Marathon Madness

One of our last posts was about Jules and Alex enjoying the arts.  We have now moved to forays into athletics.  Our latest adventure was participating in the Kansas City Marathon a few weeks ago.  Jules participated in the half marathon while Alex ran in the team relay for the marathon.  Here are our respective accounts of the event.

Jules dictating to Alex while cooking:  This was my first road race ever, and of course I decided to start big with a 13.1 mile half marathon. This might not seem logical except that I have never walked/jogged more than six or 7 miles at a time.  If I had started out doing a 5 or 10K, I probably wouldn’t have been able to work up the motivation to do a half-marathon.  So, I went with the mantra “Go big or go home.”

As all serious runners know, the pre-race meal is vital. We were not serious runners, so I joined Alex’s family for dinner the night before at Stroud’s, a restaurant in the area specializing in fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and cinnamon rolls.  Our conversation came around to the topic of running.  During the Chicago Marathon the weekend prior, a lady ran the race and gave birth within hours of finishing.  We were discussing about what an amazing feat that is and Alex’s brother (note from Alex: my brother is known for his sympathy and understanding) stated, “Well, it did take her over 6 hours to finish 26 miles so she wasn’t going that fast.”  We all about choked on our food while laughing at this outrageous statement. 

Since I have cheered my roommate Alex and our friend Jessica when they ran two half marathons, it came as no surprise to me that we would have to get up early.  But we had to rise even earlier (5:15 AM) for Alex to make it on a bus to her designated starting point for her leg of the relay.  Fortunately, Alex’s brother was willing to drive us there and contend with the crazy pre-race traffic.  We found a place to park at the Liberty Memorial and then had a nice downhill warm-up jog to where the starting line was.  We failed to figure in that this would mean we would have an uphill trek after the race when our muscles were throbbing. 

Lining up at the starting line with 8000 other runners was such an experience with everyone crammed like sardines, trying to find the area for their predicted paces.  Luckily the music at the start did help rev people up for the race, so it wasn’t such a drag to start at 7 AM.  I started next to an older lady, probably in her 60s, who was a fellow walker/jogger.  It was interesting to see everyone ditching extra layers of clothing and then homeless people walking around “shopping” for what looked good.  It was an absolutely gorgeous fall morning to tour Kansas City by foot.  It was fairly enjoyable until about mile 8, and then I started to feel it in my quadriceps (fortunately did not hurt anywhere else during the race).  So I ended up running more than I thought I would since it hurt less to run than to walk.

 There were interesting people along the route cheering on the runners while shaking cow bells (this seemed a little out of place while running through the Plaza).  Around mile 9 there was a guy doing flips in a park which provided some entertainment to break up the monotony.  And then shortly after that the first marathon runner passed us and he didn’t even look winded.  I was also inspired by a soldier who was walking the race with a full pack and gear.  I finally crossed the finish line and was rewarded for my effort with post-race chocolate milk and some bread.  Afterwards I went to Panera for lunch and ordered a huge salad and soup and therefore got a funny look from the cashier.  I felt slightly like a pig when it took a couple trips to take my two trays of food to my table, but I felt I had earned it.  It was also nice to have the entire weekend to recover and eat whatever I wanted and not really get full.  The soreness hit right after the race, and I couldn’t walk straight for a couple days. While I may not take up a career in road racing I am glad I did the half marathon on a gorgeous fall day.

Alex: For the team relay I ran the final 6.4 mile leg to the finish line.  Supposedly it is an honor to anchor a relay and get the glory at the finish line.  However, when the team decided I would run last I don’t know if they meant it as an honor since I found out later that the first three miles of the leg were all uphill.  Our team name was The HasBeens which was pretty appropriate.  We were all runners in high school but then have gotten older and therefore slower.  It was fun to be a spectator and watch part of the race before having to run in it. 

When I got the hand-off the people I was running with were all running the full marathon.  I felt slightly guilty for passing them since I had only ran a half mile and they were chugging away at mile 20.  I then felt even worse with some of the marathoners were passing me—nothing is worse than getting passed by old guys in a road race, especially when they have already been running 2 hours before you started. 

