Chang's 2011- Lindy's account

Awhile back I decided to run Chang’s for Barb. She has run a full marathon once before, but wont even tell me what time she got- she says she needs redemption- it wasn’t her day. I think we all know what that is like! Some days you’ve got it, and some days you don’t! Of course Im always looking for a reason to sign up for the next marathon, so it didn’t take much for Barb to convince me!

Karen was quick to join on and Cynthia has given me liberty to pick one race a year in which she will be obligated to join me. So I pulled the “race card” early this year, and now have no more power over Cynthia for 2011.

Unfortunately Barb suffered an injury during training, and had to change to the half marathon. I know that she will still get her marathon redemption- but it will need to be another day…it ended up all good, though, because now Barb knows that she is an awesome pacer! Barb ran the Half with Cynthia, and Cynthia had many wonderful things to say about Barb’s words of encouragement out on the course! They had a great race! Cynthia got a PR, despite her saying that it wasn’t “her day”, that she wasn’t feeling awesome that day….way to go Gals!!!

Several weeks before that marathon I got a strong impression that I needed to run with Karen at Chang’s. I felt really good about this, and knew that we’d have a good time together. We did!

Karen was still hoping for a BQ, but after Long Beach, she decided to come with a second case scenario goal in mind too. I was trying to curb my enthusiasm, by telling Karen that a sub-4 would be fine….but in my mind I had my heart set on her getting 3:40!!! I didn’t want to stress her out, but I knew that she could do it! She has been a step ahead of me on our speed drills lately. I feel that she has become a stronger runner even since Long Beach in October. I have been feeling very confidant in her ability to get 3:40. Bart Yasso would agree with me, as our “Yasso 800’s” have been consistently 3:30 or seconds off.

We mustve done a good job carb-loading, because we didn’t need allot of fuel along the way. I think I took 3 gu’s, and shared a pack of pomegranate honey stinger chews with Karen. I went through 3 (20 oz) bottles of water. And I didn’t have that famished, depleted feeling at the end either. I can thank my brother-in-law Ryan for my excellent carb-loading. He recently sent me an article that convinced me I should eat as many possible carbs in the days before the marathon! And Ive given up calorie deficit…who cares about skinny? My Mom informed me that I am totally “Healthy” and “Normal”, and that is Awesome for me! Let the models out there be skinny! Hallelujah to be “normal”!!!

The weather was great. I didn’t feel “too hot” until the last 2 miles, and even then it wasn’t painful hot. I was never too cold, but did appreciate the disposable hand warmers that Karen brought for us to use in the beginning! They are awesome! Several times I said to Karen, “this is so Great, this is so fun, you can only hope for a day like this!” The next day she remarked how Sunday felt like Christmas. I couldn’t agree more!!!

At mile 14.6 we saw Karen’s husband and children. I left my waist pack with Reddin. My pack had been helpful, but had served its purpose. I was happy to shed it. We saw Karen’s family and my family in the finish line stretch. It was fun to hear Noah yell my name, and to look up and see Him, my Parents, my brother David, sister Annie, and my cute Girls. I love the support and was greatful for it!

It was so fun on Sunday to be in Sync with Karen. We fell into a cadence that was comfortably challenging. We were there together- not one of us pulling the other. Noah made me a pace band the night before the race (Awesome Noah!), and every time we checked our miles, we were always about 2 minutes ahead of our goal. We were glad to have those extra 2 minutes, in case we bonked a little in the end. But “The Wall” was not there for us, and we finished with minutes to spare! Yay Karen!!! We grabbed hands to cross the finish line together. We hugged and shed a tear or two…it was SO GREAT!

Im hoping that the Manwarings will be able to join the Evans in Boston 2012, and Im hoping that we will have other friends there tooJ And Im hoping for another day like Sunday, cause I cant get enough of days like Sunday!