Marathon#44: Kansas City Missouri, October 2016

Race morning

...well you just keep on using me....until you use me up. (Bill Withers)

It was early in the race. A female singer was really belting this song out. It struck a nerve. This course was going to use and abuse me with the heat, humidity, wind, and hills! I had written "Tough Bitch" on my arm and went for it, knowing that yes, I was going to get used up. I just wasn't sure where. Hopefully close enough to the finish line to crawl it in....

Three years ago I watched my friends run this race as I was sidelined with a hamstring pull. I love Kansas City, so returning to run the marathon was always a plan of mine. I wasn't sure I could or should squeeze it in this year, since I already had three marathons planned, but when Ginna and Laura (LSP) said they were in I had to do it. The training sucked, as summer marathon training does, with the never ending heat, but it was with the promise of a cool, fall marathon. Yeah, well, there are no promises.

Comfortable in tank tops...not good

Our forecast was dire. Sigh, yet another hot one. There was a lot of negative energy to fend off. A lot of pep talking. A lot of ridiculous rationalizations. And yes, that final prayer in the porta potty. I was just so glad when the race started because frankly, I was tired of complaining about it.

From the beginning, as I was trying to access how I was feeling I was a bit surprised to find myself really really enjoying the run. I was skeptical of how good I felt, as it was early in the race, but I found myself really taking it all in; the historic buildings, the stretch along the World War I memorial, the plaza, the quietness of Ward Parkway along the water, the beautiful homes, the historic Craftsman style homes in renovation, and the people, all the wonderful people of the city. Not to mention hints of autumn, with the fall colors emerging from the trees. It was truly a beautiful course, and I really loved everything about it. There was not a single organizational glitch pertaining to the race. I could not pinpoint a single thing that needed to be addressed. It's funny because when I was a spectator three years ago I had popped out on a few different places on the course and thought to myself that the course looked a little blah, so the beauty of the course did take me by surprise.

We didn't plan on staying together, but LSP and I found ourselves that way for most of the first half, which shouldn't be too shocking since duh we train together, but she wasn't having a good day. Things just weren't right with her stomach. And thus another facet of the mystery of the marathon--you just never know what you're going to have to deal with, either mentally or physically until it comes to you and says HERE. DEAL WITH THIS.

As I pulled away I thought to myself, well let's see down the road what lies ahead for me. I have a pretty good feeling this isn't going to end well. Well you just keep on using me...until you use me up...

...At mile 20 I found myself anxiously looking for the chip mat. I knew why I was doing this. I had been running steady, running strong, and dammit I wanted to cross the mat and have it relay back to Toby how well I was running before the anchor came out. And the anchor was near. The mat wasn't until past mile 21 and yep, as soon as I crossed the mat, BOOM. I found myself walking a hill. My quads were saying, "nope nope nope". Ugh. And so it went. I walked some on the uphills, ran all the downhills, hung out way too long at the water stops (people can be so friendly and inviting), but finally made my way to the finish line. There was even a hill on the last stretch to the finish!

Once we were reunited we shared war stories over our chicken sandwiches and beer at the finish. Even though we had harsh conditions we had prevailed, in fact, we had conquered. With a 4:11 finish I came in 2nd in the 55-59 age group, and Ginna came in 4th! LSP ran a 4:17 and came in 6th in the 50-54 age group.

We rounded out our visit of Kansas City with Ginna as our tour guide! It was a blast! I'm so grateful to have finally made it back to run the marathon. Such a great one, and great memories to boot.