Thursday, October 13, 2011

Post - Marathon

So after crossing the finish line, getting my mylar blanket, my beloved wonderful finisher medal, a bottle of water, and half a banana... I started to make my way over to the Charity Village.  That was where we decided to meet afterwards.  After being pointed in a few different directions, I found my way to Lake Shore Drive which was the way south to the village.  It honestly felt like I walked another few miles, stopping to stretch a bit along the way, before I got to our tent.  Beverly and Michelle had both finished before me and were waiting for me.  We sat in a small circle and ate a bit, drank some water, had our massages, took our photos, and discussed the race.  After comparing the GPS's, I firmly stand by that I would have finished under 4:45 if I hadn't drank the Gatorade and if I really only went 26.2 miles.  :)

Beverly left us to go shower and meet her in-laws.  Then M & I slowly made our way back to the hotel.  I felt really good that I wasn't the only one waddling.  Michelle's plane ticket was for 6 PM - she wasn't sure if she'd have to reschedule it, but we could tell that she could make the shuttle to the airport in time.  It would have been fun if she stayed but she wanted to get home to the boys.

Beverly was out - later to find out getting lunch and walking more than she had hoped, and Michelle left, so I settled in for a nap.  After a couple hours, Beverly came back and rested a bit.  We decided we were just going to go down to the Hilton's Pub for a little snack - I ate about 1/2 salad, she drank about 1/2 a beer.  Just too pooped.  While we were sitting there, we heard cheering and turned to see the Kenyan male and Russian female winners come walking in with what appeared to be their manager-type guy.  He was thrilled to have us take photos with them.  We congratulated them and shook their hands.  They were both very nice and shy.  She was wearing heels (good god) and he was so tiny!  He set a course record and she pulled a three-peat win for Chicago.

After our snack and photos, we decided to call it a night.  Packed up all the bags and got ready for the flight out.

Monday morning we had breakfast and decided to take the train to Midway since it was cheap and easy.  Easy until I realized I had to pull that 40 pound duffel about 4 blocks on marathon tired legs and blistered feet, pulling my shoulder and numbing my hands.  I'll be buying new luggage very soon.  The train was really easy, just like NYC.  We got to Midway where I was very happy to check that stupid bag.  Short flight home where Shawn picked us up.  We dropped off Beverly, picked up a pizza, and headed home.

Shawn had a congratulations note on my desk with the quote "The Woman Who Starts The Race Is Not The Same Woman Who Finishes The Race".  Nope, I'm a marathoner now.  :-D

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