No, I'm not going to hurl here!! This is Kevin's 'inflatable hand' that he carried around the whole course so I could find him...which amounted to a total of one time.
How am I going to do this? Blog about my trip to Paris/Belgium and write about running the Green Bay ½ marathon – so much, so close together. Let’s start with the run and then I’ll go backwards to Europe in a few days, ok?
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday – May 16th. I signed up to run the Green Bay ½ marathon on 12/31/09 – yup, first goal for the 2010 year. I did it last year so I thought this would be EZ! I knew what was involved – the training that was required – all I needed to do was do it. And I did the training and had no injuries (knock wood) as opposed to last year. Just slow and steady – adding miles – week by week. But I also noticed that I was adding a few pounds with the miles. Hmmmm, how was that happening? As many of you know, I don’t eat meat and have no desire to so I took a look at what I was eating and my, oh my, do I love my carbs! I just do! And I started liking wine a little too much too over the winter but you know what? Who cares? After a few years of not really enjoying what I was eating, I was now. So when you add on a few LBS, you also slow down a bit – I think the ratio is for every added lb. you slow down ½ a mile per hour? Does that sound right? Maybe I dreamt it? So the point of this is despite all my good training, I was comparing my times to last year and I was slower. Not a ton, but still. And then add to this the fact that I would be in Paris and Belgium a week prior to the race – eating and drinking my way thru. It did NOT look good to set a personal best or break a land/speed record (well, that was never in the books anyhow). But oh well, was I not going to go to Europe? Heck no!!
This year, as opposed to last, Kevin was able to come along to watch me. His annual BARRIZ Open Golf outing was pushed back a week so he could follow me along the course and cheer me on. Now, I’m not a big fan of people I know cheering me on – no idea why, but I’m not. Just don’t like the hoo haa – happier tackling the task at hand myself and then writing about it. Besides, have you watched people run any long distances? It ain’t pretty – and they ain’t pretty – no matter how you slice it! But we agreed that he’d come along but the rule was I only wanted to see him 4 times along the course – otherwise I figured I’d get more nervous. In hindsight, I think I was just being an idiot. Yup. I admit it.
So Sunday, 4:30 am. Up and at ‘em! Don my color coordinated outfit (you should all know by now that I spend a LOT of time trying to decide what to wear to these events – it’s all about how you look, baby…it is). Grab copious amounts of allergy medication – a little coffee – 1/3 of a banana – eat little bites of toast with peanut/almond butter and we are on the road. Sunglasses; timing chip; bib; GU packet; GU bottle to run with; ipod; Garmin doo daa – all checked off and ready to rumble!
Of course, Kevin is driving slow. So that puts me on red alert. ‘I need to be there by 6:15…no later.’ Rag, rag, rag. Oh, the race starts at 7 but you need to feel the vibe and just kinda take it all in and all that jazz. Plus, you need to allow for time…LOTS of time…to use the restrooms because the other 6,999 people are also trying to do the same.
We get to Lambeau after even stopping at a gas station for a restroom break around 6:20. It’s a madhouse trying to park – we do a sneak and end up parking right near our favorite tailgating spot (coincidence, I think not – good karma). Kevin has his coffee and is moving like a turtle and I decide I just need to leave him in the dust. I need to calm myself and get my game on. And seriously, it really hasn’t hit what I’m going to be undertaking shortly. Maybe because I knew what to expect – the weather was very similar to last year – the course was the same. But on the other hand, then you remember the icky stuff…mile 9 and 10 were dreadful last year; the headgames; maybe some wind; lots of sun – just wanting to be done. Anyhow, none of that had registered yet. Maybe because I didn’t give myself the window to dwell on it too much? Besides, what was I going to do now – not do it? Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. So let’s just start running!!
