I DID IT !!!!

Well, I guess I can officially say I'm a 'marathoner' !! I completed my very first marathon yesterday at the Quad Cities Marathon in an official time of 4:55:51.





Wow, where do I begin?? So many things to tell! Well I'll start with the Marathon and work back to Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning feeling even more nervous than I was two weeks ago! I think that was because I was going to be out there all alone instead of having my friends with me! I told myself that the last 5 months weren't for nothing so I calmed myself down and got dressed and tried to eat my oatmeal.. blah.. Kevin and I left the hotel about 6:30 for the short drive down to the start and along the way I ate my powerbar and drank some more water. Got parked easily and there were already a lot of people walking around, music going and a few vendors already set up. There was a building across the street where most people were, so we went inside to keep warm! It was pretty chilly out there and I forgot to bring my t-shirt with me to the start.. Stretched out, hit the bathroom, and at about 7:15 went back outside..

Kevin also got pictures of my 'inspirations' I had on me.. I got a lat minute good luck email from Kathy H. Saturday morning with lots of good thoughts for me in it and one of them was what I put on my back.. I got lots of comments about that along the way and lots of 'good luck' shout outs too along the way. too! Another one was what I wrote on my arm:

There were I believe 3600 runners and the starting area was getting really full so I figured I better find my pace group. Kevin said 'good luck' and gave me a big hug and away I went into the crowd of runners. They were packed really tight in there but I made my way up in between the 4:30 pace and the 4:45 pace group. My reasoning for this was that I was planning on staying close behind the 4:30 group (10:18) pace and NOT to let the 4:45 (11:00) pass me.. more on that later.

Kevin actually found me in the crowd (he has a way of doing that!) right before the start. That's me in the bottom right corner, in front of the bald guy.. I've got the white hat on. We sung the star spangled banner I THINK!!? Right now I can not recall what we sang!! I remember singing, but I was so nervous I guess it didn't completely register!! Then the gun went off and away we went! Started off and immediately turned left to go up the I74 bridge which crosses the Mississippi River into Beddendorf Iowa. The hill up the bridge was a little steep and very long. I managed fine and heard somebody say they thought that was the only hill.. HA! Yeah, right!




Coming off the bridge into IA we made a right and went up another hill, and well, it all went downhill, I mean uphill, from there!! I could compare it to the second part of Lincoln Memorial easily. We wound around Beddendorf a while then headed south along the river's edge which was very pretty! for a few miles.. but that was hilly too! Sort of weird but we would be up on the biking trail, then had to go down into the parking lot then back up to the trail about 3 times. The trail wasn't a continuous path.. there were 'exits' down into the parking lot which we followed. That accounted for more hills.. we were now in Davenport but didn't spend a whole lot of time there.. made a loop out and back in which you could see everybody ahead of you then once you turned, everybody behind you.. and that 4:45 was quite a ways behind me!! yeah!! I could still easily see the 4:30 pace group ahead of me and my garmin was sitting right at 10:20 so I was feeling very good about that.. Another bridge back over into Illinois (another big hill) and the 10 mile marker was on that hill.. Kevin was outside our hotel watching for me and got a couple of pictures. It was great to see him and he really cheered me on big time!! GO Kari!! YEAH!! Kari!! I think you could hear him a mile away! That's the picture to the right.. The gal next to me started laughing and I explained that he was my husband!! Too funny!! We went out and back for 3 miles and kevin was at the 13 mile mark too which was only about a block or so over..

The bottom picture is mile 13...





Next it was over to Arsenal Island for 6 miles.. Arsenal is actually the Army base. It was pretty interesting seeing everything that was on the base and there were also a ton of sailboats in the river pretty close to the Island watching the marathoners go by. Around 17 or 18 I could tell I started to slow down a bit and the Garmin said 10:30.. that's alright.. I could still come in right around 4:35.. stuck with that pace for those 2 -3 miles (by the way the 4:30 pace group wasn't visible anymore!) I told myself just make it to 20 and it's all flat from there on out. Then we hit the last bridge to go back over the river into Illinois. HUGE hill at 19.5 to go up and it pretty much did me in.. I slowed up a little more to get up the hill, but stayed that way until the finish..

Turned left at the bottom of the bridge (mile 20) and we could see and hear everyone coming in for the finish just up the road to the right.. We went left for 3 then back to the finish..I must say that was the hardest part seeing those people getting ready to finish and knowing you still had 6 more to go.. I kept my pace up, alright it was pretty slow, but I did not stop! Not for the entire 26.2 miles.. not once. I did take 2 steps at mile 22 for water and decided that hurt much worse than running!! The 4:45 group passed me at around 21 or so and I told them about it!! ha! My legs hurt and my feet really hurt at this point but I kept telling my self 'Today is NOT that day" (thanks Kathy) and 'Don't Quit!"..

The very coolest thing was at mile 23!! It was a huge 'brick Wall'! It covered the entire path and you ran through the middle of it!! Cheerleaders were lined up as you went though and when they saw you coming they started doing a cheer for you and gave you high fives.. That was by far the neatest thing off all 26.2 miles.. I wished I had a camera on me!! I turned my Ipod off at mile 25 so I hear the crowd..

What a feeling to finally see the big 'FINISH' banner in the air!! Crowds cherring, the announcer telling the names of the finishers as they crossed the finish, and there was Kevin! I tried to smile but the emotions were flowing at that point.. As I was coming in the announcer announced my name and that I was from Springfield.. He then went on to say that this was my first marathon!

THAT was really neat hearing my name!! Once I crossed the finish I went over and gave Kevin sweaty kiss and a hug and he tried to get my picture but the emotions started flowing again so that had to wait a little bit!! The clock time said 4:57..

I am extremely happy with my time knowing that I kept up a 10:20 - 10:30 for 20 miles and given that it was a very very hilly course!! Not flat like Chicago.. people told me I should try Chicago but I didn't listen!! haha.. no I am really happy but I might give Chicago a try next year!

So back to Saturday.. we first went to the packet pickup and expo which was pretty good size!! Bought a nice brooks zip up jacket with the QC marathon logo on the front and back.. and that was it for my purchases.. milled around there for a while, talked to the pace group guys to decide if I should do that or not, and I was really happy to see Springfield represented at the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon table!! Tim and Tammy M. were there working the table so I talked with them a bit, then headed to the hotel to get checked in. Had a beer to relax my nerves a little and then headed down the street to dinner. Down the street on the square were the 'Blues Brothers' .. had to get a picture of that!! We found Blue Cat Brew Pub on the internet. It was a micro brewery so we decided early on that's where we would eat dinner.. Kevin had 2 or 3 more beers but I stopped at one at drank water!! Ugh! The sacrifices!!!!

So that is my first marathon experience folks.. The highs. the lows and the in betweens.. thanks for tuning in!