AAAAHHHH!!!

Ok, I'm sure you guys have been sitting on the edge of your seats for this, so here goes nothing (I believe that was the title of my very first post - how appropriate)...

Friday after work, Sara and I went over to see our chiropractor/friend/marathon enthusiast Dr. Ben before we headed to Waco. After he adjusted us and gave us a little pep talk, we were on our way. We met up with Sara's roommates and friends and went to an Italian food restaurant for some carb loading. Here we are enjoying our final hours of ache-free, carb-eating bliss:

Friday night, we decided we would try to go to bed by 10:30. It ended up being more like 11:00, but we were still pretty good. Then, Sara's dryer (which just so happens to be right outside of her room) decided to go all satanic on us and start smoking and making crazy noises! So her poor roommate was trying to deal with that as quietly as possible, but to no avail. We probably didn't get to sleep until around midnight.

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early at 6:30. As you have already seen from our pre-race post, the weather Saturday morning was not really very conducive to moving, much less running 13.1 miles. Sara did borrow some pants from her roommate, but I decided to tough it out with my shorts. Luckily, I had brought two hoodies, so we did use those to keep us somewhat warm. This is us FREEZING before the race. Seriously, I was so cold, I couldn't even talk right. My mouth wouldn't even form the words.

Here we are as we took off at the starting line. Why we look so happy, I do not know. That is our friend Nathan who used to work with us at the children's home to my left in the red. It was cool to get to catch up with him and he ran with us for the first 4 or 5 miles.

**Side note** My parents and Sara's mom and sister came to watch us, which was AWESOME. They took all of these pictures. They saw us off at the starting line, caught up with us for a couple of the miles in between, and of course, were there to celebrate with us at the finish line. It was great!!

The Actual Race

Ok, I know you hear a lot about adrenaline during times like these. All the stories we had read said that adrenaline would play a big part on race day. I didn't really believe that until now. Sara and I had said that we would try to run the first 3 miles or so without stopping, then take short walk breaks after that. 3 miles is the most we had really run without a walk break up until then. Well, somewhere between mile 5 and mile 6, we were still running and feeling good...it had to be the adrenaline. And luckily, the heat had begun to radiate through our bodies, so we weren't so freezing anymore. Well, we kept running until well into mile 6, but things took a decidedly different turn when we made our way into Cameron Park. You see, up until that point we had been running a relatively flat course. But miles 6-10 brought about a lovely scenic and HILLY part of the course, one that can only be described as torture. It didn't help that as we were entering the park, the front runners in the race were already coming out...yes they were about 4-5 miles ahead of us. RIDICULOUS. That really helped inspire us...HA!

Well, amazingly, we made our way through the hills, and emerged victorious, anxious to run the last 3 miles on some flat ground. We figured it would be smooth sailing from here on out. Pretty stupid of us. Somewhere around mile 11, the 4 ibuprofen I took before the race (sorry, Dr. Ben!!) started to wear off and my foot was throbbing. And THEN the nausea set in...for both of us. The last 2 miles were by far the hardest - I think we both thought we would have to stop and throw up. At this point, it became a no-win situation...if I was running, I felt like I was going to be sick, and if I was walking, my foot hurt like a thousand times more. So we pretty much just sucked it up. We knew by this time that we were going to make it with plenty of time to spare, so we did actually take it easy, especially the last mile or so. It kind of sucked because we could have had a much better time had we just ran those last miles.

But no worries...the best feeling in the world came when we turned that last corner and saw the finish line, probably just a quarter mile away. I could see our parents and friends yelling and screaming and taking pictures. We decided the four of us (me, Sara, and her roommates Audrey and Christy) would hold hands and cross together. Cheesy, I know, but we had been through a lot that day.

So, in those moments, a ton of things were going through my head, but mostly an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment, despite my aching body. We crossed the finish line at 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 36 seconds, which is not a great time, but it felt great to me. 3 months ago, it would have taken me that long to run 5 miles, so finishing 13.1 in that time was pretty amazing.

