Marathon Morning

4:05am Alarm goes off. Hop out of bed, turn on coffee pot and stumble into the bathroom. Take a look in the mirror, makeup from last night still on my face, gross. But do I need a shower? That's a lot of effort, especially since I'm gonna be out running for a few hours only to need to shower again....I could just wash my face. Then I realize I need to shave my legs. Uhg. Turn on the shower just as I hear the coffee brewing.

I get out of the shower and I'm freezing! Grab that cup off the brewer and sit to dry my hair. It's probably in the 30s or 40s outside and I would be headed out in about 35 minutes, might as well dry my hair. I watch the goosebumps cover my arms as I'm sitting in my towel running the blow dryer through my hair. It's marathon morning and the excitement is building. I want nothing more than to make a HUGE PR. I got everything ready the night before and was ready to go by 4:45. (This is somewhat atypical of me). I called my running partner at 4:50. He grumbled at me into the phone and said he'd be there in 30 minutes.

5:27am. We're walking up to the train platform JUST in time for the train to show up. Got down to Grant Park and headed into Charity Village. Honestly, I don't think I will do another marathon without being a part of a charity. If anything for the pre- and post race benefits. PAWS had an AWESOME tent set up for us with all kinds of food/drinks and the best part? It was heated! We also had our own porta-potties (which for anyone who has done any race ever knows that the porta-potty situation is ALWAYS a hot mess! And when you're waiting around for over an hour you tend to have to go several times before you even get into your corral). So it was nice to simple things like no lines and toilet paper!



6:45am headed into the corral area. I was in corral E with the rest of the charities but just as I got there I decided I needed to pee for the 4th time. Only I had to wait in line for about 15 minutes bc I was a long way away from Charity Village. It was just enough time to get into my corral and hear the National Anthem. I made friends with a few of the people around me and we chatted about Ironmans (go figure!) and before you knew it we were walking up to the start line. I was less than thrilled to give up my sweatshirt but as I approached the start line I took a deep breath and cast it off. Ok here we go....