Just to keep it interesting...

I found myself lying on the ground, looking up into two very kind faces. "Honey, can you tell us your name?" Hmmm... that was a question I should know... and if I thought about it for a bit.... I'm sure I could remember... Then it came to me. Along with the answers to the other seemingly obvious questions they were asking. "Have you ever run a marathon before? What year is it? Are you here with anyone?" I answered each question after sorting through the cloudy recesses of my mind. (In my defense, the year question was pretty hard because it is almost January... ) I told the EMTs (who looked exactly like real EMTs, based on my vast knowledge of medical TV shows) that if they would just help me stand up, I thought I would be ok. They very nicely ignored me while they loaded me onto a stretcher and put me into this little ambulance thing, kindly tipping me to the side while I was dry-heaving, so at least any puke that made its way out would go onto the road instead of me. How did I get myself into this? Everything had started so well...

I met up with my brother (Michael), sister-in-law (Julie), and a group of their friends in Dallas to run the White Rock Marathon. This is Julie (in front) and her friends at the turn for the half. My dad, niece, nephew, and Julie's sister had the perfect spot and did an awesome job finding us throughout the race!


Michael (in the orange) and Todd (in the red) at the turn off for the full. Look at all those people!! It was packed!!



The starting area was awesome. There were 20,000 runners, so you can imagine the crowd. I don't think I actually crossed the starting line until like 12 minutes after the first runners started. They had music blaring, confetti flying everywhere and all these wonderfully supportive people yelling encouragement. It was a blast. Eventually, we all settled into our own paces and I found myself running with one of my brother's buddies--Kerry. He was the perfect running partner. Super nice, encouraging, and just a pleasant guy to talk to. We chatted pretty much the entire race about everything from half-ironmen (he's done 2) to how he met his wife.

Kerry (in the blue) and I making the turn for the full marathon.


Our brave fans--out in the cold in the early morning. Thanks Thomas and Alli!! So glad you got to come!!



The first 16 miles were WONDERFUL!! I would go run a half marathon again next month. (Notice I didn't say next week. I'm not completely insane.) We had a great pace and felt awesome. It was so much fun running with someone after doing all my training runs solo. Miles 16-20 were a little tougher and definitely required some mental toughness. But we kept hydrating, kept eating electrolytes, and kept moving. (I did have to double back once... apparently when I grabbed out some of my nutrition, I dropped my car key!! Thankfully, a runner behind me yelled that I had dropped it and I was able to find it easily. Then I thought, "That'll make a GREAT blog story!! Wouldn't that have been terrible?!! To lose my key on the course! Ha! As if that were a big deal...)


And then we rounded the corner for mile 20. (Kerry is just ahead of me--we often got separated at the water stops.)


My brother and his buddy Todd at mile 20. Don't they look great?! Little punks...


I'll just be honest, miles 20-26.2 were brutal. I was lightheaded, dry heaving... It was not pretty. And it was totally a mental battle. I would find myself slowing and realize my mind was yelling things like, "What are you doing?!! This is miserable!!! Just take a little rest..." Then, the real Christine would take over and I would think, "Positive thoughts!!! You've already done 21 miles!! You can do this!!" and a little spring would return to my step. The battle of thinking positive was constant. I was so lightheaded and knew I was thirsty and I had this very urgent thought that maybe I should sit down, but I just tried to keep my focus on the road and told myself that I could sit down after I crossed the finish line. And I finished!!! In my goal time!! Even though I can't really remember what the finish line looked like...In my mind, there were two different timing pads that I had to step on, but I could've just been seeing double... But I do remember the sweet, helpful faces of the EMTs kneeling over me. After they had me on the stretcher and my stomach was attempting to empty the rest its contents outside the ambulance, I caught sight of my brother out of the corner of my eye. He and all my friends (thanks so much for hanging around, guys!!) were waiting down this little chute that you ran through after you crossed the finish line, where they were handing out shirts and medals. However, my body didn't get the memo that it was supposed to get any further than the actual finish line, so I missed all of that (but thankfully, Julie thought to grab one for me!). They drove me to this portable medical area and set up an IV and blood pressure cuff. Then I remember telling someone to call Brian (who was still in AR) and overheard this part of the conversation... "Your wife passed out.... She's in stable condition.... We'll let you know how her body responds to the fluids...No, we're not sure if she finished... We'll let you know" I figured he was probably pretty freaked out, so I asked if they could call him back so I could talk to him. Apparently, I was still really out of it while we talked, so that just freaked him out more rather than make him feel better. After 4 liters of fluids, my blood pressure did improve (up from 70/30. What are your thoughts, Michelle?) so they released me to the care of my wonderful sister-in-law, who had just completed the half and was walking around like it was no big deal. (The funny thing is that they released me with the admonition to head to the ER if I started feeling terrible. Since I OBVIOUSLY had such a good feel on the threshold my body could handle... right... they totally weren't seeing me at the hospital later.) I do have to go back to the doctor pretty soon and get blood drawn again (apparently, they couldn't get an accurate read the 3 times they drew it at the race) just to make sure some of my levels are back to normal. I still don't really know what happened. I drank a lot and took in a good number of calories. My pace was good and I was able to keep a conversation going pretty much the whole time, so I know my heart rate was ok. Oh well. If I ever do a race like this again, I will definitely meet with a nutritionist beforehand!
So overall, I would say it was a good race! My body felt great yesterday, aside from some soreness in my quads and possibly a few less toenails... But really, out of the thousands of people who ran the marathon Sunday, how many of them got the "full marathon" experience of riding on a stretcher and meeting the friendly medical staff? I mean, just doing a marathon is pretty neat, but finishing with a bang makes it even more memorable. :)