Houston Marathon Recap Part 3: The Race

Incase you missed it:
Olympic Trials – Houston Half Marathon Recap Part 1
The Expo – Houston Half Marathon Recap Part 2

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Race morning was early and chilly….and I was scared and sad.

Ready to run! Notice my bib is black, not blue. Sad times. :0(

I met up with my friends and we walked over to our coach’s hotel for a pre-race meeting!

We didn’t do this on purpose!! Go Team 413!!!!

My husband knew how sad I was so he got up early and walked over to the start of the race with me! :0)

Group picture!

GoRun!

Sadly, I said goodbye to my running friends and made my way to the Half Marathon corral.

As I looked across the road, I could see the Full Marathon corrals and honestly, I started to cry. I wasn’t having a pity party, I was mad. I trained for MONTHS to be able to run another Full and it was ripped away from me. So frustrating.

But then my parents joined me at the start line and it made me happy again!

Here we go!!!

I tried to get towards the back because I knew I would be walking a lot.

Minute Maid Park! One of my favorite places to visit! :0)

Start line!

Mile 1….not blurry. Means I was walking. Not good.

I was amazed at the amount of people coming off the bridge! Insane!!!  That’s another thing, this “flat course” race started up a bridge. Really!?

Loved it!

 

GO TIGERS!

The course support along this race was incredible!!! Like none I’ve ever seen! People were EVERYWHERE!

Course entertainment!

I found Ronald!

When I was wedding planning, this pace was where I got a lot of my supplies! I love this place!!

SO many people!!

 

I spent 70% of this race running in pain. I tried to walk as much as possible but I didn’t have my knee wrapped and I didn’t like to walk when people were around cheering us on. Silly I know but people kept yelling “you can do it! keep going!” and I wanted to yell back “I’M INJURED!” lol

Love this poster!

These guys were SO encouraging!! They were in quite a few places along the course!

Breast cancer truck!

See that time? I was not a happy camper. My PT told me that if I could finish this race under 3 hours, then I was a beast – so under 3 hours was my goal! :0)

Almost there!

People also had a lot of You’re sexy and you know it signs along the course! Cracked me up!

Beer? no thanks!

Just a little bit longer!

Running into downtown was pretty cool!

A random passer-by saw me trying to take a picture of myself so he offered to take one for me! haha! My traditional mile 12 sign! :0)

 

These guys were chest bumping the runners. At this point, it took all I had to run. I felt as if bone was grating against bone. (I knew it wasn’t but that’s what it felt like). I thought “if that guy comes anywhere near me, I’m going to scream in his face”!! Hah!

As Jason was waiting at the finish line, he saw this guy collapse and medical crew rushed to the scene to tend to him! Crazy! Jason said he was taken off in an ambulance.

Here I come!

Everyday I’m shuffling……cause that’s all I could muster…..

Finish line! Yay!

After I crossed the finish line, my knee locked up and I couldn’t bend it. I saw these guys on the ground doing pushups after running the full and I envied them. Wish I could do the same!

Inside the GRB was the post race party.

I somehow hobbled to the finishers t-shirt line. I think at this point, I was numb and angry. I followed the crowd as best as I could. I knew once I sat down, that would be it.

I also got over to the food line. I got one of everything, even though I had no intention of eating it all. Again, I think I was just going through the motions.

With my hands full, I met up with my parents/husband at the family reunion area. When I saw my dad, I immediately started crying. My dad has been such a huge support and believer in me. He’s the greatest. He reassured me that things would get better and I would be ok. Love my dad! :0)

Just past the reunion area was my saving grace – CHAIRS!

During the race, I text my husband and told him that I needed a bag of ice, Tylenol, and him to scope out the Nissan tent.  The bag of ice felt amazing on my knee.

Why did I also need him to scope out the Nissan booth? So I could see Ryan Hall of course!

I didn’t exactly get to MEET Ryan Hall (I missed his time frame), but I was in close proximity to him! HAH!

 

This was funny! :0)

Instead, I got to meet Josh Cox, the American Record holder of the Ultra Marathon! He was VERY encouraging to me and I value his advice so much. He told me, “You can’t fully enjoy the mountain tops without the hills and the valleys.” He’s so right!

After taking a picture with him, I went back outside to see where my friends were!

We saw dudes dressed as fairies….

 

….and Big Bird! Too funny!

Here comes Heather!

Amanda came to see me after she crossed the finish line. We both shed a few tears and I told her how proud I was of her!

After watching Amanda and Heather cross the finish line, we went back to the hotel to shower and change. They were AWESOME and allowed the Marathon runners a 2 p.m. check out! How nice!!!

We made it home and I immediately started back with physical therapy the following day!

So as you can see, it wasn’t the best race for me. I ran most of it in excruciating pain and I know I made the right decision to drop down to the half. I’ve learned a lot of lessons while being injured, especially about the important things in life. I hope I’m on the path to healing – we’ll see! :0)