I wanted to take this time to point out some pretty wonderful things/people that really helped us to get through these last few months, and race day itself:

Each Other - There is NO way I could have ever done this without Sara. Even though we were not always the best at keeping each other accountable (haha), we stuck it out and encouraged each other when we didn't think we could do it. Sara is an amazing friend and the ONLY thing I will miss about all this running is our great talks along the way. Love you!

Student Foundations - These are the people who put on the Bearathon. They had students stationed at every mile marker, yelling and screaming and encouraging us. They also had food and water, which of course made a huge difference. We could hear the mile markers sometimes before we could see them, and it helped a lot to know it was coming up.

Sara's AWESOME roommates and friends - Sara's roommate Christin and her friend Angel were complete Godsends on race day. Christin worked from 11 pm - 7 am the night before, but instead of coming home to sleep, she came to support us. She and Angel basically stalked us during the race, popping up at least every other mile to encourage us and cheer us on. They even made posters for us! It helped us SOO much!! At the finish line, they were joined by Sara's other roommate Becky and her friend Larissa. They cheered us on until we finished. Thanks so much!!

Our wonderful families - For all the encouragement during our 3 months of training, and a big thanks to my mom and dad, and Sara's mom and sister, who drove (almost 4 hours for my folks) and braved the cold to see us off, to catch up with us around miles 8-9 (even though I hear they enjoyed a tasty breakfast in between!!), and to of course watch us finish. They also sent me a super yummy Edible Arrangement at work Friday, which was a big hit at the office. We are pretty blessed.

ABC/Dairy Queen - I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the importance of Bachelor/Blizzard Mondays(currently known as Dancing with the Stars/Dairy Queen Mondays) to our training regimen. I mean, sometimes that was the driving force behind our Sunday runs. :-)

You, our amazing blog readers - Truly, I am not sure we would have finished had we not started this blog...talk about accountability. I didn't realize how many people read this blog until the last few weeks when totally random people on Facebook and at work have asked me about my foot and wished me good luck on the race. It means a whole lot, and I am so glad we finished so I don't have to be ashamed in front of all of you. Haha. :-)

To finish, I am posting a few more pictures from the race. They are pretty disgusting pictures of me, but I decided I did not mind, because hey, I am a marathonist and that is the price we pay. :-) Just don't go showing them to your friends.

Before we left Sara's apartment Saturday - we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into!!

I think this is Mile 9 or so when my parents showed up to cheer us on. If I had any idea why the crap I am looking so happy or doing a little victory dance, I would let you know. I was delusional from the hills at this point. :-)

After the race...my face pretty much says it all. (FYI - after this picture we pretty much broke that trailer hitch when we put like 15 people on it...haha)

Thanks again, everyone!! Sara please add anything I forgot as well as any pictures you got that I didn't.

VICTORY IS OURS!!!!

WE FINISHED!!!!!!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!! And we finished in a nice round 2 hours and 45 minutes : ) Janell's foot might fall off and my lower back feels detached from the upper half, but WE FINISHED! We have our lovely medals and our finishers shirts and could not feel more accomplished than we do right now! Thanks for all of your encouragement along the way! We'll give a more detailed account of the run after our vision stops being blurry : )

NEWS FLASH!

O...M...G. Just checked the weather for in the morning-- and at 9:00- an hour AFTER we start running- it's going to be 40 degrees-- with a wind chill of 29 degrees!! Janell and I DID NOT PACK PANTS! So we will be freezing for the majority of the run- it's not supposed to get above 47 until 12:00- hopefully we'll be done by that time!! I mean, the course shuts down at 11:00 so we're gonna HAVE to be done. This is such a crazy turn of events!! OH TEXAS WEATHER. We'll keep you posted...

What?? It's Tomorrow??

