Chicago Marathon...October 11, 2009

Numbers, numbers, numbers…they are everywhere….there are a part of our everyday lives….I LOVE numbers! Here are a few of my favorite numbers:

• 18…number of training weeks
• 5:15…time on the alarm to wake up to run
• 21…longest training run
• 475…number of OE marathon runners
• 538…number of training miles
• $3,813.40…amount of money raised for OE
• 33,701…number of Chicago marathon finishers
• 26.2…number of miles in a marathon
• 2:05:41…winning Chicago marathon time (Sammy Wanjiru)
• 3:30…time woke up morning of marathon
• 5,219…bib number
• 21…number of races run in 2009 prior to the marathon
• $216,000…overall dollars donated to OE
• 7:30…marathon start time
• 34…temperature morning of marathon
• 180…desired number of steps per minute
• 3…number of marathons run in 2008
• 8:35…desired marathon pace
• 3:45:59…Boston Marathon qualifying time for a 35-39 year old female

Although I trained smarter and harder this year I was not real confident that I’d make my goal of qualifying for the Boston marathon. My training runs were slower than I had hoped and I was running slower than last year. I was debating what my strategy would be….do I run with the 3:45 pace group or the 3:50 pace group where I’m more comfortable?!? I struggled with the decision until the last minute! You may ask, “did she make it?”…read on to find out!

Before I talk about the marathon, I'd like to give a little background on the days leading to the big day….

Thursday, October 8
I left work early to take Madalyn to Indy for the Taylor Swift concert. We had to resubmit our 7-year financial plan by the end of the day, plus it was month-end close, so I was a bit worried about leaving early. Mike was kind enough to leave work, go pick Madalyn up from home and bring her back to work so I could leave directly from there. Of course I was running behind schedule, but we made it to Indy in less than 3 hours. I parked in the garage right across from Conseco and we made it in time to hear a few Kellie Pickler songs...after a short break, Taylor Swift came on. She played for about 2 hours and Madalyn LOVED it!!! OMG, I had a great time seeing how much she enjoyed the concert. I have to say, this was one of the best concerts I’ve been to…Taylor ROCKS!!! She’s so young and sweet and a great performer…needless to say, by the time we got out of the concert and drove for an hour, bedtime was around midnight. We stayed at a Super 8 Motel (never doing that again) and got up around 5:30am Friday morning to get Madalyn to school (got there in the nick of time…right at 8am)!

Friday, October 9
I had a busy day planned (surprise)!! After dropping Madalyn off at school, I quickly went home to unpack and let the dog out (talked to Mel the whole time I was home)…made it to my 8:45am Chiropractor appointment…not sure how much good that did…I think I have the doctor a bit stumped about what to do with my back and hips. He gave me yet another stretch to do and sent me on my way. I then had a 9:45am massage with Denise…got there a bit early (thank goodness) and had the BEST massage ever! Denise suggested doing a “relaxation” massage and I thought that sounded perfect! She worked everything using lavender to ease my nerves and even used hot stones…ahhhh…now that I was all relaxed, I came home to my mom and dad standing in my garage waiting for me! My mom and I were to take the 11:12am train to Chicago and I pulled up in my driveway around 11am! I had to run inside to get some stuff which was making my dad very nervous…LOL!! He drove us to the train station (which is only a few minutes away) and dropped us off…we no more than walked through the building to the tracks and the train was pulling up! I love the Southshore, it’s always on time! We were on a brand new double decker train…how cool!!! I actually planned ahead and figured out our route to the Expo this year…get off on 11th Street, walk up to the Hilton on 8th and Michigan and take a free shuttle bus to McCormick Place. It worked out perfectly!!! I picked up my race packet, and then headed over to the Expo. It wasn’t nearly as exciting as last year, but I still managed to buy a bunch of stuff…a new Chicago Marathon Nike jacket, some Nike arm warmers, headband and some cute little stickers. We had to be back for the pasta dinner, so we took the 4pm train back to Indiana…it’s truly a miracle, but we were actually EARLY to the train station! I met some really nice people on the train (both directions) who were running the marathon…I sure do love talking about running!!! My dad picked us up at the train station and I even had enough time to shower before the dinner. The dinner was at a new reception hall this year and it was much nicer than last year’s place…the food was much better too! I had some pasta, salad and bread sticks. I passed on the dessert much to my dismay, but I was trying really hard to cut out the refined sugars the week before the marathon. It’s amazing how many OE runners there are and how many people I really don’t know! I saw a few fellow runners that I knew and I was sooo happy to see my girl Laura :) She drove all the way up from Chattanooga, TN. It was raining most of the day and she encountered many accidents on her trip up to Indiana…she even saw a girl hit the guardrail and flip several times. She’s so sweet that she helped the girl out of her car and stayed with her until help arrived. I was worried for Laura and gave her the motherly advice to “be careful” the rest of the way…after I talked to her, she got a speeding ticket (I think she talked her way out of it though)…anyway, I was so glad to see her Friday night. After dinner, the OE singers performed and I just beamed ear to ear watching these special people perform for us…they are truly amazing and was so happy they performed again this year. I received recognition for being the second highest fundraiser…I ended up raising $3,814.40…behind Michelle Hale who was well over $4,000! Overall, OE raised over $216,000!!! Whoohoo!!! I met Madalyn’s gymnastics coach, Kelly, who just ran the Twin Cities marathon the weekend before (she has my same birthday, as does Laura)…she knows Suzanne who had me running crazy fast on one of my long runs this summer….small world we live in! We were the last ones to leave the dinner…I stayed and chatted with Laura and her dad George (our Porter county OE coach)…I hit the sack early Friday night since I didn’t get much sleep the night before and was trying to get rested up!

