The Columbus Marathon (Part 1)

First of all, wow you guys! Thanks so much for all the love! I had no idea anyone was that interested in hearing about this race! Although I rambled on about it so much, it's not like any of you had much choice! Muuahahaha...brainwashing!

The race was amazing! I really cant say it enough. I love Columbus so much and going back to run this race with J, in the town where we met, became friends, worked together, fell in love, first lived together, first ran together (the city where I first ran period), meant almost as much to me as the medal I got after crossing the finish.

The fact that we ran it together, as a team and both had such a positive outcome is something that I will always keep close to my heart. I beat my time goal by EIGHT whole minutes and this was the first marathon he ran where he didn't feel completely dead and miserable at the end. I truly believe the only reason for any of it is because we ran it together and we ran it in Columbus. Seriously, if you can run a marathon with your husband and come out closer at the finish than you were at the start, that is a damn good marriage.

I am a lucky girl.



OK, enough sap.

We arrived in Columbus on Friday afternoon with our friends Kevin and Marissa and went straight to the expo downtown. It was a decent size and still pretty empty since I think most people were coming in on Saturday. It was also very well organized which is good for highly stressed marathon runners. The race shirt was a nice long-sleeved tech shirt even though I will probably never get a chance to wear it much down here. Unfortunately, they really didn't have any marathon merchandise with short sleeves. Oh well, that's what I get for living on The Equator.

I did also pick up a little gift from heaven at the expo. I was freaking about what to do with my GU since I wasn't carrying my fuel belt and found this stand selling SPI Belts for 20 bucks.I had my doubts, but was desperate and bought one. This thing is amazing! I wore it low on my hips, I fit 5 GU's in it and it barely bounced at all. After I was down to 3 Gu's I didn't even notice it. A GREAT investment.

The next day we met up with some of Kevin's old friends at the Ohio State vs. Michigan State homecoming game to tailgate. I have to say, I LOVE Ohio State, I didn't go to school there, but Jeremy did and anyone who lives or lived in Columbus at one point just sort of gets grandfathered in. An Ohio State home-game is one experience I think everyone should have at least once in their life. They know how to do it up right and this day was no exception.







There were only two little snags in our fun, alcohol free, (HA, OK make that THREE) tailgate.

1. We walked...A LOT. Way more than any sane person should walk the day before they run 26.2 miles. We were walking back and forth across campus for about 5 hours. And Ohio State is one big-ass campus.

2. No alcohol

3. I ran into a fire hydrant.

When I say "I ran into it", what I really mean is that I SMASHED my KNEECAP into the hard part that sticks out as I was walking down the road really fast to, ahem...take a picture.

That's right, my aforementioned love of photography almost killed my chances of running my very first marathon. Like a dumbass, I was walking along a VERY crowded street taking a photo of a frat house and slammed my knee so hard I saw stars. I literally got the wind knocked out of me from MY KNEE!!! I Nancy Kerriganed MYSELF!!! I wanted to cry but the pain was so bad I couldn't do anything but make a grunting noise. Jeremy of course, just stood there like, "You gotta be f-ing kidding me" (Yeah, he's not perfect all the time folks).

Anyway, the agonizing pain went away almost as quickly as it came, but then of course there was a lingering dull ache. Right on the muscle behind the kneecap, you know, one of the most important muscles you need before running 26 miles! I spent the rest of the day beating myself up mentally for being so stupid. Bending my knee, hopping, light jogging, trying to access any damage I might have done. And even though I am pretty positive, I knew I had blew it. I had felt perfect up to that point, done everything right, then with less than 24 hours till game day I messed it all up.

Didn't I say Marathon runners were high-stress?

After a dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, we went back to the room to bib up for the morning.



I took a nice warm bath (a pre-race ritual that helps me relax and fall asleep), took 3 Advil and grumpily iced my knee. After about 30 minutes of Jeremy's constant reassuring that I was going to be fine, I floated off to sleep (but not before a few quiet tears about what a dumbass I was).