One of these guys ran with me for a while and we chatted before he left me in the dust.  I simply asked him how many marathons he had run previously- simple running conversation but I didn’t expect the answer I got.  He was running his 148^th marathon.  He had run one the weekend before but couldn’t pass up the chance to do another.  For some people running a marathon is a phenomenal challenge, and even being a runner myself, it is a challenge I really have no desire to take on.  And then there are the people who seem to be freaks of nature and running marathons is simply child’s play—this isn’t natural and maybe on the verge of crazy.  However talking to this guy was a great conversation which made one of the miles fly by and I even had to pick up my pace a little bit to stay with him. 

The HasBeens finished 4^th in the Coed division- just shy of the awards.  My older brother who also ran on the team tried to convince me that if I would have pushed a little harder at the finish we might have been able to catch them (the 3^rd place team beat us by 10 minutes).  The HasBeens may have lost our speed but we hadn’t lost our competitive spirit. 

Quotes

During a discussion about a social outing and why Alex wasn’t attending:

            Alex: I’m not against social activities, I just don’t really care for the social aspect.

            Jules: So, basically you just go for the food.

While talking about a new recipe for grilled cheese sandwiches a kid in Alex’s Sunday school class shared with her.

            Alex: What does it say about my cooking if I am getting cooking advice from a first grader?

The Gridiron

There is only one movie that makes me cry.  In the movie Rudy, I always get misty-eyed during the final scenes when Rudy finally gets to play after all the years of hard work.  While Rudy is probably my favorite movie, there are several great football movies.  This weekend Julianna and I have having a football movie marathon.  We started out the evening by tailgating in our kitchen- hot dogs on the George Foreman, chips, and root beer floats.  After our first movie- The Blindside- we had hot apple cider during halftime.  We finished off the evening with Remember the Titans.  One of my fall traditions is to spend an evening watching the best football movies of all times and usually my friends are somewhat willing participants (Julianna spent the evening knitting). 

Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons in the fall were made for playing football.  (I have attended several football games where the conditions have been less than perfect but we don’t need to go into that right now.)  As a little kid, my older brother put my younger brother and I though summer football camp so we would be in top condition for our family flag football games against our parents on Saturday afternoons.  In high school I watched most football games from the percussion section of the marching band.  When a touchdown was scored, fireworks were shot off, and the band played the fight song.  While in college I loved going to K-State football games.  There is just something about the atmosphere and all the fans coming together to cheer for the Cats.  For a person who doesn’t like to sing, I can’t help myself when it comes time to belt out Wildcat Victory.  As an athletic trainer I also got to spend a fair amount of time at football practices and on the sidelines of high school football games.  While this isn’t the way most college students would prefer to spend their Friday nights I enjoyed it (my Friday nights are usually pretty lame anyway).  Also in college I played on the Boyd Hall intramural flag football team.  I was the quarterback (if anyone has seen me throw a football this will give you a clue about how competitive we were).  We had some great victories- probably more moral victories than actual victories.  A great bonding experience with the other ladies on my floor and we still love sharing memories about our glories on the gridiron. 

So if anyone is looking for some great entertainment- you are apparently desperate for a good time if you are reading this blog- a football movie is always a wonderful option.  Here are my top 5 picks:

1.      Rudy- As previously mentioned, this is my favorite movie.  It is a great story of someone who is willing to dream big and work hard to achieve those dreams that everyone else has told him are impossible.  Watch it with a box of Kleenex.

2.      Remember the Titans- This is a very close second.  This is the story of a high school football team that is formed during the integration of a black and white high school.  There are also some great quotes in this movie such as “Your overcookin’ my grits, Coach” and “Jump on that ball like a starvin’ man on a Christmas ham”.

3.      We are Marshall- Based on the true story, it is about the challenges faced in rebuilding Marshall’s football program after a deadly plane crash. 

4.      Facing the Giants- A good movie that focuses on the fact that real success in all about honoring God.  The head coach of the mediocre team decides to change his coaching philosophy and encourages his team to praise God no matter what the outcome of the game.

5.      Possums- So this movie is a little different and corny but still fun.  The high school hasn’t won a football game in years.  The school ends its football program but the local radio station continues to broadcast the games which the announcer makes up.  The imaginary team ends up making it to the state championship.  

   **So this post was actually written last fall but never made it out of the depths of the files stored on Alex's laptop.  Even though it is a year old all the information is still good and K-State football is even better this year.