Okay- Sara here. Exactly 24 hours from now Janell and I will have begun our 13.09 mi. journey and will most likely be hating ourselves pretty hard core. WHAT possessed us to do this?? I'm a wee bit terrified, if you can't tell. I mean- that's a long way to run! And Janell's foot is barely better! And there are lots of HILLS on this route! Of course there are a few things to be excited about at the finish line: A free t-shirt (which we of course paid for with our registration fee); All our friends and family who came to watch us run through that finish line looking like death; And this year, the Bearathon has decided to give all the finishers (even if you come in last) green bear paw medals. Move aside "Most Improved" 5th Grade Softball Team trophy-- I have a new athletic accomplishment to display! So I think as I'm running, when I begin to get dismayed, I will close my eyes (well not really-- more like I'll stare into space-- I'm pretty clumsy) and envision that brand-new shirt and gleaming green medal in the distance. Plus I'll probably be motivated to keep running as I watch all the old people, pregnant women, and kids on tricycles pass me. Though I am terrified- I'm pretty pumped. This is going to be exciting! Thanks for all of you who have been faithful readers of Janell and my first attempt at a blog. We couldn't have done it without you! (Literally: Often times we would have to say "NO, we can't STOP- what will our blog followers think? No no, that's too embarrassing!) So say a little prayer tomorrow morning for us- and keep posted tomorrow evening or Sunday for a follow-up post after the race! 

3 days and counting...

The foot is feeling pretty good today, for the first time in like a week and a half...your prayers are working and I definitely feel them!!
I am still a little scared and concerned that I will not be ready on Saturday since I have had to take so much time off these last two weeks. But I also feel like I can do it, as long as my foot cooperates. We will see I guess.
Thanks to everyone for the comments/calls/texts of encouragement...keep praying!

AAAHHHH!!!!

Ok, I am so sorry I've been so bad about posting on here. There has been so much craziness going on that I just couldn't sit down and write it all.

So let me bring you up to speed:
First of all, the race is in 5 days!!! Can you believe it?? I certainly can't. It feels like the last 3 months have flown by!!
The last 2-3 weeks have been full of drama and a little lacking in the actual running. Let me explain...

3 Saturdays ago (the 7th), we had decided that we were going to run Town Lake (which apparently, is now officially Lady Bird Lake, as I was reminded by one of my kids), which we were thinking is about 8 or 9 miles. We weren't really sure because we had never actually ran the whole thing, just the main part of it where everybody runs. But we had plenty of time, so we decided we would just wing it.

When I woke up Saturday, I had a bad feeling. You see, as a child, I was known for having extremely high fevers, like 104, 105ish kind of fevers. I don't get them quite that high anymore, but they still get pretty high. And because I have had this my whole life, I can tell when they are coming on. Which is the feeling I had when I woke up Saturday. I took my temperature and it was normal, just like I knew it would be. And there wasn't really anything wrong with me except that I just knew it was coming. But I was DETERMINED to do this run, since the last few weeks had been a little slow with all of our injuries/ailments. And what was I going to say anyway? "I feel fine and I have no fever, I just feel like I MIGHT get one later, so I'm just going to stay home..." Nope.

If this had been a normal day, I would have just gone ahead and taken some aspirin so I wouldn't get the fever when it decided to creep up on me. But it is a really bad idea to take a pain reliever before you run, because if you injure a muscle or something, you need to know it. So I didn't take anything, just hopped in the car with Sara and headed to Austin.

We got to Town Lake and started running. We actually made it a mile and a half or so without stopping, but then I started to feel it. My body just started acting crazy. I was so hot, I felt like my skin was burning. And I was so dehydrated, my hands were swelling and I was getting a little dizzy. At this point, we were at what we thought was pretty close to the halfway point. There is a water station, complete with little paper cone cups and water dispensers. I drank probably 15-20 of those little cups and also put some water on my head. That helped some and we ran for a little while before I started getting sick again. Anyway, this continued on the rest of the run (which eventually became a walk/crawl/just trying to get back to the car without dying). So, needless to say, this was not a very good run. And to top it all off, somewhere around mile 2, we nearly had heart attacks when this random Confederate army convention decided to set off a giant cannon like 100 yards from us. That was fun.

