Yoo 201 - Frankenthon PROOF

PROOF!

Yes, this picture is a proof and not mine but I love it for two...wait, three reasons:

1. It says PROOF right across the middle. Like, yo, I just finished this marathon. And I have the picture to prove it 
2. It's a semi-flattering running shot (read "Kyooyoo's legs don't look like an ocean of rippling fat waves").  And those rarely happen for me (see below).
3. Bear is standing in the background with a camera like some paparazzi creeper...what are you trying to capture boy?? 

Photo that proves bullet 2:

Can you just see the fat waves rippling throughout the thighs?  Can you??

Yeah, me too.

But I'm still thumbs up about life.  And those fatty thighs carried me 26.2 miles, so, I'll keep them.

The day began at 4:30 am.  I remember it all quite clearly.  Because who wouldn't remember sharing a small hotel room with 4 other girls and being awoken by an errant alarm clock at 4:30?

It's really hard to put sounds like REALLY LOUD STATIC into words.

KERSHHHKERSHHHHKERSHHH?

KERRRQUUUEKERRRQUUUUEKERRRQUUUEKERRRQUUUE?

I'm not really sure.  But some twisted individual (maybe it was an unhappy maid playing a cruel joke?) set that alarm clock for 4:30.  And it wasn't any one of us.

KERSHHHKERSHHHHKERSHHH!

Someone let out a startled scream.  I started, quickly realized we weren't getting shot at, and then rolled over and back into dreamland.  Alisha, who was the unfortunate one closest to the alarm clock, beat her hands on it for a few moments before turning it off, mumbling all the while.

Soon we were all back to our previous, slumbering states.

Until 9 minutes later.

KERRRQUUUEKERRRQUUUUEKERRRQUUUEKERRRQUUUE!

It was just as shocking the second time.  But, some mumbling (and not just from Alisha this time), more hitting around the alarm clock, a bit more mumbling (something about hating and radios and people), and a couple more "roll-overs" and we were all back to sleep.

For another 9 minutes.

Quick learners aren't we??

KERSHHHKERSHHKERRRQUUUE!

"OHMUHGOODNESS just pull the plug!!"

Not sure who shouted that but it might have been me.  With the alarm officially disabled, quiet returned.  But again, not for long.

"Hehe".  Someone let a giggle slip.

"Hahaha".  Another one soon answered.

There was a bit of anxious silence.  I was trying desperately to stifle my own laughter, but my body betrayed me.

"SNORTmuahahahahahahahaha!"  And with that, Alisha and I broke loose on one of our biggest laughing fits to date.  We.  Couldn't.  Stop.  And no one would join us (it's like they were trying to sleep or something...)!  It was just us.  Losing it at 4:30 in the morning in a random hotel room in Austin.

Maybe we were nervous?  We'll blame it on nerves.

The laughing fit subsided a good 10 minutes later and Alisha and I decided to face the day.  We grabbed some goodies and trekked out to the lobby to eat our pre-race fare (bagels, strawberries, and granolar (yes, with the "r") bars) on a couple chairs in front of the elevator.  It really seemed like such a natural place to dine at 5 in the morning and really I think we were kind of hoping that someone would pop out of the elevator at which point we could announce to them that we were about to run a marathon and soak up their response and the attention. 

But those cold, bare doors yielded no friendly strangers to share our anticipation with, so we packed up and moseyed back to the room.

A wardrobe change, a tense "we're lost and we don't know where this marathon is supposed to start!" episode in the car, and a few bathroom trips later and we were at the starting line.

Bear gave me a big hug.  Katie snapped some pictures.  My iPod started playing "Monster Mash" (it's almost inappropriate to kick off the Frankenthon to any other soundtrack, really).  And....

BANG!

I was off.

 

It looked a little something like that.  Only still dark outside.

There was running.  And more running.  And "Kyooyoo, just start slow.  Keep a comfortable pace.  You can kick it later." going through my head.  And also Monster Mash.  I pushed along to a soundtrack of various Halloween songs ("If there's something strange, in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call?".....that's right.), and my normal mix of everything else.  Country.  Film scores.  Rock.  Anything to keep the spirits up.

The whole marathon went by really fast.  Except the first half.

