I signed up for this marathon for couple of reasons. It is close to where my daughter lives and her birthday is 5 days prior to the race...so I can come celebrate her b'day and spend time with the grandkids. Another reason is the proceed of this race goes to building Safe House for the Orphan Hope International whose missions is to minister to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of orphans everywhere. The race sponsor/organizer is the Masterpiece Fitness, a non-profit women's minstry in the Spring/Woodlands area. They base their minstry on Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." GOOD enough reasons for me! :) Got up at 5:30 after a sleepless night. Forecast for temp at Huntsville at 8am is 28 w/ 12mph wind...too cold for the grandchildren so they stayed home. Larissa and I left the house shortly after 6 for the 75min drive to Huntsville State Park where the trail marathon, half marathon and marathon relay take place. Got there around 7:15, did the pop, checked in at the little lodge. It was very cold and windy. The race staffs had us go outside to make announcements and did warm-up aerobic dance, a first for me. In fact there are lots of firsts for me today: 1st ever trail marathon, 1st ever Texas marathon, 1st inaugural Orphan Hope Marathon, 1st time hubby did not accompany me, 1st time my daughter come to a marathon, 1st time I sustained an injury during a marathon. The start and finish is right by Lake Raven. The course is a 13.1 mi loop (x2 for marathoners and marathon relay) east then south to the south boundary and north to the northwest boundary of the State Park around Lake Raven. The course is entirely on forest trails, rolling hills and lots of turns with two turnaround points (like an out-n-back where you can see those ahead/behind you). There are no mile markers, 5 aid stations (repeated 2x for marathon) that are located about 2.5-3.5 miles apart, 6 port-a-potties at the start/finish and 2 at one turnaround point. I didn't have my fuel belt that carries fluid, nor my hand held which turn out to be a big mistake. I wore my green windbreaker so I could carry an extra pair of socks, the inhaler, bandaids. gloves, gu and cell phone in the pockets. I wore s/s top, capri pants, compression sleeves, running cap, sunglasses, double socks in the Ascend trail shoes. I looked like I was ready to go for a hike. I did see a marathoner with trekking poles. After the National Anthem and prayer, about 400 runners gathered around the start/finish banner and with a 5,4,3,2,1 we were off. Somehow I lined up right behind the fast guys and was quickly passed by all the runners. I could not breathe, my legs and feet were lead. I fumbled around with an ipod shuffle Larissa has loaded and loaned me. With zero experience in running forest trails I ran cautiously, picking up my feet and watched for roots, downed branches, pine cones and rocks. There are a few muddy spots that I either hopped over or walked around. Did I mention it was rolling hilly and a few wood plank bridges to cross? I rolled my ankles slightly and tripped a couple times but kept my feet moving and never fell. Not sure where perhaps between mile 6-10. My right foot hurt bad with every foot-fall. At first I thought it was tendonitis that finally thawed and hurting since my feet were frozen. I tried to walk and stretch the feet a little. I tried to land lightly but pretty hard to do with clunky trail shoes. A runner in Fibram Five passed me and I envied him. Every foot fall felt like my foot would shatter to pieces. Walking didn't help and eventually the feet just went numb. I was coughing, hecking up a storm and needed to take 3 puffs from the inhaler. My nose ran faster than my feet. :) The aid stations were too far apart. I needed to pee bad, and finally got to one at the turnaround point around mile 16.5 First time I got to sit down, I thought about taking off one pair of the double socks to see if that's what causing my foot to hurt, but instead swallowed two ibuprofens w/o water. I thought about pulling out of the race but how? I was in the forest. The aid stations were too far in between. In fact when I entered an aid station, I had to yell for water which comes in tiny 6 oz cups 1/2 filled. The young volunteers handed out peanut M&Ms. I had to ask for Gu, water or Gatorade. After they got me a cup of fluid, they would say, KEEP GOING! Geeweez, there are hardly anyone running close by. We were pretty strung out especially after the half. The forest is so peaceful and beautiful. The are couple of stretches that are straight with soft clay or sand and pine needles. I would pick up my pace and run like a road runner passing a few runners. At around mile 10 (23) is a levy looking single track that's right next to the lake and one can see across the lake where the lodge is. I imagined Larissa watching from there so I waved. It was also very windy at this stretch. At the half point, back to the start, a few spectators including my daughter were cheering, I forgot about the pain or to shed my extra gear. The volunteers yelled at me to "run down and turn around". I ran down to the start/finish mat only to be told that I turned around at the wrong spot, the timer guy asked for my bib# and said he would delete it. I guess the marathoners and relay runners aren't supposed to cross that mat until finish. In retrospect, I should have just called it quit. To run the same thing a second time over was hard because 1) I was depleted, 2) my foot was killing me, 3) the course got more muddy 4) the half marathoners are gone so less runners on the course and I had to rely on the orange tapes to keep me on course. I don't know how in the world the RR100 people can run their loops 4 times. I thought about Crockett's agony running in the dark and over 24 hours and his enduring the pain to finish. It gave me the umph and courage to keep going. Incidently the ipod shuffle had enough music for about 2 hours so I got to listen to the same songs again which was actually helpful. Larissa had uplifting music, serene as well as upbeat music that came at the right time. At one point, the lyrics came on: "My mouth is dry, my legs are weak....HEART ATTACK!!! You give me a heart attack. I must've died and gone to heaven..." So funny because right at that instant I felt like dying and the runner in front of me had his bib pinned on his back with the number 44 (double death). I burst out laughing. :) I tried to run with a smile...I think it helped. There were couple of people cheering on the rollers about a mile to the finish. They remarked, "You are STILL smiling!" I was so happy to finally see the lodge. I had both ear buds on and did not hear a girl sprinting past me at the last second. She beat me by 2 seconds. As soon as I crossed the finish, my daughter was right there and the first thing that came out of my mouth was: "I did something terrible to my body! This is the hardest thing I've ever done!" Not something you should say to a new runner...I think I scared her off from ever running again. :) The outside of my right foot hurt so bad that I was limping around before stopping to have my chip taken off. I limped to get my food. I was shivering uncontrollably. The wind did not help. Everyone was bundled up in coats. I went to the park bathroom and had the hand-dryer blow warm air on me to stop the shivering. I took 2 more ibuprofen and was able to walk normally to the lodge to check the result. I took 1st out of 6 in my F50-59 division, 41st out of 82 total marathoners. I went to pick up my award only to find that it was missing. The race staff figured that the woman who took 1st in the same AG for the Half marathon must've inadverdently took it. So they had me write down my info and said they would try and get me my award. When we got back to the house, my granddaughter had made and posted a *Congratulation* sign on the garage door! So sweet! I took off my shoes and immediately felt a lump on the bottom and outside of my right foot. Upon examining it, I found a swelling about the size of an apricot at the base of the 5th metatarsal. I fear that it is fractured. I just hope it is an avulsion fracture not the Jones fracture or stress fracture. I will go to the doctor when I get back to Utah. I will heal. This trail marathon could've been a really fun and enjoyable run if I was feeling well or more prepared. I have no regret for running and finishing even though I got injured running it! :) I will post my splits and may be some pix later. My half time split was 2:14:12. Now off to get more ice for the foot.
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