Tacoma City Marathon

This is going to be a very short race report. I am leaving for the field in the morning, I am in a lot of aipn, and I'm just tired.
Thank you and Congrats ot all who put this all together and worked tirelessly to make Tacoma Marathon a success. Rob did an awsome job. Sonja was there to give support as always.....thank you. Geoge was on his bike and provided motivation. There is always so much support from the Y Run Club.
The morning started out great. I opted for the early start and boy am I glad I did. I really cut is close. I don't know what my time was because my only focus was getting to the aid tent, but it was about 5:45-ish. The course started out in downtown and went up and around, through Wright Park, Stadium High, fireman's park and then wound down to Ruston Way. On the early hills, I could feel my knees. They didn't hurt. They were tight and just letting me know they were there. When we got down along Ruston I felt a sharp sudden twinge in my left knee. It only lasted a couple seconds. I have never had trouble with my knees on runs, so this was a little unnerving. We went through the tunnel and up the hill towards Point Defiance. Right before Point Defiance, I was shocked to see the Doctor I used to work for cheering along side the road. He of course had no idea I was running. I yelled out to him and gave him a quick hug. This pleasant surprise gave me a bit of energy. Around mile 13, I pulled away from the others. I felt like me knee would do better if I stretched it out a bit. This worked for a while. I had a lot of energy and was feeling good.....that was until I was walking through a water station. It got very hard to start back up again. The uphills were wearing on me and the downhills weren't as easy as in the early miles. My left knee was hurting more and more. I stopped at an aid station and wrapped it with some tape. That helped for a little bit. I found myself walking more and more. I was geting very frustrated. I went back and forth between reasuring myself that it was just important to finish and telling myself to suck it up and stop being such a baby. At about mile 22 or 23, I stopped again and had an EMT wrap my knee with an Ace bandage.

After much more walking and as much slow jogging as I could handle, I made it down the hill. I saw Eric talking to a motorcyle cop and he told me the finish was two blocks away and my whole family was there waiting for me. My son met up with me and ran the last couple tenths of a mile in with me. I got a hug from Lenore Dolphin. ***Oh, today was the first day I wore my Maniac singlet. I didn't feel like I was representing it very well, but I did finish. I got iced up at the aid tent and quickly headed out. I was, and still am, in a lot of pain.

The biggest thanks goes to my husband and my family who have supported me in this jouney and made Mother's Day great. Happy Mother's Day to all.
MM#544