Every time you get up and get back in the race,
One more small piece of you starts to fall into place.
Cause when push comes to shove you taste what you're made of.
You might bend, till you break cause its all you can take;
On your knees you look up, decide you've had enough!
You get mad, you get strong;
Wipe your hands shake it off:
Then you stand, Then you stand.
Personally, I was a bit disappointed in my time (16 minute/mile), until I reconsidered that (a) the entire course is ONE BIG HILL, and it goes UP, and (b) I spent an inordinate amount of time texting, Facebooking, and taking picture with my Iphone. Even in the friendly, party-atmosphere of the Baltimore Running Festival, going ANYWHERE on foot for 3 1/2 hours is excruciatingly BORING for me, the poster child for Adult ADD.
Here are my real-time FaceBook updates...
So, first and foremost, an appreciation to son Jack & FaceBook friends Marianne, Kim, Rosemary, Laurann, Ellen, & Julie for motivating me with texts & FB comments DURING the race! And an enthusiastic "Thank you, Jesus!" to my husband, Jesus, for meeting me at the finish line with a warm sweat shirt & an even warmer hug & a kiss.
Photo highlights along the way included the official start of the Marathon - daughter Becky is down there somewhere. This was her second year in a row, and she finished in 3:42...in other words, she did 26 miles in the time it took me to do 13. Clearly she did not inherit her running prowess from her momma. However, my dad, Jack Zimmerman, was a high school cross-country running star, so it just skipped a generation!
Here's me waving optimistically moments before the start of the half-marathon....
Note: the wire under my shirt is my "hidden" Ipod earphones, not a pacemaker...
One of my favorite photo moments came about half way along the Half-Marathon route, with this cleverly understated advertising:
Once again friend-of-the-event Stuart Seigler manned his Now Famous Gummy Bear Station at 28th and Guilford, approximately Mile 23. With 400 pounds of Gummy Bears, up from 120 lbs. in 2005 and 320 lbs. last year, he promised to be there until the least-fastest runner passes. He was really cool guy, friendly, and a bit insane, just like Baltimore!
Not long after Gummy Bear Guy was Eye of the Tiger Dude who stands on top of a car in a tiger suit all day and plays Eye of the Tiger on a taped loop. I bet the neighbors hate him. Runners love him, tho! Between conversations and photo ops, it's a miracle I got to Mile 24 at all!
Speaking of Mile Markers, here's my photo collection:
Sadly, it also came across the news reports not long ago that a 23 year old young man collapsed and died early in the Marathon at Mile 23. His core temperature was 108 degrees. It's a sobering reminder, as this Blog comes to a close, that you can never count on more than the present moment to enjoy life and live it for all it's got to offer. Maybe running for 3 1/2 hours does not seem like the most enjoyable way to spend a Saturday, but every single experience that keeps you appreciating the here and now is one to be sought after and treasured. And in the end, it's all about knowing you have kept the faith and given it all you got.
And so it is fitting, that rather than closing the entry with yet another "Look how tired and silly I am at the end of the run!" photo, I close with this banner I saw on a church fence coming down the final mile 25. I remembered seeing it last year, and now I'm glad I stopped to snap the image.
To all the family and friends who put up with the Blog and the whining: thanks for helping me finish this course. Now, go out and follow your own!
See you at the Frederick Half-Marathon in May!!!!!!
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