been fillled with ups and downs, highs and lows. It has all been worth it, as my “To Do In This Lifetime List” now looks like this:

Run a marathon (before I’m 30!)

The night before the marathon I actually dreamt of the race, except it was more of an obstacle course than a marathon – I was climbing up ladders and crawling through tunnels. I also wasn’t tired in my dream and kept thinking, “Wow, the first 10/15/25 miles were so easy!” Upon waking up I took this as a very good sign.

The marathon started at 8am and the weather was quite cool. I ran with my fleece hoodie for the first mile and a half before I’d warmed up sufficiently to shed it (they donate all the unclaimed clothing to local homeless shelters, so a homeless person is now the proud owner of a light pink fleece hoodie.)

The first 10 miles zipped by and Hank – my running partner – and I were slightly under pace. At the halfway point – 13.1 miles, I clocked in at 2:06:22, which is under a 10-minute pace. Around that time I realized my hands had gone numb, that familiar tingling sensation singing through my fingertips. I laughed and joked with Hank, saying that it was a good thing I didn’t need my hands to get me through the race because I could no longer feel them. If only the same were true of my legs.

Mile 20 I began experiencing some pain in the outside of my left knee. I’ve felt this before in training runs, but usually it goes away within the mile, so I pushed through it to the best of my ability. 

By Mile 23 I was in some serious pain and my knee was screaming. Mile 24 I practically doubled over as my right quad suddenly tightened up. This scared me tremendously as I knew if I couldn’t work out the cramp I would have to walk the remainder of the race. It was about that time that two woman from Michigan decided to walk and run with me as I worked out my cramp. They stayed with me for about a mile before leaving me and jogging off. I also owe it to Hank for getting me through because even though I told him mulitple times to just leave me he refused to do it, repeating that we were finishing the race together.

As I crossed Mile 25 I threw my hands in the air and smiled and it was then that I heard my name yelled out – it was my best friend Virginia and her boyfriend Matt, cheering me on. This definitely gave me some motivation to keep moving. Around that time I saw a sign that said, “Don’t cry, you’ll get dehydrated!!” which made me laugh because I was in so much pain at that point the only thing I wanted to do was cry but I really didn’t have the strength to do even that.

As we turned the final bend Hank reminded me the finish was just ahead. We saw the hill coming up and he said, “Come on Courtney, let’s kick it into gear and take the hill!!” and putting my head down and pumping my arms as hard as I could, I powered up the hill and through the final straightaway, finishing with a time of 4:38:25.

They call the Marine Corps Marathon the People’s Marathon and it truly is – there are 30,000 runners and 100,000 spectators. The spectators are really fantastic, cheering and screaming, holding up some really funny signs like: “Channel Your Inner Kenyan!!” and “Run Your Ass Off!” and “Nice Legs!!” Not only are the spectators amazing, but the runners are amazing too. I had a sign on my back that said, “Run Courtney!” and this resulted in many runners cheering for me as they ran. I returned the favor by cheering for those who had their names posted on their shirts also. Even what some runners choose to wear is amusing – there was Wonder Woman and two matching bees, also a man with a cape and a woman with a blue mohawk. There are runners of all shapes, sizes, and abilities.

Words can’t even begin to describe the enormous amount of pride I feel for having completed a marathon. I ran 26.2 miles on purpose!! What’s more amazing is the fact that I logged 254.5 miles over the course of my training, which started in July.

Now that the race is done everyone keeps asking me if I’m going to run another. To be honest I don’t plan on it. 26.2 miles was really hard on my body, and though my back didn’t hurt at all, damn near everything else did. And I enjoy running shorter distances, so in the future the most I plan on running is a half-marathon (come on, 13.1 miles is reasonable!!)

I couldn’t have completed the race without the help and support of some people:

~Virginia & Matt: Thank you for being my cheerleaders before, during, and after the race. For making signs and screaming my name. Knowing you were there was amazing.

~Hank: Thank you for being my running partner and walking with me when I needed it. For pushing me in the end.

~Tamera: Thank you for giving me the most beautiful bouquet of Gerber Daisies to commemorate the completion of the marathon. You didn’t even know these were my favorite flower!

~Brian: Thank you for feeding me comfort food after the race and rubbing my aching muscles. Love you always.

~Me: For having the dedication to train for this marathon and the courage to actually run it. I am a marathoner.

(**PS. I’ll post more race pics as I get them!)

With only two days until the marathon I am getting nervous. I’m not all that nervous about the race itself, but I am nervous as hell about everything leading up to it. What if I oversleep? What if I don’t sleep at all? What if I forget my shoes? These are all silly fears as I won’t oversleep because I’ll be too excited and anxious – hopefully I’m able to squeeze out a couple of hours of sleep the night before. It’s an even more irrational fear to think I’m going to forget my running shoes. I might forget my shorts, socks, bra, Gatorade or energy gel, but I will not forget my shoes. So if you see a naked runner, that’s me. Please note I am wearing my shoes though.

Two days and counting! EEK!

Because you never know when this kind of information might come in handy – to “testify” was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles. I bet if we still used this today our court system would be run far differently…

 (Oh, and in case you would like to read other bits of random and mostly useless knowledge, click here).

I hate being broke. And since I make a nice living, it is very frustrating suddenly feeling like I have no money. I know this is simply an adjustment as I transition to living on one income instead of two, and that in a month or so things will even out and it will be fine. It’s not like I’m eating nothing but ramen noodles to survive. And yet my biggest splurge this week is buying paint for the half-bath I’m redoing. Not quite the retail therapy I would like.