Saturday, October 10
Not much was planned on Saturday…just spent the day getting prepped for Sunday. I went to the Duneland Resale shop, but first, Mike dropped me off and I went on a 2 mile run! OMG, I haven’t run that distance since the day before the marathon last year…it felt so weird! I ran back to the Resale shop and looked for a sweatshirt I could take with me to the race so I could throw it away…the only thing I found was a nice blue velour zip up hoodie…LOL!!! Oh well, it was warm and it would do…I also found a women’s Quintana Roo wet suit for $10!!! YAY, now I have every reason to start doing triathlons!!! We had a lot of fun trying on the suit…I felt like a seal, arh, arh, arh. Andrew and Madalyn also tried it on!!!! OMG, it was so funny, they ran around the house like crazy people…Andrew even got in the shower to see if he stayed dry (not so much)…LOL!!! Mike and I went to a movie and my parents got the kids pizza…when we got home from the movie, my mom helped me pack my bag for the marathon…I can’t believe how long it takes to get everything prepared, BUT, I was happy everything was in order so I didn’t have to stress about it Sunday morning! I went to bed early and fell asleep to the Spirit of the Marathon movie :)

Sunday, October 11
The alarm went off at 3:30am!!!!!! I was actually well rested and ready to go :) I got up, ate a Power Bar and a banana, then took a really long shower….ahhhhh, I LOVE the shower! Ooops, might have been a bit too long, because I was a little behind schedule…LOL! I got dressed, grabbed my stuff and was out the door by about 4:10. I got to the Chesterton Hilton by 4:25 and it was a balmy 34 degrees…brrrrr! The busses arrived right on time at 4:30 and I jumped on one which happened to be the same bus that Laura and George were on :) Oh, btw, Laura almost hit me when I turned into the Hilton parking lot so I had to razz her about that…LOL…she missed the 4:15 bus in Valpo, so she had to hurry over to Chesterton to catch the 4:30 bus!! I slept most of the way to Chicago and by the time we arrived, it was sometime after 6am and still dark. Since it had rained, the tents in Charity Village were a mess…people were handing out plastic grocery bags to put over our feet. I changed into my crocs, then slipped my feet into the bags and tied them around my ankles…it was sooo cold and wet I was chilled to the bone. I planned to run in my OE tank top and arm warmers and of course my favorite running skirt. I also had a lightweight headband I bought at the Expo (it says, “I know I run like a girl, try to keep up”). I had on a fleece, my new running jacket and my fancy velour hoodie and was still freezing. I wandered around, chatted with other runners, drank my Citomax drink, ate another Power Bar, put my pace tattoo on the inside of my left forearm, stretched, got the group picture taken, used the potty, changed into my running shoes and before I knew it, it was time to head to the starting line. I took off the fleece and jacket, put my hoodie back on and took my bag to gear check…as I was walking to the start, I saw that the starting corrals closed at 7:15…it was 7:05 and I was getting worried I may not make it! I still had to pee one more time and all the port-a-potties had ginormous lines…ruh roh! I decided to get to the starting area, and then worry about going to the bathroom later. It was packed getting into the area for the starting corrals…they had to check everyone’s bib # to ensure we were “allowed” in that area…OMG, it was a major bottleneck! I thought I was in the clear, so I was standing in line to use the bathroom, then I heard someone say they were closing the starting corrals, so I ran out of line to get to corral C…I thought the first entrance was closing at 7:15, not the actual area to get into each corral. It was also packed to get into corral C…packed like sardines...people were getting antsy and saying stupid mean things and were very pushy! Since there were so many people (body heat…LOL), I decided it was time to take off the hoodie and threw it on the ground…I knew it would get picked up and donated to a local homeless shelter…brrrrr, it was cold! I finally got into the starting area and saw to 2 other OE runners, Matt and Tom who were right next to the 3:45 pacers. I had already committed myself to running with the 3:45 pacers by putting the number on my back…thought I’d stick with them as long as possible, then slow down if need be. I was so pumped that I had someone to run with since I’m used to running with people! They were also planning to stick with the 3:45 pace group, so it was perfect! One problem…I hadn’t peed yet…I mentioned it and Tom said, “here, take this” (it was a black garbage bag)…I’m thinking, what, am I supposed to go right here…it was one minute before start…Tom said, just do it, we won’t cross for a few minutes…sooo, I grabbed the bag, went over to the curb…dropped trou, put the bag over my lap and went…the marathon started and all these people are running by me while I’m peeing….I just smiled and waved! As soon as I finished, I threw down the bag, quickly pulled up my bottoms and ran over and found Matt and Tom….whew that was a close one!

