akabini

May to November, 2008 – Miles run in training:
the equivalent of Port Townsend to Portland … ROUND TRIP.

November 29, 2008:
Miles to drive to marathon hotel: 65
Knitting projects brought on weekend junket: 2
Stitches knit on one project: about 40
The project that engaged my hyperactive brain in just the right amounts?
This triple-stranded brioche-stitch scarf (with 3 fibers from Habu):

Number of pain-relieving unguents packed: 3

Number of anti-chafing agents applied: 2
(Here's the one for my feet.)
(I can't post photos of the other–
It'd get me waaay more hits on this site than I bargained for.)
(Suffice it to say: get a good jog bra. One without seams.)

Someone please tell me …
was there a yarn crawl I missed at the Seattle Center?
Was I supposed to follow the sheep?

(Had it only been that easy.) (They should have used sheep.) (I would have kicked ass.)

Number of cups of coffee before the start: 2
Number of porta-potty stops en route: 1
(But you didn't want to know that, did you?)

Girls at the starting gate, looking fresh-faced and positive:

We had the whole posse there!
Dad and Ro-Dog, our official race mascot:

Miles cycled by Eb, the Motivation Expert, to cheer 3 of us girls on: 18
(The paddle says "Go Baby Go!" on the one side, and "The Spankin' Machine is Here" on the other. It's a long story. Go rent "Run, FatBoy, Run," and you'll never look at a spatula the same way again.)

Number of folks starting the marathon run: more than 2100

Here we are at mile 9, going strong and looking pretty happy:

Pacing team we were following: 4:45 finish time (10:52min/mile)
Number of miles I kept up that pace: 16
Mile marker where I started to get kind of panicky: 8

I dropped back to run my own race after that, said a tearful goodbye to Nurse K, and told her I'd see her at the finish line… and good thing I did, because she proceeded to open up a giant can of WHOOP-ASS and finish in 4:45 as the last gal across the line with the pacer bunny: last gal standing in our pack of 12 or so.

Nurse K taking the first (brutish, nasty, and short) hill at Mile 20:

Me, half an hour later, taking a look at that same hill and deciding to walk up it:

Number of times I started to cry between miles 24 and 26.2: 3
(I eventually stopped myself from sobbing as I entered the stadium, solely to save my breath for RUNNING across the field to the finish line. A girl can't run and come apart at the same time.)

Number of pads they make you step on near the end of the race: 2
The one that really counts as the finish line?: The second one.
(That's the half-marathon clock on the left; they started 45 minutes before we did, and there were still half-marathon walkers out on the course.)

Happy girls at finish line: 2
Happy family at finish line: 7

Now someone please tell me what sadistic creep put a RAMP UP into the recovery area at Memorial Stadium?
I mean, really.

Calories burned in a 5:25 marathon: 2,000

Number of future marathons we're considering: .... ?

Jury's out, kids.
This was wicked hard.
And it still hasn't sunk in yet.

Five hours, 27 minutes.

First half (13.1 miles): 2 hrs, 24 min. (exactly the same time as my half-marathon in Bellingham 2 months ago! Like, to the minute!)

Second half: well, you do the math.

Kept up with Nurse K* and the 4:45 pacer crew very well through mile 15, then had to drop back and run my own race. All in all, I'm very proud that I kept going, pushed through all the hard bits. It's a gorgeous marathon, even if there are some RUDE hills in there after mile 20.

The day was foggy and in the low 50s – perfect running weather.
And all my peeps were there at the finish line as I sprinted through the stadium!

Now pardon me while I go lay on the couch and rub my quads and ankles all day.
I have "John Adams" (the first 2 discs of the miniseries) from Netflix, and about 23 unfinished objects to knit on, so don't feel too sorry for me.

Thanks to all of you for the thoughts and comments and support – they really did help!

I'll post photos later – Boyhood and others got some great snaps, I'm sure.

* Nurse K ROCKED and stuck right with that pacer the whole way through, finishing in 4:45 or so. What an amazing gal. (This, despite a muscle tear in her calf that sent her to the hospital a week or so ago, worried that she had a stress fracture!)

Up flaps…
and awaaaay we go!

This time tomorrow, I'll be hopping up and down to keep warm, wondering if I have time for one more quick trip to the porta-potty, jacked up on the combined adrenaline of 14,000 other people crazy enough to want to get up and run 26 miles and 385 yards at a time when most ordinary folks are having their bagels with their Sunday New York Times.

And I am already amused: the packing O.C.D. that is possible for us knitters when we go somewhere?  Compounded in the context of a marathon.

Let me tell ya, the fear of chafing in mysterious places, the heinous blisters possible if one forgets one little thing … paralyzing.

Yesterday, there was the huge wave of gratitude for remembering that my running shoes were in my gym bag, and not yet in the suitcase. Forgetting my shoes? Like forgetting the set of DPNs for the top of a hat. Terminal. Drive-home-and-get-'em-worthy.

Giddy-up. I'm ready.

Perfect timing.
Just hit a milestone in the sidebar, in the last little run on our taper.
Last run before race day = more than 400 miles in training.

Wow.

Maybe this is why we don't count up the total number of stitches in a sweater.

What would be completely intimidating ahead of time has become inspiring in hindsight.

And as I pull out the suitcase for this weekend's junket to Seattle for the Big M,
it's time to acknowledge all the ways in which running is just like knitting.

1. The tools, especially your favorite ones, get a bit fried.
My current pair of shoes, which I cannot change out for new ones now lest disaster strike on Sunday,
are remarkably like that set of metal 2.5mm sock needles which have been through so many pairs of socks that they have scoliosis.

2. The packing is just as crazy.
For relatively low-impact, low-carbon-footprint activities, running and knitting produce the EXACT same packing anxiety.
Can't forget my favorite _______ (jog bra; rosewood needles)!
Should I take two or three ________ (sock projects; pairs of running socks)?
What if _________ (it's cold or rainy on race day; I finish that sock project)?

3. Both activities require hydration and nutrition plans.
(Though I confess I prefer the knitterly version:
red wine instead of Recharge;
coffee instead of salt tablets.)
Can't you just see it? Coffee stations at Madrona, to perk up those flagging spinners at their wheels. Red wine being handed out by cheering volunteers as we head around that last corner with the mattress stitch …

I know we all must have some goal this time of year: to finish that holiday gift in time to get it in the mail to aloved one far away; to finish up that sweater during NaKniSweMo*; to get that Starmore off the needles this year, dammit, if it kills me …

Whatever your goals are, friends,
run towards them with a happy heart this weekend.
Just don't forget the band-aids and Body Glide.

* National Knit A Sweater Month, in which many knitters and knitbloggers attempt to start and finish a sweater in a month. KarenJo – how's yours going?