Dinner at House of Nanking on the eve eve of race day in San Francisco. Lindsay’s untouched dinner was the focal point on this photo; the other meals had their own stories as well…. We were all afraid to ask anyone to take this photo so somehow I managed to stretch my arm out far enough to just barely capture all of us.
I'm finally taking the time to update everyone on my race. I know you've all been waiting in anticipation to see the photos and some may be wondering if I actually made it! Well, I made it 26.2 miles!! It wasn't easy, I was in pain for most of the second half of the marathon, I was almost miserably sore for a week, the weather was not good, I'm still not back to running full time again because of injuries from training and I never got that "runner's high" during the race. BUT, I wouldn't take it back for anything!
During my training and fundraising, I pondered every once in awhile what is the point of running a marathon other than to show my commitment to the donors? Why not just raise the money for the LLS? I now know why. I'm not sure I can explain why or explain my feelings that I had when I finally saw that finish line and heard the announcer and my friends cheering me on as I RAN across the finish line. It was a great feeling, my body was numb for a few minutes and I didn't feel the pain or frozen limbs. It's a feeling I suppose a chemo patient probably feels when they find out they've beat cancer and are done with treatments. And that is when I realized why I ran and raised money, because going through chemo is like running a marathon and because I can! I did it for those that can't. I did it to make a difference and not only raise money but raise awareness.
It's unfortunate that I didn't get around to writing this sooner and it's more unfortunate the reason that I'm finally writing this update. Just like a previous update I wrote, I write this one with mixed emotions once again. My teammate Cecila's twin sister, Monica passed away last week after complications with her treatments for a blood disorder, similar to Leukemia. Cecilia ran the Nike Women's Marathon in San Fran with me as well. Cecilia and Monica are identical twins and Cecilia was her bone marrow donor when she got sick. Monica was also a runner and was diagnosed just two weeks before graduating from FSU. She relapsed a few times and received many bone marrow transplants through her couragious battle. Monica was 25 and fought a hard fight, especially towards the end. She is in a better place now with no pain, looking down on her sister and running a marathon for her now. I'm attending Monica's funeral service this morning along with our Teammates. (Post was actually written in November 2010)
Our final team bridges run before heading to San Fran. L to R: Megan, Cecilia, Coach Rob, Mary-Claire, Jenny, Heather
Now that I probably turned everyone off from ever wanting to run a marathon or maybe even join TNT because of the emotional heart aches, I'll tell you about my emotions and feelings through the whole 26.2 miles. After all, it was one of the most amazing accomplishments of my life and I want to share it with everyone!
It’s official; we’re running the full and half marathon in less than 48 hours!
San Fran skyscape. Why we run!
TNT Inspirational Spaghetti Dinner
Team Susie supporting our schools on the west coast
They said not to do much the day before the race…uhm, that didn’t happen! We walked just about the entire city, including the cable car roads
The night before the race TNT hosted an inspirational dinner for all of the Nike Women’s TNT participants and their families. They held the dinner in a huge convention center and as all of the participants entered the convention center we were greeted by all of the TNT coaches, organizers and volunteers that helped us get here. This was an experience that words can’t describe. Everyone was dressed head to toe in purple and green, hooting and hollering, using noise makers, singing and cheering for US! They lined the lobby, down the stairs, through the hallway, all the way to the room where the dinner was served. Talk about motivating and emotional, this was beyond that! I’m pretty sure all of the participants were holding back their tears; I know my Team and I were. It made me remember what a difference we made and how appreciative patients, survivors and loved ones were of all that we had done to this point. When I woke up I was provided with even more motivation; a nice congratulations card and gift bag from my parents, my biggest supporters! J
My decorated jersey with the names I ran in honor and memory of during training and the race
The day of the race started very early. Our minds were still on east coast time so we expected to wake up earlier than we needed to but 2am was a little earlier than expected! There were four of us in our room that night; Lindsay, Kara and our friend Cassie came to cheer us on. Lindsay, Kara and I all woke up around 2 but none of us got up or said anything, we didn't want to wake up Cassie who lives in California. You could just hear us one by one, tossing around to try and go back to sleep for a few hours. Eventually we all got up, put on our race gear and walked about a mile to the other girls' hotel room which was in front of the start line. Everyone's adrenaline was pumping, Union Square was as crowded and loud at 5:30am as it probably is on new year's eve, and we all went to the restroom 4+ times, just in case because of our nerves. It was finally time to line up behind the start line according to our pace. Lindsay, Kara, Mary-Claire and I all lined up together dancing, singing and stretching, trying to ignore our nerves. The atmosphere pre-race was amazing! There were so many ladies cheering and singing that early, waking up the residents of Union Square one by one. You could look up at the windows and see lights turn on with each cheer. People were taking pictures from their windows, enjoying a warm cup of coffee on this cold rainy morning.
