Mississauga Marathon - May 5, 2013

WE DID IT!!!!

I guess I should start from the beginning...from Friday onwards, we were communicating on a regular basis, over Facebook, in regards to the smallest things - bib/race kit pick-up in Mississauga -- Laurie was able to go during the day, Melinda and I (with Jon) had to go after work, fighting traffic and armed Police Officers at the arena checking our backpacks upon arrival, sadly reminding us of the traumatic events that took place in Boston only a few weeks ago.

On Saturday, reviewing the weather forecast over and over, juggling back and forth on what to wear, Melinda trumps us all by sporting her DIY run singlet, complete with tremendous support for her husband and others she knows fighting Colon Cancer, as well as a tribute to the runners and residents of Boston! Great job Melinda :)
The remainder of Saturday was spent doing pretty well nothing.  We dropped Logan off at Karate and took Sadie to the vet in the morning - made sure we had a full tank of gas for Sunday morning.  Went home, ate pasta, drank gallons of water (continous over the past week), as well as napped later in the afternoon -- I succumbed to the itch, and zipped out for some flowers/plants to get the front porch planters started - it was just too nice a day to spend completely on my butt.  We also took Sadie to the dog park, to make up for the hours she would spend in her crate on Sunday morning.

Off to bed at a reasonable hour, after last-minute 'chats' on Facebook again with Melinda and Laurie.  Surprisingly, although it did take a little longer to fall asleep, I slept very well, even with getting up at 2am to let Sadie out.  5am came quickly, but I wasn't tired - rather, giddy and ready to get going!
En route, we made a pit-stop at a Tim's -- cleanest bathroom's you'll find on marathon morning ;)
Met up with Laurie and Angela at Square One not 20 minutes later to organize race bag transfer -- quick kisses my love Jon, who knew he'd be finishing much sooner than the three of us, as he ran off to pass off his race bag.

Laurie and I managed another quick (and clean!) pit-stop at Walmart that just opened minutes before our arrival, then headed to the corrals, all the while keeping our eyes open for Melinda, who we began to fret, wouldn't hook up with us.  Not surprisingly, like women, we all planned and remembered our iPods/iPhones, in case we got separated during the run, and need the extra encouragement along the way.
We found Melinda after standing in the corrals for about 10 minutes, with less than 10 minutes left to race start! Whew!  We also stood for a moment, and thought of Lisa, who we had hoped would join us, after much teasing, and a complimentary race entry courtesy of Melinda, who had her own family/life event marathon to run on Sunday -- Lisa, we thought of you often on our run, during the good moments, but moreso during the challenging -- you pushed us through, without even being there, and we all hope to be able to help push you when we can all run 26.2 together.

The gun went off, and we crossed the start line just less than 2 minutes later (I remember there being more people when I ran 13.1 there in 2010...).  The first 10k went very well, on pace, great temperatures, great company.  At the split for the half marathon group vs the marathoners, we mildly thought 'how nice to be 5k from the finish for them.....' (little did we know, we actually meant it!).  Just past 15k, Melinda's husband Bill, his family, and Melinda's nephew James cheered us on from the front yard of their home -- 9-year-old James even braved the old ladies, and ran with us for nearly 1km -- great job young man, and super to have the encouragement along the way!

At 21k, we were just mildly off pace, but it would still have hit a 1/2 marathon PB for me at 2:16 -- still felt good, and realized it was time for a pit-stop - we ran as far as the course took us 'out' of Mississauga heading west, and turned around just close to 25k.  At that point, we rationalized, just 15k more to go, which, on any regular day, would be just 15k.  Not today.  We started counting down water stations, which came to us every 2km - just 7 more!!  At 32k, although aches started to set in, but good.  Sore knees, sore hips, Melinda's 'schrapnel ankle' began to set in seriously, as well as Laurie's leg injury, only extending into her hip instead.  Although mentally we were fine, and pleased to report, no slurring of words yet....or we were slurring, and managed to understand each other ;)
I think I can safely say, that although none of us hit 'the wall' (yuck, thank you two bags of pasta on Saturday),

and our minds and hearts were still quite capable of going, our bodies were getting tired.  Perhaps I will be forgiven by Laurie and Melinda when I say we may have been getting a little 'edgy' with each other - not nasty, or rude, just much more verbally open with our challenges, shall we say...Lisa, this is where you came into full effect.  We didn't thoroughly discuss what heartache you had overcome the past couple of months, or of the challenges you too were facing yesterday, but we thought of you often, not only as inspiration to your strength, but of how we could also' hear' you say "I don't I can go further," and feel exactly how you would have -- we felt your presence - you were beside the three of us all day, and we needed you there -- thank you for keeping us going!

At 37k, the girl watching us on the sideline in a neighbourhood, leaning on her road bike said, that was the last hill (as we reached the top of the trail 'hill'), when only to turn the corner, was a long downhill, followed by an even longer uphill...and by uphill, I mean incline, much much gentler than Gordon Street hill - but at 37k, it was a hill :) 
Skirting back in through neighbourhoods, and around the lakeshore park trails was a treat -- the course, in general was quiet, and scenic, with a great bit of a breeze coming in off the water during the last (long) 7km.  We hit the 40k mark, only to find the 2km runners starting to line up for their 'fun run' to the Finish Line as well.  The last 2km were the longest.  We afforded ourselves walk breaks throughout, Laurie's hip almost giving out, Melinda's ankle aching, and my right knee screaming for a rest.  Sadly enough, as we all knew, walking was harder than running at that point (well, from about 36km onwards).  Rather, let me clarify, walking was good, re-starting the run was terrible.  If you have ever witnessed an arthritic, elderly individual attempting slowly to walk with their walker, that is what it felt like. And yes, each of us groaned loudly while re-starting a run, after a walk break.

Hearing the announcer at the Finish Line at that point was motivating, and seeing the finish line while running the bay around to get to it was fabulous to see.  As I was moving forward, I passed Angela, only catching sight of her in my peripheral vision while, like mumbling, I said "Laurie's right behind me,' then further as I saw Bill waiting for Melinda, though my mumble was likely less audible...I took a final quick walk break (about 20m) so that I could 'pose' a strong'er' finish at the line -- coming out of the pine trees, the balloon covered finish line was in my sights.  I knew Jon was going to be there - my rock, my love, finished his marathon easily nearly 1.5hours before we arrived.
I ran, with all my little heart and sore knee could muster, to that finish line, like it was a 5k race -- it felt SO good to see the Finish, to cross it, and to still feel like smiling (although surely, it came out as a grimace).

I had a moment to cross-over to Jon for a long-awaited kiss - I felt so proud to be able to finish, and for him to be there: it's taken me a long time (3 years after meeting him) to muster up the courage to be able to withstand the training, and get my butt on a race course to finish 26.2.  See my love, I did it.!!
I turned around immediately to find Melinda and Laurie cross the line just behind me :)

 

To say we were proud, was an understatement.  Salty, tired, achy and vowing not to run again for many days (earned, mind you!), we finished. 

 

 

We finished because we worked for it, we trained hard in the snow and sleet, on long runs and short, up hills, with and without each other.  We trained when we didn't want to, and we ran through life events and hardships throughout the winter.  We ran for our own personal goals, we ran for each other, and we ran for Lisa. We did it!