I found my place at the start line and then remembered to turn on my new high tech Garmin bday gift from Kevin…which I used for the first time on Saturday morning. Yes, you read right. I’m not good with technology and this thing seemed to fit me well – just turn it on; hit start/stop and go. Sweet! So I click on the on button during the National Anthem. I look down 30 seconds later and I get ‘locating satellite.’ Hmmmm? What’s this? Another 30 seconds. Still ‘locating satellite.’ Another minute and they are counting down to 7 am…still ‘locating satellite.’ You’ve got to be kidding me – I’m a minute away from starting this and now this dumb*ss thing isn’t going to register. The gun goes off..still ‘locating satellite.’ Well, I decide, I’ve come this far without it so if it works; great; if not, I’ll just do my best and try to figure out my pace because deep down, I do want to do better than last year. I just do. That’s gotta be a runner thing that you always want but of course, I’m not going to toot my horn too loud because what if I don’t? I’m pulling those few extra L B S’s and I’ve been eating and drinking like a king in Europe so I can use those excuses if I don’t beat my time. That’s so lame!!
I give up on my GPS piece of dung and start to walk because there are 6,999 of my closest friends also doing the full or half marathon. Then I start to jog and then I hit the start mat. It’s so slow to begin – seriously, if you’re going to walk or lightly jog something like this, stay in the back – it’s just common courtesy. But no – you have lots of walkers right up at the front and you’re jockeying to get around them – you’re trying to get a rhythm. I’m trying to get this freakin Garmin to work – it’s mass hysteria! Ok, it really isn’t that bad.
So now, let me give you a rundown on the ensemble. Tomato red running tshirt (www.lucy.com); CUTE black running skirt/skort…with pleats in the back…seriously, it was just so flippin cute…it really was (www.lululemon.com); red hair band (ok, that SOB fell out within a half mile – grade F); bright yellow Newton running shoes…they are awesome (www.newtonrunning.com). There’s your visual until you see pics.
We get moving. I have tunes going. The hair band is now a coiled up wrist band (I think a nice accent to the wardrobe). But then, the stupid race bib keeps moving around to my butt. My goofy Fuel Belt wouldn’t keep it in the front of me – all throughout the race it would move around to the back. So I messed with that continually. Then the earbuds kept popping out and that was a pain in the rump. And then I looked down and saw that the Garmin was working. Allelujah! Mind you, it was almost a mile into the race so it really didn’t matter, but I thought I might as well hit start so I could follow pace. Truth be told, I looked at it one more time at mile 11.5 to see if there was a snowball’s chance in hell of breaking two hours…it felt like a day to just ‘Run, Forrest, Run!’
Now, Kevin and I never agreed to ‘where’ he’d be along the course. And for whatever reason, I spent a LOAD of time looking for him along the route. I have to say, this GB race is awesome! There are people everywhere and they are cheering. I mean EVERYWHERE! It’s a great course for the ½ marathon because you can meet up with your people almost every mile if you wanted to. Which is very cool! So I kept looking for Kevin and his GOLD blow-up, $2 #1 hand that he bought so I could find him. Hmmm, no hand at mile 1 or 2 or 3 or 4. But then again, it was just a sea of people and if you didn’t have an exact location to find each other, there’s no way you would…if only by chance.
So I just ran and smiled and listened to my music and ran and ran and ran. Then, I have no idea where, I saw Kevin…’hey Spanky!’ he yelled. I blew a kiss to the camera and just kept running. Shortly after that, I saw my friend Shelley and her mom at Mesa and Shady Lane – merci beau coup for coming out and giving me a high five!! Then I saw Kim and Becky at the KI water station. Woooo woooo! Then I knew it was coming into that icky residential section that is just very boring…and long. But for whatever reason, it wasn’t that bad this year – it just wasn’t. I figured if I made it thru that, the rest was going to be a-ok. Looked for the blow-up hand. No sign of it anywhere. Mile 8. No sign of it. Mile 9. No sign of it. Maybe he was inside Lambeau waiting to get some AWESOME pics of me??
Since Kevin could not find me, he decided to start taking pics of ANYONE in red and black - thinking that in one of those shots, he'd find me. Well, there were a million photos of people in black and red on my camera...and I'm not in any of them!! This...is not me!
Nope, this isn't me either.
Not me again.
This is pink for pete's sake. Nope, not me, not me, not me, not me.
I got to the corner of Morris and Ridge Road, which is like mile 10. This section of the course ended up being extremely emotional for me. The amount of PEOPLE here was staggering. So many, that they kinda form a gauntlet for you to run thru – people are just spilling out onto the street from both sides. And they are yelling and screaming for you!! And it’s loud. And you make eye contact and you can just FEEL how badly they want you to finish this. It is just oh so cool. Crazy energy!