Teammates pre-race and proof of my "sold body parts"! Sorry for the quality, we asked a stranger to take them with her phone and she emailed them to me right then and there. Gotta love technology! :-)
L to R: Natalie, Jenny, Lindsay, Mary-Claire (North and Central Florida Chapter)
3....2.....1...Bang! And we were off! It was a slow start with lots of congestion. Mary-Claire and I stuck together in the beginning, bobbing and weaving our way to a clear space. Lindsay and Kara stuck together doing the same not too far behind us. The rain let up right before we started and by mile two we were warm so off goes the jacket, thrown to the side to be donated to a local homeless charity. That would be a mistake down the road, but I'll get to that soon! The first two miles were basically all downhill, a "small" hill around mile 3 and downhill again as we passed FIsherman's Wharf. There was a TNT cheer zone at the 5k mark (3.1 miles) where I briefly saw our TNT coordinator decked out in purple and green cheering on the crowd. I lost Mary-Claire somewhere on that downhill in the crowd. MC is a great runner so I assumed she took off and left me in the dust :-)
10K markers (6.2 miles)
Next obstacle, the Presidio at mile 6..... Over one mile, up a steep hill, without a break. Apparently the scenery was beautiful overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge ahead of us and Alcatraz just offshore but I didn't want to look around too much in fear I would lose my stride or trip and fall on my face. Though the uphill burned my lungs, thighs and calves, it generally felt better on my hurt hip than the downhill. I used to make up my time on the downhill but since it hurt my hip, I tried to control myself going down the steep hill on the backside of the Presidio. At mile 7-8 I was still feeling good, no hip pain despite still limping when I walked the days before, muscles were just getting warmed up and it wasn't raining...yet.
15k markers (9.3 miles)
Mile 8-9 brought on another long steep hill. This one wasn't as long as the Presidio but it seemed steeper and the sharp pains in my hip started right before I reached the top of this hill. That is when I started a sort of stretching walk through every other water station. The sharp pains only lasted about a mile or two; I think the stretching walk helped! After this hill we ran by the finish line and a TNT coach from some other chapter ran a short distance with me. He asked how are you feeling? I asked if there were any more hills?! He said “Well…the rest of Golden Gate Park is a gradual uphill the whole way.” What?! I did not remember seeing that on the race course elevation map! I felt a bit of disappointment here and a feeling of oh boy, can I really do this?!
Golden Gate Bridge Park brought on miles 10-16. As the TNT coach said, it was a gradual climb uphill all the way to the end of the park before we finally got to turn around and go downhill. I made the 13 mile mark in less than 2 hours. Because of my hip, my goal was to just run across the finish line and still be able to walk. Prior to my hip injury, I wanted to finish in less than 4 hours but knew this was no longer feasible. This part of the run was the most tranquil part for me despite my lungs starting to burn on that "gradual" hill. This Florida girl started to regret signing up for the full marathon at this point because the half marathoners turned around half way up the park. My muscles still felt ok and I wasn't struggling mentally but it started to drizzle somewhere around the turn around point and it got cold. Not far past the turnaround I saw Cecilia on the other side, so I cheered her on and thought, whoa, I'm going faster than I thought! Cecilia was always faster than me in the long training runs, I hoped I wasn't running too fast so I couldn't finish. Then I saw a girl who had on gloves and I felt like I couldn't stop staring at her in jealousy, wishing I had a pair! Despite the cold I was still cheering on people when I passed them.
Golden Gate Park and the girl with the gloves
Then the turn south along the beach on The Great Highway and passing the finish line once again. As you can imagine, a long 3 mile stretch right along the windy cold beach in the rain was not fun. I began to realize this race was really geared towards the half marathoners. The first half of the course was filled with scenery, turns and a change in landscape. I also began to wonder, where is that runner's high everyone talks about?! I still have 9 miles and have to come back up this miserable stretch of sand and bumpy asphalt. I was trying my hardest to concentrate on breaking up the race in 2-3 mile segments and it was working, for now. As I was running down this stretch, I heard my name being yelled from just behind me. I had just passed my teammate Megan! Megan started in the early start to avoid running too late in the day. I turned around and Megan yelled, Looking good Jenny! Go Team! I brought my hands up to cheer her on and yelled Way to go Megan, Go Team! I had a little extra motivation for the next couple of miles....
