Ever since I went to the Kansas City, Missouri marathon expo and saw the booth advertising the Garmin marathon, I wanted to do it for the marathon in the state of Kansas. It is Wizard of Oz themed and seemed to have all the extras I enjoy in marathons.
Chris, my friend who is 69 years old wanted to do her first half marathon, Amy my best friend wanted to do her first 10K, my friend Juli wanted to do her 101st marathon, and I wanted to add another state to my collection. I heard it was hilly so I continued to run hills as often as possible on training runs.
The weather looked like it was going to be decent until the last two hours of the marathon at which time it would become muggy. I decided that I would carry water on an attachment on my running belt and I'm so glad I did as you will read about soon.
On Friday April 15th I worked just a couple hours then left for the marathon with Chris and Amy. Juli drove separately as she had others places to visit. The drive went smoothly and we made it to the running expo at a decent time.
We had pancakes and other protein breakfast foods for dinner at I-hop then went back to the hotel to relax.
At the crack of dawn early we all got up to prepare for the race. I used KT tape to tape all areas on me that have ever hurt me during long distance running. I used a significant amount of body glide in all areas that would chafe and after everyone was ready we headed to the race. We were only 15 minutes from the race start and found parking almost right away. It was cold and dark in the morning, but that would soon change as the sun came up. It was due to get a little muggy.
I was running well for the first 3 hours and had hit 17 miles by the 3rd hour and for me that is great. By mile 18.25 I walked a little ways. I was feeling tired and hot. Then I figured out my times on my watch and realized if I just kept going at even an 11 minute mile pace I would possibly have a personal record. That was all I needed to push through. I was carrying water on my back thank goodness because water stops were only every 2 miles and I needed it every mile, so I had some for the times when I felt thirsty or just wanted to pour it on my head. I did end up with a SWEET personal record, beating my last record time by almost 5 minutes. Here are the
RESULTS !!! Then below are pictures I took:
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| The cool Kansas sign from the freeway. |
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| Chris, Amy and I on the way to Kansas. |
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| At the race expo there were huge cut outs of Wizard of Oz characters. |
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| Here I was over 200 miles away and I ran into my friend Todd from Cedar Rapids. Had to have a picture with him. |
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| During the race my friend Juli was passing me and took a picture of me. |
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| another shot of me running. |
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| Waiting for me at the finish line were Chris and Amy. Amy took this picture. It was a great moment. |
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| This lady was injured and couldn't run the race, so the race director let her bike the race route. She looked awesome. |
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| A close up after the race with the witch. |
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| The amazing race medal. It's my biggest one so far. |
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| From Left to Right: Dorothy, Me, Chris, Amy, Juli and the witch. |
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| All four of us with our medals. |
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| My race bib, results, certificate and medal. |
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| Me at the finish ! |
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