7 days to Marathon number 3!

I really cannot believe we will be running our Marathon next Sunday, by this time next Sunday we will probably be all tuckered out and ready for bed.

Third time is the charm, I’m hoping that this Marathon will get me under 5 hours.  I’ve trained and trained, I don’t feel like my nutrition is up to par, but I’m not sure if it ever will be.  I’m a slow runner, I will never qualify for Boston which is fine by me, well I guess I shouldn’t say never, maybe when I’m 70!  I just don’t have the umph to run 8 minute miles for 26.2 miles, I’m old, my bones hurt and I have only been running about 2 1/2 years, so there.

Yesterday was the Soaring Wings Half Marathon, all three of us, (Kim, Tammy and I) ran it last year and we loved it, but this year only Kim ran it.  Tammy and I thought it was too close to the Marathon, but Kim is a machine and can pretty much run anything.  Tammy and I were volunteers instead and I must say I think we were probably the best ones there, except for the part where we just stood around and drank coffee.

It was an interesting and tiring day.  We started a little after 6am, after the worst coffee ever at Starbucks in Conway, I will not be stopping there again.  It was a chilly morning, Tammy and I both had plenty of layers, but I was wishing for a PARKA!  We were assigned to food prep, we thought it would be inside, nope.  We were very instrumental in opening boxes of Snickes, M&Ms and Granola bars and then dumping said boxes into larger boxes, amazing and a site to behold.

Me and Tambo

We left Kim in the vehicle where she had hoped to get a little shut-eye prior to the race.  As the sun started coming up more and more runners were coming in, we saw several people we knew and the ones we didn’t we admired their attire.  Close to race time we headed to the truck to make sure Kim was up, Melissa, my former realtor was tagging along so she could drop her stuff in my vehicle instead of the 1/2 mile back to hers.

Kimbo ready to run!

Kim was up and putting her bib on they headed toward the start.  Tammy and I abandoned our food prep position and headed to watch the start, still cold, but at least the sun was now out and feeling warm on our backs.

Race Start

After the runners went by we headed back to the finish area to see what needed to be done.  We ended up helping at the grill area, we wrapped hot dogs, I have no idea how many hot dogs we wrapped, but hundreds, I bet we wrapped hot dogs for more than an hour.

Once the runners started coming in we tried to get away from the hot dog area, I ended up over by the water area, putting water bottles in ice or handing them out, lots better than hot dogs.

We found Kim once she came in and we were soon ready to go, but Melissa’s stuff was in my truck so we had to wait, so I went back to the water bottles for a while until we heard Melissa’s name announced.  We watched her come in and then immediately head back out toward the course, we knew she was probably waiting on her Mother.  When we caught up to her she was not feeling good, we got her some water and she headed for the bathroom.  She was in there forever and Tammy and I went in to check on her.  We found her sitting on the nasty floor with a wet paper towel on her head, she did not look good.  We got her out of there into the fresh air, that bathroom was RANK!

I grabbed some Gatorade for her, but she was still not feeling well, we got her over to a chair and Tammy thought we should get the medics, when we were walking her over to the chair I thought she was going to pass out.  The medics came over, checked her blood pressure, asked her questions and put her feet up.  They checked her BP again in about 5 minutes and it was looking better.

It was really quite scary, she was nauseated, light headed, just sick.  We found her nephew who had come with her and he was able to take over.  We finally headed home somewhere close to noon.  LONG DAY.

Today Kim came over and we headed out on an early morning run, Tammy ran yesterday so she begged off today.  It was a good run once I got warmed up, no stomach issues, a little sore from yesterdays lifting of cases of water, but a good last long run before the marathon.

Worked in the yard this afternoon, HOLY HELL!  The leaves are insane already.  I worked for 4 hours and wanted to quit about 2 hours in.  Raked and raked and raked some more, then mowed what I didn’t want to rake and the leaves are still on the stinking trees!  I hate fall.  I’m sore, tired and my back hurts.

It will be a short week, a few runs and then off to Springfield, MO for the Bass Pro Shops Marathon, I can’t wait, on wait, yes I can, it’s the running I’m scared of!  the weekend will be fun regardless!