Columbus Marathon 2012 Race Report - Part 1

I am still basking in my runner's high! I'm having a hard time thinking about how to put all of this into words. In some ways I feel like I don't have a lot to say....and then I remember who I am and realize this is going to be a novel of a post! I am going to try to stay ON topic though and not put in post-race thoughts...those can go in a separate post! And, after starting this post, I realize that I'm probably going to end up breaking it into 2 posts anyway!

Saturday October 20, 2012
I woke up today at around 6:30, looked at my clock and thought...ugh..I am NOT waking up this early on the Saturday before my marathon! So, I went back to sleep, but shouldn't have! It was in that moment I had the dreaded nightmare about the marathon. It all revolved around getting to the Expo on time and picking up my packet. I won't go into details (because they didn't make sense anyway), but I woke up before knowing if I made it to the Expo or not.

Fast forward to around 11AM when I get a text from SIL indicating that we would have to move our departure time back due to a conflict with a kid schedule. The panic ever so slightly sets in, but I try to stay calm and rational. We'll still have PLENTY of time to get to the Expo.

We left Adrienne's house by probably about 2. I'm not sure. I was trying not to really pay attention to the time at this point. I'm guessing it was 2 because we arrived to Westerville at about 4 to drop Adrienne's husband off before heading downtown to our hotel and the Expo. After leaving Westerville I was feeling pretty good about getting to the Expo....until we hit the traffic! Ugh. We were all starting to get quite anxious. We FINALLY parked the car a little after 5PM. 2 hours left for the Expo.


Super cool pic...thanks to SIL. Our feet at the Expo.

 It was decided that we would go straight to the Expo because we all just wanted to have our race packets in hand so we could relax a little! Turns out I picked the most perfect hotel, as it was ATTACHED to the Convention Center where the Expo was AND it was quite close to the FINISH line.




Adrienne and SIL

I was surprised when we went into the Expo that it was still pretty crowded. We had to walk upstairs to pick up our packets and the nice thing about being so late is that there were NO lines to get our packets. Apparently all the people who were there were just shopping! With packets in hand we could now breathe a sigh of relief. So, now it was time to SHOP! 
 I warned the girls that I came prepared to SPEND! ;) I had no superstitions about buying 26.2 stuff. The way I saw it was that, if for some strange reason I didn't finish tomorrow, I would try again. There is no way I would shelve this distance and never try it again. The only REAL risk was the cool jacket I bought. However, it didn't specify marathon since it has "& half marathon" on it as well. Besides, I was feeling very confident that I would finish.

After leaving the Expo we were trying to decide what to do about dinner. By now we were all pretty hungry. As soon as the car was parked it was decided that nobody was going anywhere that night unless we were walking! We went to the hotel restaurant and the wait was about 30 minutes. We decided to just go back to the room and splurge on room service. Our dinner was ordered and we just vegged the rest of the night. Dinner was actually quite yummy. I was in the mood for a big cheeseburger and fries and that's exactly what I got. I didn't feel the need for pasta since I had spent the last few days loading up on my carbs as well.

So, dinner was had, a shower was taken, and it was basically time for bed. The night took FOREVER. I saw every hour except from 2-3AM. I was hot all night (I hate hotel rooms) and I was just ready to DO this thing!

To be continued.....