Almost an athlete

On Sunday I did something a little crazy.  A little being not all that shocking for me....but the type of crazy that when you tell someone else they almost always immediately reply that they would never do that.  I ran a half-marathon.  Not just me, but loads of my family.  Together we did the Quad City Marathon.  Why in the world would I do this you ask?  I'm not 100%.  As it turns out I married into a family with runners.  If you guys are friends with runners or have one in your family then you know they LOVE IT.  Not a normal amount of enjoyment from a typical hobby, but full-on love.  I don't know that I'm there yet....but I am trying....my damndest. 

I started running last year in hopes of becoming less of a McFatkins.  Lest you think I have some kind of body dysmorphia where I see myself looking like Jabba the Hutt, I don't.  I just think it would be nice to not have to worry about a tight shirt getting caught in my below-the-bra-back-fat crease (which is thankfully gone).  You know what I'm talking about.  You've seen one.   Anyway, I digress...I started running last year with the goal of finishing a 5K, which is a little over 3 miles.  I did that.  Twice.  I liked it for the most part.  I have been running on and off since.  I decided to do a few 5K's this summer so I had every intention of continuing my efforts.  At the end of May my sister-in-law Katie emailed to see if Zac and I wanted to do the Quad City Half while my brother-in-law ran the full marathon.  I pretty much immediately said no.  Katie assured me I could do it, while simultaneously convincing a majority of my brothers and sisters to also run it.  I still insisted no.  Then Zacman come home and announced that he told Katie that we would, which shot to crap my refusal.  

Katie emailed me a training plan (as she is a personal trainer and avid runner) and I tried to follow it mostly.  I failed lots, but was proud the days I did my long runs.  I ran 6 miles, I ran 8 miles.  I ran, and that's what counts.  I felt as good as I could feel on Sunday (considering where we were supposed to have breakfast was closed and in my nervousness only slept about 4 hours).  By 7am we were in Moline,   killing time in the only warm building there was.  

Back row is Me, Chris, and Zacman

Front is Lolla, Sara, Brendan, and Katie

The race started at 7:30 and there were so many people we were 4 minutes in before I crossed the start line.  Everything went well until the end of the 2nd mile when I had to stop to tie my shoes.  Suck. Here's a little tip, don't change your routine on race day.  I tried new socks.  Bad idea.  They were not as thick as my cotton socks = slipping around in my shoes.  At mile 4 I finally felt like I had hit my stride but by mile 5 I had blisters on the arches of both feet.  Also sucky.  At mile 8 it rained just enough to make my shirt damp.  Then from mile 11.5-13 it poured.  Like squishy shoes and ringing out your shirt rain.  I was feeling pretty gimpy by mile 10, so rain was not a very welcome addition for me.  There was a bridge just before the finish and I got a cramp in my foot running up it which made me limp a bit, but I decided if I could see the finish line I would run  and that just what I did.  

New additions are Jordan and Dan (Brendan and Sara's half sister and brother-in-law)

After I crossed the finish I found Zac, told him my feet hurt lots to which he replied "Yeah, you look pretty pissed."  Apparently my hurt face is similar to my angry face, just in case you are wondering.  After the race we went to Denny's, then drove back to Zac's parents house for a quick shower before the journey home.  We decide to stop and grab a frozen pizza for dinner since neither of us had any intention of moving much and Zac said the idea of washing dishes was "awful."   We stopped at the grocery store and were quite the pair.  I hobbled around on my blister feet while Zac walked with his legs 3 feet apart searching for the goldbond (poor Zac chafed from wet underpants, thanks rain).   Ha-larious!

The aftermath has been minimal.  With as sore as my feet were on Sunday afternoon/night, I was shocked that I felt nearly 100% on Monday.  I did have a gimpy right foot, that I worried about a little til I reviewed my anatomy book and decided it was muscular.  I rubbed that muscle lots on Monday night and it's almost all gone today.  I'm glad to say I did it.  I'm even more glad it's over.  I was disappointed that it took me so long to finish, but I can't decide if my ego is reason enough to do it again next year.  We will see I guess.  For now, I'm going to settle for being almost athletic.