This is where I could mention that Bear and Katie skipped out on me to go eat breakfast at a friend's house and missed cheering me on at the first 3 of 6 cheering sections and left me without energy gels but I won't....wait, yes I will mention that.

In their defense, I was running pretty fast (*shining fingernails*) and they did make up for it later.  But it was hard not to be bitter for the first two hours!  After I'd passed 2 cheering sections with no sign of them, I really started to wonder.  "This is my marathon!  They came along to support me!  I've been training for this for 19 weeks!  I'm trying to run my best time!  I need those energy gels!"  All thoughts going through my head.  I had my phone with me and tried calling but the park I was running in had no reception (in the middle of Austin...really AT&T??).  So, after trying to calm myself and give them the benefit of the doubt (and upon approaching the third cheering section without any sign of them), I got a text from Bear.  Answering my "Where are you ???"  (count them, 3 question marks...) text.

"I'm at the mile 9 marker."

Awesome.  I was at mile 14.

The marathon route was a loop so he ran a ways to meet up with me and get me my energy gels so I could resupply my utility belt (very different from a fanny pack, people).  And tell me how uber sorry he was.  And do you know what I did??  Only the most heartless thing EVER!  Like when your parents tell you they're disappointed in you!

"I needed you Bear.  You really let me down."  I grabbed the energy gels and just ran past.

How horrible is that??  Pretty horrible.  Sometimes I can be mean when I'm running and have to interact with people.  He had gone out of his way to be supportive that weekend and had already expressed how sorry he was for missing the first two cheer sections.  And I can't really blame the boy for being hungry.  And I did only leave him with energy gels and graham crackers (never mind that I was running for 4 hours and survived just fine on those...).  And he was walking around with my gear bag (that looked like a diaper bag) slung around his shoulder so he could resupply me at my whim.  Rational thought returned soon after and I pondered on that.

And listened to Monster Mash again.

I saw Bear again at mile 18 and pretty much told him I was sorry.  Which was more of a friendly look and a "can I have another energy gel?" request (in a very nice tone!  the tone says all!).  He gave me his "I forgive you again and you know I'm still really sorry" look and handed me another energy gel.  Peace was restored and I finished the last 2 loops with a much more appreciable attitude.  Bear cheered and carried the resupply.  Katie ran with me for a few minutes here and there.  And I got to enjoy running on a trail next to water.  WATER!  That's a rarity this year in Texas.

Do you want to hear the real war story though??  Ok, it's not that good, but I got a crippling stomach cramp at mile 6 that CRUSHED my dreams of finishing...for about 5 minutes.  I never cramp up!  But, naturally, the time that I do would be during a race.  It came on suddenly and reduced me to a tender walk.  Other runners started passing me.  One offered to call in a medic team.  A medic team?  Did I really look that bad??  I waved them off and said I was fine.  And then let out a few whimpers.  My stomach was tying some serious knots!  I hadn't even eaten anything weird!  Trying not to let myself lose hope, I focused on taking deep, slow breaths (all yoga-like).  And when that didn't work I just started hitting my stomach and told it "stomach, you can either work with me, or against me but we're finishing this marathon and the sooner we do the sooner we all get pizza!" and that seemed to fix the problem.  My stomach really likes pizza.

And really, the rest of the marathon was quite enjoyable.  I was still feeling strong at mile 20 and started pushing myself harder and harder.  I had set out to run a sub 4 hour marathon and as the run progressed, I realized I was on track to beat that, by quite a bit.  And then I started thinking "I wonder what a Boston-qualifying time is for my age group?".  Because that would be pretty rad to qualify for Boston.  And I kept running faster wishing I knew what I was aiming for.  But mostly enjoying the run.

Katie joined up with me again for the last mile and we pushed it in together, finishing my third full marathon in, check it:

3:46:46.

Not Boston-qualifying but 14 minutes faster than my stretch goal and over 40 minutes faster than my personal best.  I was a pretty happy camper (or runner).

(And don't you just love that picture??  Bear carrying the support bag, Kyooyoo joyously crossing the finish line, and the new PR blazed on the time clock.  I owe some serious props to either Janelle or Tina...can't remember who was taking pictures right then.)

PROOF!

Have a great day :-)