We did the damn thing! I’ve been saying whatever it takes and that was the rule for the day. When you’ve only had time to train for a half marathon and a full marathon is on your plate, what do you do? You suck it up and eat those miles. That was hard. After the April injury, the training plan never got past a half marathon so you know I had to dig real deep to make this a success. I’m giving myself a pat on the back for this achievement. I heard someone say “you should have cancelled”. I couldn’t do that after I committed to helping him on his first marathon. Breaking that commitment would have hurt my heart.
Rolling hills for days. But, we got the job done. Breezy chilly and dreary morning eventually led to a partly sunny sky…temporarily. As much as I hated to, I had to stop and walk quite a few times in the second half. Left quads were crying, arches were screaming and lower legs picked up some lead along the way. My body was not happy during the second half. Some occasional blurriness in the eyes, lightheadedness at times as well. I didn’t let Ben know about most of this because I didn’t want him to lose focus. The plan was to help my friend Ben through his first marathon, but we were helping each other. Frozen fingers (poor circulation) had me re-tying my shoe laces like a two year old. He tied them for me. He wanted a PR for me, but I told him without training, I’d be happy to come in under 5 hours which we did. We came in at 4:43. Post race I went to the marathoner’s tent and took advantage of getting a massage on my traumatized lower torso. So help me I know that besides determination and the desire to never ever record a DNF on my race card, my Maurten hydrogels got me through this trial. Congrats and welcome to the 1% Club, Ben Quiñones. You earned every mile my friend. Next race: B.A.A. 10K. BOSTON, here I come!
The pictures!
Of course there was a medal. A large medal. Ben and myself with our medals. My other Facebook friend Ronita raced, too. My first in person meeting with her as well. The course was stunning. Nature is beautiful. There’s a pic of me after getting out of the natural hot springs pool. They pump the water in. That was a few hours after the race. Highly recommended.
Some sites inside the city of Helena, Montana: The sculptures of miners sifting for gold (can’t find a name for it). ‘The Bullwhacker’. The sound of the whip cracking made the oxen run. They weren’t hit with it to make them run and pull the wagons. I never knew there were some women that had this job as well. The newspaper boy statue is titled, ‘Extra! Extra! Read All About It!’
I added three additional pictures at the bottom of the post. First is the staircase inside the Montana StateHouse. Second, the sculpture in front of the Holter Museum in Helena. It’s titled: Red Shift Rocker. And then inside, the most bizarre sculpture of all: Homunculus is it’s titled. Google search it to find out it’s “vivid” history. Eeek!
🏅Wils World 