We started out with the 3:45 pace group in corral C…there were tons of them in the group which was great…we stayed with pacers in front of pack for most of the way! Of course, I was feeling great the first few miles…unfortunately, we go through a couple tunnels at the beginning of the course and I forgot to take my Garmin off auto pause…grrrrr….it shut off (time stopped as did the distance), so I couldn’t rely on the Garmin during the race. All three of us had different times on our Garmin, but fortunately, Matt’s Garmin was fine, so he would tell us how we were doing. Tom would time us according to the mile marker clocks to make sure we were on pace too. I referred to my pace tattoo until mile 7, then it became more work than it was worth because I had to pull up my arm warmer to see it! I hardly looked at my watch the whole race…I relied on Matt and Tom to tell me how we were doing then I concentrated on the time clocks at the end. It was cold, but GREAT!!! It took about 2 miles before I could feel my feet…ahhhh, much better…I wore gloves until about mile 22, so my hands were pretty warm :) We saw a guy in a green jumpsuit (we referred to him as “Gumby”) early on in the race, later on (I think around mile 17), I saw Gumby take off the hat, then attempt to unzip the back of his suit, it looked like he was having trouble so he veered off to the left; perhaps to take off the entire suit (I’m surprised he made it that far in that skin tight full body suit…YUCK)! I had no idea where I was most of the time…not only am I directionally challenged (tried to picture the map in my head and figure out where we were, but couldn’t get it), I was focusing on staying on pace…BUT I did enjoy the ride the whole time! Fans and spectators are amazing in Chicago…I ironed my name on the front and back of my shirt and so many people cheered me on by name, I LOVED it (the guys said they liked running with me because so many people cheered me on)!!! I hardly looked at the spectator’s faces because I was so focused on staying on pace, but would either wave or smile to acknowledge their well wishes. The loud roar of cheers was absolutely amazing…I had my I-pod in one ear and couldn’t hear my music at times because the crowd was so loud… the pacers would blow a whistle when coming up on a large group of spectators and we’d raise our arms to get the crowd going…not only were the fans cheering, there were lots of people singing and entertainment along the way… I even high-fived Elvis at about mile 8 or so! Pilson and Chinatown are my favorite parts of the course…LOVE the big dragons in Chinatown (plus I know I’m nearing the end). At one point, I passed a group of people working a water stop and they all cheered my name really loud and were chanting, “Kristi, Kristi, Kristi…” it was great…LOVED it (I’m not sure when I became such an attention getter…LOL)!!! I ran the entire marathon…even through the aide stations…I’d alternate water and Gatorade and took Accelgel about every 4 miles or so starting at about mile 5…I also had 3 doses of electrolyte tabs (2 each time) about every hour (not sure if it helped with dehydration, but it certainly didn’t hurt)! I would get really annoyed when I had to eat a gel or take an electrolyte pill because it was such a hassle…I’d have to get the stuff out of my pack, sometimes take off my gloves, time it just perfectly so I’d had the stuff in my mouth at the right time, then grab some water to wash it all down…all without stopping…it was such a production! One time, I had the electrolytes in my mouth too long and they started to dissolve…ewwww, totally gross bitterness!!! My gloves were all wet and sticky from the gel and spilling water and Gatorade all over myself…LOL!!! The aide stations were very crowded and hard to maneuver through…I’d get behind, but would catch up with Matt & Tom (Tom carried a water bottle for about 10 miles so he didn’t have to get water at the aide stations). I’d find their bright orange/red shirts, run up to them and say, “I’m here” or “I’m right behind you”. It was great having someone to look for…we talked the first half or so, but as the miles progressed, our talking slowed… early on in the race, Matt & Tom kept reminding me to slow down…we got ahead of the 