Long story short, we ended up mostly walking about 7 miles and I spent the next 5 days at home sick. Blah.

By the next weekend, I was feeling a lot better, and we REALLY needed to run, so Sunday, we headed back to Town Lake, and we actually had a a great run. 12 miles with little to no problems. Of course, we were super sore from head to toe, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell.

WRONG.

Monday, I could barely walk on my left foot. Again, I just thought maybe it was sore from the run and since Monday was our off day anyway, I just iced it and figured I would run on Tuesday. Well it never got better, so I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and he took x-rays. He didn't see anything on the x-ray, but he said sometimes with stress fractures, they don't show up right away. He also said that it could be tendonitis or maybe a sprain. Either way there was not much he could do. He said just to rest it and do some low impact cardio until it felt better.

Now we are sitting at 5 days until the race and my foot is still hurt. It does feel better, but I don't think I can run 13 miles on it. So, PLEASE pray for healing. It would be so disappointing to have worked so hard for so many months and not get to finish what we started. I am still confident that I can run on Saturday - I just need things to feel a little better.

Well, that was a long post. I promise we will keep you updated this week and of course after the race. Hope everyone is having a great day!!
Janell

Athletic Afflictions

Sara here... I have a big fear that after I write this, people are going to begin to question whether or not I'm truly dedicated to running this half marathon. So I want to give the disclaimer that I am VERY annoyed by what is happening and no matter how I'm feeling on March 28th-- I WILL be completing that run, even if I have to do it in a wheelchair! Now- not to worry, things are not that bad, but I have a bit of a "calf strain" - whatever that means. This happened a week ago today- last Tuesday, when I was running on the treadmill. After a mere mile, my calf completely tensed up and freaked out. Both of my legs went numb and I had to get off and stretch and figure out if I could return to the treadmill without causing my biggest fear to come true- falling off the treadmill and sliding backwards in the middle of the gym. After a few minutes, I decided I was going to be fine, the feeling returned to my legs, so I started walking and worked up to running- but as soon as I started running again there was this SHOOTING pain in my right calf. Over the next few days I tried to run, but the calf pain has prevailed. It wasn't hurting when I was walking, only when I tried to run. Now, a week later, the pain is there even when I'm walking. SO, I'm a bit concerned. I've been icing it, and I'm going to swim tonight to try and work out the muscle some- but needless to say I have not run for a week and I'm real concerned about what's going to happen. It's not hugely painful- just enough to keep me from running. Okay- that was a really long story, but I just wanted to give an update.

SO this has been holding back Janell- because running without a partner is SO LAME! But today she is going to be back on track- she's going to run and I'm going to swim and we are still going to dominate the Bearathon... meaning we're going to finish before they shut it down : ) It's funny that even after 2 1/2 months of training, I still HATE running. I swear I do it for the ice cream on Mondays. Here's an example exchange between Janell and I today while we were at work:

Janell: Hey are you coming over to watch the After the After the Final Rose Bachelor with me tonight so we can continue to point and laugh and crybaby Jason?

Sara: Yes, of course. I'm going to go swimming- are you going to run tonight or what?

Janell: Yeah I'm gonna run- you have fun swimming!

Sara: Oh I will- you go Janell- RUN YOUR HEART OUT! WE'RE NOT GIVING UP! Maybe we should have Blizzards for our last Bachelor episode?

Janell: Oh yeah, we for sure need Blizzards I'll pick em up- what kind do you want?

Sara: Butterfinger, natch. 

Janell: Too bad we're not as excited about running as we are about Blizzards

I've decided that for any future challenges and trials in my life, I'm going to have to make the reward come from Dairy Queen if I want to have any hope for success. 

So that's the status of your favorite marathonists... we'll keep you posted!

OH- and if you are some sort of athlete or know anyone who knows about injured calves and have any medical advice to share PLEASE feel free to comment! Because as this is my first experience with a sports-related injury, I'm clueless!