the bright side - a memory made

it's better to look for the bright side of things in life. find the silver lining. that's how i'm looking at sunday, february 28. the day i ran my second worst marathon in 5.00.56. :)

i have a good attitude about it for many reasons, which i'm going to list for you.
1 - i barely trained so you get what you pay for
2 - i had a great time with my fellow hattiesburg runners
3 - i had the opportunity to run all 26.2 mile with a friend i've known my entire life
4 - it was a GORGEOUS day in south louisiana!

i headed down on saturday with jim, terry, and charles. jim would be running the marathon, like his 12th or something, who knows. terry was going for fun, no running for him. charles was going for his first. we hit the expo, met up with james and jodie and did our thing. and i shouldn't forget to mention the UHmazing parking spot charles got for us at the convention center. his ability to get in perfect position in the first go (parallel parking) was something to behold as well. we were happy with the parking spot, but unhappy to find out only 2 beers PER person at the finish party. we'll hear about this for months i'm sure.

to the hotel for a little rest. i was bunking with ginny, and she was coming in later, so i just chilled and watched tv until dinner. i met back up with the same crew for a good dinner down on bourbon street. as always with this crew, there was LOTS of laughs and smart comments. it's a good time hanging with these folks. after a great dinner, back to the hotel to get my things ready for the morning and for bed. ginny made it in later, and we stayed up probably too late chatting, but it was fun. we never get to do that so i enjoyed it.

alarm goes off 5 a.m. sunday. i got up, showered, got dressed, headed to the start. it was a little bit of a walk, but i didn't mind. after i finally found the bag check, i headed to the start corral to meet my friend barry, who i've known pretty much my whole life. he is a mississippi state alum, and i am a southern miss alum and employee. we were decked out in our collegiate gear, which seemed to amuse only us! we enjoyed chatting and catching up on life for a while. we were running a good, comfortable race for probably 8-10 miles, then it got quiet. it's funny how runners chat it up big time, and then when the moments get tough, silence. we were both concentrating on feeling better! we never hti the wall, but it was more like slow running in mud that got higher and higher each mile, making it harder to run.

yeah, we both fell apart, and early. this was barry's second marathon and my 9th. we were doing it for fun, only for fun, and to try to help barry PR. the fun ended, ha, and we started to ask each other, jokingly, "why are we out here again???" later, barry thought my attempts at humor and motivation were waisted, so i put him out of his misery and stopped. after a while, i accepted this day was in the toilet for good, so i just went with it and started having fun, whether we were walking or running. after about mile 22, we really struggled - nausea, cramps, dehydration, etc. you name it. we decided to run/walk it in, finding points or landmarks to run to. this worked, and we made it to the finish. we were greeted at the finish by barry's wife and oldest son noah, who is 4 i believe.

yeah, we were both disappointed. i knew that day wouldn't be a PR for me, by no means, but i didn't expect it to be quite that bad. but, i was determined not to beat myself up about it. i look at it as another marathon finished with one of my oldest and dearest friends, and i loved spending time with him and seeing his family. this marathon was about the experience, and it was a great one.

hopefully, i'll have some pictures to add soon!