I'm going to admit that I never really had a desire to run a full marathon. The first one I did was because I felt I should probably do one before attempting to run one at the end of my first Ironman race. There was nothing spectacular about that race but I finished it and I was happy with that. I did moderately better at the one at the end of Ironman Arizona. And then, since we had a coupon code for a great price and what we thought was going to be a better date for the San Antonio marathon, I did my next marathon. This one came just two weeks after I had just completed two half-ironmans in two weekends. Again there was improvement, even with the extremely warm temps that came that day and some very tired legs. I seriously was done with stand-alone marathons. I didn't need to prove to myself that I could do the distance anymore. I could.
But when you're Orissa Loftin and you have friends doing the race and your husband's doing the race, you put aside your fears and superstitions and go ahead and sign up for another marathon. I really didn't have any major goals in mind going into it. I would have been super happy with a time of 4:50 or 4:59, as long as it was under 5 hours. My downfall in my previous races has been the last 6 miles. Everything just hurts and it's super easy to mentally fall apart and to start walking for longer and longer periods of time. This race I wanted to erase all that. I told myself there was no reason to go out too fast and, if I could stay steady, I would be able to hold a 10:30 pace to the end of the race.
Son of a gun it worked! I kept a nice cruisey pace for the half of the race and just tried to hold a consistent pace up and down the hills. When I got to 9 miles left I was right on target. My pace was staying under 10:30 and I was still feeling good. My shorts started chafing me around mile 15 so, besides the fire on my outer thighs, everything else was feeling just like normal pains from running 17 miles. This is when I knew I had to make my brain not give in. The body was holding up; it was time for the brain to do the same. 8, 7, 6, 5 miles left. Holy shit I'm doing it! 4 miles left! Still staying right where I want to be and looking to be crossing the finish line at 4:37! All of a sudden I'm seeing the spectators again. They are cheering for us and holding their hilarious signs. I'm laughing with them and smiling and thanking them for their support. All of a sudden I feel like a rock star, lol! Then I look up ahead at all the runners in front of me and, could it be? Is that Kris?? Yes! She's having a killer race too!!! 2 miles left, can I catch up to her so we can cross the finish line together? I slowly pick up my pace. Finally with about half a mile to the finish I scream at her, "Holy shit Kris we are doing this! Let's crush those Pr's!!!" --or something along those lines. We race each other to the finish line and finish at 4:30! We whoop and holler and hobble our way out of the finisher's shoot.
So happy for Kris for getting the PR she has been working so hard to achieve. She not only got it, she blew it out of the water. If anyone deserves it she does because I see how hard she works and I'm just so happy for her!! Thank you to Shelly and her family who came out to cheer everyone on. It was so great seeing you out there, especially during that section when I was feeling very mentally unfocused. Thank you to everyone who pushed me to do this race and told me to stop being stupid!! I'm not going to say that marathons are easy or fun but, when you have a breakthrough, it really makes a difference on how your outlook changes towards that distance. And a huge thank you and love to my husband, who stands by me and supports me and is my biggest fan. Without you out there with me, it wouldn't be the same!!
