The Tecumseh Marathon was scheduled for December however due to icy, pretty dicey conditions Brian called it off after much thought and deliberation. I know he probably thought of everything he could do but it just got to be too dangerous. The marathon was then rescheduled for January 11th.
It had been a snow melt for a few of days due to warmer temps so the trails were going to be muddy I knew but I was relieved because the temperature was so deadly cold for a time I was definitely not going to do this if it was very cold so when it started to warm up I decided to proceed with the race. I had already been going through some inordinately strong pre-race jitters..hadn't slept much a couple of nights before because of worry so was already starting the run on lack of sleep and days of anxiety.
The course is usually a straight run from one end of the trail to the other but due to the extreme sloppiness of the trails and trying to preserve as much of the trail as possible it had been shifted to an out and back run with 4 miles out to a 6 mile loop I had to run three times before heading back that 4 miles to the finish. I didn't know the route until that morning so I had no time to mentally prepare for it beforehand. I am usually the kind of person who really likes to do some mental/emotional preparation before a big race. I know some people like surprises. I do not when it comes to long races. I like to study the course, know what is going to happen ahead of time and come prepared for the big obstacles. Here I had had no preparation whatsoever.
We started off running a little after 10. Almost the first thing we did was cross a waist-deep (for short me at least) water crossing of very cold water. Then we hit the trail. Oh my god was it muddy! I had been prepared for mud but this was Uber-mud! It was in places very deep, halfway up my shins and so was a big slog fest. I had started out with some people but ended up falling back pretty quickly. I already felt fat, slow and tired and still had so long to go. I was also fighting some negative feelings of sadness and worry that made it difficult to be alone with myself and I WAS alone. There were not even any other runners around me. I had lost my main friend and her group and was left slogging through the mud with all these feelings of self-doubt and depression. It was a fight internally as well as physically. Ben flew by at that point and said "good job Heather!". It was nice to see him. Boy he was moving!
I almost quit on the first loop. I had never had such a keen desire to just walk off the trail and go back to the start and wait for my friends to finish. At that moment, perhaps a gift from God, I ran into a woman also going through this alone too. She heard me mutter "I want to quit" and she came up behind me and said "Why?" I just looked at her and said "It's just too hard today". So she pretty much pulled me out of this emotional muck and we started slogging together. It was so important and meaningful to have company right then and we talked each other through it. I felt so much gratitude to her and we hung together for two loops--total of 12 or 13 miles. As we started the third loop she said "Well no turning back now. There is nowhere else to go." And with that we started out. She ran into a friend partway through and started to make better time. I let her go because I knew she needed to get this done. It was her first marathon. I was proud of her.
Then I was alone again but something was different this time. Even though my toes were freezing, I was so very tired and still felt extremely slow my sadness and anxiety had been given a boost. I also ran into a few nice people I started running alongside and so they helped too. Even just overhearing their laughter and conversation was nice because at least it wasn't just me against the trail anymore. I had started having GI trouble about the 2nd lap and it was getting worse. I tried not to think about my sore stomach and just keep going.The mud had become dangerously slippery on this loop after so many runners plowing down the trail already. There were more puddles and these little mini-falls of muddy water cascading down the trail. I fell once and wrenched my left knee pretty hard. I was fighting that pain and it caused me to get even slower. I did a long, slow fall on a mud slope leading down to a creek which was actually pretty funny. I just slid down the hill on my right side in the soft mud. The good thing about the mud was it was soft. It was like falling into a pillow. The people behind me asked if I was alright and I laughed and said "That is one way to get down a hill quickly!"
I picked up a stick at one point to have as a helper on the muddy spots to keep myself upright. At the end of the last loop I discarded it and started down the road. I passed the "loop" sign and this time got to take a right into the "finish" trail. That was a HUGE deal for me because I knew I had already finished running 3 loops=18 miles + a 4 mile out to the last straightaway so I was now looking at 22 miles DONE! I kept moving and came to the pretty little pine forest I liked so much. That was very nice to smell the pine scent. There were lots of cold water crossings including going through the waist deep one I had done on the way out. I came to the flags marking the finish line, ran down and crossed the finish line at 6:45. I had finished my 5th marathon! Even though it had been a hard race in so many ways I was still so excited and happy to have finished it!
Because my stomach problems I couldn't eat afterwards so I just grabbed a bag of food to take home. I came home, took a long bubble bath, got warm and was able to eat some before bed. By 7:30 pm I was out cold. Long, hard day--big accomplishment---DONE.
