photos

Still working on race day updates.  In the meantime, check out some more pics of my Ireland trip.

Ireland - The West

So race day started with a 4:30am wake up call - from the gang back at LEGALLY BLONDE!  They had just finished the show and didn't think I'd answer, but I'd been sleeping fitfully the whole night so the ring of the phone made me jump a little and I groggily answered.  I had set the alarm to get up at 5:30am to eat a Power Bar and a banana anyway so it wasn't a big deal.  I knew I needed to eat, but wanted to make sure there was time to digest before leaving the hotel.  So I ate and reset the alarm to get up with just enough tome to dress before heading down to the lobby to meet everyone.  Luckily my roommate Eissa (our lovely training captain) was there to wake me as I did that silly thing where you change the time instead of the alarm time!

I had painstakingly set everything out the night before:  jersey, sneakers with Nike + sensor and race chip attached, race number with safely pins, my sport watch, gloves, long sleeved base layer, sports bra, long sleeved throwaway shirt, light jacket, pants, socks, and fuel belt with all of the following: 7 power Gels (raspberry creme) camera, ID, metro card, a few Euros, a pack of electrolyte powder, a pre made bottle of said powder, my iPod nano with the Nike+ receiver, and a small bag of pretzels.  It takes a lot of stuff to run 26. 2 miles!

So we all met in the lobby of our hotel and spent a bit second guessing our wardrobe choices and making trips to the lobby bathroom and adjust our bibs, and pacing.  It seemed like forever before we hit the streets en masse.  And as we walked the block to the Champs Elysee it all became real.  There they were - thousands of runners!  It wasn't easy keeping up with Coach Ramon as he weaved through the crowd, heading for the end of the start corral.

We all had bibs with colors indicating our start corral based on our expected finish time.  We're not exactly sure how those times got determined because, for the most part, they were waaaaay off.  My color was green which was the 4 hour finish time group.  Now I'm optimistic, but not that optimistic.  Ramon wisely headed for the last corral and we headed in.  Man was it crowded!  And they were mostly male!  And there were crazy people.  I especially enjoyed the man in the tiger suit.  No tiger head, just the tiger body suit.  A stocky, hairy man in a tiger suit.

More to come....

The race

Ireland

Still composing race day thoughts.  In the meantime...

Finis!

So it's over.  It's Monday morning in Paris, I'm sore and I just woke from a 10 hour sleep.  I really can't believe it's over.  The run was incredible, and despite a nasty bit somewhere between mile 23 and mile 25 where my left knee decided it didn't want to play anymore, I finished in just under 5 hours.  4:59:02 to be exact.  Coach Ramon led us to the start line at 8am (that's his back in the pic).  And you can see the legs of the Arc de Triomphe behind my pals Theresa, Christine, Paula and me as we waited for the start gun (okay, you're going to have to wait for that one - the pic is not uploading!).  There were lots of cool things along the way.  Fun bands and cheerleaders (the gang in pink showed up twice) and two creepy tunnels.  I'll definitely write more later.  Off to enjoy my last day in Paris!  Thanks again to everyone for all the support!!!

Paris!

After a 2 hour delay at the airport, we're finally in Paris!  Yesterday was a blur as we checked into our hotel, went to the expo to pick up our race bibs, and tried desperately to get some much needed sleep.  The expo was lovely, as was the kindly gentleman who gave me my bib.  He kept speaking to me in French as if I understood.  I just kept nodding!

Trying hard to stay off my feet today after a fun group run to the base of the Eiffel Tower.  This time tomorrow I should be crossing the finish line!

before I go...

I thought I'd show you my attempt at taking a picture during this past Sunday's race.  I wore a new fuel belt with better pockets and was testing the idea of carrying my camera during the marathon. Seems like it might work.  The subject?  The damn cat on Cat Hill.

And then there is this - my TNT singlet.  I did a little arts and crafts last night and appliqued my name to the front and a patch to the back where I will list the names of the people who I am running in honor of or in memory of.  There are far more names on that list than I could have ever imagined.  So many of you have been affected by leukemia or lymphoma.  I am honored to have been able to fundraise for such a worthy cause.