arc of time

wow.

i have been delaying writing this post, because i am not sure if i can put this run into words. if you follow me anywhere (twitter, facebook, god forbid in real life) then you already know the outcome. i ran the ing georgia marathon in a record time for me; 4:41:46. it was my best marathon ever by a long shot.

the morning started out great. i learned one of the benefits of raising money for and running with team in training…a heated tent to hang out in at the start. it was really pretty awesome to get there and be with a group that i had been training with for so long. it took a lot of the edge off of the start line and turned it into one of muted excitement.

we all headed over to the start corral around 6:30 and i noticed right away how much more though had gone into the race this time. the start corral was so much better stretching down marietta street than being scrunched onto peachtree at underground. with more room to stretch out there was much less running over people in the start.

the first few miles flew by for me. coming through sweet auburn i got the first sense that i was running an actual marathon again; that all the training and sweat and worry about the foot was coming down to this. i had stopped to pee on a wall somewhere downtown (sorry georgia state) and i had sprinted to finally catch back up with the people i was running with. i caught them on rennasaince parkway and we stuck with each other until decatur when i had to go to the bathroom again.

i will say this, i loved the new start of the course. moving the freedom parkway portion to the beginning of the race was great and the run through candler park was very nice. kudos by the way to candler park and poncey-highlands for the great cheering sections replete with costumes and in the case of poncey-highlands, a band.

it was in poncey-highlands that i first noticed a problem, um, “brewing” that probably ended up costing me the chance to crack 4:40. namely, i had to go. poop. bad. the next several miles were very difficult as mile after mile i felt my need to go get worse and worse and i passed up porta-potty after porta-potty trying to find one without a line. by this time i knew in my mind that there was no way if i got behind i could catch up with the people i was running with and i did not want to get behind.

by mile 11 or so i couldn’t stand it any more and i jumped in line for a porta-john just passed the water stop on college ave. honestly the pain of having to go was so great that i couldn’t even focus on the race. i lost my running partners at that point. i caught back up with another at agnes scott by lost her in decatur as she started running faster again.

sure enough just passed decatur i had to go again. and it was painful. i couldn’t even think about the race. finally i ducked into an academic building on north decatur at emory and went. these bathroom shenanigans cost me at least 6 minutes.

and then came the druid hills section. the dreaded hills on lullwater, oakdale, springdale and the by way. and a weird thing happened. despite the fact that i hate these hills and they were situated at miles 17-20 i started running stronger. amazing, i know, but these were the best miles of my race. i saw several of my twitter friends turning onto lullwater and then again on oakdale and my family a few times. my tnt coach caught up with me on springdale.

my sister and her bf and my daughter saw me five times on the course. a truly amazing feat that i am still not sure how they accomplished, so i have to give them a shout.

coming into vahi was the best. for some reason, maybe because it’s later, that neighborhood feels great. i saw ben at mile 21 and he ran with me for a bit.

i did hit the wall around 23 and the last 5k was tough, but not as tough as any of my other marathons. when i hit the finish i knew, KNEW, it had been my best race. it felt different. i was a veteran at that point so the awe of the first few wasn’t there, but there was an amazing sense of accomplishment. i had stayed strong well past mile 20 and had my best race ever.

i can’t rave enough about the course. i already posted about it over on the metblog, but great job ga marathon. everything was outstanding, course, water stops, crowd support.

two other things i want to mention. first, it was my first marathon in a pair of brooks shoes. what great shoes. the ride over that distance was incredible, lots of cushioning, lots of support and a great bounce on the strike. i am sold on brooks footwear.

and finally team in training. an amazing experience. i loved every minute of being with tnt. i had no real personal connection with blood cancer before i did this race, but now i sure feel like i do. it felt great to run for a cause. everything about the tnt experience was incredible, the training, the friends i made, the coaches, the fun. i loved it.

thanks to everyone who donated money, supported me, ran with me, encouraged me. i never knew if i could come back from the foot injury. i wanted to try but until somewhere along the way toward mile 19 i didn’t KNOW. i had a moment then when i did, but until then all of you kept me going.

stay tuned, the drive for 50 marathons in 50 states is on again and my next adventure with tnt will be up shortly.