3:45 pacers a few times, then slowed down to stay with them. I ran with Matt & Tom until I lost them at about mile 22 (around Chinatown). I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I must have been gawking at the big dragon or something…they said I just kept going…I talked to Tom later and asked what happened…he said he was “just done running”…they weren’t sure if I was going to make it because I was dragging behind around mile 13-14 or so…that was when my hip pain became unbearable, then my right knee started to hurt around mile 17 or so which is so weird because my knees haven’t bothered me in a very long time…grrrrr…(may have something to do with the fact that I turned my right ankle a couple months ago). I saw the gas station I had to make a pit stop at around mile 23 last year…it was a BP gas station and was all blocked off with “caution” tape…they probably didn’t want people like me barging in again this year…LOL!! No need for pit stops this year (thank goodness) so I kept on running, but it did bring a smile to my face thinking about my experience last year. After I lost Matt and Tom, I tried to stay with pacer “Joe”…the pace groups were getting away from me with about 3 miles to go and the ones who were behind me most of the race were passing me…I was starting to get nervous, but I knew I had a 59 second cushion and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other (I think I may have even started talking to myself at this point…LOL...I had to run with my heart at this stage in the race). Some guy yelled to me at the very end, “You can do it Kristi, you’re almost there sweetheart”…I kept hearing his voice in my head; in fact, I heard so many other voices too…my mom saying “this is your year, I just know it”, Mike’s e-mail saying, “I hope our spirits will carry you through to the end”…so many others too…my kids posters and the card from mom & dad…Andrew’s little song he’s been practicing on his recorder…the OE singers…Jen Villarreal (the person who motivated me to run)…Jennie Hamilton…Cyndi and Mel (I remembered how you ran the last 6 miles with me in Indy)…all those who donated and sent me kind messages before the marathon…you all helped me through to the end! I was so much more mentally prepared this time around…I actually had the mental toughness to push through the pain and nausea. I felt sick at the end and wanted to quit, but knew I shouldn’t…my strategy was to run another marathon in a month if I didn’t qualify and I told myself I didn’t want to do this again so soon, so I kept pushing forward…I also knew people were tracking me and I didn’t want to let them down! It was very windy and cold on the last stretch down Michigan Avenue…longest 2 ½ miles ever! I couldn’t wait to turn on Roosevelt…I finally see runners ahead of me turning, and then I saw my family on the corner of Michigan Ave and “Mount Roosevelt” cheering me on!! YAY, it was GREAT to see them, especially at this point in the race. I ran up the hill then turned left on Columbus Avenue. All I could see were the seconds going tick, tick, tick on the clock…I ran as fast as my legs would carry me (under a 7 min pace)…I heard the announcer say, “here’s the 3:45 pacers” and I was behind them (oh no)! There were still so many people running and I almost knocked someone over…I was thinking, “Why are they running so slow, I have to get to the finish!?!”…then I heard the announcer call out my name as “Kristi Fogg”…LOL!! The clock showed 3:48:59 when I crossed the finish…I was really emotional…mad, happy, frustrated, angry, elated…I wasn’t sure if I made the BQ time…Matt told us early on that we were 3 minutes off the gun time at the start (that would give me a 3:45:59)…if I was even one second off, I would have missed the qualifying time. At that time, it didn’t matter, there was nothing I could have done differently and was proud of the time regardless of whether or not I made my goal. I was freezing at the finish…got my mylar blanket and medal, then got the chip clipped off my shoe…all I wanted was water but for some crazy reason it takes forever to get any…I grabbed some snacks and finally a water, got my picture taken and walked back to charity village (with no stops to the medical tent this year…YAY)!!

