Sunday, November 16, 2008

He Did It- 26.2!

Today, Phil ran 26.2 miles in the Rock 'n Roll Marathon!

The day started out at 5:00am with a shower, breakfast, and getting dressed in lots of layers. (Last night the temperature dropped down to freezing!) We pinned on his number to his bottom layer shirt, attached his D Tag (disposable tag for timing his run) to his shoe, and left the house around 6:15am.


The website stated that we had to drive down Hwy 281 to the participant drop off area, and by the time we had sat in traffic for 30 minutes and were still probably an hour away from the start line and not moving, Phil decided (along with hundreds of others) to hop out of the car right on the freeway and walk to the start line which on foot was about 1/2 mile away. He made it there in time to check in his gear (his jacket and pants) which were transported to the finish line for him. The gun went off to start the race at 7:30am, but Phil was in corral 15 so he did not start running until about 8:00.

After dropping Phil off, I went straight to a friend of mine's shop on Main Street where I parked at 7:00am and waited until Phil ran by (around 9:00).




He picked up his sunglasses and dropped off a layer of clothing (his long-sleeve running shirt) and picked up a Gatorade and kept on running. Can you spot him? With 30,000 runners I thought I might miss him, but luckily I was able to spot him (plus he knew where I would be so he was on the right side of the road).



My aunt Carol also ran by about 5-10 minutes later so I was able to cheer her on and pick up a layer of her clothing as well so she could continue on her 1/2 marathon journey. By then, she was half way done so I made sure to remind her of that!

After the two of them ran by, I left Main Street and went directly to the Alamodome to stake out my spot at the finish line! I made sure to watch Carol run across the finish line and cheer her on and then had to find the best spot to watch Phil cross the finish line. I waited for about 2 hours at the finish line to get as close as possible to the runners and finally made my way all the way up to the gate so I could basically touch the runners and give some of them hi-five on their way across the finish line. Finally, when Phil came across I cheered for him and took pictures, although come ot find out he was so focused he never even saw me!







He says around mile 20 he got really nauseous after drinking 3 of the gel packets and had to slow down and walk to avoid getting sick on the course. His last few miles ended up being slower than his first 20, but he finished at 4:31 which we are so proud of! He didn't stop and walk until he got to mile 20 which is a personal best for him.
After he crossed the finish line, we found each other and quickly found a spot to sit down so Phil could cool down and let the nausea pass.


But after about 20 minutes of resting, he switched into flip flops, hydrated and was ready to walk to the car (another 1/2 mile at least).

Will he run another marathon? Probably so, but not just yet. He might try a 1/2 marathon next so he can work on improving his time and endure a less rigorous training course, but I'm sure this isn't the end of his running career. Just time for a little break.

Now, we get to pack for our Mexico trip! We leave in 11 days!