The Tide will take us Out

“So when are we leaving?”  “We will start paddling out around 2, that is when the tide will take us out and it won’t take much more than a couple of hours.” I was at the end of a week- long backpacking trip on an island off the coast of Georgia; one of the most amazing and serene weeks  of my life. Along with 6 other guys we had spent the week exploring the vast palmetto leaf covered trails, leading us to deserted beaches, ancient ruins, and confrontations with armadillos and wild horses. But we had reached the end and it was time to head home. The girls on the trip outnumbered the guys almost 2-1, and they had canoed in, the guys took the ferry to the island, but now it was our turn to canoe out. With every canoe tethered to another canoe filled with supplies we shoved off at 2, remembering Steve’s words that the tide would take us out.

After an hour we could still see the island shoreline we had just left from. After 2 hours we were in the middle of tall grass and nowhere near the mainland. With the Georgia sun beating down on our backs our frustrations were endless. Never in my life have I wanted to quit something so bad. With each stroke of the paddle, the tethered canoe rope went slack for a brief second, and then yanked us back; stopping any momentum we had hoped to gain. EVERY.TIME. After three hours hope had abandoned us and all that was left was silence interrupted with the occasional swear word and muttered statement of “this is unbelievable”. After such an incredible week it seemed impossible to end on such an unforgiving note but it was impossible to focus on anything but the harsh reality that the tide was working against it.

A few months ago I finally accomplished a long sought after dream and #1 on my 30@30 list: Run a marathon. In college I had gone down to the Pittsburgh marathon to watch my friends run in it and felt inspired to someday finish my own. The problem was I didn’t like running enough. Sure I would do it, a few miles here or there when the weather was nice. But up until 8 months ago it was nothing but something that I would never get around to. However, they say if you want to run a marathon, you have to sign up first and then start training. So I signed up first, in August of 2011. There were no refunds either so I knew it was happening.

My training started out okay, filled with sunny fall days with cool breezes. I would run around college hill, a nice little community, listening to good music and thinking about how far away the marathon seemed. On Sunday’s I would even run later in the day and listen to football games on the radio. The winter time was a little tougher. My runs became longer, the days became shorter, and the weather became uglier! The day I ran 15 miles it was 30 and snowing huge, wet, snowflakes. Despite wearing multiple layers when I finished I was soaked to my skin, shivering, and just plain mad. Once February hit it became real. I only had a month or so to go. Whether I wanted to do it or not, it was going to happen!

I picked the Virginia Beach marathon for a few reasons. 1. it was flat course (I won’t lieJ), 2. It made it all seem more adventurous and worthwhile than running somewhere close, and 3. It was by the beach! And while I struggled through 15, 16, 18, and 20 mile runs, time continued to move and before I could run another step it was marathon weekend!

We left on Friday and stayed in a hotel right along the main avenue in Virginia Beach. We could see the ocean and boardwalk from our room and I couldn’t help thinking upon arrival that I would rather be here for vacation than a race! We took it easy that night and Saturday. As much as I wanted to hang out on the beach or go exploring I knew Sunday was going to be a big day and had to remain my focus. I thought I would have trouble sleeping the night before but I didn’t, I even went to bed early! And when I woke at 6:30 the next day, it was to a beautiful sunrise and a growing crowd of spectators outside my hotel window!

I think one of the most excited parts of running a marathon is the start line. As you line up you are so overwhelmed at first by the number of people, all of which seem to look in much better shape than you! You are filled with excitement, nerves, anxiety, fear and uncertainty of what the next few hours will hold. I felt all these things standing on the road in Virginia Beach plus one extra thing…I had to pee! What awful timing! Thankfully our hotel was right after the start. So as the race began and I crossed the start line I immediately stopped, made a right turn into our hotel lobby and the bathroom! When I came back out I was shocked to see everyone had passed by already, even the truck bringing up the rear of the race. I freaked out a little bit, ran a bit too fast, but eventually joined back in the pack of people heading south along the coast. I didn’t feel settled in until about mile 3. At that point I encountered the only “hill” on the course, an overpass arching clear of a waterway taking boats from a harbor out into the ocean. As a reached the summit I looked over at the vast blue waters and sunny skies I realized that all the nerves were gone and I was left with only excitement for finally running a marathon!

My best miles were 7-9. I ran fast, I felt great, the DJ’s along the way were playing great music. Mile 9 took us into a military base where we circled a path through all the barracks. Near the exit marines had lined the road, going nuts and cheering their hearts out for us. It was an awesome experience running through the middle of them! Around the bend was a last chance boys home, and under the surveillance and example of the marines, the troubled teenage boys had lined the road to go nuts for us, yelling our names and giving us high fives and fist bumps. I wonder if those boys will ever know what a difference they made in my life, if only for a brief minute?

The halfway point was back in downtown, right after a mile of surreal running on the boardwalk. As I turned the corner and started running through the towering hotels, I heard someone screaming my name! It was the cutest dressed cheerleader there, Amy! She ran with me for close to a mile, giving me some snacks and water and telling me I was doing great. When I asked her why she was wearing flip-flops and not running shoes she told me running shoes were not cute enough with her outfit and she was fine! Seeing her after the first couple hours of running was definitely a great pick me up. Finally I told her I was ready to go on by myself and I would see her at the finish. I didn’t realize then as I headed down the road without her that things for both of us were going to get tough until the end…To Be Continued to the Finish Sunday…