I walked over to the OE tent to meet up with my family…I saw Mike, Andrew, Madalyn, my mom and dad and Pat on my way there. Did I already mention that I was FREEZING?!? I signed in, got my bag and got in line for a massage…it was cold, but very nice to have a rubdown…Madalyn was so cute, she was helping the massage therapist. We stuck around for a while and I talked to many of my OE running buddies…it was a good day for running and many had a good race (much better than the heat from last year). People asked how I did and I said, I think I got a 3:46 and may have missed the qualifying time by a few seconds, but I didn’t know. I was so happy to see Laura…both her legs were taped from ankle to knee…she had really bad shin splints and had her legs taped around mile 17 or 18…she said it took about 5 minutes and she finished in 4:08! I’m so proud of her!!! We decided to head on home and walked over to the train station…since we were a bit early, I suggested warming up at a coffee shop on the corner…I had a hot tea and the kids had hot chocolate. We then walked over to the train station and got on the train…it was packed and had to walk back several cars before finding one that had open seats. We were all scattered about but the seats were at least close to one another…I saw Felicia and Dan on the train as we were looking for seats…I chatted for a bit, then went to sit down. I was in the bathroom on train and I heard my mom tell Madalyn that I made it…my mom looked up my time on her I-phone…I came out and they told me I got a 3:45:05!!! I was sooo excited I couldn’t even believe it! I had a few messages on my phone and I called my friends…I was talking to Jen and got all choked up…I thanked her for introducing me to running and that it’s changed my life…she’s going to train next year and hopefully qualify for the 2011 Boston marathon so we can run it together!!!! I can’t wait!!! When we got home, we celebrated with dinner at Papalano’s…one of my favorite restaurants…I had shrimp pasta, a hot tea and a huge hot chocolate chip cookie with melting ice cream and whipped cream on top…mmmm….glad to eat sugar again :) Sooo, needless to say, I MADE IT and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life…not only did I help other people through fundraising, but I made my goal…I’m used to achieving my goals and this one was much, much more difficult than I ever imagined.

Numbers, numbers, numbers…they are everywhere….there are a part of our everyday lives….I LOVE numbers! Here are a couple of my most favorite numbers:

• 3:45:05…finishing time in the 2009 Chicago Marathon
• 4…the number of times it took me to get to Boston

My split times compared to last year:

2009 vs 2008

• 2009: 5-K: 26:23; 8:31 pace; 2008: 5-K: 25:21; 8:11 pace
• 2009: 10-K: 52:19; 8:26 pace; 2008: 10-K: 51:35; 8:19 pace
• 2009: 15-K: 1:18:58; 8:29 pace; 2008: 15-K: 1:18:17; 8:25 pace
• 2009: 20-K: 1:45:58; 8:33 pace; 2008: 20-K: 1:45:33; 8:31 pace
• 2009: ½: 1:51:48; 8:32 pace; 2008: ½: 1:51:33; 8:31 pace
• 2009: 25-K: 2:12:30; 8:33 pace; 2008: 25-K: 2:12:48; 8:34 pace
• 2009: 30-K: 2:38:57; 8:33 pace; 2008: 30-K: 2:41:09; 8:40 pace
• 2009: 35-K: 3:06:01; 8:34 pace; 2008: 35-K: 3:12:23; 8:52 pace
• 2009: 40-K: 3:33:22; 8:36 pace; 2008: 40-K: 3:48:13; 9:12 pace
• 2009: Finish: 3:45:05; 8:35 pace; 2008: Finish: 4:01:08; 9:12 pace