What happened was, I went to San Antonio as a
Halfathoner, came home a Marathoner. How did this change occur? Let me explain.
I signed up at the last moment, before the fee increase, for the San Antonio
Rock N Roll Half Marathon. It was late night on October 13, after some serious
studying, so I could get the discount of $13. I reserved the room at the
Marriott through Groupon, another great discount 70% off the room.
It was my birthday weekend and I chose to
participate in a running event as a way to bring in another year of life.
Everything would be dated November 17, 2013, my 51st year of life.
Me and my running buddy Brenda left the Dallas area sometime after 6:30 pm. The
traffic in Dallas was horrible, so it took us awhile to maneuver around it. My
daughter NeNe kept calling because she wanted us to stop in San Marcos to have
dinner with her. I didn’t want to stop because I was already tired from a long
week of work. We made it to the hotel after 11 pm. After watching Scandal, I was fast asleep. Brenda had
fallen asleep as soon as she laid down.
The next morning we got up to head to the RNR
Expo at the Alamodome. The place was surrounded by stairs. We had to walk up
the stairs to get the building and down the stairs to get to the Expo. I forgot
to print out my bib info, so I had to search the board for my bib number. To my
surprise my bib number was 1162, my month and year of birth. This had to mean
something special. While taking photos of my bib number, I noticed my bib was
blue and Brenda’s was red. We figured it was because I registered before her.
Then Brenda saw it, I had registered for the marathon, not the half marathon.
She burst out laughing. I immediately headed to the change race table. I was
told all I had to do was stand in the corral of the time I thought I would
finish the half. To be funny, I posted
the photo with me and my bib number on Facebook to notice who would realize I
had signed up for the full. Of course my running buddy Keisha “Run It Dirty”
noticed it immediately. Soon everyone else noticed it and started encouraging
me to go ahead and run the full. Not happening I told myself, I’ll wait until
December 8, the Dallas Marathon, like I had planned. Throughout the day, the
idea of running the full kept going through my head. How cool would it be for
me to complete my first marathon on my 51st birthday?
Sunday, November 17, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! We
headed to the Alamodome. Brenda and I walked around taking pictures before the
race began. When daylight hit, we headed to Corral 24. My other running buddies
showed up and more comments were made about me completing the marathon. No one
knew I had been debating in my head, since I woke up, whether or not to
complete the full or half. While standing waiting for the start, I began talking
to this older woman about my plans to run a marathon in December and the
farthest distance I had trained, 23 miles. She said honey go ahead and do the
full, you’ve trained, you can do it.
The race started, the “I can do it voice” got
louder and louder. By mile 3, I told Brenda I was going to go ahead and do the
full. It was really humid to me, but I wasn’t too hot. Brenda was hot and
sweating a lot. Between mile 5 and 6, Brenda had me slow down to reserve my
energy to be able to complete the full. We were running 3:1 intervals, 12-12:30
minute miles. After mile 10, Brenda and I parted ways because she had to take a
potty break. As I came around this curve, there it was, the half and full
split. If I went left, I would finish the half. If I went right, I would begin
my journey to become a marathon finisher. I grabbed a cool sponge and started
debating in my head, do I or don’t I. I kept going right. I told myself,
there’s no turning back now. There were not that many runners making that right
turn when I did. There were plenty coming back to finish.
Mile 15, I was still feeling good, I can do
this, easy breezy. Mile 16, there was no shade and I was getting hot. Mile 17,
I thought to myself, did I make the right decision. I did something I never do,
I started drinking the water and Gatorade at the water stations, at every
station. Mile 18, I said this is some b&llsh@t, what the f%ck was I thinking.
Mile 19 (more unholy language), my body was beginning to ache, legs
muscles were cramping. I could only walk, no more running for me. I had run out
of my own water, which made it seem like the water stations were further apart.
Mile 20 and 21 (more unholy language), some lady started asking me questions,
I was too irritated to respond politely, but I made every effort.
Mile 22 (more unholy language), I was in a lot of pain, from my
shoulders to the soles of my feet. I was hurting so bad, I couldn’t answer my
phone or read the text messages I was receiving, my fingers and hands hurt.
Mile 23, the tears began to flow and I was
balling like a big baby…a walking sweaty baby. Then this guy dressed in
military fatigues, came up to me and said you just have 3 miles to go, I know
you are tired, but you are almost there, don’t give up. More tears and
snotting. Then I started asking God what did I do to deserve this much pain,
this is worse than child birth. I asked Him if there was anything left in me
that was unpleasant and He wanted removed. More tears and snotting.
Mile 24, I ripped my water belt off because it
was causing me too much pain. It felt like it was stabbing me. This lady
stopped to check on me and gave me some Peanut Butter Gu, a Cliff Bar and some
of her water. Then some Hispanic guy, who was waiting on someone, stopped me
and said here take this water and he offered me some energy supplements.
Mile 25, some guy ran passed me and said come on
sexy, we almost there, you’ve been doing good this far so don’t give up. I made
an effort to answer my phone because I needed some help, motivation to finish.
It was NeNe and she was fussing, why haven’t you answered you phone, where are
you. I hang up, I didn’t need the negative vibe. I looked through my missed
call log to find Brenda’s number, the call went straight to voice mail which
meant her battery was dead. I looked through the call log again, a missed call
from Cindy. She informed me that Brenda had passed out and was rushed to the
hospital. I was still crying and giving her my symptoms, she said go to the
first medic station, something is wrong. But I didn’t, I was too close to the
finish line. Then Brenda called me and said stop and go to the first aid
station you see, you don’t have to finish this race, it was totally unplanned.
Almost to mile 26, someone else ran passed me
and said come on sexy. I thought to myself, if one more person calls me sexy, I
will punch them in their mouth. Next, this motorcycle cop came by and said, see
the stop light ahead, that’s the finish line, don’t quit. That was the longest
1.2 miles. Then it happened, this lady came up behind me and said come on sexy,
you’re almost there, you are the true example of sexiness, the epitome of what
sexiness is. I balled my fist up but she was too far out of reach and my body
hurt too much for me to chase her down. I only had .2 miles to go, I was in
extreme pain, something was definitely wrong. I did it, I crossed the finish
line 5:45:24 later, I was a marathon finisher. I put my medal on and walked
over to the medic tent. I told the nurse something is wrong, I’m in too much
pain, my back really hurts. She said okay, let’s go inside. I stepped to the
left and collapsed. I didn’t blackout completely, I was aware of my surrounding
and could answer all their questions, I just didn’t have any energy. The medic
said I was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. On November 17, 1962, I entered this world. On
November 17, 2013, I entered the world of a marathon finisher.
My stats:
Overall: 1967 out of 2680
50-54 Age Division: 46 out of 71
Female: 796 out of 1178
5 km – 39:05
10 km – 1:20:07
10 mile – 2:09:27
Half – 2:49:16
20 mi – 3:41:33
