Rock 'N Roll Marathon (Part 2)

We got dropped off to the starting line (another well-deserved shout out to Michelle Ortiz!) at about 5am. The race started at 6:15am.

We went for our first round of potty stops, and then we took some photos. :0)

Just me...



All of the girls...



Just family...



My sister Jenni wore this shirt...



We were all so excited, and this time together was a lot of fun. Soon after, Katie had to break away from our group, and she went and joined up with her running club.

The rest of us made our way over to the port-a-potties for our 2nd potty break.

After that, we dropped off our bags at the baggage check, and then made our way to the starting line. Jenni & Haley were headed to the back of the pack, as their projected finishing times were longer, and therefore, they were placed in deeper corrals.

My dad and I were in the same corral, and were headed up near the front.

Even though I had stressed this whole training season that I wanted this to be an individual journey, in the last 2 weeks my dad was insistent upon him and I running this race together. As crappy as it sounds, I was not excited about that. I have been consistent in my running and he has not been. Unfortunately, in the middle of our training season, he had suffered a few injuries...pulled muscles and such. He did recover from the injuries, and this guy has come back to not only match my pace, but he has been DOMINATING my pace times in the training runs. He kept saying over and over how close we were in our times, and I kept telling him over and over how NOT close we were! The facts don't lie! Not only was he wanting to run this race with me, but he was insistent that we would finish this race at a time/pace that I was 100% uncomfortable with. I kept telling him that we were not going to finish that fast. It was like talking to a brick wall. He kept telling other family members over and over about how we were going to run this race together and how we were going to finish in about 4 hours and 30 minutes. I kept correcting him and saying we were MAYBE going to finish in 5 hours. It was a lost cause with him! He was all about "fast, fast, fast," and I was all about "survival." I finally just said, "mmmmhmmmm" and I told myself that I would figure it out on race day. And once I gave in, I began to get excited about running this race with my dad. After all, who gets to do that!?!? SO cool!

I thought I had finally wrapped my head around running with my pops, when all of the sudden, we are standing in the corral, literally 2 minutes away from them starting the race, when he announces that he has to go pee...for a 3rd time!!! I looked at the LOOOOONG line at the port-a-potties, and told him, "No." I too needed to go to the bathroom (for a 3rd time) but my Aunt Mary (a seasoned marathoner) had told me at my last race when I was trying to pull these same shenanigans at the start of The Safari Park Half Marathon a few months ago, that you don't really need to go...you are just nervous...forget about it. I believed her then (and I never "went" for the entire half marathon that day), and I believed her words now in that moment with my dad. But what had I been saying about talking to a brick wall??? My dad was going to the bathroom. "Just wait here hunny, I will be right back." SERIOUSLY!? The race is S-T-A-R-T-I-N-G! I finally jump on board your "fast train" and now you are pumping the breaks!? Yeah. I waited...and waited...and waited. They had started the race, and they had let every corral in front of us go. As our corral was moving closer towards the starting line, my dad had ran back to tell me that he was close to the front of the bathroom line, and to just stay put...he'd be right back.

I was bugged. Racing is like 10% physical and 90% mental. He had totally taken me out of my mental game. But I had a choice...I could let it REEEEALLY bug me, or find a way to cope. I told myself to get over it. It doesn't really matter. I'm not really "competing" in this race. I'm here to give a marathon my best effort...and my best effort isn't dependent upon me starting 5 minutes ago, or 20 minutes from now. My start time doesn't begin until I cross the start line. Chill out.

I texted some peeps...and I waited patiently (honestly) for my dad to come back.

Fiiiiinally he comes back to the corral (we were pushed back 2 corrals becuase our corral was already moved way up ahead), and it was go time!

To be continued...