Friday-June 6: I woke up around 8:30AM and put all my stuff in Laz before heading out. I got as far as Harrisonburg to get gas (JMU is there) and remembered I forgot to grab my glove! Ugh. It's 2 hours away, so I decided to leave it in VA. :( So sad. The drive felt like an eternity; the twists, turns, and hills in West Virginia didn't help. I arrived at North Bend State Park around 5:15PM and checked in although it didn't officially start until 6. I was really hungry/wanted to carb load a little because I didn't know what to expect with such a small marathon so I sucked it up and paid the $10.55+tip to eat a plate of fettuccine alfredo. I ate really slowly and went out to the car where I got my Bible and went through Psalm 139 and wrote it on a piece of paper to memorize during the marathon [it was working until I was so delirious I couldn't remember anything or think anything but having to finish the race]. The race director convinced me to run the regular start rather than the early start I was going to because I could get a trophy if I placed overall. I wasn't super excited, but I figured I drove 6.5 hours to West Virginia for a marathon so I might as well try to place. I prepped Laz for sleeping, but it was still humid and disgusting when I lay down at 8 so I got out and walked around/stretched outside, watched the West Virginia sunset, went to the bathroom in the lodge again, and then went to bed at 9.
Saturday-June 7: I got up at 5, before my alarm went off. It was probably because I was still sweating, there isn't the best air ventilation in the back of an Integra. I changed, got out, ate a banana, an English muffin with a little butter because there was no cream cheese for the bagels and spoke with some of my fellow marathoners about the race we were about to run. Though there were only 57 people who finished, about 40 of them were people attempting to run 50 states [including myself] so that was fun. A 61 year old man completed his 200th marathon when he finished. We walked down to the starting line and I was preparing myself to start slow and pick up the pace as I went. The horn blasted and we were off, everyone started quickly, it was all I could do to not start racing in the beginning. I dropped the first mile in 10:31, faster than I wanted to start, especially since 9/10 of the first mile was uphill. I got into a pretty smooth rhythm and was running with a guy from southern West Virginia/northern Virginia from mile 5-14. We hit every mile on 10 minute mile pace like clock work. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have enough energy for the end, especially when we passed a sign 2 hours into the race that displayed the 87 degree temperature and rising-the big hills were still to come [the whole thing was basically hills, but the big, big ones were at mile 15 and 24]. I drank powerade at every stop until mile 21 when I took both H2O and powerade, it was gross. It's a good thing there weren't many people in the race because I had to go to the bathroom a little after mile 21; I went on the side of the path behind some trees. I am really glad I brought the extra gel I ran nearly 32 miles with in Maryland and didn't use-that I got from the Richmond marathon, ha ha. I ate that around mile 14 and kept on truckin'. By mile 19 I was tired, and missed 10 mile pace by a minute. Every mile after that... I missed 10 mile pace by a minute more. By mile 24 I was done for, I was dehydrated, my muscles were depleted of their glycogen [no food/snacks at all on the course] and I still had 2.2 miles to go. I kept going. I got to the top of the hill and hit the 25 mile marker and I thought I was nearly done, but that last 1.2 miles seemed to go on forever. I finished in 4:31:33 which is my new marathon PR [one day I will run a non-hilly marathon when I'm not sick and qualify for Boston], I thought that was pretty decent for a marathon that's supposed to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest on the east coast. It turned out I was the 3rd woman to finish overall and I got a gaudy trophy, but hey, if you're going to run a marathon mostly by yourself, you might as well get a trophy right? It was definitely an all mental race because the field was small and the only people with words of encouragement along the way were other racer's spouses/family and the people at the H2O stops. I hobbled around a little and leaned on a tree so I wouldn't fall down, then I got into the shuttle back to the lodge where Laz was and took a shower in one of the rooms the race provided for runners to shower afterward. I was so grateful and happy to be clean. It turned out the lady who was parked next to me had slept in her car the night before as well, she was from PA and going on to SC after the marathon. It was nice to know I'm not the only person who does stuff like that... ha ha. I set out for PA and remembered I hadn't taken a WV jumping picture, so I did.
It was the best I could do after a difficult marathon with a timer. I rolled toward PA and saw huge road kill... gianormous paws that resembled something like a mountain lion. I called Jeff, Melissa, Linds, and Leah to say howdy and that I finished my marathon/was on my way to Pittsburgh. I arrived at my first couchsurfer's place around 5 and ate a quesadilla. We watched Revolver-a Guy Richie film that was interesting, but confusing until I read the synopsis of the movie to figure out exactly what was going on. I met his girlfriend and soon went to bed around 9:30.
Sunday, June 9: I got up at 7:30 like the weirdo I am and then tried to fall asleep again. I debated going to the Pittsburgh SG church, but by the time I was officially up, I remembered I didn't have any nice clothes. I got ready for the game, slathering tons of SPF 50 sunscreen on [did that for the marathon too] and the guys' girlfriend dropped us off at the park and we went to the game. It was ridiculously hot in the sun so we moved to the shade and watched the rest of the game from near the top of the stadium. The Pirates won 6-4 over the D'backs and then I got a jumping picture by the bridge and we walked back. I was really tired and drank a ton of H2O when I got back to the house. Around 6, he drove me around to see downtown P-burgh and over looking the city. It was neat to hear about the history from a native of the city. I called Linds' dad and ended up going to their house to sleep for the night-we watched Game 2 of the NBA finals and they fed me tons of food for dinner: soup, pizza, blueberries, apple slices, etc. We all went to bed after the game, I was happy because the Celtics won [although the Lakers did nearly make a comeback and I was afraid at one point].
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