Eugene Marathon

I finished is all I can say. This was not the race I hoped it would be.  I was doing great in my training and even though I had just run the Salt Lake City Marathon 15 days before, I felt strong to finish this.  Best laid plans...

I was excited about this race because if I finished, I would become an official Marathon Maniac.  I also was going to be able to share a room with runner chicks Melissa and Andleeb so I knew I was going to have fun. I arrived in Eugene about 2 pm and was able to check into our room early. Then I went downstairs to the expo since we were staying in the host hotel.  I got my packet and then got my "not so great" race shirt.  I was disappointed, but I really wasn't there for the shirt anyway.  It's just too bad that Eugene couldn't have picked a better shirt to represent them. I won't wear mine, that's for sure.

Such a lovely shirt, NOT!

Melissa and Andleeb arrived later and they got situated in the room and then picked up their stuff at the expo. They also did a bit of shopping there, but I'm the one who spent all the money. lol  I bought a magnet for my car and a really cute running skirt.

That evening we went to dinner with Nancy, Emily and her hubby and another runner.  It was a great evening!  Only Andleeb and I were running the marathon, the rest of the group was running the half.  We got back to our hotel and finally got to bed around 10, I think. :)  Alarms were set to go off at 5 so we needed an early night.

Of course, I woke up before my alarm went off, as usual,  so I just got up and got ready early.  We had our breakfasts and then went downstairs to catch the shuttle at 6:15.  It seemed like everyone was waiting until then to get the shuttle, so we had to wait for a second one to get there.  We were supposed to meet more chicks for a photo at 6:40 by the baggage drop off so we were pushing it for time.

The shuttle dropped us off a bit from the baggage claim so it was a walk to there.  We met up with some of the chicks, Aleta, Jodi, Anna, and Amy and got a photo with them before high tailing it to drop our bags.  Melissa was in Corral A and Andleeb and I were B, but we all three just went into corral A about halfway down. They weren't checking corral numbers and we wanted to stay together.  For some reason, the start was delayed by 10 minutes so we got to stand in the cold longer. What fun!  It was about 39 degrees but was supposed to warm up to over 60 by noon.  I used my space blanket from WDW to keep warm until the start and then just tossed it.

Me, Melissa & Andleeb, bottom middle of photo. You can see my back tattoo! :)

We all started running together but then each went our own pace after a very short time.  I started very fast, which was kind of necessary since everyone else was going fast too and I didn't want to get trampled.  I managed to keep running without a walk break for 2 miles so my pace for mile 1 was 9:48 and mile 2 was 9:25, really too fast. :)  I did really well until about mile 6 when my foot started hurting for no reason.  I felt it "pop", but the pain didn't get any worse so I just thought it had cracked like it does sometimes.  Still, I had a lot of pain so I ended up speed walking the rest of the marathon. I was SO disappointed, because I really wanted to get a PR in this race. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my foot since I'd had great training and no pain ever.  I managed to keep on persevering and finished the race, but it was hard. Still, from the pictures, you'd never know I was in pain. haha!

I crossed the finish line in 5:49:02, not even close to what I wanted, but still my 3rd best time AND it was done speed walking. Also, I had just run Salt Lake City Marathon 15 days before. I was an official Marathon Maniac!

I had to drive home to Salem and then went to volunteer at a homeless shelter that night. The next morning I went grocery shopping, but came home early because of exhaustion and pain.  Finally on Tuesday, since my foot was still horribly swollen, I went to the podiatrist and found out I had broken it. :( :( :(  No running for me for 2 months. How depressing!  The fracture was a sudden, unexplained one, but the doctor thinks it's probably because I took Fosamax, which has been know to cause this.  So bummed!  Oh well, it's back to cross training for a while.

My race "Souvenir"

This was a wonderful course and would have been a great marathon to actually RUN, but it was not to be for me this year.  I can see why everyone says you NEED to run Eugene. Maybe someday I can go back and run it like it was meant to be.

I think the photographer was tired, this photo is off center and part of me is cut off. :(

In the meantime, I'm going to try to keep my fitness level up as much as possible. I ordered a bike trainer for my bicycle so I can at least do SOME cardio while I wait for my foot to heal. I can also still do my strength, core and stretching routine so that's a plus.

I know that prayers kept me going through the race. My favorite scripture kept going through my head: "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" ~~Philippians 4:13  God is SO good.

SO happy, I'm finished!