Mile 20, my right calf muscle started to hurt, my hands were going numb from the cold and it started raining harder. Miles 19-23 were around a lake and it was a long, boring, cold, enduring stretch. At mile 21, I thought I should've run 22 miles in my training. I wasn’t sure I could make it to the end. Up until this point, I enjoyed having my name on my jersey because strangers would cheer me on and it was like they were my personal cheering squad. I think it was mile 21 or 22 when the 4 hour pacer ran by me and some man yelled way to go Jenny, you're going to make it in less than 4 hours! I don't know if this overwhelmed me or if my calf muscle just started to hurt more but I slowed down a good amount. I was still wondering when that runner's high would set in and still trying to take it in segments. I was now down to segmenting the remainder of the race into 1-2 miles and even that was a struggle. My stomach started to hurt because I was hungry, so I ate a few of the GUs to hopefully fill my stomach and give me some much needed energy. At the end of the lake portion I really started to struggle. TNT supporters would cheer for me and I would think, shut up why aren't you running with me?! I got mean and bitter in my head and was thankful no one I knew was running with me or else they may not be my friend after this! Someone yelled, only one more uphill and it's all downhill from there. It was a small uphill compared to the other hills but my calf was killing me and I couldn't move my hands or face from the cold. I had to do the stretching walk half way up that hill. Once I got to mile 24 or 25 I was so mad and thought why did I did this, I am NEVER doing a marathon again?! I stopped looked up and cried. I was thinking where is the finish line and why aren't any of these TNT coaches running with me?! Then a girl that was running along with me most of the way clapped, cheered me on and said come on, you've got this, don't give up now! That was exactly what I needed, another RUNNER cheering me on saying I've got this! I'm pretty sure my pace slowed to a crawl but I didn't stop again until I crossed the finish line.
Turn back on to The Great Highway (~mile 24)
Though I’m smiling, I’m thinking get that camera out of my face!
And I’m sure you’re all thinking, “Why on earth would you share these horrible pictures of yourself?!” I guess to show that I gave it my all, to confirm these written thoughts and the weather.
And then, I saw the finish line about a quarter mile up road. The biggest smile came across my face and an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and joy hit me. I thought, oh I'm so doing the “arms up like I won” as I run across the finish line. I heard the announcer say, Go Jenny! You've got a lot of people cheering you on here! And then I heard more cheers from the crowd, my smile seemed to get even larger than I thought it could. Lindsay, Kara and Cassie were waiting in the rain at the finish line for me and I couldn't have felt more special and blessed to have them there!
Finish line in sight, finally a real smile! (~mile 26) (Notice the rain is coming down pretty hard
As I crossed the finish line and took my Tiffany Finisher's necklace from the firefighter in a tuxedo I was so excited that I made it and was still on my feet. The feeling I had cannot be explained and it has only been felt by 1% of all people! I soon felt like I was not going to be on my feet for long if I didn't get something in my stomach though so the first thing they handed me, a soggy wet bagel, went directly into my mouth and it tasted so good. After gathering my goodies and wrapping up in the much needed thermal blanket I walked over to my friends. Lindsay wrapped her shawl around me and they led me straight to the heated stretch room. After attempting to roll out my tight feet, calves, thighs and hips I headed to the changing tent to put on some dry clothes but realized I didn't have a sweater or jacket and it was still raining and cold. So that $60 sweater that I really liked from Nike but I just couldn't stand spending that much money for it, well I'm wearing it right now :-)
Couldn’t pick just one finish line shot. I did spend $70 on these photos so I may as well get my money’s worth
Remember when I said to myself at mile 24 that I would NEVER do another marathon again? Well, apparently I got that runner's high once I got back to the hotel because we were all planning our next marathon already! I'm still not sure when that will be, hopefully next October or sooner.
After the race Lindsay, Kara and I headed to Napa for a night and then down to Santa Barbara to visit my Aunt Susie and George. Susie is the reason I did this and it was the perfect ending to the perfect trip. Because of me; Lindsay and Kara signed up for Team in Training and we raised over $16,000. NE Florida chapter - NWM2010 rose over $33,000 and the NWM 2010 rose $13M for the LLS! My experience with TNT has had ups, downs, injuries and heartaches but I would do it again a million times over knowing I'm making a difference. I met some great friends along the way and without TNT, Cecilia wouldn't have that extra support team there today at Monica's funeral. And that is just one more benefit that TNT offers for patients and their family.
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| Cakebread Cellars |
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| Elan Vineyards |
Napa Valley – Cakebread Cellars and Elan Vineyard (Stags Leap’s grapes)
Road trip down The Great Highway…in a car this time!
Santa Barbara, CA and the view from Susie and George’s
Thank you to everyone who supported me along this journey and donated to the LLS. I hope my experience has inspired at least one more person to make a difference so we can put an end to cancer. After all, there is no finish line until there is a cure!
Go TEAM!
Jenny