Remember, I’m only doing the ½ marathon. There are a boatload of fools that are doing a full marathon…26.2 miles. That is just nuts! It is! No way…no how…ever…for me. So for them, they aren’t even halfway done yet! This is an amazing group. I’m in awe of them! I’m already savoring that 26.2 brew that is waiting at the finish line for me. They can’t even taste it yet.
Mile 11. Kinda quiet. Kinda alone here. Then you make a turn and you’re facing west towards the finish line. And here is where you see the Mecca…the most sacred place I know of…Lambeau Field. It’s here that you realize you are gonna finish this sucka! You are! Even if you have to crawl there (I think I’ve crawled away from Lambeau Field, but not to it…go figure?).
The pace picks up a little bit. You run past the Resch Center and the GBP practice field and then across Oneida to the parking lot. I added a little burst of speed here so I could SAVOR the time while in Lambeau. You go into the lower level parking/maintenance area and, as last year, they have the HEAT ON! WHAT THE?? Seriously, why do you need heat on in this lower level of Lambeau Field? Someone? Anyone? Please answer this. As a runner, you’re all sweaty and salty and delirious anyhow, but then add 30 seconds of being in a blast furnace and that will turn your tummy full of Gatorade and GU Chomps and GU liquid into an instant canon. It’s not good. But I figured those fools would have it turned up to 90 degrees, as last year, and they didn’t disappoint.
I focus on the player tunnel and be sure to ‘touch’ the championship plaque that sits at the end of the tunnel before you enter the field and tap the bricks from the old stadium. Ahhhh, cool air! Salvation! Music! It’s La, La, La, Lambeau. I high five the volunteers that are there to make sure you don’t even think of touching the field (or you will be tasered – kidding). I make my way around and then do my ‘jump around’ arm pump and ask the crowd to ‘give me some love’ as lots of hands come down to high five me at the spectator section. Then it’s back into the blast furnace – really, it was dreadful and I was feeling like I had just had a few shots of ‘bar rag juice’ at Bayside Tavern in Fish Creek. But I made it out of there unscathed and then it’s just .1 miles. I look up as I see the finish clock and it’s only 2:00:25 and I KNOW that I didn’t cross the start line anywhere near 7 am so I pick those legs up and we RAN that last 30 yards as fast as we could go. WOOO WOOOO!!! I stop my Garmin and don’t bother looking. It’s over now. I’m thinking I broke 2 hours. We’ll see.
I get my medal; two bottles of water and my legs just want to keep moving. Seriously, the worst thing you can do is STOP moving. So I walked to the family reunion area and looked for Kevin and his blow up hand. Nope. I walk around some more. Come back to the A-C area. Still no Kevin. I go and walk some more and chug water. Go get a bagel. Come back and still no Kevin. It’s 10 – 15 minutes since I crossed the finish line – where is he? Finally, he surfaces and tells me my time. 1:58:03!! HOLY SH*T – I not only beat my 2 hour goal but I beat last year’s time as well. SWEET! I start jumping around like a little kid on Xmas morning! Yeee haaaa!
I then ask Kevin where he was along the course. He said ‘I was around mile 10 and I think I was blowing up the hand and you went by because I was watching the 4 hour pace group and you were with them at mile 6.5 but NOT with them at mile 10…I realized either you picked it up…or you wiped out, so I just waited and waited for you.’ Needless to say, Kevin was no where near Lambeau when I came thru. He realized I was done when the text message went off on his phone that I had finished. Hahaha!! Oh well!
This is me! And Kevin. And the 'hand.' He said it was a big hit. I would not know. Though whenever a person in Viking garb went by, he turned it around. hahaha!
This is me, at the players parking pen...waiting for you know who. I thought for sure he'd be there to congratulate me on a personal best??
So we watched the first place finishes of the FULL marathon come thru 15 minutes after I finished the half (huh??) – went into Lambeau so Kevin could at least see some runners go thru the field then we headed back for the piece de resistance…BEER!!! Wooo hoooo!! I don’t care if I would have been on a stretcher, I was going to drink some beer. It would have been sacrilegious NOT to drink beer at Lambeau, if you ask me. And they always say to carb up after a run so I was doing what I read about. Soon Kim and Becky arrived and we found them. They told us of how much fun the water station was and how they are locked and loaded to do it again next year. Then we started to discuss GU - for those non-runners out there, GU is an energy aid that runners and endurance athletes will use during an event to give them a little pick me up. Becky had never tried GU so I was happy to open a pack of mine for her to try...
Becky was especially eager to try GU. This flavor is called 'Espresso Love.' Ok, in hindsight, Becky doesn't really look too eager, but in keeping with the theme of the day, EVERYONE had to have a little GU to keep them going. Good job Becky!!
Now Kim - Kim has had GU before and she LOVES it! We need to be sure we tell Kim's husband, Tim, how much she LOVES GU! The gentleman behind her does not look too pleased with her over-zealousness. Buzzkill.
The finish area was so congested – I mean really congested. But after a few beers, it became bearable.
This is the 3rd place women's finisher for the FULL marathon. She finished in some ungodly time like 2:45...the whole thing. And now she's lifting her daughter on her shoulders. They would have been lifting me onto a stretcher had I done the full...
Big Mouth was NOT there this year but a different band that was playing LOTS of AC/DC and Ozzy and music of that genre. After a few barley pops, I asked Kim and Becky to come over to the stage for a few photos….
Rock n Roll, baby!! Rock n Roll!!
In keeping with the moment, I decided to throw caution to the wind and flash my pleated skirt for the camera…and the throngs of people in front of the stage.
Of course it's always funny when someone sticks their butt out...the kid onstage seems to find some humor in it. Note...I did NOT spill a drop of beer! Amazing!
Though a good idea and worth plenty of laughs from Kevin and Becky and Kim and I, probably NOT the smartest thing to do in front of a crowd of strangers.
This is back with our group of merry-makers. Kim is always making out with men. Here she's with Ken.
...now she's onto Kevin.
Doesn't it look like this dog could eat this young girl in one bite? Screw the brat, kid - I'd be in fear for my life. Really, this dog was so gentle. I just love him - a big, old Marmaduke!
About a half hour later, I went to get another bagel (to soak up the liquid carbs that were now messing with my head) and two gentlemen approached me. ‘Ma’am, did we see your *ss about a half hour ago?’ I put my index finger to my chin and said ‘noooooooooooooo! Absolutely not.’ They then said ‘oh, we think we did and in fact, we have it on youtube already…see you’re wearing the same YELLOW shoes that the flasher was wearing – you need to get rid of those.’ SOB!! I was caught bare handed…or yellow shoe-d! So we laughed about that and I had to get my pic with these voyeurs as well. They were kind enough to say they liked what they saw and hoped they would see it again back here next year. I told them ‘no need to wait until next year, this *ss is here every Packer Sunday in the fall.’
One more flash - why not? Who says endurance athletes are serious. HA!
All in good fun - but what the heck is that guy drinking? It looks like a GU milkshake. Ok, now I do want to hurl.
Back to more beer and hooking up with more friends who had run...
These are the TRUE athletes - Stacy and John - both ran the FULL marathon and both finished well under four hours. Wow! Congrats!
These are part time athletes...Brian, to the left of me, was in Boston all week for work and was EXTREMELY hung over 24 hours prior to the race; then there's me (Kevin made me take my number off at this time so people couldn't look me up to see who the flasher was...good call, Kevin) and then there is Ken, he's done the full so I guess he is definitely a TRUE athlete. This year, we all did the half marathon so we were able to party like rockstars after. Wooo wooo!!
Sooon, it became clear that we all needed to get home as it it was not even noon yet and everyone had a buzz on. But I guess we had been going strong since 6 am (in some way, shape or form) and that’s 6 hours of craziness so indeed, we all bid adieu and made our way back to yard work and chores and post race activities.
If you ever get the urge to do a half marathon, then do GB! It is such a fun race! You will love it! You will! Trust me – have I ever steered you wrong? And if you do it, I will be there to cheer you on! You have my word!
So until next year, I’m hanging up the ‘yellow shoes’ for a few weeks and switching over to bike shoes. That Race the Lake is looming and is only 13.5 weeks away. Holy waaaaaaaaaaaa! Time to get peddling!
Next up, a recap of Paris in mid-January…err, I mean May!!
Yup, me again. Waiting by the parking pen. How long until GBP season???
